Would Dim Sum "fly" in MIddletown?

So I was having dinner this evening at Jasmine and started talking to Lan's mother Lui, until recently she was the owner of Liu's Garden Chinese Cuisine at 11517 Shelbyville Rd. She said she was thinking of starting a breakfast service at Jasmine and dim sum carts on weekend mornings. Her thoughts for weekday breakfast leaned toward a variety of congees, crullers, variations on Chinese steamed buns and jiānbǐng, thin crisp omelettes with fillings. What are your thoughts?

Would she have to have coffee on the menu to make it "fly"?

I'm not so sure about the breakfasts. People are into trying different things for other meals but I really think breakfast is one that they are for a traditional type items. She would definitely have to have coffee no matter what for breakfast.

As for the dim sum carts, I think they would do what very well! They are certainly something you don't find around here they would definitely be a welcome addition!

I would love dim sum and would be there in a heartbeat. I just don't know if they have enough regular Chinese customers to support such an elaborate meal service. I think you would serve tea over coffee.

[Robin Garr]

Ummm ... Dim Sum thrives with carts in Lyndon at Jade Palace, and has done so since the '80s, with carts for the last decade or so. Is Middletown that different?

I think it would fly especially once word got out. As Robin pointed out, Jade Palace seems to do well with it and I personally enjoy it very much.

If all else fails, they could market it as Chinese tapas.

I say Dim Sum, no breakfast.

Ummm ... Dim Sum thrives with carts in Lyndon at Jade Palace, and has done so since the '80s, with carts for the last decade or so. Is Middletown that different?

I just assumed you would need to have a large Asian population to support a dim sum service. We had a lot of places serving in Seattle and the majority of the patrons were Asian so I just assumed you needed the volume. Just curious, does Louisville have their own Chinatown? Seems up and down the West Coast every major city had a Chinatown.

I didn't know Jade Palace served dim sum. That is good news and I will have to try it. Any reviews available?

[Robin Garr]

[
I just assumed you would need to have a large Asian population to support a dim sum service. We had a lot of places serving in Seattle and the majority of the patrons were Asian so I just assumed you needed the volume. Just curious, does Louisville have their own Chinatown? Seems up and down the West Coast every major city had a Chinatown.

I didn't know Jade Palace served dim sum. That is good news and I will have to try it. Any reviews available?

Madeleine, in reverse order, I've reviewed Jade Palace periodically over the years. Here's one relatively recent review:
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/ready ... -challenge

And here's another:
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/dim-s ... our-hearts

If you go to Jade Palace on any given Saturday or Sunday, you'll probably find a disproportionate number of Chinese people there. Louisville's Chinese population by and large is relatively affluent, including many doctors and medical people, and widely distributed in the same neighborhoods that you and I live in.

As to your broader question, Louisville's ethnic population has grown tremendously since the 1970s. The town some of us locally raised Boomers grew up in used to be whitebread in the extreme, but since the Vietnam War that has changed, primarily I think because a number of agencies here - Kentucky Refugee Ministries and similar Catholic and Jewish organizations - have worked with city government to place Louisville (along with Twin Cities and Austin) among the nation's more welcoming locales for new immigrants. A lot of them are initially settled in the South End, around Iroquois Park and near CHurchill Downs. In a separate stream, the Latino diaspora of the '90s and later, driven by economics, has also brought us a significant bump in Mexican and Central American population.

Because we have a lot of refugee/immigrant programs, there's also a lot of job training, and a good number of restaurants have been added through this process, not all of them long-term successes, sadly.

But this helps explain why we've developed a much more diverse set of ethnic restaurants over the years, both because of new ethnic neighbors to enjoy them and a relatively adventurous foodie city to discover them.

By and large, though, except for a few notable clusters like the Americana Apartments on Southside Drive, where many of the new arrivals are housed until they find their own housing, we don't have traditional "Chinatowns" here. Rather, people move into housing they can afford, often with help from supporting programs, and integrate into the community.

No, it will never fly.

[Robin Garr]

No, it will never fly.

Okay, I'll bite. Why not?

No, it will never fly.

My guess is because it doesn't have wings. Do I win, Brian?

On Robin's question- yes, there is a difference between Lyndon and Jasmine's location. Our store was 1/2 block from Jasmine. We found that people in that area ( Gayle being a major exception ) were not looking for gourmet/creative food concepts as much as standard fare. Unfortunately it's also outside the Snyder just enough to be viewed by most of the rest of Louisville as "very far out", while Lyndon is still relatively central for the now large East End.

I think dim sum could "fly" at Jasmine as a destination - particularly if they do the kind of quality they do with their Chinese menu. I, for one, would be there, and I've never been to Jade Palace. I'd be really cautious about breakfast though- I don't think they'd get enough traffic.

Deb

[Robin Garr]

I'd be really cautious about breakfast though- I don't think they'd get enough traffic

No, even for the Chinese, dim sum is more about lunch/brunch than breakfast. Jade Palace starts to fill up around noon on weekends and then stays hoppin' well into the afternoon.

Her thoughts for weekday breakfast leaned toward a variety of congees, crullers, variations on Chinese steamed buns and jiānbǐng, thin crisp omelettes with fillings. What are your thoughts?

Would she have to have coffee on the menu to make it "fly"?

Robin,

I meant I didn't think the above menu for breakfast would fly there, I think dim sum for brunch/lunch/dinner could.

Deb

[Robin Garr]

Her thoughts for weekday breakfast leaned toward a variety of congees, crullers, variations on Chinese steamed buns and jiānbǐng, thin crisp omelettes with fillings. What are your thoughts?

Would she have to have coffee on the menu to make it "fly"?

Robin,

I meant I didn't think the above menu for breakfast would fly there, I think dim sum for brunch/lunch/dinner could.

Oh, duh. I hate it when I move on to the next point and forget the original point. Yeah, I think she would be MUCH better off doing a traditional dim sum menu at lunch time. Her idea, as the old saying goes, is "neither fish nor fowl nor good lean beef."