Clark County diners can now get their soup dumpling fix without crossing the Columbia River. Dough Zone Dumpling House opened its 30th location on September 15 at 11909 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Suite 200, in Vancouver, marking the fast-growing Shanghainese chain's first foothold in Southwest Washington.
The milestone caps a steady climb for a company that started as a single mom-and-pop shop in Bellevue in 2014, founded by Jason Zhai and Nancy Xia, according to The Reflector. In the years since, the chain has expanded by opening a few new locations annually, building a footprint that now stretches across Oregon, California and Texas, per the same report. Until now, Clark County residents wanting Dough Zone's dumplings and bao had to drive into Portland, where the chain already runs three restaurants.
The Vancouver opening actually gives the Portland-Vancouver metro its fourth Dough Zone outpost overall, joining existing Oregon locations in Downtown Portland's South Waterfront, which opened in 2022, as well as Beaverton's Cedar Hills Crossing and Happy Valley's Clackamas Town Center, according to Willamette Week. The new Vancouver spot took over a 2,950-square-foot standalone retail building that previously housed Costa Vida and includes a former drive-thru, as reported by Fuller Group, whose commercial real estate team represented the landlord in the lease alongside NAI Elliott, which represented Dough Zone.
Familiar Flavors, No Reservations Needed
Inside, the restaurant offers traditional Chinese flavors and dishes designed to feel familiar to American customers, per The Reflector's reporting. The menu includes jian bao soup dumplings, along with dumplings, bao, and pan-fried pork buns, served in what The Reflector describes as a homey, modern environment. No reservations are required, and the food is positioned as affordable and accessible.
That pricing structure holds across the chain: most small-plate items run between $7 and $10, according to PDX Parent, with pan-fried Q-Bao pork buns priced at $9.95 and pork xiao long bao soup dumplings at $9.40. Ordering happens through digital QR codes or paper check-off cards rather than a traditional waitstaff model, the outlet notes. Dough Zone's menu includes more than 50 dishes overall, and Willamette Week reports it includes dietary accommodations such as a vegan version of its Dan Dan noodles — a dish traditionally made with pork — plus spiralized sweet-and-sour cucumbers.
Dumpling Classes Come to Second Graders
Beyond the menu, Dough Zone is leaning on its Bao Buddies school program to build ties in Vancouver. Nancy Yun, who represented the company at the opening, taught local second graders to make dumplings using scratch-made dough, according to The Reflector's account of the event. The classes are provided to schools without charge, and the company also holds fundraisers with local nonprofits and schools. Yun said she wants to grow the Bao Buddies program further, with Clark County schools able to apply to partner with the initiative.
The Vancouver classes follow a pattern the company has already run in Western Washington, where Bao Buddies previously conducted dumpling-making sessions at Jing Mei Elementary in Bellevue and Martha Lake Elementary in Lynnwood, according to a Dough Zone company update. In that same September update, Dough Zone Vice President Cindy Guan said reaching 30 locations reflects a strategy of pairing physical growth with local community and youth engagement, noting that entering new neighborhoods includes introducing hands-on culinary workshops to elementary students. Dough Zone says the broader goal in Vancouver is to become part of the community by engaging families, schools and organizations, with the owners' own ethnic heritage informing the food itself.
Tracking a Chain's Expansion South and Beyond
Vancouver's opening fits into a wider southward push along the I-5 corridor. Before crossing into Clark County, Dough Zone established its presence in Washington's South Sound region by opening on Marvin Road in Lacey in June 2025, according to WhatNow Seattle. The company's growth hasn't stopped at Washington's borders, either. In California, Dough Zone has concentrated on Northern California and Silicon Valley, with locations in Berkeley, Campbell, Cupertino, San Jose and Walnut Creek, per the company's own location listings. In Texas, its presence centers on Greater Houston, spanning Houston Midtown, Houston Uptown, Sugar Land and Westchase.
The timing lines up with Vancouver's shifting demographics. The City of Vancouver lists the city's population at 205,100, based on Washington Office of Financial Management 2025 estimates, and cites American Community Survey figures indicating that 5.3% of residents identify as Asian and 3.8% of households speak Asian or Pacific Island languages at home, according to the City of Vancouver. Hoodline previously covered Dough Zone's Seattle Pine Street debut back in 2019, when the chain was still building out its Puget Sound presence — a stretch of growth that has since carried it, one small plate at a time, all the way to Southwest Washington.
