Waiter, there’s cheese in my dumplings! And it might be the best item listed on the United Dumplings menu. I was nervously excited when owners Julia Zhu and Sandy Zheng invited me to make dumplings with them. 

I chose their bustling restaurant for this month’s column because of its interesting mix of old and new recipes. The ethos of United Dumplings reflects the evolving cuisine of Asian America. Its menu offers both traditional Northern Chinese dumplings like boiled pork and cabbage, and modern, creative flavors that pull from the Bay Area’s massive culinary landscape. 

There’s bulgogi, for example, tasted in the Korean barbecue beef dumplings, and the Mexican-inspired corn and cheese variety is packed into its Mission Chicken Pot Stickers. Who’s the team behind this popular restaurant who took a chance on opening in 2020 — arguably one of the food and beverage industry’s most nightmarish years during the pandemic?

Jumbo shrimp turkey dumplings at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

Julia Zhu was a regular customer at Sandy Zheng’s Beijing Restaurant on Alemany Boulevard, taking comfort in the hard-to-find Northern Chinese cuisine of her home region amongst the southern Chinese-heavy foodscape of the city. The two became fast friends, eventually conceiving the idea of opening a Northern Chinese dumpling restaurant together. 

Today, it’s difficult to believe that their restaurant, United Dumplings in Bernal Heights, is only 2 years old. It’s been so successful, in fact, that Zhu and Zheng recently opened their new Marina restaurant at 2015 Chestnut St. on Sept. 4, with a location-exclusive empanada called Little Havana, filled with ground beef, onions, olives and some UD secrets. The two also look forward to opening their third store, at 6247 College Ave. in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, in October.

Outside of UD’s Bay Area-inspired menu items, Zheng and Zhu emphasize the communal nature of making dumplings, reminiscing about rolling out and filling them with family during the new year. They fold the idea of togetherness into their food and share the common presence of dumplings across cultures with their customers. 

Left to right, co-owners Sandy Zheng and Julia Zhu at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

“That’s why we’re called United Dumplings,” Zhu said. The communal nature of dumpling-making, the commonality of dumplings internationally, plus the strength of Zheng and Zhu’s friendship, inspired the idea of cooking together with them.

I spoke to Zhu one afternoon and divulged my curiosities about dumpling-making, including the difficult process that goes into making xiao long bao (XLB, or soup dumplings), the ground pork dumplings that magically burst forth with hot soup upon first bite. So she kindly invited me to visit UD's original location and roll up my sleeves to learn the art of filling and folding with her and Zheng. I made dumplings a few years ago at a friend’s dumpling-making party where mine were by far the ugliest due to my tendency to overstuff. I hoped to do better during my UD visit.

While most of my service industry years were spent bartending, the last time I was in a pro kitchen was March 2020 as a catering manager for Crepe-Madame, which included countless prep shifts. The kitchen of UD felt familiar with its large stainless steel appliances, except I was in a different world, filled with woks and steamers, instead of rimless round pans for crepes. Needless to say, I was nervously sweating in their kitchen. I didn’t want to disappoint or fail.

“That’s part of the joy of making family dumplings,” Zhu said reassuringly when I mentioned my anxiety over imperfect results.

Margot Seeto, left, assisted by Sandy Zheng, places the Napa cabbage and pork filling in the dumpling wrapper for Grandma's Pork Pot Stickers at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

Once we got settled in the kitchen, all the tools and delicious ingredients that go into making XLB, such as dough, ground pork and tiny pie tins, were laid out on a hefty wooden cutting board in front of me. My dream manifested. Zheng, having trained with an XLB chef in China, first demonstrated the steps for me. Then, I tried to copy her. I brushed mini pie tins with swipes of vegetable oil to prevent sticking — lest the dough break and the soup leak out, which would be sacrilege.

UD uses different dough recipes for different dishes, and the XLB variety is made fresh every morning. I gasped at how soft, supple and silky it felt. Zhu and Zheng explained that northern dumpling dough is wheat-based, versus the southern Cantonese dumpling wrappers made from rice flour. There were nuggets of dough already pre-cut from the mound sitting off the side of the board. I held the top of one piece with my left thumb and forefinger against the cutting board while rolling it out with the center of a small rolling pin controlled by my right hand. My left fingers rotated the disc slightly counterclockwise with each downward roll. I repeated this step until a circle formed about 4 inches in diameter.

The filling was also already made for me, both in the interest of saving time and to safeguard their recipe secrets. Aside from shaping the dough rounds precisely, the soup that forms inside the XLB as it is steamed — the amount, flavor, viscosity — is key. Zhu and Zheng said their trick is to mix in “frozen soup” with the pork. I took “soup” to mean the generous bits of gelatinous aspic dotting the pile of ground meat sitting on the cutting board, which already had incorporated minced aromatics like ginger. The proteinaceous jelly melts as the dumpling steams, allowing all the ingredients to meld with the pork juices to create a rich soup inside.

Sandy Zheng rolls out some dumpling wrappers at United Dumplings in San Francisco, Calif. on Aug. 29, 2022.

Sandy Zheng places the napa cabbage and pork filling in the dumpling wrapper for Grandma's Pork Pot Stickers for that United Dumplings in San Francisco, Calif. on Aug. 29, 2022.

Sandy Zheng places one of the Pork XLB dumpling in a steamer at United Dumplings in San Francisco, Calif. on Aug. 29, 2022.

I held the dough disc on the fingertips of my left palm, with my thumb in the center of the meat, my bottom four fingers rotating the XLB in a clockwise direction as my right fingers pleated numerous small folds in an upward direction. This continuous motion created a dough petal at the top of the XLB with a tiny hole to let steam escape. After finishing my clumsy pleats, I held the XLB by the petals with my thumb and forefingers, using both hands to stretch out the dough and petal. How many folds, ideally? “23,” Zheng answered. She no longer counts, but said her XLBs range from 22 to 25.

Next, I got to make the classic pork and cabbage dumplings that UD calls Grandma’s Pork Dumplings. Cabbage is a sturdy vegetable that can withstand tough winters, which is why it’s a staple in dumplings and other dishes. While the dough looked similarly silky to the XLB, it was more firm and less delicate. 

A mass of pink ground pork lay before me, again, already prepped. Next to it was a pile of Napa cabbage leaves I minced with a weighty, rectangular Chinese cleaver, first slicing the stack into matchsticks, then turning the pile 90 degrees to slice crosswise. I ran the cleaver through the minced leaves several times more with rhythmic whacks, then mixed them with the ground meat, and ran the cleaver through the cabbage and pork mixture again to achieve uniformity.

I rolled out the dough nugget in a similar fashion to the XLB, except this time, into an oval shape instead of a circle. Or rather, Zheng corrected my messy circle into an oval. I then cautiously put a small amount of filling in the middle of my oblong disc. 

“You can put more,” Zheng encouraged. I added two more scoops before she told me to stop.

Sealing this dumpling was different from what I imagined. Instead of making pretty pleats, I used the length of each pointer finger and thumb to seal it from both ends simultaneously, meeting in the middle in two deft motions. 

This resulted in a smooth seal. Zheng assured me this method was the faster, professional way. I somehow also managed to squeeze out some filling like it was toothpaste during the process. Oops. Grandma’s Pork Dumplings’ shape reminds me of gold Chinese ingots. Families make them during Lunar New Year to symbolize hope for prosperity in the coming year. 

Pork XLB dumplings in a steamer at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

“Dumplings are important for Chinese people, especially for ones who grew up with nothing,” Zhu said. It was a reminder not to take the abundance of dumplings at my fingertips for granted.

After making the XLBs and Grandma’s Pork Dumplings, they all steamed for 8 minutes. By this time, Zheng and Zhu had actually steamed some dumplings that were already impeccably made by their staff. I found this amusing. I would’ve happily eaten my lumpy dumps, but I appreciated their perfectionist tendencies. While waiting to eat, I checked out the beautiful restroom that Zhu said she proudly designed, including the relaxing blue-and-white wallpaper that begs for a bathroom selfie.

As our dumplings steamed, Zhu and Zheng prepared a feast — a spread of what we made, plus other customer favorites, such as oolong tea and fresh sauteed green string beans wok-tossed to a blistered tender-crispness.

The pair presented pork XLB made by their chefs, and not my messy ones (LOL). Like other restaurant owners, Zheng and Zhu worried about presenting cold XLBs after chatting and taking photos. They tested first, casually using their hands to pick up and bite into the mini delights. “Still has soup,” they both said, nodding approvingly. (That’s an iron-clad recipe if a cold XLB still has soup after sitting out for half an hour.) The dough had a soft yet toothsome chew, and the interior was intensely juicy. The dipping sauce was a house mixture that included soy sauce, vinegar and chopped ginger.

Left to right, co-owners Sandy Zheng and Julia Zhu pose for a photo for Margot Seeto at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

We then chowed down on Grandma’s Pork Potstickers, the Korean barbecue beef dumplings, spicy Sichuan wonton in red oil, and the Mission chicken pot stickers. The latter were my favorite, sporting a lacy, crispy brown cheese frico that connected the dumplings a la modern Japanese gyoza. 

I noticed a uniformity of textures across these dishes — the same technique used to mince and mix the cabbage and ground pork for the Grandma dumplings was also employed across the onion and beef, and the chicken and corn fillings. The idea initially appeared monotonous — I expected the Korean beef dumplings to have thin slices of bulgogi, and the Mission chicken ones to have more whole corn kernels and coarsely ground meat for textural variety.

Still, Zheng’s ingredient ratio and mixing-by-mincing technique is a solid blueprint that works for all of UD’s dumplings, yielding even flavors, consistent bites and moisture retention. This was especially impressive for the scallop and chicken bao, and jumbo shrimp turkey dumplings, since the leaner fat content of poultry would be prone to dryness. I was expecting Zheng to say she added animal fat. Instead, she listed a surprising ingredient in its place.

Sandy Zheng pours some sauce on Grandma's Pork Pot Stickers at United Dumplings in San Francisco on Aug. 29, 2022.

“There is some sort of vegetable juice inside,” she said. Every UD recipe has secret ingredients that the two will reference vaguely but don’t quite reveal.

United Dumplings’ robust menu is one where you can close your eyes, randomly point to an item and you’ll end up with something delicious. The amount of R&D behind each dumpling is evident by every dish being a standout, with every item carefully tested and tweaked. 

Zhu and Zheng strive for perfection, but also don’t forget to imbue the business with the fun of their friendship — a recipe for their creative and varied menu that boasts kids’ dishes like mac ‘n’ cheese pork potstickers, and a whole section dedicated to  “Mimosamania.” Because why shouldn’t you have mimosas with dumplings? 

(Left to right) Co-owner Sandy Zheng pours some tea at United Dumplings in San Francisco, Calif. on Aug. 29, 2022.

I’ve continued to think about the savory-sweet Mission chicken dumplings with both a cheesy crisp and cheesy pull, and must return for the cheesy kids’ menu (obviously, I like cheese). And now that I have a bit of a better understanding of the skill and time it takes to make an amazing XLB, no soup shall ever go to waste again. Especially not any from United Dumplings.

United Dumplings, 525 Cortland Ave., San Francisco. Open Wednesday through Monday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. Second location: 2015 Chestnut St., San Francisco. Open Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 1 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. Coming soon: United Dumplings, 6247 College Ave., Oakland. Slated for October.

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Margot Seeto is a freelance writer and third-generation San Franciscan who appreciates home (and its food!) so much more after having lived all over the globe for 15 years. Send her dumpling tips at: margotseeto@gmail.com. You can also follow Margot on Twitter: @meatoseeto.