Top Las Vegas chef opening 2nd Chinese restaurant in Texas

Jimmy Li is taking it to the street. And the Street.

The chef and co-owner of the ShangHai Taste restaurants in Las Vegas and Texas, along with his business partner Joe Muscaglione, will open Street by Chef Jimmy Li in April in Legacy Hall in Plano, Texas, a northern suburb of Dallas. Street will feature a modern take on Chinese street foods.

While ShangHai Taste celebrates Li’s spin on Shanghainese cooking, “Street will take that same elevated approach and apply it to iconic dishes from across China,” Muscaglione said. “We’re bringing bold flavors, premium ingredients and chef Li’s signature artistry.”

The debut marks the fourth Chinese restaurant for the pair, following the ShangHai Tastes in Chinatown and southwest Vegas and a location that launched in Plano in October. The new concept is joining more than 20 other purveyors at Legacy, a food hall, brewery and music venue.

Dumplings and more

Guo tie, the family of pan-fried dumplings plumped with minced meat and vegetables, will anchor the menu. Guo tie are essentially the same as pot stickers, which is the general English translation of the Chinese name.

Li’s version involves filling and pleating an unleavened wrapper, pan frying the dumplings, steaming them, then pan frying again to give a final crisping to the bottoms. A spatter of poppy seeds completes the dish.

Li’s guo tie are similar to his shen jiang bao at ShangHai Taste, except those dumplings are fashioned from a yeasted dough, making them thicker and chewier.

Among the other Street menu items are fish cakes, lobster balls, basil fried chicken, beef brisket fried rice and beef brisket stir-fried noodles.

Since the original ShangHai Taste opened in Chinatown in late 2019, the restaurant has developed a national reputation for its food, especially its flagship xiaolongbao filled with spurts of hot savory pork broth. In 2023, Li was named a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest in the James Beard Foundation Awards, the country’s most prestigious culinary recognition.

Visit streetbychefjimmyli.com.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.