Mama Lu's - From Rags To Riches (With A Side Trip to Prison)

While dining earlier this month at Capital Seafood Restaurant on Beverly Hills' famed restaurant row on La Cienega Blvd., adjacent to the world famous Lawry's Prime Rib restaurant, I was surprised to see a special section on the menu devoted to "Mama Lu's Famous Dumplings."   It was truly stunning to see one Chinese restaurant highlight a dish from another Chinese restaurant.  But if any Chinese restaurant were to be featured on another Chinese restaurant's menu, it would be Mama Lu's Dumpling House, which is in the past five years has exploded into a major player that has grown far beyond its San Gabriel Valley roots with branches in a number of Chinese American communities in the Los Angeles area.

 

What makes this transformation all the more incredible is that it was just over 15 years ago, where we would stop by a house on Avondale St. in Monterey Park, ring the doorbell, and buy frozen wontons and dumplings from the living room freezer from the lady there.  That lady turned out to be Mama Lu, and in 2008 the first Mama's Lu Dumpling House (sic) opened on east Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park, followed by Mama Lu's Dumpling House on west Garvey Avenue in Monterey Park (notice the slight difference in name to avoid having two identically named stores in the same city), Lu Dumpling House on Garfield Ave. in Monterey Park (subsequently obliterated by an errant Alhambra Fire Department truck and never to reopen), Mama's Dumpling House in San Gabriel (a joint venture later sold off), and Mama Lu's Dumpling House in Industry.

However, things seemed to fall apart in 2021, when Mama Lu and her brother were caught red handed for avoiding over $2 million in taxes, primarily California sales taxes.  By repaying the avoided taxes, the owners were able to reduce their jail sentences.  You can read the government press release here.   However, unlike the similar tax evasion woes of the Sam Woo chain which resulted in the sale of several branches in order to repay the evaded taxes, the Mama Lu chain has prospered after their owners were caught and sent to jail. (Presumably they served their time and have been released.) Shockingly they bought one of the best known Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles Chinatown, CBS Seafood, eventually converting it into a Mama Lu branch, and being the first San Gabriel Valley Chinese restaurant to establish a presence in Los Angeles Chinatown.  Next, they took over the space in Old Town Pasadena previously occupied by Vancouver's legendary Chef Tony Dim Sum, and have also established itself in Irvine's wealthy Chinese community with their branch in Tustin. Another branch is headed for Arcadia. And now, through Capital Seafood, they are also playing in Beverly Hills.