Meet the Los Angeles County Public Defender Side Hustling as a Dumpling Master

As a Los Angeles County public defender and founder of the dumpling pop-up Dumplins (stylized as dumpLins), Jodi Lin’s combination of careers seems unlikely on paper. While many people would hesitate to pick up a side hustle with such a demanding day job, it makes sense in Lin’s case. “I’m kind of just putting everything about me into the food,” she says. “As a public defender, I tell my clients’ stories. And as a Dumplins entrepreneur, I tell my people’s story.”

In many ways, the idea for Dumplins was seeded the year Lin was born, in 1980, to Taiwanese immigrants who settled in the Bay Area. Growing up, she and her family ate dumplings whenever her grandma visited from Taiwan. “I would smash the dough so that [Grandma] could roll it out,” Lin says. “Our family from anywhere in the state would come out so that we could fold dumplings together.” These occasions ingrained in Lin that dumplings are a reason for community gathering and a vessel for storytelling.

While Lin had a firm sense of her identity as an Asian American, annual trips to Taiwan to visit her grandma, along with her mother and brother, could waver some of her confidence. “[When I go] to Taiwan, I’m told I’m not Taiwanese.” Lin says. “I am American, but when you see me, people are like, ‘Wait, where are you from?’ I’m from here. ‘No, but where are you from?’ San Francisco.” Being a third-culture kid had its challenges but led Lin down the path of radically embracing her mixed identity. “I went my whole life begging to be seen as American. And then I get to a point where I’m like, you know what? I love that I’m cultured. I love that I’m a hyphenated American.”

Following Lin’s college graduation, she attended Loyola Law School and landed a position at the Compton juvenile branch of the LA County Public Defender’s Office. “This is totally up my alley,” Lin remembers thinking on her first day on the job. These days, Lin is working with post-conviction adults and recently reduced the sentence of an incarcerated person who’s been in prison for more than 25 years for forging a check for just a few hundred dollars. “I love the underdog,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s because of how I was raised; we weren’t privileged either. It’s just knowing that you’re giving them support and a hand that they probably haven’t had their whole lives.”

Lin first introduced Dumplins to the public at a pop-up held on the back patio of Civil Coffee in Highland Park in May 2021. Though she didn’t know anything about running a food business, Lin remembers a wise friend telling her to just “grab a cooler and go.” Upwards of 50 customers showed up that night. “It seemed like so many Dumplins,” Lin says. “But that turnout now would seem like a slow day.” Lin offset personal labor costs in pricing her dumplings during the early days of running the business (dumplings were priced at $8 to $10 for six); she eventually raised prices to reflect her time and efforts at her brother’s insistence. “I was like, ‘Oh, I just love doing it. It’s fun for me.’ And my brother’s like, ‘You need to stop.’” Today, a serving of four Dumplins costs between $8 to $12.

Since its debut over four years ago, Dumplins’ menu continues to evolve and draw inspiration from Lin’s diverse path, experiences, and interests. “I put my love for sports, my love for hip-hop, so you can know what it’s like to be in this crazy mind of mine,” Lin says. One of the best-seller riffs on Taiwanese beef noodle soup — the dumpling wrap acts as the noodle, while the filling includes ground shank meat, tomato, and of course, broth for slurping. Unlike a typical soup dumpling, it’s seared on the bottom and pinched together on four sides.

The Midnight in Paris Dumplin resembles a raviolo with slow-roasted tomatoes and no shortage of butter, garlic, basil, and breadcrumbs. It’s Lin’s take on a dish she ate at Michelin-starred Le Rigmarole in Paris, which captured Lin’s attention for its use of binchotan grills. “My grandma would probably lose her mind,” Lin says. “She’d probably be like, ‘Wait, these are noodle dishes. Why are you making them dumplings? What’s the Italian flavor?’”

The Chef Curry Dumplin, named after one of Lin’s favorite NBA players, Steph Curry, is filled with a sweet Taiwanese curry with a panko crust; its shape resembles the arc of Curry’s three-point shot. Lin scores an incredible char from searing the dumplings. The Miso Corny Dumplin is loaded with a miso corn puree and a whole, crisp shrimp, while the Kalbi Dumplin contains Korean short ribs marinated in rich spices and bathed in a miso gochujang sauce with lots of garlic.

One of the primary traits that make Lin’s dumplings different from others in Los Angeles is its inclusion of sauce in the filling; each dish is designed to be a complete package. There’s no need to ask for soy sauce on the side because Dumplins are “saucy by nature,” Lin says. This choice imparts a warm explosion of flavor in each bite.

On the sweets front, Lin’s favorite dessert Dumplin is the Red Bean Mochi topped with a light dusting of matcha powder. Lin also serves fried purple sweet potato dumplings that gush with coconut milk custard.

Last month, Dumplins popped up in West Hollywood at the mezcal bar Las Perlas. Lin collaborated on the event with Moderno Cocina, a pop-up known for birria tacos, and prepared beef birria dumplings for the first time. Lin and owner Denice Mendez have grown close and support each other as pop-up sisters. “She puts so much dedication into making [these],” says Mendez. “I never knew it was that much work and how much precision to make just one little dumpling. She pours her heart into it.”

At times over the past few years, Lin has questioned the sustainability of balancing a popular pop-up with the demands of her job, but the recent passing of a close friend due to cancer keeps her going. “He wanted me to just follow this dream of mine,” she says. “[His] last words to me were, ‘Please keep making Dumplins!’” His words continue to serve as Lin’s motivation to keep Dumplins running no matter how high-volume her public defense career may get.

Though Lin grew up thinking she would have a career in the sports industry, her path led her to serve her community through public defense instead. But the opportunity to nourish an even wider community through her dumplings is the kind of twist she never thought would materialize. “We’re gifted with certain skills,” Lin says. “And then our life experience just kind of puts us in whatever role we end up playing in the future.”

Follow Dumplins on Instagram for the latest pop-up details.