Vanessa blends, blands

[imomus]

Five years ago, when I lived on Orchard Street, down at the Chinatown end, I discovered a newly-opened dumpling shop at 118 Eldridge Street so incredibly cheap and tasty that it became an almost daily stop on my scooter-trails around the city (I was caught up in the Razor craze of 2000).

Vanessa Weng spoke just enough English to compliment me on the colour co-ordination of my eye-patches; the rest of her staff spoke none. Vanessa’s dumplings were Beijing style; it was here that I heard snatches of Beijing opera wafting from the back room, and, intrigued by the mannered vocal inflections, settled on the idea of making an oriental-sounding album (it was recorded in Tokyo and released as “Oskar Tennis Champion”; you can read about the moment I decided to make it in My muse has the right to children).

Dumpling House (site of so many of my happy New York memories, and also haunted by melancholy ghosts) is still there, still offering five dumplings for a dollar and ten for two. It still has its beautifully generic name, beautifully functional décor (zinc shelves, hot sauce, everything organized around the cauldrons where the dumplings are) and its non-English-speaking staff. The chef is a Buddhist; his favourite T-shirt, sky blue, sports a quotation from the Dalai Lama.

“And what dumplings they are!” exclaims the Tenement Museum’s website. “Fried to perfection in giant cast-iron skillets, their charred, crispy bottoms and perfectly cooked tops yield a treasure trove of succulent pork and scallions within. A smattering of soy sauce and a dash of hot sauce and a perfect snack awaits your gullet.

“If dumplings are not your preferred snack, order one of the sesame pancakes with beef. A sandwich made of the bread like sesame pancake, anise flavored beef, cilantro, carrots and various sauces, the taste is unlike anything you've ever tried- unless you've been to Beijing.”

Well, Vanessa Weng has expanded. She has a new place on 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. Vanessa’s Dumpling, it’s called. And I’m sad to report that it completely fails to capture the magic of the original Dumpling House.



I learned about Vanessa’s Dumpling from Vanessa herself. She was standing next to me in the Asian Convenient Store on 3rd, turned round and said “You my customer, right? Remember me? Now have new dumpling house on 14th Street!” She handed me a leaflet.

When I visited Vanessa’s Dumpling yesterday, Vanessa was stressed. The computerised tills were giving her young staff some headaches. She didn’t seem to notice me. I asked for five dumplings and a sesame pork pancake – or rather, P3 and D1, as they appeared on the ugly, computer-printed menu board. The dumplings were twice as expensive (five for $1.99 instead of five for a dollar) and only half as tasty. Perhaps they no longer recycle the cooking fat, or perhaps the skillets don’t yet have the necessary patina. Perhaps the Tibetan cook opted to stay in Chinatown. Worse still, the sesame pancake had turned into a hamburger! No longer a triangular slice of bread, it was literally a sesame-sprinkled hamburger bun! It still tasted better than any hamburger, though, but not quite as good as it tastes on Eldridge Street. And more expensive.

On 14th Street, Vanessa has expanded… and lost focus. She’s added sushi and hibachi, clunking up the décor with Japanese-style maneki nekko cats. She no longer sells soy milk. The handwritten, handmade, beautifully functional zinc style of the old place has gone, along with the old Cantonese-speaking clientele. The couple next to me were speaking Spanish.

As I chewed my hamburger bun, I wondered if Vanessa’s was “an American story”, a story of immigration and assimilation. You arrive, offering something like they do it back home, in an atmosphere which almost captures the old country. You make a fortune, your dumplings sell like hot cakes. Then you branch out, and bland out. Your new scale forces you to compromise, to lose the flavour you had, the flavour of elsewhere. You lose the rough edges, but with them goes the charm, the taste, the quirks, the personality. You rent a more expensive space, and your prices go up. What you gain in scalability you lose in personality.

I know; I’ve been a small business myself, and when I wanted to expand, I planned to get bland; to work with session musicians, to adopt the prevalent commercial style, to use standard marketing agents and presentation formats…

When is diversification not diversification? When you abandon what made you diverse in the first place. When is enrichment impoverishment? When you abandon the virtues that poverty brought with it, virtues that are one part luck, one part inverse snobbery in the eye of the beholder, virtues that reveal the secret generosity of meanness: the re-used cooking oil, the high-density space, the dirty old Chinatown street with its view nevertheless framing the Chrysler Building in the distance.

I read somewhere that something like 25% of all American immigrants passed through the Lower East Side during the 20th century, passed through and moved on, blanded out, merged in. Is Vanessa Weng doing the same? Is hers “an American story”?

Comments

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinated by how things lose flavour in America. And I think it's because the French saying "money has no odour" is a lie; in fact money does have a flavour, an odour, one that dominates all others. Or perhaps it's an "odour-eater"?

[(Anonymous)]

I think that you're exactly right. Diversification often leads to mass manufacture which eliminates the recycling of cooking oils and accumulation of patina that you speak of. I am an incredible snob about this... patronizing one-of-a-kind businesses to the point of wandering around hungry, and my friends nag me about it all the time. Maneki nekko cats are a good barometer, but they have been misleading on occasion. You just need to get out of Manhattan at lunch hour. There's a wonderful Asian place in Williamsburg called Miyako at the corner of Berry and 6th. All the decorative cliches are in full effect, but the food is sooooo good.

[peripherus-max.livejournal.com]

oops... didn't mean to post anonymously. :) That was me above.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_maldorora/]

i'll be in nyc in about a month for the first time since August 2001...we always gravitate about the lower east side and the bowery, esp mott street. i've been planning the trip this am, my memory salivating over tibetan momos. reading this just compounded the desire for dumplings, even though i'm not normally a fan of chinese ones or dim sum.....i'll have to check out the Eldridge location.

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

I hope Vanessa finds her rhythm again. My sympathies that you have lost a place you loved, but it sounds like one of the American Stories to me.

There is a Vietnamese restaurant called Hoa Bién a few miles from my home that was a wonderfully cheap best-kept-secret sort of place; six tables made of plywood, craterous parking lot, giant steaming bowls of Phó with fresh herbs, illegible handmade poster at the ordering counter with pictures of people who appeared to be war vets from the Vietnamese War, not the American forces.

This year they closed and rebuilt, and now have what appears to be a cultural center as well as a restaurant. Instead of an urban shack, it's two stories, and made to the proportions and style of traditional Vietnamese architecture, evidently in partnership with a realty company that is interested in redeveloping this fairly seedy part of town. But that's unusual.



other refs to this particular American Story:
http://tcsidewalks.blogspot.com/2005/11/stp-hoa-bien-mea-culpa.html
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards/midwest/messages/30879.html

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should stress that I haven't lost the place I love -- the original Dumpling House continues where it always was, with the same ridiculously cheap prices it had five years ago.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Another thing that interests me is the way all the prices in the original dumpling house are in round dollars. It's so convenient just handing over dollar bills, with no need for change! So quick! Yet all the prices in the new place are something .99. Fiddly change. Of course, the trick is that .99 prices look cheaper, because you just look at the dollar figure, not the cents one. And also, of course, if you're given fiddly change, you might deposit some in the tips jar (something else the Eldridge Street place doesn't have -- Chinese people don't tip other Chinese people for dumplings). Yet the .99 trick hardly obscures the fact that the prices have actually been doubled. So American!

money has no odor

[(Anonymous)]

in fact, the saying's not french but latin, and was roman emperor titus flavius vespasians comment about his idea to raise a fee for the use of public toilets.

money has no odor

[kaipfeiffer.livejournal.com]

in fact, the saying's not french but latin, and was roman emperor titus flavius vespasians comment about his idea to raise a fee for the use of public toilets.

[(Anonymous)]

maybe it's because there is so much public to accomodate to. or, at least so much middle class. I wonder if it works this way in China.

it does leave lots of room for cultual microclimates, too, but when they're exposed, it's safer to revert to dockers, television, and vinyl siding for protective coloration. otherwise one's in danger of using irony with strangers.

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

well, that's a comfort.

I think the different pricing structure (.99) reflects a different philosophy, and possibly a marketing class.

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't it just that success and popularity does this to business and to people? Especially when the rent prices in chinatown and the rent prices on 14th differ so much, its hard to argue with the price change.

"When is diversification not diversification? When you abandon what made you diverse in the first place."

By diverse do you mean wnat she should be? Or what she is? Her business practices? or her race? It seems unlear?

Re: money has no odor

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

in fact, the saying's not french but latin, and was roman emperor titus flavius vespasians comment about his idea to raise a fee for the use of public toilets.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

Sounds to me like Vanessa's is a capitalist story.

[(Anonymous)]

"I read somewhere that something like 25% of all American immigrants passed through the Lower East Side during the 20th century, passed through and moved on, blanded out, merged in."

That's what Americans are _supposed_ to do when they become citizens: merge, not set up little balkanized ethnic enclaves. If you want authentic Chinese anything, go to China (where, unfortunately, it's looking more like an American strip mall every day).

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

Although expansion doen't need to equal destruction. There is a famous cafe in North Beach, Cafe Trieste, which has opened a branch around the corner from my house and I'm quite pleased.
It is every bit as overpriced as the original and Papa Gianni is often there chcking on the patrons going from table to table. And He still sings opera and italian standards on sunday nights.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

merge, not set up little balkanized ethnic enclaves.

I heard some right wing whack job on a screaming heads show say something like this last night. "It's fine if mexicans come here as long as they try to set up thier own little countries whitin our countries." What are these people afraid of? I mean besides the '06 elections.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

as they [don't] try to set

Procrustean Dumpling

[(Anonymous)]

Let Vanessa change as she will. She would allow you as much, and with less crit, I am sure.

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

It is a big dilemma to figure out what to do and what you shouldn't do to keep what attracted others to whatever you do and in the same time develop yourself in the way you want to develop. Who to follow, yourself or the appreciators?

Re: money has no odor

[kaipfeiffer.livejournal.com]

in fact, my french has an odour

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

the fact that the original shop still exists is a blurring of space and time that i enjoy thinking about. the photos of the two shop exteriors say a lot.

maybe one will influence the other. it's still a new place.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

The whole renovation/relocation/expansion in an effort to attract a more affluent clientelle/make more money is such complicated issue. On the one hand, I have to say that at least on a personal level, these efforts usually backfire in the way they have for you with the expansion of Dumpling House (btw, I too am a regular customer and had no idea about the new outpost!). I was recently talking to the owner of a new (actually, relocated) Mexican restaurant on Allen St. below Delancey who was telling me how he wanted to put in big screen TVs, and how he was going to do a "gourmet" burrito, to attract all of the affluent young people in the neighborhood, and I wanted to tell him (as a representative of that demographic even though I'm not that affluent, but I am relatively) that he should just do tacos and margaritas and have half the space and he would make a killing.

But on the other hand, I feel like there is a certain exoticizing of immigrant culture/food that comes along with wanting cheap delicious no atmosphere places to stay that way (which I am guilty of as well). I mean, really, it is absolutely absurd how cheap Dumpling House is, and you know that there is no way that the people who work there are making anything near a living wage. Yet it is these conditions -- the bare bonesness of it all, the fact that we feel like we are getting a glimpse into another culture (that sets the price of their labor way lower than what I would be prepared to pay) -- that in many ways comes off as "charm" or "authenticity" -- and in desiring those things, I think one may run the risk of implicitly advocating the ghettoization of immigrant businesses -- that is, only accepting them when their food is dirt cheap/way underpriced, only accepting them when the decor I barebones, etc. It's a tough issue that I struggle with....because ultimately I'm really glad that Dumpling House is still the way it is (even though they got a face lift about a year ago)!

Also, the spread of dumplings places these days it crazy. They are like the new pizza parlors! I recently did a taste test of 8 of them and summarized the results in a post which you might enjoy:

Dumpling Taste Off (http://never-the-less.livejournal.com/329136.html)

And since then I've found three more (well, two more and one that is soon to be opening)!

myspace/camera lucida

[genghiscohen.livejournal.com]

A late thought to add to the lingering after-death myspace issue. From Camera Lucida by Barthes:

"I have been photographed a thousand times; but if these thousand photographs have each 'missed' my air (and perhaps, after all, I have none?), my effigy will perpetuate (for the limited time the paper [profile] lasts) my identity, not my value."

Thanks for posing for a picture with me at the Whitney last Sunday. I really enjoyed your performance, it spiced things up in the Biennial nicely. Rest (un)assured that the picture taken is perpetuating your value by way of identity.

Cheuk Kwan's Chinese Restaurants

[maybeimdead.livejournal.com]

There is a series of films on Chinese restaurants around the world which you may be interested in, by Cheuk Kwan.



http://www.filmwest.com/Catalogue/itemdetail/3024/

99 cents' worth!

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, am bored so just swung by to say that pricing with a .99 ensures cashiers will actually put the money into the till, which is a prime consideration when a business moves from small, family-run operation to a business with outside hires and the responsibilities that go along. From some of the responses here I'd be tempted to think few posters are familiar with the sheer startup costs of retail like this, or how people miight have to adapt at expansion. The .99 or similar exsts in all countries with a decimal currency to trick the mind into cheapness.

Still, I'd say the people in the East Village can handle a measly twodalah for their dumplings. Only a pennypinching Scot would complain ;-).

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

Of course, that doesn't always work! When I see "fiddly change," I just get mad and never come back.

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

I agree with you; ethnic enclaves are a natural part of immmigration, as long as there is the group moving is large enough. Also, these enclaves often become important parts of US culture (I mean, look at San Francisco's Chinatown. Just look at San Francisco.)

Though I must say our country does risk some cultural conflict.

Re: myspace/camera lucida

[fusis.livejournal.com]

where was the original discussion of myspace after death?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_greengrass/]

I wrote a short essay that quoted your song. http://blog.myspace.com/53426486

Re: Procrustean Dumpling

[ataxi.livejournal.com]

I agree.

"style of the old place has gone, along with the old Cantonese-speaking clientele"

I guess those clientele should have been cloned for the new place. They probably rock up to "Vanessa's Dumpling" and complain about the lack of the guy with the eyepatch.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

ethnic enclaves are a natural part of immmigration

Exactly, Chinatowns, Japantowns, Little Italys ...

I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 60's. Plenty of enclaves. Polish, Russian , Jewish. I had Italian friends who's grandparents didn't speak a word of english. They didn't have to. They grew grapes and made wine. Yes Pittsburgh Chianti. I don't understand the idea of instant assimilation. I don't think it's possible or neccessary. What's the rush?

Re: myspace/camera lucida

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Committing MySpacecide (http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70717-0.html?tw=rss.index).

[(Anonymous)]

No one suggested "instant assimilation". My landlord is Chinese, and has lived in the US since the early '60s, but he can barely speak English. Who does that benefit, and who does it hold back? How can he vote intelligently if he can't understand the issues? How can he serve on a jury or do any one of the hundreds of other things that Americans need to do? And he's hardly alone; there are countless others like him in Chinatown.

I think you may be confusing an aesthetic/exotic appreciation of places like American Chinatowns with the need for Chinese immigrants to equally contribute to creating America. Or would you rather have had the Italian, Irish, German and other waves of immigrants over the past 200 or so years still living in their own isolated communities, speaking only their native tongues? Cause that's what you find in Chinatown.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

No one suggested "instant assimilation"

No one in this thread perhaps but it is quite a common theme in current the immigration invasion scare.

How can he vote intelligently if he can't understand the issues?

Ballots printed in his native language. Television, radio, newspapers and websites again in his native language. He could be excused from jury duty and as for "the hundreds of other things" you might have to enumerate them. But please don't.

...aesthetic/exotic appreciation of places like American Chinatowns

"American Chinatowns" and other like communities are vibrant and essential parts of American life. I do not view them as novelties as you seen to imply.

Or would you rather have had the Italian, Irish, German and other waves of immigrants over the past 200 or so years still living in their own isolated communities, speaking only their native tongues?

As I have already explained I grew up in places like this and continue to live in a multilingual multiracial area.

No, these things do not frighten me.

[(Anonymous)]

i think it's in all over the world. when the people want 2 make more $. most of them will try 2 please their customers, it's better say that they try to think about what they like and not keep their own unique taste. specially in other countries, they have to change their recipe.it's so sad! same like in hong kong, we have different kind of currie. for me i only love indian currie because of their unique spices that nothing can replace. so i go to "chung king manson" for my favorite curry even there's a dirty place with full of ethnic smell. but that's the whole thing. i feels like i'm in bombay. i also can have the homemade fast food in a little african shop. they never try to change for the customers. people easy 2 get lost when they leave their hometown. specially 4 their identity.
p.s. i love dumpling, specially the one in beijing =)

[(Anonymous)]

They don't frighten me either.

But I do think it's really ironic that the same Americans who think that it's hunky-dory for there to be ethnic enclaves in the US are the very same people who would jump to criticize the Americans who even visit France or Japan or wherever and expect the natives to accomodate their English-only skills, or who decry the Americanization of the rest of the world (i.e., McDonalds in Tibet). But I guess that American liberal political correctness only applies against other WASPS, huh?

[kaperkat.livejournal.com]

As an ABC, I am usually too self-conscious about my terrible Cantonese to get to know the dumpling people as well as you seem to. I know just enough to order my 10/$2 worth.

I usually head to FRIED DUMPLING (99 Allen St) before Bowery shows. It's a bit further from BB than Dumpling House, but it's close to the bus stop, so I can't complain.

I wish I had a more extensive vocab to get Chinatown restaurants to stop using Styrofoam takeout containers, and switch to bio-plastic, but that would be too difficult for one person and make the dumplings more expensive for everybody.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

Goodnight. Don't let the foreigners bite.

[beverlyhillscop.livejournal.com]

Comparing enclaves of foreign migrants with tourists in foreign countries is a ridiculous argument. If you're a guest in a country, of course you should make an effort to communicate in the local language and observe local customs of politeness. Migrants aren't guests, though. America is a supposedly free country, and these lawful citizens should be free to speak whatever language they choose.

Re: myspace/camera lucida

[genghiscohen.livejournal.com]

one of momus' Wired columns

[(Anonymous)]

"It still has its beautifully generic name, "

...exactly like the beautifully generic American signage you were calling ugly a few days ago. When the same thing is east Asian, you call it beautiful.

Japan good!
America bad!
Momus tiresome!

dumplings and vanessa

[(Anonymous)]

it bothered me when vanessa opened the place on 14th; but, now, after an adjustment period, I realize that the new location is more central to my normal comings and goings.

tonight I tried the habachi chicken...whatever...I think I will just stick to the dumplings and sesame pancakes from now on....

One thing I don't miss from the original place on eldridge...when vanessa is not around, some of the "boys" doing the cooking are complete, stingy assholes....try getting enough dumpling sauce with multiple orders for takeout....the fuckheads.....

anyway...i wish her luck and hope that she and her sisters (they are working in the new place) find a soulful core to the 14th street location over time.

b