An acclaimed Chinese restaurant from Irving has expanded to Dallas: Fortune House, known for its soup dumplings, noodles, and authentic Shanghainese dishes, has opened a second location on Lower Greenville, at 2010 Greenville Ave. #B, next to HG Sply Co.
The restaurant is in soft opening mode, and occupies a space with Asian food history: It was briefly home to a Chinese restaurant called Gung Ho, which closed in mid-2020.
Fortune House is perhaps most famous for its pan-fried pork buns — plump round dumplings with a soft dough on top and a delectably crunchy brown crust on the bottom.
Those alone warrant a trip for fans, but there are many other delicacies on their menu, ranging from vegetarian dishes to fried rice, to noodle dishes, to soups and soup dumplings, filled with choice of pork, pork & crab, or pork & black truffle.
That last one — the one with the black truffle — is a new item they've added specifically for the Dallas location, according to manager Karen Rubia.
"We also added a dumpling sampler, and that has been extremely popular," she says.
They have a unique selection of small plates such as Chive Pockets — a pan-fried pocket filled with chives, vermicelli, egg, wood ear mushroom, and dried shrimp; baby ribs in Shanghainese sweet & sour sauce, served the traditional way, chilled; and "phoenix talons" AKA hot pepper-marinated chicken feet.
Seafood includes steamed whole sea bass, honey walnut prawns, and kung pao prawns, stir-fried with peanuts and chilies.
Vegetarian options are varied and inventive, such as lettuce wraps with water chestnuts, peas, & carrots; tofu wrapped with shiitake & enoke mushrooms; braised seitan with mushrooms & peanuts; Crispy Garlic Cucumber with English cucumber and garlic in a sesame oil vinaigrette; sautéed spinach with egg yolk in a supreme broth; and sauteed edamame & tofu in a white sauce.
The cuisine is Shanghai-style Chinese, a legacy from original owner Lucy Yong, who first opened the Irving location in 2015. She brought in chefs trained in Shanghai, China who built the menu of authentic Chinese dishes. She subsequently sold the restaurant to John Kim, who also owns Koryo Kalbi, the highly rated Korean BBQ restaurant on Royal Lane in Dallas' Koreatown district.
For the Dallas location, they've expanded their cocktail selection, incorporating ingredients you'd find in Chinese cuisine, such as tea. They're also offering a Chinese "Gongfu" tea ceremony, which is uncommon in Dallas.
Also, here's a thing: The space came with a pizza oven. "We're excited we inherited that, and we'll play around and do some unusual dishes," Rubia says.
They first signed on to open the Greenville Avenue location in April 2021, a challenging time for a new restaurant on all fronts.
"But opening here was something we definitely wanted to do," Rubia says. "There's a lot of foot traffic, but more than that, it's an up-and-coming area, just like our company. Greenville Avenue has an ever-growing variety of cultures and cuisines, and we wanted to be part of that."
