Paradise Dynasty

3333 Bristol St., BLM, 1 Bloomingdale’s, Costa Mesa, (714) 617-4630, paradisegp.com/USA

Prices: Dumplings $7-$19, most entrees $14-$29; 50% discount on some items during happy hour Monday-Thursday.

Details: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday

Recommended dishes: Xiao long bao, pan-fried Shanghai kurobuta pork buns, radish pastries, diced crab meat in vegetable and tofu thick broth, stir-fried rice cake with lobster in Singapore-style chile crab sauce

priced at $88.88, it’s not cheap, but it’s a fun splurge. A thick soup with tofu, chopped vegetables and diced crab was fresh, verdant and stick-to-your-ribs satisfying.

Din Tai Fung does great soups and veggies too, by the way. I stopped by the new Galleria location a day or two after it opened and snagged an open seat at the bar. (Always check the bar. It was nearly an hour wait for a table.) Two standout dishes were a tofu puff and glass noodle soup, with a gentle, balanced broth and long, chewy fingers of spongy tofu, and a plate of crunchy Taiwanese cabbage, stir-fried to perfection and dotted with slivers of garlic sliced so thin you’d swear Paul Sorvino was working in the back.

I can barely wait for summer — when Paradise Dynasty is currently scheduled to open in Glendale. Back in my theater camp days, the people in charge had a saying to assuage those who were unhappy with the size of their roles: “There are no small parts, only small actors.” I would like to workshop this witticism beyond the stage and into the kitchen, specifically regarding dumplings: There are no bad dumplings, only … bad steamer baskets? Splintery chopsticks? Hopefully, you understand my point: Sure, it’s a competition of sorts, but one where there are no losers. Rising soup lifts all dumplings.