Exclusive: Inside Jujube, the new restaurant from Saturday Dumpling Co. owners

In Chinese cooking, when a wok is ready the air above it ripples — it’s referred to as the “breath of the wok.” In the American South, pit masters coax fires into glowing embers, where the low temperature and wood smoke impart that distinctive flavor. The two concepts come together at Jujube , a new full-service restaurant in Minneapolis’ Mill District opening Nov. 18. Behind it are Saturday Dumpling Company’s Linda Cao and Peter Bian, along with chef Jake Johnson, a transplanted Texan who will serve Chinese-Texas barbecue. “It began with a bromance,” quipped Cao, eyeing her collaborators. Advertisement Cao and Bian started Saturday Dumpling Co. during the pandemic, with a family dumpling recipe as a way to celebrate Chinese New Year during isolation. It became a successful popup before growing into an established mini restaurant chain with three Minneapolis locations. In its early days, they sought out other local chefs to collaborate on dumpling flavors. That’s how they met Johnson, who was working at Animales Barbeque at the time. Johnson’s resume includes several notable Twin Cities restaurants — Bachelor Farmer, Kim’s, Estelle and Black Duck. With each stop, he honed his live-fire cooking skills. But another thread of curiosity led him to cookbooks and online research. “Being from a small town in Texas, we only had one Chinese restaurant,” Johnson explained. It was the typical American-Chinese takeout spot, but he wanted to know more — from pantry items to techniques and even hard-to-source teas. “I think I was drawn to Chinese food because what I got was such a [crappy] version of it.” Expanded image view Jake Johnson, executive chef, prepares dishes in the kitchen at Jujube in Minneapolis as they prepare to open. ( Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune ) As he studied, he found one unexpected and hard-to-please fan. With COVID lockdown in the rearview mirror, Bian’s mother — whose recipe was the impetus for Saturday Dumpling Co. — tasted Johnson’s cooking. A famously tough critic, she not only approved, but helped him learn, going deeper into ingredients, traditions and skills.