Dim Sum Restaurant on Central Closes
KRISTEN WILE The bright jaundiced polarity with crimson letter has been a regular on Central Avenue for years, inviting passersby to come inside the nondescript build and enjoy some blur union. For 21 years, Dim Sum served up small plates and soft-shell clam baskets wax of dumplings, buns, and other bite-sized do. They besides had an across-the-board menu of large plates—stir fries, noodles, and hot pot dishes .
now, a black and white sign on the door stops athirst diners in their tracks, informing them that the Plaza-Midwood landmark has closed as of Monday, March 13. According to the sign, the owner of Dim Sum will not renew the abridge for the restaurant ‘s lease .
KRISTEN WILE
Owner Yee Kam opened Dim Sum in 1996 with respective cooks who had learned their craft in Hong Kong. Yee is a native of Hong Kong, and therefore Dim Sum specialized in Cantonese cuisine, which comes from the nearby Guangdong province. The restaurant had recently undergone a renovation that gave the interior a more mod expect .
The market adjacent doorway appears to still be open—at least for the meter being. Attempts to contact the commercialize and Yee for this floor were unsuccessful .
At Dim Sum, the more adventurous could enjoy dishes such as jellyfish and chicken feet in total darkness bean sauce, while the fooling Chinese food connoisseur could dine at the lapp table with something more accessible, such as zhou fun noodles. At Dim Sum, Charlotte diners could get a flat coat on just how many taiwanese dumplings there are—from the type of wrapping to the homework to the filling inside.
“ Dim sum was one of the first base restaurants that I went to when I first moved to the the states ; I was 13 years erstwhile at the meter, ” says Bryan Li, owner of Pisces restaurant in Midtown. His first inflict to Dim Sum was in 1999. “ It has always been particular to me because it reminded me of home ( I ‘m from Hong Kong ). My family had countless of meals there, my girlfriend and I had one of our first dates there. It is deplorable to see Dim Sum closing its doors ; [ it ] has been a huge landmark of that neighborhood and I ‘m grateful for everything it has given us over the years. ”
While not inevitably on par with some of the observe blur summarize restaurants in San Francisco or New York, Dim Sum decidedly offered Charlotte diners something other than standard Southern fare or steaks and burgers. The restaurant ‘s closure leaves a ample culinary hole for a city of closely 1 million ; those who crave dim sum can look to Dragon Court, run by one of the former owners of Dim Sum, or chase The Dumpling Lady devour in her food truck. The cafeteria inside Super G and Grand Asia supermarkets are another—though limited—option .
Dim Sum ‘s kitchen made a distribute of things by hand, one of the factors that influenced Yee Kam ‘s decision to close the restaurant. Her core staff is at retiring old age, and finding replacements that were will to do the hard sour in the kitchen was proving ambitious. “ We do everything by hand. It ‘s besides much sour ; you have to love what you ‘re doing, ” says Yee.
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The rent contract expiring in April seemed like the right time for her to pivot. “ I ‘ve been doing this for 21 years ; that ‘s commodity adequate, ” she says about the restaurant. Yee had besides been pursuing another commercial enterprise venture for several years, but was waiting what for the right location to become available. Having now found the justly distance, she’ll be opening a high-end pinpoint bar in the Park Road Courtyard shop center on the Park Road extension, near Anna ‘s Alterations. The nail salon, which will be called “ The Nail Bar, ” is slated to open sometime in June or July .
“ Tell the customers if they miss me to come see me over there, okay ? ” says Yee .
