Alison Cook: Trendy Dumpling won’t go viral, but its Sichuan food found a warm place in my heart

There is a warm space in my heart for the capable restaurant that chugs along month in and month out, delivering good-quality food to its happy regulars. Such a place may not be the stuff of excitable listicles and viral Instagram posts. It may not be the toast of the fickle food-blogging community, who descend and move on. But restaurants like these make a city work, fuel and restore its citizens, remind us that certain things can be counted on in this messy, reeling life. Trendy Dumpling immediately took shape for me as such a godsend when I took out a whole constellation of dishes recently, looking to feed a group of old friends. Every single dish was good. A few were great. I could sense the mood at our communal table lifting as we talked and laughed and went back for seconds, even a few thirds. There was a pandemic on and a war brewing, but for the moment, we were happy and well-fed, maybe even a little optimistic. Why had it taken me so long to check out the 3-year-old Trendy Dumpling? Part of it was my simple aversion to “trendy” as a food concept; and my sneaking suspicion that a combo of the dumpling arts with ever-popular Sichuan cuisine might be a forced marriage, or a Hail Mary. The restaurant was converted from a more conventional Sichuan restaurant by the owners of Spicy Girl, the previous occupant of the space. Another factor keeping me away was the lack of a patio or any sidewalk tables. Trendy Dumpling occupies a corner slot of one of those long strip centers that line the south side of the Southwest Freeway between Buffalo Speedway and Weslayan. It’s hemmed in by narrow parking lots and tightly packed storefronts that make patio culture difficult, if not impossible. Even so, the restaurant has earned a place in my personal rotation by virtue of its food quality and adeptness with takeout. Their online ordering was down that evening, but I was able to order over the phone. When I arrived to pick up my order — one of a slew of them waiting on the bar counter on a bustling Friday evening — it was neatly packed and ready to go. Where do I even start unpacking the joys and satisfactions of this dinner? I’d have to start with the eggplant in garlic sauce, its softly caramelized logs of baby eggplant in a slightly sweet glaze studded with chopped scallion, minced garlic and snippets of bright red chile. I have daydreamed about it ever since. Same goes for the aptly named Amazing Spicy Shrimp, the plump dry-fried shellfish dusted with a five-spicy powder that posed the numbing Szechuan peppercorn tingle (ma) against a rubble of chile-pod heat (la). Slivers of fresh ginger sliced through, and sesame seeds added a little pop. The batter-free dish even survived a 20-minute trip and a 10-minute unboxing-and-plating process in great shape. Cabbage is an underutilized vegetable, and Trendy Dumpling does a nice job with its stir-fried version, which is bathed in a savory broth and lit up by a few dried red chiles and a little garlic, plus some lightning bolts of fresh ginger. Like the eggplant in garlic sauce, this cabbage is a great resting place for your palate in concert with spicier dishes. A friend recommended the Peking Duck. I was skeptical — the exacting Northern dish is usually best left to specialists, in my experience — but darned if Trendy Dumpling’s version didn’t ring the right bells, from slices of tender meat rimmed by crisp-ish, savory skin, to exceptionally thin pancakes folded into a flower shape so intricate that they were hilariously difficult to detach. It was a credible effort, including the pleasant duck stir-fry that came as a second course. You can opt for three, but we skipped the soup course — mainly because my heart was set on the hot and sour soup, one of my diagnostic dishes in a Hunan or Sichuan restaurant. Trendy’s version was deeply salty and savory up front, with the rice vinegar tang and chile heat chiming in at the end. But what about the dumplings at Trendy Dumpling, I hear you objecting. They didn’t really go with our meal, but I did score an order of three pork bao to re-steam at home. Trendy’s website brags on the chef’s bao skills, I happen to love the fluffy comforts and heft of the form, and I think the quality of the barbecue-style pork filling can tell you a lot about a kitchen. In this case, it did. I can’t remember when I have had such juicy, carefully cubed nuggets of pork inside a bao, or a sweetish hoisin glaze that so carefully kept its place, without overwhelming the meat and fluffed dough. Without really meaning to, I consumed one after another after another with my morning coffee, until not a single bao remained. alison.cook@chron.com

Alison Cook: Trendy Dumpling won’t go viral, but its Sichuan food found a warm place in my heart

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