Dim Sum at Red Pearl in Columbia

Roast pork and shu mai

The ingredients for brunch should be good food, a relaxed pace, and just enough chatter in the restaurant to energize the day.

Our new brunch find is Red Pearl in Columbia, where the dim sum feast became the official meal of the HowChow holidays -- Christmas Day, one weeknight, then New Year's Day again.  Steamed dumplings with barbecued pork.  Roasted duck.  Shrimp in rice noodle sheets.  I could grab dishes off each cart that passed by, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Red Pearl opened last year on the Columbia lakefront spot that used to be Jesse Wong's Hong Kong.  It's a modern space where they started with an authentic Sichuan menu that they've augmented since last summer.  The recent innovation was Hong-Kong-style dim sum with dumplings, roast meats and fabulous desserts.  You can order from a menu on weekdays -- even at dinner -- but the real drama is weekend brunch when waitresses push rolling carts.

Sesame balls

Bring a crew.  Most dishes have three or four pieces, so you can share a table of flavors.  For me, Red Pearl meets or exceeds the dim sum at Asian Court in Ellicott City or Oriental East in Silver Spring.  A large selection, and terrific classics like shu mai, sticky rice, steamed BBQ pork dumplings, and fried sesame balls.  The shrimp dumplings were filled with spinach and seafood that tasted fresh and sweet.

If Red Pearl beat out my old spots, it was because of unusual items like shrimp in rice noodles and roast pork with crispy skin -- a great texture considering that many dim sum can be starchy and soft. They even have special carts where a waitress crisped up chicken dumplings so that they hit our table sizzling.  After two full tables, I still haven't tried the soft tofu dessert or the black "sesame rolls" that I saw after gorging last weekend.

Dim sum can also be a parade of meat, so I'd highlight two vegetarian items -- the large plate of Chinese broccoli and the vegetable dumplings.  Those round dumplings have a delicate flavor  Ask the waitresses what they have on their cart.  Often, they'll just show you the best seller even though they have three or more items hidden in metal containers.  Ask for anything that you don't see.  We got the vegetable dumplings because a waitress went and found vegetarian items for us.

At least the last two weekends, it was a Chinese crowd in Red Pearl.   The glass dividers create private areas, but the restaurant chattered with energy.  (And it wasn't distracting because most of the conversation wasn't in a language that I don't understand.)  That suggests they're pleasing people with more dim sum knowledge than I have, although Red Pearl has disappointed some possible customers -- like HoCo Politico who left after waiting almost an hour for a table.  But I'd recommend a return for the dim sum.

(Update:  Check out the comments.  Min offered a new option in Wheaton, and Agauntpanda gave summaries of four local dim sum places.)

One oddity about the dim sum menu during the week.  Dinner prices are higher, even for some dishes like sticky rice where the serving size remains the same.  Maybe that's because a chef has to personally prepare each dish, but I wish Red Pearl would explain because it surprised us when we ate with my parents.  If you're looking for other Chinese food, click here for my 2010 write-up of Chinese restaurants in Howard County.


Red Pearl
10215 Wincopin Circle
Columbia, MD 21044
410-715-6530


Near: Red Pearl is on the lake across from the mall in Columbia Town Center.  From Little Patuxent Parkway, you turn into a large parking lot that says "restaurant parking."  Then you walk down to the lakefront.  The view is actually quite nice, and Red Pearl is between Sushi Sono and Clyde's.