By Naomi Hofferber
A new restaurant has joined the late-night dining scene. Dumpling Darling, 213 Iowa Ave., is an eatery that offers sweet, savory, traditional, and new imaginings of dumplings and buns.
“We started as a Farmers’ Market stand in 2014,” said Leslie Triplett, the owner of Dumpling Darling. “We started it because we lived in South Korea, and we loved the dumplings there, and it gradually grew to a stand in the New Bo Market in Cedar Rapids.”
Dumpling Darling is open until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and joins a variety of local businesses in the late-night food scene.
Triplett said the store has been positively received during its first week.
“It’s been awesome and overwhelming but really good,” she said. “We had to close on Sunday because we ran out of all our food, and we had to regroup.”
Nancy Bird, the executive director of the Iowa City Downtown District, said in an email to The Daily Iowan that the district has been following a five-year plan for growth in the area.
“The retail strategy encourages direct recruitment or growing local soft-goods retail as a priority. However, high-quality restaurants with exceptional food are also important, and we find value with them,” Bird said in the email. “Downtown hosts an incredibly strong market hold on quality restaurants and has become an organic attractor for more.”
Bird said that the Night Mayor, a new Iowa City position, would work with businesses to encourage a vibrant night economy. The search for a night mayor is currently underway.
“Similar to what a director or mayor does for a community during the day, one can be created to support the night — or the nontraditional evening hours that comes with special challenges and opportunities during that time of day,” Bird said. “Currently, no one is on point to relate, collaborate, or work with these businesses to encourage complimentary or additional business or visitation.”
For local competitors of the late-night crowd, being a unique option is key.
“There are lots of options; even though more options have been opening late night, we don’t see a lot of difference here,” said Brandon DeMuynck, a manager of Mesa Pizza. “I don’t think the market is underserved; a lot of these places need that kind of business to stay open anyway, so if you don’t get that kind of business, you close, especially for places like us, as a small business.”
DeMuynck said that having a unique product, a fun atmosphere, and popularity was key to success as a late-night food business.
“People like going where there’s already people, which is why it’s hard to kick out us and Panchero’s, just because we’re already so busy,” he said.
