A Delightful Dumpling Diversion

Why yes, I am going to piggyback on an article from the Baltimore Banner this morning. I’ve been awake since four am and, alas, it has not made me more brilliant nor improved my work ethic.

We set out to find dumplings in Howard County. We found a new obsession. Abby Zimmardi and Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner. Photography by Eric Thompson

This piece reminded me of that brief era when we thought that Patch was really going to be a dynamic, ongoing part of the local scene. Remember when David Greisman and Lisa Rossi did a series dedicated to the best local chocolate chip cookie? Those were the days.

We're David Greisman and Lisa Rossi, Patch editors who work "in the field" each day all around Columbia, eating cookies along the way to fuel our efforts at journalistic muckraking.

At this point, after covering everything in our part of Howard County from crime and catastrophe to cute and cuddly—fueled by coffee and, well, you know—we think we know what we're talking about.

Now that the nostalgia is kicking in, perhaps you remember when the Patuxent Publishing used to send their young journalists to the Howard County Fair? That was a while ago. There’s just something delightful about the camaraderie in such pieces.

They let us out of the office and we made the best of it. Let general silliness and hijinks ensue.

As we ate, we marveled at the colorful Chinese lanterns and waterfall beads hanging from the ceiling. We spent our time at Asian Court — a restaurant with Cantonese food and Hong Kong-style dim sum — having fun spinning the lazy Susan in the middle of the table and talking about silly childhood memories, like Clara getting injured in weird ways as a child.

True confession: I was completely won over by their description of the dining room at Tea Horse Sichuan Bistro as “swanky”, a word my mother used to use and which I assumed had fallen out of common usage.

Want to know more about the actual dumplings? You’ll need to read the article. The restaurants featured are Pepper House, Asian Court, and Tea Horse Sichuan Bistro. Also, it’s not every restaurant piece that features more than one piano.

Are you a dumpling connoisseur? What local establishments would you recommend?

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