The wait for Houston’s newest soup dumpling option has almost come to an end. Dough Zone Dumpling House will open its first Houston location in Midtown on October 2.
Courtesy of Dough Zone
Dough Zone serves Chinese comfort food.
Founded in in Bellevue, Washington in 2014 by Jason and Nancy Zhai, Dough Zone serves Chinese comfort food that includes dumplings, noodles, vegetable dishes, and more. Currently, the restaurant operates 16 locations in Washington, Oregon, and California.
For its first Texas location, Dough Zone selected the former Ibiza space (2450 Louisiana St.) in Midtown. At least two additional confirmed locations are in the works — one in the BLVD Place development near the Galleria (1700 Post Oak Ste 250) that’s scheduled to open in January 2024 and one in Sugar Land (2715 Town Center Blvd N) that’s scheduled for April 2024. From there, the restaurant plans to look at other Texas cities but has not yet identified specific locations.
“Houston was selected as our debut location in Texas thanks to the enthusiastic support and numerous requests from the public,” Dough Zone’s Jin Hu tells CultureMap in an email. “Moreover, we were fortunate to secure prime locations that align with our restaurant's mission: they are situated in diverse areas, exhibit a strong interest in Chinese cuisine, and cater to our target customer demographic.”
True to its name, Dough Zone’s menu contains more than 50 items that are made with a dough or batter. That starts with three varieties of soup dumplings — Berkshire pork, Berkshire pork with crab, and chicken. Dough Zone’s signature Q-Bao are pan-fried soup dumplings that add a crispy element.
It also includes various noodle dishes from different regions of China such as Sichuan-style Dan Dan Noodles, hot and sour glass noodles made with sweet potato flour, and beef stew noodles topped with braised brisket. Other highlights include sweet and sour cucumbers, green onion pancakes, and pan fried chive dumplings. Those looking for even more traditional tastes will find marinated pig ears and braised eggs.
As CultureMap noted previously, Seattle’s food writers have compared Dough Zone to Din Tai Fung, the globally renown dim sum restaurant that has two Seattle locations. The local option more than holds its own.
“Dough Zone is better than Din Tai Fung,” Bethany Jean Clement wrote in a 2017 Seattle Times review. “The dumplings at the brand-new branch of the Zone were significantly hotter, juicier and more tender (tenderer?) than my most recent batches of Din Tai Fung ones — which, to be clear, were really good.”
Considering the closest Din Tai Fung is in Las Vegas, Houstonians’ more immediate concern will be how Dough Zone compares to neighbors such as Wanna Bao and Taste of Mulan (formerly One Dim Sum). If that means eating a whole bunch of dumplings to determine a favorite, challenge accepted.
