Asian Court in Ellicott City got a very positive review from Richard Gorelick in the Sun this morning.
Gorelick liked almost every dish that he ate. We need to check the place again for the regular Chinese menu after going there only for dim sum.
Gorelick needs to go back and ask the owners some questions again. They appear to have told him that they opened Asian Court two years ago. He mentions he hopes some word of mouth will help fill the dining room. Of course, I posted about Asian Court in 2009 noting that City Paper had named it the best dim sum for that year and the esteemed Worthog had written it up in Chowhound in February 2008.
If I remember the talk right, the Minx noted in 2011 that Red Pearl in Columbia was staffed by folks who used to work at Asian Court. Maybe new folks bought the restaurant two years ago -- and just didn't think that story would sound as good in the Sun.
Yes, there was apparently a mass exodus of staff from Asian Court to Red Pearl. While I noticed that some of my favorite servers had jumped ship, the dim sum (to me) seemed largely the same as ever. However, I haven't been to Asian Court since late last year (because of this darn book thing).... Will make it a point to go back at some point after July.
ReplyDeleteAs Mr. Sam got less able to manage at the much-older-than-two-years Asian Court, the partners sold to the current owner. Sam's wife was hired as a less-than-a-year consultant to Red Pearl to get it up and running as a dim sum house and acted as hostess/manager/expediter. She knows her stuff, any reports on where now? She hoped to open elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThe mass exodus the Minx mentioned seemed to include one of the former owners of Asian Court. I was really surprised to see her upon walking into the Red Pearl.
ReplyDeleteI've had bad luck with Asian Court. Apparently, they only do dim sum and sushi at certain times. If that's the way they do it, fine, but I'm not going to arrange my schedule to fit a restaurant's.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of sushi, though, have you tried Koto in the shopping center on Sanner Road? They have a great happy hour with $1 beers and $4 rolls and appetizers. Their Spicy Salmon roll is the hottest I've ever tasted.
I don't know anything about the staff leaving, but we had an awesome meal at Asian Court a few days ago.
ReplyDelete