Doug and I hit the fabulous Ocean Port Restaurant, recently reviewed in the Times, for a little Saturday midday dim sum.  We set out at about noon, just as the snowstorm started to kick in.  We got to the corner of 18th Ave. and 62nd St. in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, only to discover that there was no Ocean Port Restaurant on said corner.  I called information to confirm the address, and we discovered that Ocean Port Restaurant was actually the large restaurant on the corner with the block lettering sign for World Fung Seafood Restaurant (or something).  The only sign that we were in the right place?  A few shiny red sticker letters on the back wall that read "OCEANP". The review, of course, mentions nothing about the lack of signage. So New York, as Doug said.

When I go to dim sum in New York, I'm always prepared to be disappointed.  Big room dim sum in this town usually means a greasy, heavy affair with oil-drowned deep fried sinkers and cart-pushing ladies who regard the English language as an unnecessary evil.  Ocean Port's room is thankfully smaller than most dim sum palaces, so the dishes that made the rounds stayed hot and we didn't have to cut the servers off at the kitchen door to catch the good plates.  We sat down with a fresh pot of jasmine tea and were joyously surprised with the excellent dishes that came our way.  The cart-pushers here didn't have much use for English either, but they were friendly and encouraging, patiently opening up one lid after the next with exclamations of, "Very good.  This very good."  Even though we got there a little late by dim sum standards, there were plenty of fresh, hot dishes to choose from.  Cloud-like steamed white fish balls with water spinach; ginger-laced beef ribs; deep-fried croissant like rolls filled with mushrooms and sweet onions; steamed rice noodle rolls with bright green dimes of Chinese vegetable; roasted suckling pig with thick, crunchy, perfectly rose-brown skin; translucent skinned pan fried dumplings with shrimp and garlic chives; little tortellini sized pockets with shrimp and greens; deep fried, breaded shrimp "chops" with a rib of sugar cane; silky coconut agar agar with a middle layer of taro cream; the dishes kept coming in and we flagged the ladies down til we could stuff no more into our stomachs.  And as we waited to pay the bill, so many other exciting things came by: crisp taupe hundred corner balls; stuffed eggplant; shumai...but two people can only eat so much at one sitting without being masochistic.  I can't wait to go again with a larger group of people so we can try a little bit of everything.

But bring cash -- the nearest bank is three blocks away, which I had to fight my way through the attacking snow to get to.

Ocean Port Seafood Restaurant
6202 18th Avenue (62nd Street), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn; (718) 236-8118.

Take the N train to 18th Ave.  Turn left and walk 1 1/2 blocks to the corner of 62nd St.