in the molly yeh book of commonly kvetched about things,

there are three huge chapters:

1. idiots

2. lack of good restaurants on the upper west side

3. lack of good dim sum in manhattan

i recently discovered that two of these things

are defied by the new-ish-ly opened

canteen 82

and since idiots will sadly always be an obstacle of life,

you may safely assume i am referring to numbers 2 and 3.

vibe was clean, sterile-y {in a good way}, and comfy

but more importantly,
the food was magnificent!

ok here it goes:

taro bubble tea

yes!

is bubble tea coming back by way of its hype being almost as vintage as
saved by the bell swag?

probably not.

but this place serves it shamelessly and i don't mind because it's dericious!

really, if there's one flavor i'll ever favor over red velvet, it's taro.

scallion pancakes

exactly how a scallion pancake should be:

crispy on the outside

doughy on the inside

greasy enough to feel a little bad

but not bad enough to keep you from fighting over the last one with your date

sesame doodles

not their strongest point

in fact

not good.

i like my sesame noodles swimming in sauce a la empire szechuan

but these were... not....

pan pan buns

it's true.

frying things makes things better.

#donutsarethenewcupcakes

...as if steamed buns weren't good enough already.

these might have been the highlight.

there was a bit more depth given to your typical steamed bun...

the crunchy fried bits on the outer edges were its way of playing hard to get.
that sassy minx.
and the innards were supremely tasty, too.
everything worked well.
it was an unexpected and lovely surprise.
i love it.

soup dumplings
what drew me to canteen 82 in the first place.

the cool kids around school seem to talk about getting soup dumplings as if they're going to buy weed.

it's kind of only for those in the know,
invite only,

and you have to travel to the far places to get the best ones.

and i'll admit, i've been way too lazy to go to joe's shanghai.

evs.

don't need to now.

canteen 82's were just fantastic.

even better than the ones i've had in chicago.

the soup actually tasted like soup- not watery goop we pretend is soup because we're too busy being excited about the concept of there being liquid in a dumpling.

really,

they were as tasty as the concept is cool.

{except i probably could have done with a bit of a thicker dough,
as to not stress out about it breaking and having the soup fly everywhere except my mouth. really, it's a stressful situation. think: SAT II stressful}

stresses aside,
i'm so happy to have found
incredible
fresh
dim sum
on the island
!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok how many am i at?
25!
25 restaurants to go, ladies and gents.

xoxo

yeh

canteen 82 is on 82nd and columbus