A Tale of Two Dim Sum Experiences (in Boston)

 I had an odd dim sum experience today.  A friend of mine, an intrepid
 dim sum explorer, decided she wanted dim sum, so we set up a date to
 meet at the Chinatown Gate and then go wherever we felt like.

 We decided to try the Imperial, somewhat against my better judgement.
 I've eaten there perhaps half a dozen times in my life (this in spite
 of having spent three years working a short block away).  Of those
 experiences, one was good (it was dinner, not dim sum) and the
 others all ranged from "eh" to "yuck".  But I declared my neutrality,
 since I had not eaten there in more than a year, and we went to the
 Imperial.

 Upon entering, we were greeted with a bad sign: a nearly empty
 dining room.  In Chinatown, on a Saturday, during peak dim sum hours.
 "I dunno about this," I said to my companion.  "Live a little," she
 said, or words to that effect, and we took a table.  A grumpy
 headwaitress brought us a pot of the most bizarre-tasting tea I have ever
 drunk, and thereafter managed to avoid eye contact as we tried to get
 water.  I thought we'd have to send up a flare.  The few cart ladies
 bestirred themselves and started to circulate (actually there was
 only one to start with; again, not a good sign).  We got several
 steamers full of fairly standard-looking items: shrimp dumplings,
 siu mai, slippery noodles, and some rather mysterious looking
 concoction that the cart lady told us was pork wrapped in...
 something.  I think it was a tofu bag.

 We were so engrossed in our conversation that it took five to
 ten minutes for reality to penetrate.  Everything we were eating was
 greasy and bland at best, and most of it was actively offensive.
 We tried a few more things, hoping that we'd just had the bad luck
 to get the Revolting Cart, but it just got nastier.  "Let's cut
 our losses and go to China Pearl," companion suggested.  "What
 you said," I replied.

 China Pearl was able to seat us nearly as quickly as the Imperial,
 but it wasn't because their dining room was half empty.  They were
 doing their usual land-office business.  We still managed to get two
 seats at a big table in no-smoking terrtory -- which, I should say,
 is not out in Siberia, but was on the main drag for carts.  We got
 a spring roll, which was good but dry (the only off note) a dish of those
 wonderful little minced-up spareribs; steamed shrimp dumplings;
 sticky rice; and a couple other things that I don't remember.
 Nothing was "eh", much less 'yucky", and most of it was pretty wonderful.
 Oh, and the tea was normal, too.  The sticky rice was a special
 standout -- some places seem to be serving sticky rice to give you a lot
 of cheap starch, but this sticky rice -- steamed in banana
 leaves, which gives it a very agreeable fragrance -- was full of
 goodies like bits of sausage, mushrooms, chicken, duck, and so on.

 Conclusion: Imperial BAD, China Pearl GOOD.