Sichuan chicken dumplings from the new izakaya-inspired menu in the lounge at The Source. Photo by Rebecca Cooper Dish of the Week: Sichuan Chicken Dumplings
Where: The Source
The hot, tangy sauce served over “dan dan” noodles in China was Chef Scott Drewno’s inspiration for these dumplings ($8), which are just one of the nearly two dozen dishes gracing his new izakaya-inspired lounge menu at The Source. This being a Wolfgang Puck establishment, Drewno has brought the sophistication of dan dan up a few notches from its roots–a dish carried on bamboo poles and sold on the streets of Sichuan.
The dumplings, filled with chicken and topped with crushed peanut, combine these ingredients perhaps more familiar to a Western audience with the fiery traditional sauce born of pork, sichuan peppercorns, red chili peppers and pickled vegetables. The heat of the peppers is tempered by the juicy chicken and dumpling skin, while the pork base of the sauce and crushed peanuts add two more layers of flavor and texture to the dish.
Drewno’s lounge menu may be inspired by the Japanese izakayas (sake bars that are also known for their higher quality small plates to go along with after-work drinks) but its dishes are squarely Pan-Asian. The dumplings are Chinese-inspired, while short ribs ($10) are prepared Korean barbecue style over pickled kimchi. Braised ox tail and wild mushrooms top stir-fried Japanese udon ($12) and Vietnamese banh mi–made at this upscale lounge with country-style pate, natch–grace the “sandwiches and snacks” section of the menu ($9).
The new lounge menu, which launched last week, came to be after the restaurant spent its first couple of years trying to reconcile its upscale Asian fare in the restaurant with the more casual American fare in the lounge, Drewno said last week. “Most people were coming in for the Asian food, so I figured casual Asian is what people were looking for here,” Drewno said of the lounge. Vestiges of the classic American bar menu remain: the menu includes beef sliders ($8), bacon-wrapped scallops ($12) and spicy tuna tartare ($6). The lounge also offers a range of sakes, shochus and Japanese beers, and includes a happy hour special on the food: $20.10 for any three items on the menu between 4 and 6 p.m.
