Leading up to our annual Best of Dallas® issue, we're counting down the 50 most interesting restaurants in Dallas. These spots bring something unique or compelling to the city's dining scene, feeding both your appetite and soul. Find more interesting places on our all-new Best Of app for iTunes or Android.
If you haven't been to Jeng Chi since April of this year, then you haven't been to Jeng Chi. The Chinese restaurant known for its Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings, moved a few doors south in the same shopping plaza a few months ago. Richardson's "China Town" has always been a dining destination for those looking for Sichuan dishes, dim sum and other Asian delicacies, but Jeng Chi has only added to the appeal with their new open kitchen and expanded dumpling menu.
Now, when you wonder aloud about the dumpling's origins you only need to look toward the back of the dining room. A glass partition keeps the curious and hungry from drooling on the cutting boards as workers crimp dumpling after dumpling into perfect parcels filled with meat, fish and other fillings.
It's the soup, or "juicy," dumplings that will keep you coming back to Richardson. They explode in your mouth with warm broth and a tiny meatball. There are vegetable dumplings filled with mung bean noodles, cabbage and tofu, pork dumplings, fish dumplings and chicken dumplings, too. There are lobster dumplings, which will set you back $12, but most run just $6 making Jeng Chi a decent way to dine on a budget. Actually, it's a great place to dine, period.
No. 50: Joyce and Gigi's No. 49: East Hampton Sandwich Co.No. 48: 20 Feet Seafood Joint No. 47: Taj Chaat House No. 46: Mot Hai Ba No. 45: La Nueva Fresh and Hot No. 44: Pera Turkish Kitchen No. 43: Tom's Burgers and Grill No. 42: Mughlai No. 41: Russian Banya No. 40: Off-Site Kitchen No. 39: Bachman Lake Taqueria No. 38: Carbone's No. 37: Babe's No. 36: Barbacoa Estilo Hidalgo No. 35: Zaguan No. 34: Royal Sichuan No. 33: Spoon No. 32: Bambu No. 31: Pecan Lodge No. 30: FT33 No. 29: Keller's Drive-In No. 28: La Pasadita No. 27: Ten Bells Tavern No. 26: El Ranchito No. 25: Cafe Urbano No. 24: Nova
