The dumplings have spoken

Dumpling & Bao did not need long to become a Baton Rouge favorite. The restaurant opened last year on Siegen Lane, a stretch already so brimming with Asian restaurants that some in the community lovingly call it "Saigon Lane."

After quickly building a following, owners Kat Zhao and Jona Chen are preparing a second location in Long Farm, where the restaurant will serve from a former Zaxby's.

Dumpling & Bao serves authentic Chinese food, and once you sit down, the appeal becomes clear. The crowd is diverse, the kind of people always hunting for the next great place.

Start with the Pork Xiao Long Bao. The dumplings are delicate, filled with pork and a flavored gelatin that melts into soup as they steam. The restaurant offers playful instructions for eating soup dumplings, which are useful because this is not a food to attack without planning.

Lift the dumpling carefully by its top knot with chopsticks. Place it on a spoon. Pierce it, or take a small bite, to release the broth. Slurp. Then dip in black vinegar, with chili oil if you have not already committed to heat elsewhere in your order.

We had. The red oil wontons and dry-fried green beans were our piquant choices. Both came with the drama of vinegar. The beans added the floral punch of Sichuan peppers, which can make your head tingle and brow sweat in a way that seems medically worrying but culinarily correct.

A friendly recommendation: eat a few beans to wake up your palate. Follow with a wonton dragged through chili oil. Cool off with a soup dumpling dipped in vinegar. Repeat until everyone at the table starts negotiating for the last dumpling.

And if you are brave, eat a Sichuan pepper. It will make everything else taste louder.

—Mukul Verma