One-Year Old Dumpling Time on Everyone’s To-Do List

By Emma Krasov, photography by Emma Krasov

 

San-Francisco’s newest and most coveted place for dumplings, Dumpling Time in the hip SoMa district is now one year old! It’s a short time for an establishment enjoying the height of its popularity (the lines are still out the door and around the block) but it’s a long time for any food business to successfully stay relevant in the city where there are seemingly more restaurants than people.

Surviving, yet alone prospering in the rarified atmosphere of the gourmet capital of the West isn’t easy, and Kash Feng, a co-owner of the San Francisco-based Omakase Restaurant Group (ORG) that manages Dumpling Time on par with a number of other notoriously upscale eateries did it again!

The first anniversary dumpling party held at the restaurant’s dining room and covered outdoor patio earlier this week, introduced to the attending crowd two new items on the menu – Wagyu beef gyoza and lamb Xi’an dumplings.

The former is made with the highest quality Japanese A5 Wagyu beef that makes for a juicy tender filling of the traditional Japanese crescent dumpling skillet-browned and crisped on the bottom.

The latter – a specialty of Xi’an, China, where Mr. Feng is from – is a recipe inspired by his mother, and developed by the Corporate Chef Edgar Agbayani with lamb filling enhanced with cumin and Chinese Five Spice inside puffy steamed dough.

Besides the non-stop flow of champagne and artisanal beer, and multiple favorites from the menu passed around at a lightning speed, the first anniversary party at Dumpling Time had a higher mission.

The lavish celebration was also a fundraiser on behalf of On Lok, a family of community-based, non-profit organizations whose mission is to enable seniors to maintain a quality life in their communities. A percentage of the proceeds from the event benefited On Lok, founded in the early 1970s by a group of citizens concerned about the plight of seniors and the lack of long-term care options in the community. With 45+ years of history and experience both creating innovative models of care and serving diverse senior communities through integrated health and social services, On Lok has a wide-reaching experience base and is a trusted partner in its communities serving seniors through its affiliates – On Lok Lifeways, 30th Street Senior Center, Care At Home and others (www.onlok.org).

“Dumpling Time has reached a huge milestone in its first year and we’re humbled by the enthusiasm of our guests, who enjoy our food as much as we do,” said Mr. Feng. “After being recognized in this year’s Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants by the San Francisco Chronicle, we’re excited to expand our menu and offer new, different style dumplings, like the Wagyu and Xi’an, while giving back to the community through our contribution to On Lok.”

On its glorious first anniversary, Dumpling Time remains a popular neighborhood dumpling-and-beer joint where diners can watch dumplings of different shapes and fillings being formed from scratch in a glass-enclosed "dumpling room." Ask anyone in San Francisco, and you’ll hear that they’ve heard about this place, want to go and try it, but are waiting for the lines to recede. Well, good luck with that!

Dumpling Time is located at 11 Division Street in San Francisco, and is open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for dinner. On weekends open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Visit www.dumplingtimesf.com for more information or call 415.525.4797.