Now Open: Spice Spring in Cleveland's Old Chinatown District

Cleveland’s original Chinatown, which thrived in the 1930s, `40s and `50s, existed on and around Rockwell Avenue between East 21st and East 24th St. Back then, restaurants like Golden Gate, Shanghai and Chin’s Red Dragon attracted diners from all over the city to the stunning Chinese art deco buildings just east of downtown.

More recently, those buildings have welcomed restaurants like Emperor’s Palace and Sichuan Hot Pot. The latter is still with us, but the former closed about six years back. Earlier this month, Spice Spring (2136 Rockwell Ave., 216-785-9363) opened in the former home of Emperor’s Palace, a grand space that deserves a great business.

Dim sum and Szechuan food fans will appreciate the large menu of freshly prepared dishes at Spice Spring. Operated by Mr. and Mrs. Lin, the restaurant features a sizeable daily selection of Cantonese dim sum dishes that are prepared in the kitchen and delivered in familiar stainless steel steamer plates. In addition to nearly 35 small, medium and large dim sum items, there is an extensive regular menu with soups, appetizers, rice, noodle, stir-fry and dry-pot dishes.

During a recent lunch we sampled pork soup dumplings ($6.45), pork and shrimp siu mai ($7.95), beef short ribs with black pepper sauce ($8.95) and Szechuan-style twice-cooked pork ($18.95). We will definitely be back to explore more.

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner every day but Tuesday.