Dumpling Plus to Open Second St. Louis Restaurant Site
The restaurant concept will expand into The Grove this November, occupying a space vacated by a long-term tenant.
Updated on Oct. 28, 2026 in Openings & Closings
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Dumpling Plus will open its second St. Louis restaurant in The Grove neighborhood at 4087 Chouteau in late November 2026. This expansion follows the brand’s summer 2026 debut in the Delmar Loop.
Why it matters
The move marks the growth of the local Jiangnan-style dining segment, filling a vacancy left by a seven-year restaurant tenure in a high-traffic neighborhood.
The expansion brings a second location to St. Louis just months after the flagship store launched in the Delmar Loop. The site occupies 4087 Chouteau, replacing a space that housed a previous operator for seven years.
The players
Dumpling Plus
A St. Louis-based restaurant concept specializing in Jiangnan-style cuisine and hand-made soup dumplings.
Tony Liu
Owner and operator of Dumpling Plus who has operated in St. Louis since 2013.
Chin Zhang
Co-owner and operator of the Dumpling Plus restaurant brand.
Yaya Wang
Executive chef at Dumpling Plus with previous operational experience at the Din Tai Fung chain.
The details
Owners Tony Liu and Chin Zhang are scaling the concept by leveraging a signature kitchen design that features a window for diners to observe hand-made dumpling production. Menu operations are managed by Chef Yaya Wang, who incorporates experience from the Din Tai Fung chain to maintain the brand’s focus on Jiangnan-style cuisine.
Timeline
September 20, 2026: Chao Baan closed its restaurant at 4087 Chouteau.
Summer 2026: The original Dumpling Plus opened in the Delmar Loop.
Late November 2026: The second Dumpling Plus location is expected to open.
Market Landscape
This development follows the established cycle of space turnover in high-demand dining districts like The Grove. The transition represents a direct competitive shift, replacing a seven-year tenant with a concept seeking to scale rapidly across the city.
Operators looking at neighborhood expansion should monitor how Dumpling Plus adapts its high-visibility 'kitchen window' model to the new site's footprint. The move highlights the benefit of securing existing restaurant infrastructure to reduce time-to-market for new unit launches.
The takeaway
Rapid scaling of specialty concepts requires a repeatable operational format, such as the hand-made dumpling station, to maintain quality across multiple sites. Owners should track how new concepts utilize established kitchen layouts to optimize their own build-out costs.
Further reading
For more on the latest changes in the local food scene, see our Openings & Closings section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by St. Louis Magazine.
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