At Elite they’ll just go get it for you. 
The roasted goods at Koi are top notch. The dim sum quality had fallen off a bit (still far better than Yank Sing) but the roasties (especially the roasted pork) are still head of the class.
Ate with the OC branch of the family today at Lunasia and they all prefer Lunasia to J Zhou (and Sea Harbour to Lunasia). However I share your appreciation of distinctive items on the dim sum menu. I think that’s what makes great dim sum.
There seems to an interesting dichotomy of opinions about what constitutes a great dim sum house:
One could judge them by how well they execute the “standards” (har gow, siu mai, turnip cake, char siu bao, etc.), or one could judge them by their distinctive dim sum creations (e.g. abalone liver with ginseng jumping over the mini-wall).
Not saying one mode is better than another, but Type 1 person arguing their case with a Type 2 individual may not realize in fact that they actually are talking apples & oranges.
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I think you’ve hit the har gow on the head.
It’s not 1 or 2 but which you give more weight to. After all, one person’s “standards” is another’s don’t order that much.
Like sushi. Some people think it’s all about the fish. Some people feel 50/50 fish/rice. Some even feel rice is 80% of sushi. Like you said, no right or wrong but just how you weight things in your judgement.
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So went back to Jzhou for dim sum today.
They were crushed. The line was probably 30-45 minutes at 1130. It’s significant considering the place is twice as big as Elite or Sea Harbour.
The har gow was thick and clumsy. Probably the worst I’ve had in a dozen visits over the past 1-1.5 years. The seafood dumplings, bean curd skin with mushrooms and cordyceps, and sea cucumber soup dumplings we’re still top notch.
But I can see how it its your only visit and you judge on the standards like har gow that this would not be considered top 3.
On its worst day it’s still far better than Capital Seafood.
I’m not sure if it’s a function of how busy they were or just an off day. Usually I’m here before 1130 but even the couple of times I arrived after 12 I’ve never had har gow this thick.
There were several new items on the menu including pumpkin taro cake with preserved meat and beef stew with rice paper.
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