Seems me, Miss O and her BF are on a “let’s eat outside” roll these days (before the smoke came). There is a lot of that before stuff now. Before the COVID, before the lockdown, before the fires, before the smoke, before the red skies, before the layoffs, before the election, before, before, before. The year is almost over, right? And how many more befores are we gonna be able to add at this point. Not so much a question as a sad commentary on this year? A glass half full view of current times? A pleading for no more? But amidst it all, whether it be stress eating, eating to live or eating to enjoy and escape—for whatever reason, we still gotta eat. So that’s what we do as our intrepid little trio decides to make a play for some dumplings enjoyed outside under blue sunny skies (unaware of any impending apocalypse).

Miss O’s choice was a spot waaayyy out Richmond District way her and the BF have noshed at and one I have not. Seems like the right choice. Called Dumpling Alley, a name which doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence, nor does their lack of a website. But undaunted as we are, I trek my way out there on the 22 Fillmore to the 38 Geary no less since they are a few of the buses actually still running. I was masked up and fortunate enough to get empty seats near open windows. So far the day is a score.

Standing outside the doorway and perusing the menu seems everything comes in a six pack. Since we are all three hungry and can eat more than we should, we start throwing out picks but realize we are choosing everything on the menu. Narrowing it back down, we settle on five items. That’s five times six, equaling thirty pieces dividing out to ten pieces for each of us (I can do maths!) because as I said….hungry.

It took about 15 minutes to pull the order together as we were not the only ones there and they make or at least cook everything to order giving you hot steaming buns and dumplings to go. After collecting our bounty we head off to a sunny yet secluded and socially distanced spot not the outer edges of the Presidio that the BF knows about. Bonus points, there is a picnic table so we don’t have to sit on the ground and eat.

Okay, these were different than I was expecting. They are sot of like mini pork buns crusted with sesame seeds on the top and bottom then pan fried or browned basically. Interesting for sure. While I’m sure I could have popped the whole thing in my mouth they really are more like two bite hors d’oeuvres. It’s ground pork mixed with water chestnuts to add some small crunch. Still hot with some steam coming off them as you open one up they were good with small undertones of sweet but still savory enough and a pleasant balance when dipped in the soy sauce. Thus good, but, I don’t know, kind of just meat stuffed inside some dough. I think I was struggling to just find something that made them stand out. I mean they are kind of a cross between a bun and a pot sticker just with not as much soft bread or meat for that matter. It isn’t like they were terrible or anything, more of a I remember eating it but outside of that, I couldn’t tell you much more about it thing. It was food, it was fine, we were hungry.

Good or bad, it is kind of how I felt about the four dumpling choices we got. Which, as I reflected back on them, I will be honest, outside of maybe one or two ingredients, I could not really tell them apart.

Yes, well, the last one there were pot stickers now that I look at the shape and slightly browned bottoms. But the others…..I remember most of these had pork, one had some corn and I’m pretty sure another had chives and possibly one had mushrooms. Outside of those small differences, when eating these, the flavor differences were subtle. One of these might have been chicken but I’m not sure which. But, as noted above, there really wasn’t anything wrong with any of these. The dumpling shells were soft with the barest of firmness and the filling was ample enough to fill each. I would take a bite and think, wait, that is a piece of corn, okay. Or, is that a piece of chive? Which I could only be sure when Miss O sees a piece of green stuck in my teeth. (Hey, we have to take our masks off to eat you know!).

Again, nothing really bad here, but nothing really outstanding. You take a bite and go, that’s nice, then poof, you forget and move on to something else. Especially as I continue to eat, they all sort of flow right into each other without much separation. Soy sauce helps to give some kick or flavor, but that is just salty soy taste on everything, which itself can be overwhelming and all sameness too.

I’m sure a lot of this sounds like backhanded compliments or when someone in the South makes a statement then follows it with “bless their heart.” I think in essence what we have here is another of those neighborhood specific kind of places you come across in SF. Which is one of the joys in this town, coming across something you might not necessarily make the journey to try but are out and about and start to get hungry and want to grab a bite. I can see why Miss O and BF go. For them it is nearby, cooked to order, tasty and filling. Though not especially inexpensive as each six pack will run you about $10-$12 each.

Dumpling Alley does good food that while not exactly ground or taste breaking is the perfect place to drop into or get take out because they are nearby and pretty decent. But taking two buses to get across town too? Eh, maybe not, bless their heart.