For me, this one is a no-brainer – assuming you’re willing to go for a late breakfast. Because, technically speaking, Ping Pang Pong in the Gold Coast serves a "Dim Sum Lunch." But that "lunch" starts at 10:00 am. (It runs through 3:00 pm.)
This place has a special place in my heart because it was there that I first met with my fellow food critics John Curtas and Max Jacobson to discuss the idea for what would become our book, Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants. John and I allowed Max to choose the meeting place. And since he's undeniably the town's leading expert on Asian food, I wasn't surprised that he opted to meet over dim sum. But since I'd never been to Ping Pang Pong, I was a little taken aback when he chose a restaurant in the Gold Coast casino rather than one of the many hole-in-the-wall Chinatown joints he loves so much. After tasting their dim sum, however, I understood.
The restaurant is run by Carrie Wu and her husband. And the dim sum is served from carts rolled from table to table. If you know your dim sum, you'll recognize dishes like baak go, cheung fan and turnip cakes. (And most people should have no problem recognizing the chicken feet). But even beginners will have fun just pointing to things that look tasty.
As you might guess, Ping Pang Pong was chosen as one of the 50 "essential" restaurants we included in our book -- which required unanimous consent. John called it "the best dim sum in town, period." And Max, who has lived throughout Asia and covered Asian cuisine for the L.A. Times for over a decade, called the restaurant "the closest you’ll come to Hong Kong in Vegas."
If you want a place outside of the casinos, Chang’s Hong Kong Cuisine at 4670 S. Decatur Blvd. is a popular spot. They offer a dim sum brunch from 10:30 am to 3 pm. And while nobody at LVA has been there in a while, in 2005 we began our review by saying "This is Las Vegas’ place for dim sum." The review went on to say, "On any given day, the selection doesn’t match what you’d find in the San Francisco or Vancouver Chinatown shops, but the standards—shrimp har gow, pork siu mai, steamed buns, chicken’s feet, spring rolls, etc.—served from wheeled carts are all present."
Finally, if you’re a dim sum beginner, and just want to sample a few items along with other Chinese dishes, I highly recommend Beijing Noodle No. 9 at Caesars Palace. It's another one of our 50 "essential" restaurants, set in a beautiful bright room that makes it feel like you’re eating inside of a fish bowl. As the name implies, noodles are the house specialty here. But there is a small section of dim sum that includes ha-gow, noodle-wrapped steamed shrimp, and shu mai filled with pork. Also, while they’re technically not dim sum, being Shanghai rather than Cantonese in origin, the soup dumplings are excellent. Unfortunately, since they don’t open their doors until 11 am, you’d be hard pressed to call this a breakfast spot.
So sleep in (after all, this is Las Vegas and you were probably out late having fun) and try one of these places for a dim sum wakeup meal.
