KJ Dim Sum & Seafood

While so many popular Las Vegas dim sum spots are small mom-and pop operations, KJ is located within a casino-resort. It’s at the Rio, in an airy spot across from that property’s Carnival & Seafood Buffet. That puts it right in the middle of the action for lovers of the denizens of the deep.

This is a visual experience; carts come rolling by and you choose what looks good. Many are familiar selections, many not so familiar. They may include baked barbecue pork buns, coconut with egg yolk cream, deep-fried crispy taro cakes, pan-fried turnip cakes, pan-fried shrimp dumplings and baked durian pastries.

Larger-format dishes include Shanghai Chow Mein and Drunken Wine Chicken, and clay-pot selections include beef steak with eggplant and black pepper sauce, seafood with bean curd and shrimp with vermicelli. There also are dishes with abalone and geoduck clams – unusual for Las Vegas.

No less an expert than Neon Feast contributor and restaurateur Elizabeth Blau has said of KJ: “The selection and freshness of the dim sum do not disappoint.”