15 JULY 31-AUGUST 6, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | Rolling in Dough DUMPLINGS ARE A POPULAR DISH IN CUISINES AROUND THE WORLD...AND IN DENVER. BY HELEN XU In the compact kitchen at MAKfam in the Baker neighborhood, dumplings are pleated by hand, each with six folds in a classic half- moon shape. Down in Greenwood Village, a plate of steamed dumplings lands on the table at Rocky Mountain Momo alongside a bowl of cold jhol — a spiced, tomato-based broth — that the server explains you’re meant to pour over the dumplings, letting them soak briefl y, and then eating each one whole. Over at Pierogies Factory in Wheat Ridge, Eastern European dumplings are filled with potato and farmer’s cheese, crisped in butter and topped with sautéed onions. Meanwhile, at the three locations of Istanbul Café across Denver, manti — those tiny Turkish dumplings no bigger than your fi ngertip — are served hot with garlic yogurt and spiced butter. Who’s folding them, what they’re fi lled with, and how they’ve been adapted for Denver diners — this is where the city’s dumpling story starts to take shape. What defi nes a dumpling? Dumplings have existed for thousands of years. The Chinese variety can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (circa 200 CE). Ac- cording to folklore, renowned physician Zhang Zhongjing invented them to treat frostbitten ears. He created a mix of mutton, chile peppers and medicinal herbs, which he wrapped in dough that was then folded to resemble ears. These “tender ears” (jiaozi) were boiled and given to his patients to help warm them and improve blood fl ow. Jiaozi were the precursor of Japanese gyoza, Korean mandu, Mongolian buuz, Nep- alese momo and many more variations, as dumplings spread along the Silk Road. Similar forms of dumplings appeared elsewhere inde- pendently, though, as they’re an easy way to stretch small amounts of meat or vegetables. So what defi nes a dumpling? I interpret it as dough wrapped around fi lling (it can be meat, vegetables, cheese or even sweets) and cooked as a single unit. But that’s not the entire answer, because for days, I struggled with this question: Are ravioli dumplings? My head says yes, but my heart says no. Dumplings use the wrapper as a container; the dough is typically thin, fl exible, structural and not dominant in fl avor or bulk. In the fi lling-to-wrapper ratio, dumplings must favor the fi lling. However, pasta and ravioli regard the dough as an equal. So no, I’m not going to count ravioli as dumplings. There is another consistent dumpling theme: They are labor-intensive to make. In fact, they require such craftsmanship that Nana’s Dim Sum & Dumplings has put dumpling-making on display. “When you fi rst walk into the restaurant, in every one of our restaurants, the dumpling-making showroom is visible,” says Esther Kang, Nana’s director of marketing. “Even being able to stand at the window and look, it’s pretty miraculous how many dumplings they’re making and how consistent they are and how they get into a rhythm and a fl ow — and we feel that’s something to be shared.” You don’t just inherit a dumpling recipe; making them becomes a ritual and, for some, even therapeutic. “One of the reasons why I decided to pur- sue this silly idea of handmade, hand-pleated wontons and dumplings for a business was selfi sh,” says Penelope Wong of Yuan Wonton. “It became a catharsis for me to have to hand- mix dough and pleat dumplings…because it would remind me of sitting in the back prep kitchen of my dad’s restaurant with my grandmother folding potstickers, or sitting in between my dad and my grandfather, folding wontons for dinner service.” Because dumplings take so much work, making them is often a communal activity. “It’s a time to bond, teach the kids how to fold, and enjoy the fruits of your labor together,” says Doris Yuen of MAKfam. “I think anything that brings people together resonates across cultures — because you’re not just making something delicious to eat, you’re creating memories along the way.” Rabee Sharma, co-owner of Rocky Moun- tain Momo, agrees with her. Momo hawkers are a common sight on the streets of Kath- mandu, serving steaming plates to workers, students and tourists; momo are among the most ubiquitous and beloved foods in Nepal. They can be steamed, pan-fried or deep-fried, added to soup or doused in a spicy-tangy sauce. It is traditional to serve momo at big gatherings where you can enlist a large workforce of family members. “One would be mincing the meat, one would be chopping the vegetables, the other person would be kneading the dough. Once that dough is kneaded, there would be a few people rolling it into small balls, then wrapping it, cooking it and making sauce,” Sharma says. In most cases, dumpling-making is a ma- triarchal tradition — passed down through mothers, grandmothers and aunties who crowd into family kitchens to catch up, chat and fold away. At Bryan’s Dumpling House, owner Xiaolong Hao insists that all of his dumpling makers are women. “Only the la- dies do dumplings…the men, their hands are too big. They need to have [nimble, delicate] hands. For the soup dumplings, there’s like eighteen folds,” he describes. And while he and all the Chinese res- taurant owners I spoke with insisted that handmade is the only way to go, both Rocky Mountain Momo and Pierogies Factory use machines to form their dumplings. “But I always tell people, it’s not like you just put ingredients and it makes you everything,” explains Cezary Grosfeld, who immigrated from Poland in 2005 and today owns the largest pierogi restaurant in Colorado with his business partner, Jamie Boon. “Machine is only to help you put together. The feeling of the dough is the most important part.” When you talk about dumplings with those who make them, the word “authentic” always comes up. For a dish as universal as dumplings, there’s a strong pull to root them in cultural identity — tying them back to a region, an ethnicity, a tradition, and to assure customers of its authenticity. “ I’m not fak- ing my accent, you know?” jokes Grosfeld. Grosfeld, Kang and Hao all say that their restaurants’ dumpling recipes came from their grandmothers. MAKfam proudly states that it sources its dumpling skins from local small business Kwan Sang Noodles. Yuan Wonton’s signature chili wontons are based on the traditional dish and use a sauce based on Wong’s father’s recipe. “We import our manti directly from Türkiye and serve it with our house-made garlic yogurt sauce topped with a special blend of spices and butter,” says Soner Celik, co-owner of Istanbul Cafe & Bakery, which opened its doors in 2019 with a desire to bring an authentic Turkish cafe to the Denver metropolitan area. Dig a little deeper, though, and all of these restaurateurs have adapted their recipes for Denver’s palate. For example, while the most typical momo is buffalo meat, Rocky Mountain had to leave it off the menu. “It’s very diffi cult to fi nd water buffalo meat in Denver,” notes Sharma. Instead, it offers two fl avors of momo — chicken and vegetables — but drew the line at adding pork, beef or seafood. “Pork and beef is not something that is consumed much in Nepal, especially it being a Hindu country,” Sharma says. And since it’s a landlocked country, it doesn’t have easy accessibility to seafood. Grosfeld added a breakfast pierogi after witnessing the long lines at a breakfast food truck. “I saw this and thought, ‘Shoot, I need to get more customers in the morning.’ So then I created the breakfast pierogi. I put inside eggs, ham, cheddar cheese and bacon. And we topped with green chile and pico de gallo. And right away, I have almost the same line,” he recalls. In other cases, restaurateurs decide to take the risk out of trying something new. Nana’s has a dumpling roulette sampler plate of six different fl avors; Bryan’s Dumpling House became insta-famous for its beautiful, eight-piece xiao long bao dish— each piece a different color and fl avor, with crab and Sichuan representing traditional fl avors, and cheese and kimchi the more experimental. Both options allow Denver eaters to be a little more adventurous with one or two bites instead of committing to a full order. Whatever your dumpling preference — crisped in butter, swimming in chile oil, soaked in cold jhol — you’ll fi nd it somewhere in Denver. The city’s dumpling scene isn’t just growing in numbers; it’s expanding in technique, origin and ambition. Nana’s is mul- tiplying across the metro. Bryan’s Dumpling House is scouting new locations. Pierogies Factory is heading into grocery-store freezers. Denver’s dumpling moment isn’t over: It’s just beginning to boil. Email the author at [email protected]. CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS A dumpling sampler from Bryan’s Dumpling House. SANDRA VO
