Dumpling Time, a San Francisco chain specializing in handmade dumplings and other Asian dishes, will open its first Peninsula location at Stanford Shopping Center this month. Although no opening date has been announced yet, Dumpling Time’s Palo Alto restaurant (along with the brand’s other branches in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose) will feature an updated menu created by Dustin Falcon, corporate executive chef of Omakase Restaurant Group, Dumpling Time’s parent company.
Falcon earned a Michelin star as the executive chef of Niku Steakhouse (another restaurant under the Omakase Restaurant Group umbrella) and previously worked at the famed French Laundry.
And while Dumpling Time is a casual concept, “We are putting a lot of focus on presentation, really examining how the dumplings and dishes arrive at the table,” Falcon wrote. “Consistency is key in fine dining, and we were very intentional about putting systems in place to ensure that. In fine dining, you need to be very detail-oriented and we’ve been applying the same approach to Dumpling Time.”
The overhauled menu will include fan favorites such as shrimp toast with spicy mayo, pan-seared chicken or char-siu pork bao, and Xi’an dumplings based on Omakase Restaurant Group co-founder and CEO Kash Feng’s family recipe ($11-$15), but adds fresh offerings including vegan eggplant bao, beef noodle soup and new wok-seared dishes ($10-$21), according to a press release announcing the expansion to Palo Alto.
“Dumpling Time has been a popular restaurant since the day we opened, and we owe it to our guests to continually improve and create enticing new offerings,” Falcon told this news organization in an email. “So of course while many guest favorites are staying, there will be new things to try, including more shareable plates and more kinds of dumplings.”
One of Falcon’s personal favorites among the new items is the crispy mapo tofu, with shiitake mapo sauce ($18). “It takes a familiar and recognizable dish and reimagines it in a new way,” he wrote. “Taking something traditional and putting our unique spin on it has been the inspiration behind our menu refresh.”
Other favorites of Falcon include the shishito peppers served with spiced barbecue sauce and bonito, chicken siu mai (open-faced dumplings) and kimchi jjigae XLB (soup dumplings).
“The art of dim sum is small, shareable, craveable bites,” he wrote. “We’ve made sure that you can have items for people of varying diets and preferences, so you’ll see everything from lobster to chicken to vegetarian and vegan offerings.”
In terms of a drink menu, the Toki Highball, made with Suntory Toki whiskey, mint and yuzu-lime soda, and the Cálido Y Picante with Hornitos Reposado, dried chili liqueur, spiced pear, lemon and star anise will be among the craft-cocktail offerings ($16-$21), along with beer, sake and wine options, the press release states.
The new eatery will offer seating for 62 outdoors, 52 indoors (including a dumpling bar with counter seating), plus a private dining room seating 16, according to the press release.
“It features our signature window where guests can see the dumplings being made by hand,” Falcon wrote.
Calling Stanford Shopping Center “one of the most celebrated malls in the country,” Falcon noted that many customers who patronize the San Francisco locations of Dumpling Time actually live in Palo Alto. “Now being in their community, where they can pop in on the spur of the moment, is great,” he wrote.
Dumpling Time, 180 El Camino Real, #140, Palo Alto; 650-457-5112; Instagram: @itsdumplingtime; starting in late April, open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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