A Better Way To Brunch
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Feb 6, 2006 8:31PM
Looking for a more adventurous breakfast than bacon and eggs? Tired of the forty minute wait at your local brunch spot? Chicagoist is here to tell you that there is a better way to brunch. The alternative we proffer is Dim Sum. And for those of us that live on the north side the best place to go, hands down, is Furama Restaurant.
Don't get us wrong, we love mimosas and eggs Benedict as much as the next guy or gal (probably more so), but standard brunch fare pales in comparison to the ritual of Dim Sum. Furama Restaurant (located at 4936 N. Broadway off the Argyle red line stop) takes up an entire building with a small downstairs restaurant and two spacious upstairs dining rooms.
What exactly is Dim Sum, you ask? Dim Sum ("Heart's Delight" in Cantonese) is both a kind of cuisine and a style of service – Chinese tapas without the menu. Steaming carts are pushed from table to table (in Furama's case by a legion of sullen teenagers), each cart carrying five to ten offerings. These range from the relatively mundane (though extremely delicious) steamed shrimp dumplings to the more exotic chicken feet (think chicken wings without the meat). A patron can simply point at whichever food they fancy and it will be put on their table with efficiency, if not a smile.
At least six carts are constantly traveling up and down the four main aisles of the dining room, giving all diners multiple opportunities to grab just one more item. The must haves of Dim Sum include Pork Siu Mai (pronounced shoe-my, meat dumplings wrapped in thin egg noodles), Turnip Cake (squares of pan-fried mashed turnip with bits of pork) and Fun Rolls (thick white noodles wrapped around either shrimp, beef or dough with a sweet soy based sauce poured on top). There are very few dishes for the vegetarians among us, so let them hog the Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (long thin stalks that resemble asparagus but are, in fact, broccoli). For dessert try the Egg Custard Tarts or the square towers of Coconut Pudding.
Most dishes cost between two and three dollars, making Dim Sum not just a less crowded experience than the typical brunch but a much cheaper one to boot. Dim Sum works extremely well with large groups of people, and the bill rarely tops eleven dollars per person. Furama serves Dim Sum until three o'clock on Sundays. The restaurant offers dim sum seven days a week, but in the smaller downstairs dining room and with far fewer (if any) carts. For an authentic Dim Sum experience without the forty-five minute train ride to Chinatown, go to Furama and you will leave fully satiated but not at all broke.
Images courtesy of and thanks go out to Caroline!.