Spectacular New Dim Sum Arrives on Mott Street at Joy Luck Palace

Over the last few years, New York has seen its dim sum improve by leaps and bounds, in both Sunset Park and Manhattan's Chinatown. These dumplings and other small delicacies (dim sum means "touch the heart") are served every day in an extended brunch that begins around 9 a.m. and lasts into the early afternoon. The venues are mostly hulking places that specialize in Cantonese seafood, often with a Hong Kong flair. To give you an idea of how big these establishments can be: Jin Fong on Elizabeth Street seats 1,400 on a single floor, making it the largest restaurant in New York City. And stalwarts like Chinatown's Golden Unicorn and Sunset Park's Bamboo Garden and East Harbor Seafood Palace are not far behind, size-wise.

Until recently, the best dim sum in Manhattan was found at Royal Seafood on Mott Street just north of Canal. But a new place popped up just across the street, and, I’m pleased to report, the dim sum is even better. This dim sum superiority seen in recently opened restaurants is hardly a new phenomenon: it seems that each new dim sum parlor strives to outdo its predecessors, not only in the general excellence and freshness of its product, but also in debuting new types of dim sum, sometimes inspired by forms created in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, sometimes invented out of whole cloth.

The newcomer is Joy Luck Palace, and it replaces the somewhat lackluster Grand Harmony and 98 Crystal Palace. The name may be a reference to the Amy Tan novel, Joy Luck Club, and the décor suggests the most Americanized Chinese banquet-hall restaurant Chinatown has yet seen. For example, there are no blinky eyed dragons or crawling babies on the plain walls, just humongous TV monitors. Lighting is partly provided by pastel neon concealed behind zig-zagging ceiling baffles, lending a Vegas sort of feel. A large sign above the dais at the end of the room reads "Happy Lunar New Year," in English rather than Chinese.