The vacant hot chicken shack at The Forum in Selma has a new tenant lined up, and this time it's serving dumplings instead of drumsticks. Meet Dumplings & Noodles, a restaurant brand founded by co-owners Jerry Shi and Shi Xiaoxiang, is preparing to open its second Texas location inside the 4,100-square-foot suite at 8211 Agora Parkway that The Cookshack abandoned earlier this year.
Shi and Xiaoxiang launched Meet Dumplings & Noodles in Friendswood, southeast of Houston, in March 2026, according to WhatNow. The Selma restaurant, confirmed as the brand's first expansion, is targeted to open in early 2027. State licensing filings reviewed by Zabalist show the company registered a $70,000 interior renovation for the space, with Rose-Forum Associates, L.P. listed as the property developer and Swan Studio Architects as the design firm.
The new restaurant will serve boiled, steamed, and pan-fried dumplings alongside noodle dishes and boba teas, with a dining room built around traditional Chinese design elements. The station's report also notes the concept will add a full bar with cocktails and draft beer, an expansion on the offerings at the original Friendswood location.
A Suite With a Revolving Door
Suite 112 has churned through concepts fast. As reported by MySA, the space previously housed The Lion & Rose British Pub before Fort Worth-based hot chicken chain The Cookshack moved in during October 2022, per the San Antonio Current. That run didn't last. MySA reported that The Cookshack abruptly closed its Selma location in February 2026, posting a notice on the front door blaming unresolved electrical issues before permanently vacating the space — a shutdown Hoodline covered at the time in its story on the chain going dark. The Cookshack never reopened and left the San Antonio market entirely.
The vacancy sat until Meet Dumplings filed its renovation paperwork on September 1, 2026. Plans call for new flooring, wall finishes, and light fixtures throughout the dining and restroom areas, with construction tentatively scheduled to run from October 1, 2026 through July 31, 2027, according to the filing timeline. That formal completion window is broader than what the ownership team has publicly described: co-owner Jerry Shi has stated in interviews that the goal is to open within five to six months, putting the target in early 2027.
Turnover Across a Sprawling Power Center
The Forum at Olympia Parkway spans 1.2 million square feet across Selma and Live Oak along Interstate 35 and Loop 1604, and houses more than 125 retail and dining tenants, according to AVR Realty Company. The center has seen a wave of tenant changes this year. Hoodline previously reported that Outback closed its Forum location in March 2026 after nearly 25 years, while Chick-fil-A filed plans that same February for a $1.5 million, 5,000-square-foot rebuild at 8355 Agora Parkway featuring dual ordering canopies and expanded drive-thru capacity.
Selma's broader construction pace reflects that churn. State tracking records show the city had 192 registered Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation projects valued at $1.11 billion as of September 2026, spanning 127 renovation projects and 65 new construction builds across commercial and healthcare sectors, per Zabalist's citywide data.
Part of a Regional Dumpling and Hot Pot Wave
Meet Dumplings' arrival tracks with a broader shift in San Antonio's suburban dining scene. CultureMap San Antonio reported this week that Asian dining concepts are expanding rapidly across area shopping centers, pointing to the recent debut of DIY hot pot spot Hot Spot 61 at Huebner Oaks — a concept Hoodline also covered in its piece on the hot pot spot's opening — alongside a growing number of dumpling eateries in the region. Specialized Chinese, dim sum, and hot pot concepts are increasingly filling second-generation restaurant spaces in the city's suburban retail centers, per CultureMap's reporting.
For now, the Selma space remains under renovation, with the ownership team's early 2027 target still ahead of the state's formal completion deadline. The Forum's dining lineup, meanwhile, keeps shifting as legacy chains give way to newer regional concepts along the Agora Parkway corridor.
