Eating Dim Sum at Atlantic Seafood

The first thing you notice as you enter Atlantic Seafood Restaurant in Monterey Park is a pair of stylish wine racks. That's one of them in the photo above.

At lunch, though, you're more likely to find pots of tea on the tables than wine, because people are there to eat dim sum, which is served from rolling carts (above). 

The takeout dim sum menu lists 67 items, not counting the chow fun, noodles and fried rice that are available at lunch. On any one day, you won't see all of these, but there are still plenty of choices.

Like soft, creamy eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste (above).

And cilantro sticky rice with sliced Chinese sausage wrapped in lotus leaves (above). 

Fried spring rolls (above) are filled with diced shrimp. Behind them are steamed shrimp dumplings and, at right, shiu mai.

White turnip cakes and crunchy, translucent water chestnut cakes are fried to order on this cart.

Lots of tempting buns pass by. These chewy sticky rice flour buns are filled with pork.  

Sometimes you just want something simple, like Chinese broccoli perfectly cooked so that it is bright green and still crunchy. At this restaurant, the stalks are cut into shorter lengths to make them easier to eat.  

For dessert you could have an egg custard tart or perhaps one of these sugary buns.The woman pushing the cart said they were filled with sweet bean paste. But that wasn't the case. Inside was intensely sweet and runny yellow custard.

Atlantic Seafood has room for more than 400 diners. And there's plenty of food to satisfy them. Aside from dim sum, the menu lists 234 dishes, among them house specials such as as stir-fried saffron mussels with sugar snap peas, fried chicken stuffed with shrimp paste, clams and vermicelli in spicy wine soup and live seafood.

You may have trouble spotting the restaurant, because you won't see signs from the street. Look for it inside Atlantic Times Square, the large new shopping, entertainment and restaurant mall on Atlantic Boulevard in Monterey Park. It's on the second floor, next to a Japanese restaurant. 

Atlantic Seafood & Dim Sum Restaurant, 500 N. Atlantic Blvd., Suite 200, Monterey Park, CA 91754. Tel: (626) 872-0388.