Lake County residents looking to celebrate National Dumpling Day on Thursday can try Dangela’s Dumplings, at 133 North Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville, a small piece of authentic Chinese cuisine dropped into the Chicago suburbs.
Although the day isn’t federally recognized, it’s enough of an excuse to drop by one of the few places in Lake County serving the traditional Asian dish.
Dumplings can be seen in numerous cultures, and a variety of shapes and sizes. At Dangela’s, the dumplings are made with a circle wrapper, about the size of someone’s palm, made of flour and water. They’re wrapped around a dollop of filling into a crescent moon shape, then either pan-fried or boiled.
The restaurant is named after owner Angela Xu, but starts with the first letter of her husband’s name, Dan. Xu prided herself on authenticity; the recipes and techniques are drawn from her mother and grandmother, who come from the Northeastern regions of China.
Xu came to America in 2009 to pursue a master’s degree in business. She got the idea for a restaurant after seeing her friend’s reactions to her mother’s dumplings when she came to visit.
“It’s very hard to find authentic ones in America, especially in the suburbs,” she said. “So we decided to introduce authentic dumplings.”
By the end of 2019, that idea would become Dangela’s Dumplings. It combined her mother’s recipes with her business education and the experience of her father, who headed a food factory.
Within months, the new restaurant would face difficult times; the dining area was closed as the pandemic shut down businesses across the country. The restaurant made it through, Xu said, because of local support and the federal PPP loans.
“We have a passion for what we are doing, because we get good feedback from our customers a lot, especially Chinese customers. They couldn’t believe they could get it authentic,” Xu said.
No shortcut to good food
Authenticity means taking techniques from her family’s home into the restaurant. Xu said they buy whole pieces of meat to maintain quality, chop it themselves to get a specific texture, and then marinate.
They try to limit seasoning, Xu said, to emphasize the flavors of the dumplings themselves. Ingredients are limited, so customers “know what they’re eating,” she said. “Chicken mushroom only has chicken and mushroom.”
The work needed to make the dumplings has kept the menu small, but Xu said they wanted to, “make sure all the fillings we do in the right way. We really only serve one product, but what we try to do is that one thing good.”
“There’s no shortcut to good food,” she said. “We keep the traditional technique.”
In a few short years, Xu said she feels like a part of the community. People were open-minded from the beginning, she said, and she sees many returning customers. Even some of her staff are former customers.
“I have a very big connection with the community, and they give me good support,” Xu said.
They even have people from the big city drop in to buy packages of frozen dumplings to go, which she said is especially gratifying.
“They just can’t believe they have such an authentic dumpling house in the suburbs,” Xu said.
