i-Skewers Actually Specializes in Dumplings and Grilled Vegetables

By Jonathan Kauffman Wed., Feb. 29 2012 at 10:00 AM

Categories: 'Eat', Sunset & Parkside

Melissa Barnes

Boiled dumplings from i-Skewers.

Why would you go to a restaurant named i-Skewers? How can you not check out a restaurant named i-Skewers? I asked myself that not a few times before finally stopping in this new Northern Chinese restaurant in the Sunset. I ended up writing this week's full-length restaurant review about the place.

It's a funny little restaurant, where half of the dining room has been turned into a dumpling-production kitchen, the guests' iPhones are the only i-Things in sight, and the meat skewers turn out to be the only part of the menu not worth ordering from. (One more warning: Don't order the grilled "sliced bread," aka toast, either.)

But i-Skewers' boiled dumplings -- which you can also order pan-fried -- are often flavorful and plump with juice. The restaurant's grilled vegetables, covered in tiny cumin seeds and chiles, are unlike any I've eaten at other northern Chinese restaurants. And you can feast on an order of dumplings and a-choy for $10.

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