These Dumplings Don’t Sleep
Check out this ‘Seattle-style’ dim sum
By Naomi Tomky June 20, 2024
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Seattle magazine.
In a city that very much does sleep, in a not particularly dense neighborhood, David Ponce and Nikki Tran opened an unlikely business in early May: a late-night dumpling shop.
Seattle Dumpling House opens for delivery (through third-party apps) and takeout each night at 11 p.m., well after most restaurant kitchens in the city have shut down for the evening. “You gotta be crazy to do restaurants and food,” Ponce says. “You gotta be doubly crazy to hustle orders out at 3:55 in the morning.”
Both veterans of the local restaurant industry, the pair grew frustrated with the meals they could find after getting off shifts — mostly fast food. They knew it was a problem for others with odd hours, too, including hospital staff and construction workers. “We were thinking about what we can do to give options to people,” Ponce says. “We both love dumplings.”
Ponce grew up in Los Angeles, eating dim sum on weekends, and both took inspiration from what Ponce called Seattle’s “OG late-night spots,” like Ho Ho Seafood Restaurant, Purple Dot Café, and Honey Court Seafood Restaurant in the Chinatown-International District. “Late night dim sum hits different,” Ponce says. “Getting sui mai and coconut water at two in the morning.”
They call their mix of foods inspired by Southeast Asian and Chinese food “Seattle-style dim sum,” and it includes “Garden of Eden” vegetarian dumplings in a Thai-style yellow curry, pork and bok choi “Jade Wontons,” and honey walnut prawns.
The reception was even more excited and enthusiastic than they expected, Ponce says. Delivery apps allow them to extend their audience to much of North Seattle, as far as Wedgwood and Shoreline, helping make the business feasible. While their current space has no seating, the surprising volume of customers already has them starting to look for a second location that would allow people to sit down and eat. But the hours would remain the same, Ponce says, adding, “late nights are here to stay.”
Follow Us
World Cup 26 Is Keeping the Region Busy. So Are Its Recycling Bins.
A local expert explains what actually happens after a plastic bottle leaves the bin.
Seattle is buzzing right now. In the first 11 days of World Cup 26, Waterfront Park recorded more than 451,000 visits, including nearly 85,000 on June 19 alone. SEA Airport has also seen some of its busiest travel days ever, with match-day crowds and summer travelers moving through the city. That is a lot of…
A New Climate Fund Starts With Indigenous Leadership
The $5.5 million investment will support seven Tribal governments and Indigenous-led organizations working on climate projects across Greater Seattle and Puget Sound.
As we head into another summer of hotter days, drought, stress on waterways and habitat, and the now-familiar arrival of wildfire smoke, the First Peoples Climate Fund puts city and philanthropic money behind Native communities already doing the work of responding to these pressures, many of them closest to the impacts and with long-held knowledge…
Washington’s Gender Wage Gap is Widening, Study Finds
Women earned $18,545 less than men in 2024, one of the widest disparities in the country.
The wage gap between men and women in Washington is the second widest in the country. An analysis released in March from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that women in Washington earned a median income $18,545 less than their male counterparts, the largest gap in the country second only to Utah. For…