Chinese steamed buns from Mrs. Dumpling // Photo by Kevin Kramer, The Growler
Bao, wow! The bar-goers of Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake neighborhood will be walking to the dumpling shop of their dreams by the end of the year.
Mrs. Dumpling will serve potstickers, steamed buns, and dumplings of all kinds, at the corner of Lyndale Avenue and Lake Street. The shop will resurrect the long-vacant space on the northwest corner, most recently inhabited by Milio’s Sandwiches.
Chris Jackson of Mrs. Dumpling // Photo by Kevin Kramer, The Growler
During the day, Mrs. Dumpling will be a counter service, 36-seat, casual dumpling house. “It’s nice, but not too classy, with that concrete on the outside,” says Chris Jackson (above). “It’s reminiscent of the ground-level dumpling shops in Shanghai.”
That will be especially true on Fridays and Saturday nights, when Mrs. Dumpling will open a huge bi-fold window and serve dumplings to pedestrians until 3am. “But that’s what it looks like in Shanghai,” he says. “Those places are so small, there’s really no space inside.”
The Mrs. Dumpling team includes Jackson, a veteran of Brasa Rotisserie, Chanel Donahue, a Mandarin speaker and dumpling aficionado, and Dan Prentice, former head chef at Unideli. “My mom is Thai, I grew up on Thai food, and have had the privilege to travel a lot in Asia,” says Prentice. A recent trip found him staging at the Hong Kong dumpling mecca, Ho Lee Fook.
The Growler was treated to a pop-up lunch in our parking lot this afternoon—Chinese barbecue steamed buns, veggie potstickers, green mango salad, wok-fried green beans, and mango sticky rice—and let’s just say Uptown should be excited.
(l-r) Dan Prentice, Chanel Donahue, and Chris Jackson of Mrs. Dumpling // Photo by Kevin Kramer, The Growler
Mrs. Dumpling’ menu will revolve, obviously, around a pan-Asian selection of dumplings—Korean mandu next to Thai wontons and Japanese gyoza. “We’ve been learning a lot about dumplings,” Jackson says. “Even though they might have histories in certain Chinese provinces, there’s so much sharing that happens between different regions and countries. We’re not trying to be ‘authentic’, but we can hold our own when people ask us about where these dumplings come from.”
One menu item they’re really excited about: soup dumplings, like xiao long bao, which come bursting with juicy pork broth inside the steamed bun.
Green mango salad from Mrs. Dumpling // Photo by Kevin Kramer, The Growler
The sides at Mrs. Dumpling will include some stir-fry—green beans, baby bok choy, maybe a fried rice special now again—as well as cold dishes, like pickled daikon, rice noodle salads, and mango sticky rice. They’re looking to secure a partial liquor license to serve a small amount of beer and wine, but will also make teas, lemonade, and kombucha.
Mrs. Dumpling will have a few events and pop-ups before opening. Your first chance to taste them will be at Bent Brewstillery’s 3rd Annual Heat Up Your Life Festival, where they’ll be rocking the spiciest of spicy dumplings on October 1st.
Follow Mrs. Dumpling on Instagram: @mrs.dumpling.
Mrs. Dumpling dumplings // Photo by Kevin Kramer
About John Garland
You must be logged in to post a comment.