Reviews: File Sister Liu’s Kitchen and Vida Dulce under ‘H’ for ‘Hidden Gems’
File these off-the-beaten-path shops under H for hidden gems. Cross-reference under B for bring a cooler.
Sister Liu’s Kitchen
5504 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., Suite 103, Durham
984-244-3973
Two things you should know before you go to Sister Liu’s Kitchen the first time.
First, it’s a tiny takeout shop that can barely accommodate three customers at a time lined up at the counter — a number it frequently exceeds around lunchtime. Plan on eating there anyway.
You’re given a beeper when you order, so once you’ve placed your order, you don’t have to wait inside the sardine tin of a shop (an image that’s reinforced by the wall of stainless steel freezer doors you may find yourself pressed up against as you wait your turn).
If the weather is nice, head outside, where you’ll find a handful of picnic tables. If it isn’t, heed the advice of the sign taped to the wall beneath the chalkboard menu: “Eat in Room 101. Warm!!” Owner/chef Cuiying Liu has an agreement with the landlord that allows her to use the space as a makeshift dining room.
Decor is nonexistent in that room, but you won’t care as you tuck into an order of the dumplings Liu learned to make as a little girl in northeastern China. She came to Durham in 2013 and opened Sister Liu’s Kitchen last year.
The menu typically lists seven or eight filling options for her handmade dumplings, including beef and cabbage, tofu and mushroom, and the ever-popular shrimp, pork and chive. Be sure to check the whiteboard out front, where you’ll usually find a seasonal dumpling special, like the excellent lamb-cumin dumplings I scored recently. You get 10 dumplings to an order, served with a chile-spiked soy dipping sauce.
Dumplings aren’t the only reason to pay a visit to Sister Liu’s. To my knowledge, it’s the only place in the Triangle that sells the distinctive Chinese take on a burger called mo. It should come as no surprise that Liu bakes the bun, whose chewy-tender texture and crisp, gratifyingly oily surface are reminiscent of pan crust pizza. She then splits the bun along one edge like a pita and stuffs it with your choice of filling: beef, pork belly, or vegan (fried and pickled vegetables mixed with raw green Chinese peppers and cilantro). All are available in mild and spicy versions.
I haven’t yet tried the homemade noodle dishes that are Sister Liu’s other specialty. A handful of variations on the theme are offered, with options ranging from spring (plain) noodles with beef and mushroom sauce to spinach noodles with tomato and egg sauce. After seeing all the customers happily slurping noodles in Room 101 when I was there, I aim to rectify that the next time I visit.
Oh, and the second thing you need to know before setting out for Sister Liu’s Kitchen? Bring a cooler. Dumplings are also sold frozen, by the pound (about 25 dumplings), to take home. Easy cooking instructions are posted on the wall.
If you didn’t get an order of dumplings to eat while you were there, you’ll definitely want to take some frozen ones home to cook. And if you did, you’ll need something to tide you over until your next visit. Because you’ll be hooked.
There’s a reason Bon Appetit named the dumpling joint as one America’s 50 best new restaurants this year.
Vida Dulce
836 E. Chatham St., Suite 104, Cary
919-378-9722
When Carlos Torres was 10 years old, he began selling the Mexican popsicles called paletas on the streets of Guadalajara. He must have been a natural salesman.
That much quickly becomes evident to anyone who walks into Vida Dulce, the ice cream shop he opened last year with his cousin, Eric Torres, in a strip mall on the outskirts of Cary. Most days, you’ll find Carlos behind the counter, switching effortlessly between Spanish and English as he chats with customers and offers ice cream samples.
He’s generous with the samples, too, as you’ll no doubt appreciate when you find yourself trying to choose among the 28 homemade flavors in front of you.
I mean, who wouldn’t be curious about a flavor called mantequilla fresa (which the bilingual label tells you is strawberry butter)? Turns out it’s a little reminiscent of cheesecake. And, according to Torres, it’s one of the most popular flavors at Vida Dulce, along with pine nut, coffee with almonds, coconut, blackberry queso, and butter pecan.
In a holiday mood? Try eggnog or cranberry. Wishing you were on a tropical beach? Order up a piña colada.
Vida Dulce has got you covered, from old standbys vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry to dairy free/vegan options such as tamarind, kiwi and mango sorbet.
Can’t decide? Mix and match three ice cream flavors in a churro split. That’s right, churros instead of bananas.
Or double down on mangos with the Mangonada, a colorful parfait with fresh mangos, mango sorbet, and cherry-red swirls of spicy, tangy-sweet chamoy sauce.
Sprinkled among these frozen creations on Vida Dulce’s menu board are a handful of savory snacks.
Mexican street corn, slathered with mayo and rolled in crumbled queso and chile powder, is available on the cob or in a cup. Salchipulpos, fries topped with grilled hot dog pieces, are a Mexican street food classic. Feel free to add mustard, ketchup and/or Valentina hot sauce from the squeeze bottles on the counter.
If you happen to be there on a weekend, by all means plan on getting some tamales and making a meal of your visit. Torres’ wife, Elsa Nuñez, makes them by hand, with options including chicken in a mild red chile sauce or a spicy green tomatillo sauce, and a vegetarian filling of poblanos and queso.
For all its sweet and savory charms, though, what most sets Vida Dulce apart are the paletas. Torres will proudly tell you that he makes 65 flavors by hand (including some two dozen non-dairy/vegan flavors), adding “I always use fresh, never frozen fruits.”
Flavors range from tres leches to chile-spiked Mexican chocolate, with a veritable rainbow of options in between: avocado, plum, orange creamsicle, guava, and candy-striped strawberries and cream, to name a few. Some (key lime pie for one, decorated with a Mexican tea cookie set into its surface) are miniature works of art.
Best of all, at $3 or less, you can afford to take a few home and pop them in the freezer. You did bring a cooler, didn’t you?
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Reviews: File Sister Liu’s Kitchen and Vida Dulce under ‘H’ for ‘Hidden Gems’."