Daytripper - Denver Dim Sum and the Art of Family Bonding

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving." ~ Lao Tzu
"...unless you are a good traveler in Colorado searching out good dim sum.  Then a good traveler is VERY intent on arriving."  ~ Jill Yuen

Sometimes you don't need to board a plane or attach the car top carrier and drive for two days to take a really meaningful trip together.  While most times, I agree that the journey is where the real family bonding occurs in traveling, there are times when the destination is the true experience that fetters us to one another.

This weekend was one such time for us.

Our family hails from California, where Kahuna and I spent around 40 years of our lives before moving to Colorado.  We were ready for a lifestyle change, and after a great adventure to Colorado, we bought a house, moved and never looked back.  There are only three things we really miss about living in California.  Family. Friends. And really good Chinese food.

Really good Chinese food is not readily available on every corner in Colorado, like it is in many parts of California.  And even if you find credible Chinese food, you can rarely find dim sum.

Dim sum literally means, "to touch your heart" and I cannot think of a better description.  Dim sum are like Chinese hors d'oeuvres.  They are steamed or fried "dumplings".  Just three or four to a plate, but the choices are endless.  But for our family, dim sum is more than that.

Chinese families do a lot of bonding over food. Going out for a dim sum brunch, in Kahuna's family, meant everyone...EVERYONE....met up and ate together.  Seventeen of us would meet up and get a giant table and the feasting would begin.  Waitresses push carts full of bamboo steaming baskets or little white plates and show you all the cart's offerings.  One simply points at the dishes they would like to try.  The food is small and the carts meaner slowly through the restaurants. This gives family time to eat, and wait.  And while waiting for the next cart to arrive, there is time for discussion, for talking about what is new and important in our family members' lives and what plans they are making and what the kids are up to.  In other words, you eat a little, you bond a little, you eat a little more, you bond a little more.  While there are not 17 of us here in Colorado, we still do the eating and bonding on a smaller scale of our immediate family.

So...the quest for authentic and delicious dim sum is more than just eating a plate of egg rolls (which really good dim sum restaurants won't serve a lot of, by the way.).

Leaving in Sundance, the Dim Sum Party Car!

The closest dim sum restaurant to us is in Denver.  In possibly one of the worst areas of town.  You drive past scary abandoned warehouses with broken windows to get there.  But Star Kitchen is well worth the trek through unsavory areas.  The restaurant's website itself admits it isn't much to look at by the strip mall that contains it, but it does have amazing dim sum.

The restaurant had 2 caucasians in it, besides me.  Most people are Asian and speaking everything but English (which, if you don't speak the languages, can make for a fun game of Guess What They're Talking About). Families were all meeting up for a special time of eating and bonding.  It is noisy.  It is pungent. And it is heavenly!

If language barriers are intimidating for you, but you are adventurous in your food explorations, then I can't think of a better choice than a dim sum outing for you.  At Star Kitchen, many of the waitresses speak English and all the table captains do.  But, the beauty of dim sum is that you just look and point at the things that look interesting to you and the waitress will serve it up.  You can't go wrong!  We had one waitress that after a while of serving us knew just what to offer.  She didn't take no for an answer.  She would say, "You try.  You WILL like." and she was always right.  Star Kitchen offers some of the items that Kahuna grew up on and some new fares.  In particular, their seafood offerings are wonderful.

Spidey liked the Fried Shrimp Ball best.

Jef and Junior with an array of baos, meatballs, shu mai and ha gow.

Having a dim sum meal was like coming home for us.  Most of our friends here in Colorado don't know the magic that is dim sum, so it is something special just between the members of our family.  A familiarity and intimacy we have together that others just don't get. And it makes us think of our family and Kahuna and the kids' childhood.  It is a fine reminiscing that happens when our family eats dim sum.  For you, it may be like visiting an exotic locale.  Or maybe somewhere in between!  The point is, if you are missing excellent dim sum, Star Kitchen will not disappoint.  If you have never had dim sum, this is the best place to give it a shot!  Dim sum, like our  favorite, Yeung Qi Dze (eggplant stuffed with shrimp) can be quite challenging to pick up with chopsticks for some people (including our #2), so brush up before you go, or your better prepared dining companions will get all the goodies before you get a taste!

Aiya!  Still can't get it!

My advice if you go is to try everything!  The waitresses are good about letting you know, "pork", "chicken", "sweet", "red bean", "seafood", etc.  Whether you like the particular dish that you ordered a lot or a little, it will give you plenty to talk about.  

Where do you travel to enjoy food and life together as a family?  You'll have to leave your answer in the comments section, because, right now, I

Gotta Mosey!