The Nom Wah Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from 100 Years at New York City's Iconic Dim Sum Restaurant

Run by just two families in the 100-plus years of its existence, the Nom Wah Tea Parlor is a venerable NYC Chinatown establishment that began a renaissance in 2010 when Wilson Tang took over from his Uncle Wally and decided to rethink its haphazard approach to dim sum. His goal: "We broke down each element of the menu at Nom Wah and rebuilt it from scratch with an eye toward quality."

The fundamentals of classic dim sim—covered carefully and thoroughly here—are amplified by modern adaptations that include the likes of sweet potato kale wontons, chorizo potato dumplings with dill chimichurri sauce, and egg fried rice arancini with sambal kewpie (don't forget that NYC's Chinatown abuts and overlaps its Little Italy). But traditionalists need not fear that they have been abandoned, for they'll find chicken feet, steamed spare ribs, and turnip cakes as well.

The book contains numerous sidebar features on people and families behind important Chinatown institutions, ranging from the Museum of Chinese in America to Fong On, a venerable supplier of tofu to the city's restaurants. This is a vibrant slice of life in a celebrated part of NYC.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.