Seattle’s Dough Zone sets opening date for first Oregon location
Seattle’s celebrated Dough Zone Dumpling House will open its first Portland restaurant in a high profile location along the Willamette River on Monday, April 18, the company announced in a press release Wednesday.
Owners Jason and Nancy Zhai opened Dough Zone’s first location in Bellevue, Washington in 2014 before expanding to eight Seattle locations, plus two more in California’s Silicon Valley. The Portland restaurant is Dough Zone’s 11th overall, and first in Oregon.
The Portland restaurant, originally designed for the short-lived Lucier, is the company’s biggest at more than 7,500-square-foot. Since Lucier closed, the sloping, glass-walled building has been home to short-lived restaurant Quartet, which shut down amid accusations of mismanagement, and events venue River Space.
Unlike its predecessors, the Dough Zone is known for its impressively low prices, with most small plates priced around $10 or less. Signature dishes include Q-Bao, the company’s spin on Shanghai-style pan-fried pork buns, as well as xiao long bao (soup dumplings), Szechuan-style dan dan noodles and the spiralized sweet and sour cucumber.
Dough Zone is far from the first Seattle-based chain to expand to Portland. After a wave of Bellevue-based Sichuan restaurants arrived nearly a decade ago, popular soup dumpling restaurant Din Tai Fung finally followed with its first Oregon location at Tigard’s Washington Square mall in 2019. Din Tai Fung recently announced plans to open a second metro area location at downtown Portland’s Pioneer Place mall in spring or summer of 2023.
Dough Zone Dumpling House will debut at 1910 S. River Dr. on April 18, 503-446-3500, doughzonedumplinghouse.com
read more:
Dumpling house Dough Zone plans Portland riverfront opening in former Lucier space
Din Tai Fung confirms location, timeline for first Portland restaurant
Portland area lands yet another Bellevue Sichuan restaurant
Dough Zone opens in Seattle: Better than Din Tai Fung (Seattle Times)
— Michael Russell, [email protected] @tdmrussell