San Jose Dim Sum Spot Jade Cathay Serves Punk Shows With Dumplings | Eater SF
"Live music here is loud and unabashed — crashing cymbals and booming vocals echo throughout the building, a startling contrast to the delicately steamed, subtle-tasting dumplings; at one point lead singer Alvin Alvarez even shouts, “Dim sum!” and the crowd goes wild. Nestled in a quiet neighborhood adjacent to the San Jose airport, the space is stylishly dressed with chandeliers and sleek wooden accents; jade chairs and lazy-Susan–equipped tables are pushed against the wall twice a month to make room for dancers and drum sets. The family-run staple (open since 2011 and approaching its 15th anniversary) began hosting indie rock shows after owner Mandy Lu reached out to the Heavy Lemon collective in 2022 — Heavy Lemon, created by Chris Gough, organizes DIY shows at restaurants, bars, and cafes around the Bay (their name is inspired by the group effort it takes to get the “juice” — aka put on these DIY musical performances) and also programs events at Chromatic Coffee and Tamper Room. A typical band night might feature a high-energy act like Oakland’s pop-punk Poser Emo, with “the amps metaphorically rocking the chandeliers,” a guitarist sipping a bright green bottle of Tsingtao, about forty young adults bobbing along (and one toddler in light-up sneakers sporting noise-cancelling headphones), and the crowd eating dumplings between songs. Food is served family-style: guests are greeted with a catering-style serving table loaded with golden chive dumplings, barbecue pork bao, fries, chow mein, and siu mai, with dim sum carts parked nearby stacked high with steaming baskets; every dish is sold in sets of four to seven pieces (all in the $8 price range), you pay at the card reader mounted on the wall, and some tables are left set up for anyone who wants to sit down. The kitchen is run by Lu’s parents, Grace Guan and Kevin Lu, and the regular dim sum menu includes lo mai gai (a package of sticky rice steamed in a lotus leaf), pot stickers, rice noodle rolls, and deep-fried treats. Lu also runs a full bar and experiments with cocktails for each show — her latest hit is an elderflower spritz mocktail that “can be spiked with gin or vodka” — and the combination of shareable bites plus a bar makes the restaurant an attractive, community-minded venue where local rock fans come together and find a kind of comfort food in both the music and the meal." - Octavio Peña
