Located on the second floor of a San Gabriel strip mall, Long Xing Ji is everything you want from a soup dumpling operation. The dining room is big and spacious, packed with families eagerly talking amongst themselves and fighting over the last xiao long bao. There’s a glass-paned kitchen, where you can see the chefs making the food from scratch, and the namesake XLB are some of the best around. There are a few versions on the menu, but our favorites include the ones made with shrimp and the giant pork and crab buns. The shrimp is a welcomed surprise, meaty bits of prawn are sprinkled throughout each and every dumpling, and the giant pork and crab buns arrive the size of water balloons, to be eaten with the help of a boba straw.