(Photo by Marissa Rubenstein)

Dish of the Week: Bao

Where to Find It: People’s Bao, Wow Bao, Taco Bao, Copycat Co, Da Hong Pao, Toki Underground, Bao Dacious , Bar Bao

There is something addicting about bao, the Chinese steambun that has been popping up on menus with more regularity throughout D.C. in recent months. Made from a slightly sweet dough called mantou, the perfect bao is soft, warm, traditionally round, and typically stuffed to the brim with pork and vegetables. Like most dishes, bao are best when eaten piping hot and straight from the bamboo steamer from whence they came.

Most District residents have probably heard the word bao thanks to the dearly departed Bao Bao, the baby panda born at the National Zoo back in 2013. But her name meant “treasure,” not double the steambuns.

Also known as baozi, bao are a wildly popular street food in China, where eaters want easily portable buns for a quick breakfast on the go. As the Chinese diaspora has migrated across the globe, these tasty buns have migrated with them. In Malaysia, they call their steam buns pau and stuffed them with chicken or beef curry. In the Philippines there is siopao chock full of pork adobo or sometimes chocolate and cheese, and in Hawaii you can chow down on manapua, steamed and filled with barbecued pork or bean paste.

In D.C., the bao options are as equally diverse and as equally delicious. The team behind the People’s Bao Food truck (check their Twitter for their location), a roving temple to this straight forward dish, serve up a selection that includes portabella, duck confit, and heritage pork buns all of which can be enjoyed with a side of bone broth. For those looking to supplement their bao with many rounds of dim sum, Da Hong Pao (1409 14th St. NW) has the pork-filled steambuns of your dreams while the team behind Copycat Co. (1110 H St. NE) offers beef and vegetable bao to their cocktail conscious customers.

The buns themselves are highly versatile, which means the fillings that D.C. chefs have concocted to fill them have become equally diverse. Wow Bao, a chain that started in Chicago but now also occupies space in Reagan National Airport, cooks up a six pack that involves Mongolian beef, whole wheat vegetable, and Thai chicken curry. The Taco Bao Smoke Shop pop up at The Public Option (1601 Rhode Island Ave. NW) adds a Korean flare to their barbecued pork Seoulja bao and smoked mushroom bao felicia. This is all in addition to the incredible fried chicken bao at Toki Underground (1234 H St. NE), or the chicken pineapple teriyaki at Bao Dacious (50 Massachusetts Ave. NW) outside of Union Station. For something even further from tradition, go for the fried avocado or bulgogi cheesesteak fillings at the new Bar Bao (3121 Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA).

Previously on Dish Of The Week:
Stop And Taste The Rose
Beat The Humidity With Cold Noodles
Diving Into Seafood Towers
Grilled And Smoky Asparagus
Cool Off With A Caipirinha