Xiao long bao (soup dumplings) moved from a regional specialty to a recognized American food in stages, and the timing is a little fuzzy because there was no single launch moment.
The first big push came in the 1990s, mainly in New York and Los Angeles. Shanghai-style restaurants in Manhattan's Chinatown and in Flushing, Queens, served them to a growing mix of diners, and food writers began singling them out. Joe's Shanghai on Pell Street is the name most often linked to that early reputation.
The next wave came in the 2000s, when Taiwanese chain Din Tai Fung opened its first U.S. location in Arcadia, California, around 2008. Its popularity and the long lines that followed pushed xiao long bao into mainstream American food coverage.
I'm working from memory on these dates, so please treat the exact years as approximate. If you want firm dates, look for restaurant reviews from the period in the New York Times or Los Angeles Times archives, and for the company's own history on Din Tai Fung's site. Anyone who remembers when they first saw soup dumplings on a U.S. menu, feel free to add it.
