Best potstickers?

[knucklesandwich]

Who makes a superior version in Manhattan? Decades ago, there were several places in Chinatown that specialized in fried, boiled and steamed pork dumplings. One noteworthy establishment was on Pell street near Mott. Their fried dumplings were crunchy on the bottom, with thin wrappers, and juicy filling, and went for about $3 a plate.

I'm aware of the trend towards bargain-priced, gang-cooked dumplings, but I'm looking for a place that makes them much better, cooks them to order, and, presumably, charges accordingly.

Any ideas? And does anyone remember the place on Pell?

[buttertart]

The potstickers at the Szechuan Gourmets are my absolute favorites in the city. Taiwan-style, thin wrappers. They are definitely cooked to order.

[diprey11]

Are you referring to their wontons or to pan-fried dumplings?

[buttertart]

Potstickers are panfried dumplings. The name was coined by Y.R. Chao, Berkeley language prof of great renown. It's a pretty much verbatim translation of the Chinese. (He coined "stir-fry", too.) Pic of the SG ones below.

[kathryn]

Do NOT order wontons at Szechuan Gourmet. We did once and they gave us wonton sized meat in a regular square, thick dumpling wrapper. Way too thick of a skin, and really, really chewy. Sad.

[fourunder]

A while back, I believe there was a John's Shanghai outpost in New Jersey....they had very good Fried Dumplings, albeit what I would considered to be small in size compared to what most other restaurants served. I recall a good meat mixture and nice fresh made wrappers/skins from flour only, no egg included.

Maybe the one in NYC uses the same recipe.

[kathryn]

Maybe at Chinatown Brasserie?

The ones at The Good Fork are $9 and in Red Hook but delicious.

[Miss Needle]

I especially like The Good Fork dumplings because the skins are very thin.

OP, have you looked into made-to-order dim sum restaurants such as Dim Sum Go Go and Red Egg? The duck dumplings at Dim Sum Go Go are one of my favorite items on the menu.

[scoopG]

Here's a start ex Serious Eats:
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2011/02/the-best-fried-dumplings-in-chinatown-nyc-new-york-manhattan-potstickers-chinese.html

No one makes fried dumplings to order. For boiled or steamed ones try Henan Flavors:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/774685

[knucklesandwich]

Thanks, sG, for the links. However, the 7 dumpling places profiled on "Serious Eats" are all exactly what I'm trying to avoid. I've already been to most of them.

I can't accept that dumplings fried-to-order are extinct.

[scoopG]

Then Chinatown Brasserie as kathryn suggests is the place to try - $7 for vegetable or pork potstickers.