Tonight I Dined: Pinch Dumplings

My sister and I went to Pinch Dumplings in Mt. Vernon Marketplace in Baltimore to scope out their vegan selection. They always have a cabbage and carrot vegan dumpling and a rotating menu of other flavors, although when we went none of the specials were available at the time.

I ordered my dumplings pan-fried and my sister's got hers steamed. The orders came with a soy dipping sauce, and I also grabbed some sriracha, which turned out to be much needed. We both felt that the filling was not flavorful and way underseasoned. I loved the wrapper itself and all it's fried glory...but that's about it. Their rotating flavors of shitake, eggplant, or seitan-vermicelli, sound more promising (and I'm sad that they weren't available). Most of the Pinch sides are apparently vegan, although not labelled (V) like the dumplings, so we had to ask. My sister ordered the daikon-carrot slaw for a fresh counterpoint to the dumplings. The slaw, however, turned out to be on the sweet side and very watery...it soaked the paper boat. Not loving it.

This experience was kind of a bummer...the meal definitely did not meet expectations, and I left hungry. If you find yourself at the Mt. Vernon Marketplace food hall you might want to try Big Bean Theory. They feature a bean-focused menu with plenty of labelled vegan options. I didn't dine there, but they were represented at the vegan Crabcake Cookoff at Thrive Baltimore earlier this summer and I liked what they made there.

Pan fried cabbage and carrot dumplings

Steamed dumplings and daikon slaw