State of the Plate: Dumplings Have Their Day

Found in kitchens around the globe, dumplings have universal appeal. The simple bits of dough occupy a middle ground between bread and noodles and speak the language of comfort, whether plain or filled. They appear across menus in a wide variety of guises including wontons, pierogis, gnocchi and many more.

Western Staples

Basic dumplings that are boiled and served as an accompaniment to meat have loomed large historically in the cuisines of Middle and Eastern Europe. A scan of current menus shows that they remain staples at German operations, though often with a modern twist.

Späetzle, which sometimes leans into egg noodle territory, crops up in a number of these cuisine-specific concepts as well as on seasonal menus. In Denver, the Spätzle entrée at Rhein Haus is accented with basil-roasted mushrooms, tomatoes, herb cream sauce and Parmesan. Meanwhile, multi-unit concept Iron Hill Brewery included herbed späetzle as a side in its Oktoberfest specials, including the Jaeger Schweineschnitzel and the Huhner Schnitzel. And two-location Würst Bier Hall in Fargo, N.D., serves the dumpling with its Jaeger Schnitzel and gives it top billing in its mac and cheese, where späetzle stands in place of elbow noodles with a beurre blanc cheese sauce and toasted breadcrumbs.

This particular variety of dumpling has also appeared on mainstream menus over the years, as when Kona Grill featured an international mash-up of Hawaiian Pomfret, a seafood special, with macadamia-nut romesco sauce and späetzle. Bruegger’s Bagels also offered Chicken Spaetzle Soup as an alternative to standard chicken noodle.

Polish pierogi are another form of dumpling that are ripe for rediscovery. Chicago’s long-running The Berghoff serves Potato Pierogies with beurre blanc and a quinoa-arugula salad, while Minneapolis’ modern Polish-American bistro Black Duck Spirits & Hearth goes the classic route. Pierogi here are stuffed with farmer’s cheese, potato and onion with a side of sour cream.

Italian dumplings like ravioli are typically presented as pastas, and while most restaurants take the basic filled-boiled-sauced approach, there are variations on the theme. At Palizzi Social Club in Philadelphia, Raviolo Vasto fills a large, single pasta pocket with spinach and ricotta crowned with an egg yolk and brown butter sauce. An all-American variation hailing from St. Louis, toasted ravioli are actually breaded and fried; Olive Garden’s version is lightly fried, stuffed with seasoned beef and served with housemade marinara.

Italian gnocchi are small, soft dumplings that resemble German späetzle. They leap borders at Creepies in Chicago, where Parisian Gnocchi evoke a classic French sandwich with Swiss cheese, ham and egg yolk. At Selah Restaurant in Struthers, Ohio, a promotional Gnocchi Fest included Toasted Gnocchi with Mediterranean za’atar spices. And in New York City, aptly named Gnocchi on 9th creates a range of options with its namesake, such as Black Truffle Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi.

Often included in the dumpling category, Hispanic empanadas have been popping up. Chicago’s Girl & The Goat lives up to its name with Goat Empanadas with persimmon relish and roasted poblano crema. In Dallas, the brief Crossbuck Supper Club series infused Texas flavor into its multi-course meal when it featured an Artisan Sausage and Smoked Brisket Empanada. By contrast, Taco Bell has taken the item to the sweet side in desserts like Chocolate Fudge & Caramel, Caramel Apple and Birthday Cake Empanada versions.

Eastern Traditions

There are as many varieties of Asian dumplings as there are Asian cuisines, and many American consumers were introduced to the concept by casual-dining brands. Thirty years ago, California Pizza Kitchen’s Sesame Ginger Chicken Dumplings and The Cheesecake Factory’s pan-fried Chicken Potstickers were forerunners of a growing segment of specialists.

Multi-unit Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, which recently partnered with FoodTok influencer Keith Lee, promotes “reimagined dumplings” like Kung Pao Chicken or Korean BBQ Ribeye that present the entrées in a neat package. At Saturday Dumpling Co. in Minneapolis, the current Dumpling of the Moment (DOTM) is Red Curry Chicken with coconut sauce, while fanciful Ube Cheesecake Wontons are fixtures on the dessert menu.

Rapidly growing chain Ugly Dumpling specializes in housemade, street food-inspired XLB, or xiao long bao soup dumplings, filled with broth and meat and available in six flavors including Pork & Truffle; the broader menu has a range of wonton, bao and dumpling items.

Like Chinese potstickers, Japanese gyoza are typically pan-fried for a crispy finishing bite. Kyuramen goes a step further with Deep Fried Gyoza Dumplings with nori flakes, sesame and onion sauce; and when P.F. Chang’s new holiday menu debuts this month, it will spotlight King Crab Gyoza.

Speaking of P.F. Chang’s, the Wonton Soup here is a protein seeker’s dream, loaded with tender pork wontons alongside shrimp and chicken. Other operators have adapted wontons as ingredients that amp up texture, as with the limited-time Asian Chicken Salad at Newk’s Eatery, which was topped with fried wontons, or Old Chicago’s Firecracker Shrimp, served on a bed of wontons. In the Twin Cities, Leeann Chin’s Cream Cheese Puffs are crispy wontons filled with garlic cream cheese—a nod to popular crab Rangoon, the tiki-era appetizer that’s being reimagined on modern menus.

American Standards

Regional cuisines stateside boast some classic dumplings of their own, like Southern-style chicken and dumplings. Cracker Barrel’s Chicken n’ Dumplins can be ordered with country-inflected sides like turnip greens. By contrast, Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the order of the day at Boova Haus in Quakertown, Pa., where pierogi-like Boova Shenkel are made with egg dough and stuffed with potato filling. There are sweet treatments as well: Bruster’s fall fan-favorite Apple Dumpling Sundae pairs the warm dumpling with cinnamon ice cream and a drizzle of cinnamon sauce.

Outlook and Opportunity

The lack of a standardized definition has created a remarkably broad dumpling category that can encompass everything from egg rolls to hushpuppies to emerging varieties like Filipino lumpia, Nepalese momo and Indian samosas.

Watch for more adaptations, like The Henry’s Short Rib Potstickers with toasted sesame, cilantro and ponzu, and more mash-ups, like the Chicago-Style Dumpling from that city’s Korean-Polish deli Kimski. The latter is a made-in-America amalgam of ground beef/pork, giardiniera, caramelized onions, cheese sauce and pickled mustard seeds.

Operators may also benefit from the strong tailwind provided by Wow Bao, which began life as a restaurant and evolved to conquer supermarket freezer cases from coast to coast with potstickers, soup dumplings and bao like Mongolian-style Beef and Cheeseburger. It may provide a point of trial for a consumer and lead to a restaurant visit.

Finally, menu marketers might want to take a leaf from Visit Saint Paul tourism office in Minnesota, which boosts local dumpling-makers with a Dumpling Passport program that invites diners to earn points while discovering hidden gems in that city’s rich dining culture.