Anyone notice a change in Mama Ji's dim sum (due to a chef departure)?

Question

I've yet to try Mama Ji's (unwilling to suspend my disbelief in good dim sum in the Castro, perhaps) and now may never. Just learned today their dim sum chef (who I've met a couple of time through a friend) has departed for greener pastures in... Hayward.

My friend couldn't recall the name of the place he is cooking at now -- any guesses?

Answer

We went to Mama Ji's for Mother's Day brunch (which seems like eons ago) and while the food was okay, I recall not feeling much "ethnic depth" to the dim sum that we ordered. In fairness to the Mama Ji's previous chef, we did order very simple dim sum for my non-dim sum-eating mother-in-law: pork and chicken shumai, Shanghai dumplings (XLB), steamed spareribs with black bean sauce, bun/bao, pot stickers, turnip dumplings and maybe a noodle dish and glutinous rice of some kind.

Unfortunately, my Mama Ji's experience was overshadowed by a weird bad smell which, my fellow Mother's Day diners pointed out to me later, was the sweaty body odor of the main server.

Answer

I live a couple blocks away. Husband and I went in for dinner tonight in the midst of canning 40 lbs of tomatoes. It's good enough for dinner in the neighborhood, but I wouldn't recommend it as a destination.

It did feel like there had been a chef change. We have been big fans of the "spicy cold noodles" in the past. Previously, it was made with what seemed to be a fresh wheat noodle (might not have been made in house, but at least boiled from a fresh dough). This time, it seemed to have been made from a dried egg noodle, much thinner and more curly. The toppings still made for a satisfying dish, but definitely a different one.

Also got dry fried green beans, cucumbers in chili oil, and beef dumplings. All capable, but not exceptional. Would have preferred if the cucumbers were smashed, the beef dumplings a little more heavily spiced.

The Belgian beer selection is nice. It's still a good option in the vicinity of Castro Street, but if you've already got a favorite Chinese restaurant, I wouldn't take MUNI for it.

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Anyone notice a change in Mama Ji's dim sum (due to a chef departure)?

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