The finer points of eating chicken feet: Dim Sum in Portland

Lots of people think that the "small plates" phenomena is new. It is not, ask any Chinese person who has been eating Dim Sum since before they could walk. Just look at the popularity of Dim Sum, the restaurants are always packed! It's no surprise that Dim Sum (as well as Tapas) may or may not have contributed to the evolution of small plates. The only real discernible differences are:

1) For Dim Sum, carts of small plates circle the restaurant, all you need to do is point and mumble in caveman-like fashion and they'll hand you some cheap food! They don't expect you to correctly pronounce the name, or even really understand what you're eating. Rice/porridge/gruel in a bowl with a happy concoction of beef intestine and "thousand year eggs?" Bring it on!

2) At small plates the food is not cheap, and more often than not you may feel obligated to correctly pronounce or understand what you are ordering. In the event that you don't, you may be looked upon as a quaint and amusing novelty. They will most likely smile warmly upon you like you are a 4 year old child who just mastered "please" and "thank you."

What exactly IS this?

3) At Dim Sum, they don't care if you don't finish your chicken feet or leave your designated slice of sea cucumber uneaten. But at small plates, if you don't finish your chocolate covered chicken wing, they'll want to know why.

This is sea cucumber, it has been served to me once at Sam Woo in Los Angeles.

Why Chicken Feet?

Let's begin with some poetry:

Chickens are feathery, short and stout. They have beaks, so they cannot pout.

They have wings, but can’t really fly. Though many times I’ve seen them try.

They peck and cluck and eat corn meal. If I were a chicken, how would I feel?

We love all creatures all the same, but the poor chicken’s feet are really lame.

With only three toes with long bony nails, they might as well be covered in scales.

People eat the meat and the fat you see, but the feet are considered a delicacy!

I’m not quite sure what they call the feet, but they’re not very appetizing,

nor sound very sweet. They’re fatty and bony and yucky too, that’s the last thing

I want to chew. Maybe you can grind them and make them dog food,

or sauté them in butter for the socially crude…

I think eating their feet is kind of rude! Unless you’re in a really strange mood.

Braised chicken feet! Take a gander folks. You must be a skillful master of chopsticks to pick these up. They are very dense, squishy and slippery.

Yes, chicken feet are fatty, they are also bony. But yucky? That is subjective. I would argue that fried chicken feet are substantially more delicious, much more similar to gnawing on the end of a wing. What red-blooded American turns their nose up at gnawing on an overfriend chicken wing?

Places to eat Dim Sum in Portland:

Wong's King on SE Division St.

Jin Wah Restaurant in Beaverton

Fong Chong in Downtown Old Town

Wong's King on the Eastside (I have not eaten here, but I hear it's really good!)

House of Louie in Downtown Old Town

Some things to remember if you're a dim sum newbie:

1) Dim Sum is an adventure! For everything new you don't like, there's probably something you'll wonder how you've lived without.
2) There's a lazy susan in the middle of the table because you're supposed to share.
3) As open as you are to new ingredients, be open to new textures.
4) Remember that Dim Sum is like brunch, as fun as it'd be to eat for dinner, they don't serve it then.
5) It's best to plan a little ahead, and go in a big group.