REVIEW | Beacon B.B.Q. Serves Dim Sum With a Throwback Feel

There are few things in life that I consider to be as holy as dim sum. The Cantonese style of dining goes back to the Silk Road, when food was sold to travelers. It evolved into a more formal service over the centuries and was brought to the U.S. by immigrants from southern China. Dim sum is a morning ritual to start your day, usually accompanied by tea and conversation.

Beacon B.B.Q. lacks the traditional aspects of dim sum that I so treasure and has been overshadowed by Dim Sum House, a few doors away — yet I still found myself reveling in the experience.

Its bright blue exterior and sign that reads "Beacon B.B.Q.: Grocery Deli & Food To Go" make it hard to tell exactly what to expect when you walk in. The roast duck, chicken, and pork hanging in the window are enough to lure many curious patrons inside. The menu is simple: a few dim sum staples and har gow, shumai, and char siu bao, along with a hot food case with noodles, fried rice, and sesame balls.

Small and large steamers sit on a cart to the side of the counter where cooks appear every so often to replenish the inventory. You order by telling — or pointing — to the food you want, and they dump a steamer basket of goodies into a to-go container for you.

It's an experience much like the pushcart-style dim sum that is hard to find these days. Pre-COVID, most dim sum restaurants had servers pushing around carts full of dishes. One might have fried items like spring rolls, shrimp balls, and turnip cake. Another might have steamed items like har gow and sticky rice. The trick was watching for carts while maintaining conversations at your table.

Today it's much more common to find a QR code and order online. But the big cart at Beacon B.B.Q. reminded me of the good ol' days.

I did my due diligence for a review and ordered enough food to perplex the staff. I got my must-haves — char siu bao, har gow, and sticky rice — plus chicken feet, a pound of barbecue pork, shumai, noodles, and fried rice.

With dim sum, each dish usually comes in threes or fours, making it an ideal option for groups. On this visit, I was joined by the Emerald's social media manager — hi, Agueda!

I covered the single long table in the middle of the restaurant with our spread. This is the sort of place you order food to go, so dining in felt a little odd, though the staff seemed amused. They asked if it was my first time, and I said yes. One of them told me Beacon B.B.Q. has been around for a few decades. I don't know how to verify that statement; there's little to nothing online about this place, which I kind of like.

This is a true "if you know, you know" kind of spot. We went for lunch and saw a few regulars come in. One immediately asked if they had chicken feet that day. Another strayed from her usual order of spare ribs over rice noodles and opted instead for the chow mein, which she said looked especially good that day.

Sitting at the large table, I savored each bite of the fluffy char siu bao. I love a baked hum bao, but I prefer it steamed, as they serve it here. The texture was soft and chewy, subtly sweet and not bready like the baked version — more like a sponge cake. The lotus-wrapped sticky rice wasn't a standout for me, as I like a little more sauce in mine. I want the rice, which envelops a little ball of meat, to be moist with a sweet and salty glaze of soy and oyster sauces — here, it was a bit dry. As for the har gow and shumai, both were packed full of meats. They were delightful and quite filling.

The noodles were Cantonese-style: skinny noodles with onion, some cabbage, and meat, all tossed in soy sauce — my favorite kind. They were so greasy and delicious that I devoured them in a heartbeat. I'm not usually a fan of chicken feet, but after eating balut, I felt like I should order them as well. Chicken feet don't have a ton of meat on the bone, and there's collagen and skin that you kind of just suck. But they're an underrated, delicious part of the chicken that's worth a try.

When I ordered the barbecue pork, the cook took a hunk of meat and chopped it into bite-size chunks on a butcher block. Then he ladled some of the sauce pooling at the bottom of the char siu pan onto my portion. It was sweet, delicious, and hit the spot.

While there is nothing extraordinary about Beacon B.B.Q., what I was so fond of was the no-frills interior and down-to-business vibe. It has a throwback quality I truly appreciate. Those who I saw come in — the regulars — knew exactly what they wanted. This is a tried-and-true establishment that's become a staple for the neighborhood, and that can't be understated.

Grace (DD) Madigan is a Seattle-based journalist who formerly covered arts and culture for KNKX.