Prosperity Dumpling: Put These In Yo Mouth
A long long time ago, my friend Monica told me about a magical place in Chinatown, where the dumplings come cheap, so I wrote it down on my Hype List. Today I went to that magical place, and it was everything I thought it would be and more. That place was called, Prosperity Dumpling.
Seriously, this place was amazing. Five dumplings for a dollar, my entire meal cost as much as my train fare. In fact, this place is so cheap that I'm sure you could buy everything on their menu for 20 bucks...seriously. You might wonder how a business like this makes money. Well, Monica also told me of the time she ordered 400 dumplings. Yelp has them at 4.5/5 stars from 1220 reviewers, I'm just sayin.
At first glance, this place is not much to look at. The interior isn't much better. The only reassuring things about this image is the little girl looking through the window, and grade A health inspection certificate (because Asians always get good grades, duh).
Here's a shot of the interior. The seating is on my left and right, both sides have about 2-3 bar stools up against a bar table. Oh look, it's the girl from the window. Despite the crowd, there was almost no wait time. Everyone was in and out of the store in seconds. I'm also not sure why all the women in this photo are standing while the men are sitting. Coincidence? I think not.
Prosperity Dumpling's entire staff is composed of Asian women (insert witty comment about women and kitchens). I'm not here to judge their hiring policies or what kind of crowd they are trying to cater to. If they wanna play maid cafe, I'm totally okay with that.
The reason they can get their customers in and out so fast is because of the level of efficiency they got going on. Their entire staff memorizes every item on the menu by a number, and customers order with numbers. This bypasses any language barrier that might exist. I ordered a 6 and a 17 (5x fried chives and pork dumplings, and a sesame seed Pancake with Peking duck). After a customer places their order, the cashier screams the numbers out, and the people in the back bag it up for you. As you can see they make the dumplings before hand, and keep them on a heated wok. Usually this method isn't very effective, but when you have a constant stream of customers, the dumplings don't have enough time to sit and get soggy.
The sesame seed pancake is huge. Probably the size of a large slice of pizza. The outside is crispy and is covered with sesame seeds and the inside is soft. If that wasn't good enough, they then cut it in half and stuff it with delicious shredded Peking duck, shredded carrots, and rough chopped scallions. They also have some Chinese parsley in there, which I usually don't like, but there wasn't enough for me to taste it. For something that is only a $1.75, they don't skimp on the duck. I mean seriously, Hot pockets are more expensive than this with less filling.
Now the star of the show. I went to a nearby park, and had my way with these delicious dumplings. Believe me, these are no Ling Ling dumplings, even though I love me some Ling Ling. I would have to say these are second only to my grandpa's dumplings. That's saying something considering my grandpa makes everything from scratch, from the home grown chives, to handmade dough. No worries, he gets the pork from the local butcher. It would be nice if they had the option of frying them in chili-sesame seed oil, but that's more of a personal preference. Keep in mind this cost a dollar.
The pork filling was still juicy, and the outside was very crisp. There really isn't much more that needs to be said. Did I mention these are only a dollar?
Edit 11.30.16
Prosperity Dumplings is no more unfortunately. Was shut down for health reasons. Apparently they were doing their prep work in the back alley, with rats running around at their feet occasionally. They tried to relocate, but never got off the ground. Source.