Yank Sing

Yank Sing is one of the dim sum restaurants that populated my Chinese childhood from the huge crowds to playing by the fountain while waiting for a table.  They have since raised the prices a lot and knocked a lot of familiar dim sum dishes off their menu and most Chinese have found suitable appetizing and cheaper substitutes, my family being one of them.  Although, this visit assured me that some things didn't change, even though the prices have almost doubled, they do still have those etched glass room dividers.
One positive thing about Yank Sing is each cart does stop by every table, sometimes repeatably too often, but it beats having to stress out about missing one of your favorite items carting by.

Siu mai (shu mai) or pork dumplings are one of the normal dim sum items everyone orders.  Yank Sing's are plump and juicy, but a tad bit on the oily side.

Har gow or shrimp dumplings are another must order dim sum item.  Nothing too special here with a standard shrimp wrapped in a rice wrapper.  A little oily.

Pot stickers, which I have to say wasn't my choice so I don't get discredited on my ability to order dim sum items.  They were greasy, but full of meat.

Wu tao or fried tao balls is one of my favorites to order in dim sum.  I've always found the fried outside to be delicious as well as the soft inside filling.  I've had better since this one bordered on being too oily.

Steamed spareribs with black bean sauce.  Usually one of the more flavorful dim sum dishes, this one was probably the worst item of the meal.  Flavorless and greasy with hardly any meat on the bones and if so, more fat than meat.

XLB (soup dumplings) at Yank Sing-  2013 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

Yank Sing carts around some somewhat unfamiliar dim sum items that raised my eyebrow when being wheeled by.  Lettuce wrap?  XLB is another one.  While some restaurants do serve it as dim sum, its not really a popular dim sum item.  After having some subpar dim sum, I wasn't exactly expecting much when the XLB rolled by.  One pinch of the chopsticks to transfer to the spoon showed that the wrappers held firm.  A nice amount of soup and a juicy inside made this item the surprisingly only dim sum dish worth getting in this meal.

  The vinegar to accompany the xlb.

updated - Working my way through the 2013 7x7's SF big eat 100 things

Address:                  Yank Sing
                                 101 Spear St.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        dim sum/Chinese

Popular chomps:      shrimp dumpling
                                  soup dumplings (XLB)
                                  peking duck
                                  siu mai

Chomp worthy:         soup dumplings (XLB)