Tonii’s — A Mother’s Love, A Brother’s Legacy
Back in September, I got a chance to talk to Liz Yee, owner of Tonii’s Fresh Rice Noodle and grant recipient of The Longevity Fund, for a piece that I wrote for Welcome to Chinatown. I’m so excited to be sharing the full post with all of you on my blog! Liz’s story is incredibly touching, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t shed a few tears during the interview.
Liz started Tonii’s in October 2019 out of love for her family and her children. As the name suggests, Tonii’s serves fresh rice rolls with a variety of toppings along with their famous Kam Hing sponge cakes. Read on to learn more about how the name Tonii’s came to be and how Liz hopes to see the business grow over the years.
Liz and her husband, Brian in front of Tonii’s (PC: Kevin Xiao)
Tonii's Special Rice Roll with Fishballs and Kam Hing sponge cake (PC: Kevin Xiao)
Tell us about your business and who you are. What kind of food do you serve?
Hey! I’m Liz, and I am the owner of Tonii’s Fresh Rice Noodle located at 83 Bayard St. in Chinatown, New York. We’ve been open since October 2019, so about a year now. Our business is a branch of our mother shop, New Kam Hing, located at 118 Baxter St., which is also owned by my family. At Tonii’s, we serve our famous Kam Hing sponge cakes and our fresh assorted topping rice rolls (also known as rice noodles).
What inspired you to start your restaurant?
My family is what inspired me to open Tonii’s. Growing up with my siblings, we always had New Kam Hing as our home base. I would hang out there with my friends after school, and I would work there on the weekends with my brother. We would have family BBQs and holiday parties there as well. Having the store play such a central role in my life when I was growing up made me realize that if I opened a shop of my own, my kids would have a chance to make the same childhood memories I have. Thus, I opened Tonii’s for my kids’ future— so that I could give my kids a home base and, to let them know that no matter what happens, their family is right there.
How did you come up with the name “Tonii’s”?
What most people don’t know is that Tonii’s is named after my daughter; who is named after her uncle (my brother), Tony. Tony passed away in a fire with his girlfriend, Anna, in February 2009. The two i’s in Tonii resemble people figures and are supposed to represent Tony and Anna. I wanted to pay my respects to Tony because he was like a second father figure to me; he was always there for me and my siblings, and he was also always there for my parents. He was a chef, and he had this way with food such that, when you saw him cooking, you could see his passion and see how much time he spent trying to perfect his recipes. By memorializing his legacy in the name “Tonii’s”, I want my kids to know who Tony was, how important he was to our family and how much my siblings and I still try to follow in his footsteps every day.
Tony was the embodiment of family. He taught us that family is everything and that your family will always stand by you. Having Tonii’s as the name of the store gives me the strength to keep it going for my kids’ futures and for Tony himself. Hopefully, he’s watching over the store and looking out for us up there.
Could you tell us about the history behind rice noodles? Where do they come from and why did you choose rice noodles over any other dish?
Rice noodles originated in China and are made by grinding up rice and adding various flours to create a velvet consistency. You then cook the dish by steaming it up, and you can add all kinds of toppings to please everyone in the household.
I chose to focus on rice rolls because my daughter loves them. I remember lining up in front of the food carts in the morning before school and buying them for her for breakfast every day. At one point, she became so picky about food that all she wanted to eat was rice noodles all day, every day. It made me want to share her love of rice noodles with everyone and show people how such a simple dish can create such wonderful memories. I want my customers to be able to say, “I remember that time when I was a kid, my momma used to buy me these rice noodles for me”, so that they can pass their memories along to the next generation.
Tonii's Special Rice Roll with Fishballs and Kam Hing sponge cake (PC: Kevin Xiao)
What are some of your favorite dishes to make from your menu? What were your inspirations behind these dishes?
My favorite dish would have to be the rice roll, of course! It was definitely fun learning how to make it in the beginning, and it was exciting to see all the different choices of toppings.
I also really love our spammiches (spam & egg sandwiches) because they remind me of when my parents used to make them for me and my siblings. Separately, my father loves corn beef— hence why we have the corn beef and egg sandwich on our menu.
When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?
When COVID first hit NYC, it made me wonder whether the store was going to survive and how I could keep my family safe. We had first opened only a couple months prior to the pandemic. The only thing I knew was that I was willing to do anything and everything in order to keep this store running because I started it for the sake of my kids.
How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?
We have been doing okay. Most of my staff quit at the beginning of March, so overhead hasn’t been that high since it was mainly just my husband and brother working with me at the time. We did everything in-house, meaning my dad would cut and prep vegetables and meat, and my brother would cook the curry, beef tripe, tea eggs, etc. My husband and I would alternate shifts with our remaining workers to serve customers and make rice noodles and sponge cakes. Between the three of us (my husband, brother and myself), we were at the store every day from 7am - 10pm. In order to increase the flow of business, we extended our open hours and tried to introduce new food options, such as fried rice (we no longer serve fried rice; that was just a temporary thing that we did during the pandemic).
During COVID, we also had the chance to work with Vic and Jen from Welcome to Chinatown to help frontline workers through their Feed Our Heroes initiative, and more recently, by partnering with Feed the Frontlines. The initiative was able to help us get our name out there and brought us some new business. As a result, we were able to keep the remaining staff that we had, and we began to believe that we could overcome this slump.
Tonii’s outdoor dining (PC: Kevin Xiao)
How has the move away from in-person dining towards takeout / delivery impacted your business?
It gave us a chance to step into the digital world. Before COVID, we were only doing in-person dining. We didn’t do any type of delivery. Now, we are on Grubhub, Postmates, DoorDash, Uber Eats and Hungry Panda. These delivery services have helped a lot because we can now serve customers that we would never have been able to reach before.
Any advice you would like to give to other restaurants / small business owners trying to survive during COVID?
My advice to other owners is to not give up and to bring in friends and family to help. Keep trying to push forward. I know that it’s been hard and believe me, I understand completely how exhausted and tiring it is for the mind, body and soul.
I understand that most Chinese people don’t like asking for help, but this is the time to throw that pride away for the sake of saving your legacy. Take it day by day and just try to keep going. We’re at rock bottom already, so the only way to go now is up.
What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a restaurant owner? What has been your biggest challenge?
The thing that I’m the most proud of is the fact that everything can be made right inside Tonii’s. In the beginning, I didn’t even know how to make half of the dishes on our menu. I had to rely solely on my staff to keep the restaurant going at one point. Today, we can make everything ourselves! I am proud to say that if anything were to happen again (hopefully not), Tonii’s will definitely stay open.
My biggest challenge has been trying to find the time to spend with my family and balancing my roles as a business owner and a mom. It’s hard because my kids, Tonii (7 year old), Lucas (4 years old) and baby Jaden (16 months old), have to stay in the bakery when I’m at the store due to schools being closed. I’ve had to bring them in as early as seven in the morning and basically leave them there until whatever time we close. They’re essentially stuck in the basement all day— taking naps on a camping cot and doing their remote learning— all while I am around but unable to give them the attention that they want and deserve.
It has also been a struggle trying to find new ways to keep them busy. There have been times when I’ve asked my eldest daughter to stock drinks in the fridge and times when I’ve tasked my son with making sauce cups— just to keep them busy and prevent them from pulling me away from what I had to focus on.
In summary, I feel like I’ve excelled at being a great business owner during this time, but I’ve also been dealing with the mom guilt of putting the store first before my kids.
Tonii’s storefront (PC: Kevin Xiao)
Liz and her husband, Brian (PC: Kevin Xiao)
How has the lack of tourism in the pandemic affected Tonii’s and Chinatown as a whole? Do you believe the challenges of the pandemic caused restaurant and business owners in Chinatown to come together as a community?
The lack of tourism has forced a lot of shops to close due to a decrease in the number of customers and has made Chinatown feel like a ghost town. Canal Street was bursting with thousands of people one day, and then the blocks were suddenly empty the next day. This was surprising for me to see because I grew up right on Canal Street and was used to the hustle and bustle of life in Chinatown.
I do believe that the challenges of the pandemic did help bring restaurants and business owners together, as I wouldn’t have the same relationship with the other owners as I do now had the pandemic never happened. When I met with other restaurant owners during the pandemic, we formed an immediate bond because we all had one mission: to keep Chinatown going. We looked out for each other, and we helped each other. To be honest, the pandemic helped me form some new, lasting friendships in the business world of Chinatown.
One terrible side effect of the pandemic has been a resurgence of xenophobia toward people of Asian descent. How has this changed Tonii’s relationship with your community and city?
Not much has changed; we looked out for our community before, and we still do now. If any problems arise, we’re always ready to step in. We aren’t afraid because we’ve always been proud to be Chinese. We have a great relationship with our Guardian Angels, and we support them and thank them for fully defending our community.
Poster on Tonii’s window (Photo courtesy of Tonii’s)
Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?
Hopefully, we can open our mother store, New Kam Hing, on 118 Baxter St. back up! We’re in the midst of reconstructing that bakery to sell some of the same items that we sell at Tonii’s.
What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember Tonii’s, what do you want them to remember?
I want people to remember the memories they made when they came to eat at our shop with their families. I want our customers to be able to pass along their memories from generation to generation. I hope that grandparents bring their sons and daughters and that those kids will in turn bring their kids and so on. I want everyone to feel a sense of warmth and happiness when they remember Tonii’s.
Tonii’s outdoor dining (PC: Kevin Xiao)
How can people support your business?
Come to Chinatown and shop in our shops! Spread the word that Chinatown is coming back to life and help bring hope to other Chinatown businesses.
Anything else you would like people to know or talk about?
For me, Chinatown is home. I will do all that I can during this time to keep Tonii’s going. I want to be able to come to Tonii’s with grandkids of my own 30 years down the line. I want everyone to know that Tonii’s is here to stay. Tonii’s is about family and, by walking through the doors of Tonii’s, you are considered family to me.
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Chinatown establishments like Tonii’s are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say “Chinatown will always be open for business.”
Hop Kee — A Slice of History in Modern Manhattan
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview Peter Lee, the owner and operator of Hop Kee, one of the oldest restaurants in Manhattan’s Chinatown. This post is in a slightly different format from that of my typical posts (more of a Q&A format rather than a narrative), as I originally wrote this post for Welcome to Chinatown. However, I think the interview format captures Peter’s voice perfectly, and I’m excited to share this piece with all of you! :)
Open since 1968, Hop Kee serves up traditional Chinese Cantonese style comfort food late into the night in a no-frills, basement location on a historic corner of Mott Street. Read on to learn more about how Peter, a grant recipient of The Longevity Fund, has seen Chinatown change over the decades and how he’s been fighting to keep his restaurant alive during COVID-19.
Peter Lee in front of Hop Kee’s entrance (PC: Steven Yen)
Tell us about your business and who you are. What kind of food do you serve?
My name is Peter Lee, and I am the current owner and operator of Hop Kee Restaurant. We serve Chinese Cantonese style food.
My family (my father, mom, younger brother, and myself) immigrated from Hong Kong to New York in 1965. I was only two years old when we made the move, and my younger brother was only one at the time. My grandfather on my father’s side had served in the US Army for WWII and did all the paperwork for my family to move to the US. In 1968, my father started Hop Kee.
What inspired you to start your restaurant?
Back in Hong Kong, my father worked in the auto industry. His first job after immigrating to the US was working as a chef at Wo Hop, another Cantonese style restaurant right next to Hop Kee. After working at Wo Hop for a few years, my father and his partners had gained enough experience working in the restaurant industry to open their own restaurant. At the time, the restaurant in Hop Kee’s current location was run by my father’s cousins, so my father took over the business from them, and the rest is history.
What are some of the most popular dishes from your menu?
Crabs Cantonese style with black bean sauce, snails, all the salt and pepper dishes, pan fried flounder, and spring chicken.
The crab is unique. My dad came up with it himself. Not many places do it like we do.
Typical spread from Hop Kee (PC: Vekthurr T. on Yelp)
Crabs Cantonese Style (PC: Joanna L. on Yelp)
Who are your customers / what demographic do you cater to?
We have a large and diverse customer base that includes people of all backgrounds & ethnicities. We actually have many regulars who have been coming to Hop Kee for decades! Some people were kids when their parents first brought them to Hop Kee, and now they bring their own kids. In total, three generations of customers have been coming here.
Although most of our regular customers are from the Tri-State area, we have customers come from all across the U.S. Most of them hear about us from word-of-mouth and just decide to stop by on a visit to New York. One time, we actually had some tourists from Germany who somehow knew about Hop Kee. When I asked them how they knew about us, they said that they had heard about us from a friend.
Your restaurant has been open since 1968. Could you please talk about how the restaurant has changed over the years?
Even after all these years, Hop Kee hasn't changed much at all with regards to our day to day operations. The only difference is that we used to be open 24 hours a day. By the late 1980's, we began closing at 4am. Then after 2000, we began closing at 1am. We’ve had to move up our closing times because the times have changed— the night scene in Chinatown is not as lively as it used to be. Nowadays, people prefer to go to Lower East Side or a fancy rooftop bar. Before, people loved to hang out in Chinatown.
Since taking over the restaurant from my father, I’ve added a few new items to the menu that cater to a younger crowd: Peking style pork chops, salt and pepper flavored entrees (squid, pork chops, shrimp), etc. People are not as into the old-style chow mein anymore– now, they’re into things like pan fried noodles.
However, other than these menu additions, I’ve made very few changes to the restaurant. I’m just trying to preserve what’s been working for us for all these years.
The register area. You can see Anthony Bourdain in the pictures on the wall! (PC: Steven Yen)
You have been featured by Anthony Bourdain on his show No Reservations! Did you get a chance to meet him? If so, what was that like?
Yes! I am very fortunate to have met him. He came to Hop Kee a total of three times. All three times, he stayed for a good few hours after the shooting. We would just drink whiskey and talk about food and life. The guy really knew his whiskey. I came to learn that he was a very straightforward person & that he would tell it to you up front, but I appreciated his directness and honestly. He was a very nice & well-mannered man, and I have some great memories of good, fun times with him that I will cherish. I was deeply saddened by his passing.
When customers see pictures of him on the wall at Hop Kee, they tell me that they are really happy that he was able to try Hop Kee’s food and that they feel a sense of connection with him through our cooking.
How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?
I closed Hop Kee on March 15th — one day before the executive order to shut down all restaurants. I had actually been thinking about closing for a while because it had been really slow since the Chinese New Year (January 22nd). In the six to eight weeks between then and March 15th, business was already down 50%. When we opened back up on May 2nd, the business was down by 80% as we had to rely purely on takeout, which is normally only 10% of our total sales. We kept only 1/3 of our staff, and it’s been a very rough few months.
The dining area during COVID (PC: Micah Cash)
When we re-opened, I started using social media apps to connect with my customers. Before the pandemic, I wasn’t really active on social media at all. However, I would still rather have the customer walk in and meet them in person so that I can get to know them. Social media feels a bit distant to me. I really want to get to know my customers. I want to make my customers feel like I really care when I ask them how they are doing. I want to build that family environment and sense of community. It’s just so hard with COVID-19.
Today, we’re just trying to hang in there and take things one day at a time. We’re trying to stay strong and have confidence that things will get better, as it feels like it can't get any worse. We’re currently primarily doing takeout orders, though we do also have limited outdoor dining available.
How has the move away from in person dining towards delivery impacted your business?
We’re not doing any delivery. I want to preserve a sense of belonging and community, and I don’t think that is possible if we transition to delivery. Our customers are willing to come and pick up our food, so we’ve only been doing takeout. Some of our customers even drive all the way from New Jersey and Connecticut to pick up our food! That just goes to show how strong of a connection we’ve built with some of our customers throughout the decades.
Any advice you would like to give to other restaurants / small business owners trying to survive during COVID?
Just try hang on & stay strong. Be confident that eventually, things will get better.
The corner of Mott Street
What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a restaurant owner? What has been your biggest challenge?
My greatest accomplishment was reaching our 50th anniversary in 2018.
My proudest moment is probably meeting & getting to know Anthony Bourdain.
My biggest challenge to date has to be the COVID-19 virus along with all the uncertainty that it brings.
Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?
No plans to change. No plans to expand. We just want to keep the old traditions alive and see how long we can go on. Hopefully, all this will be over soon.
Some of my staff members have been with me for over 20 years. My staff members are getting up there in age. As for myself, I turn 57 this year, and I’m one of the youngest guys on rotation. I have no kids, and my two younger brothers and sister don’t really have an interest in taking over the restaurant. I probably won’t retire for another 10 years at least, so I’ll just have to think about what to do when that time comes!
What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember Hop Kee, what do you want them to remember?
I want people to look back and have fond memories of eating and enjoying good old-style Chinese Cantonese food here at Hop Kee. I want Hop Kee to be remembered as more than just a restaurant, but as a place that was able to create a feeling of family and belonging. Personally, I want to be remembered as someone who genuinely cared for my customers.
A chef in the kitchen next to a vat of chicken soup (PC: Micah Cash)
How can people support your business?
Continue to stop by for a visit!
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You can also support Hop Kee through our exclusive Hop Kee merchandise collection with Pearl River Mart. Profits from sales will go directly to Hop Kee to help alleviate the burden of added costs from COVID’s impact.
Chinatown establishments like Hop Kee are what makes the spirit of our neighborhood. We need your support — now more than ever before — to keep that spirit alive. Please consider making a donation to our small business relief fund, The Longevity Fund, or help us spread the word of what’s at stake. Together, we can preserve Chinatown businesses and help say “Chinatown will always be open for business.”
The kitchen / prep area (PC: Micah Cash)
Spicy Moon — Defining Hospitality Amidst Adversity
Spicy Moon’s new location in West Village
A few months ago, after I had published my first post about Spicy Moon, the chef / owner of the restaurant, Nick, messaged me on Instagram to tell me that he had enjoyed reading my post. This came as a complete shock to me, as I didn’t think anyone besides Patrick and a few of my coworkers were reading my blog, let alone the owners of the places that I was writing about. It was right around this time that I was thinking about starting my “COVID Anthologies” series, where I would tell the stories of extraordinary restaurants in this unordinary, new world. In my response to Nick, I decided to shoot my shot and ask if he would be willing to let me interview him for this series. To my delight, he agreed enthusiastically!
A few weeks later, I made my way down to Spicy Moon’s new West Village location for a weekend al fresco lunch and to meet Nick in person. I went with Patrick and one of our close friends and old roommates, Stu, who had never been to Spicy Moon before. We ordered our usual favorites (dan dan noodles, pea leaves with garlic) as well as a few new dishes. Of the new dishes that we tried, our favorite was the salt and pepper eggplant, which was piping hot, delicately crispy and packed full of umami. Ever since we tried that dish for the first time, Patrick and I have been ordering it every single time we get Spicy Moon. Unsurprisingly, Stu absolutely loved the food and agreed with me that Spicy Moon has the best dan dan noodles he’s ever had. Side note: Stu is allergic to both dairy and nuts, so the dan dan noodles at Spicy Moon were perfect for him because they are both dairy free (by default, since they are vegan) and nut free (they use sesame paste instead of peanut sauce).
After we finished eating, I sat down with Nick at a table outside and got my pen and notebook ready. Being the procrastinator that I am and a newbie to this whole interview thing, I had frantically come up with a rough outline of the questions I wanted to ask Nick while on the subway ride to Spicy Moon. I was super nervous in the moments leading up to the interview but, luckily, Nick is a very friendly person, and our conversation flowed naturally without much effort on my part.
Salt & pepper eggplant ($17.95)
The Early Days
Nick opened Spicy Moon with his wife, who became vegan after finishing college in Chengdu and immigrating to the US. Nick and his wife met while they were both working in a traditional Sichuan restaurant in NYC. Back then, most Chinese restaurants either didn’t understand veganism or didn’t have respect for true veganism. To this day, most Chinese restaurants cook vegetables in the same pots, sauces, and oils that they use to cook meat. Oftentimes, veggies are fried in lard, and homemade chili oil is sometimes made using animal fat. When vegans frequent these restaurants, they are often just told, “This dish is vegan,” even if there are animal ingredients present. Most of the time, this isn’t because of any desire to deceive but, rather, the result of a genuine lack of understanding of what veganism entails. In the minds of many Chinese restaurant owners and employees, vegan simply means any vegetable dish, regardless of the ingredients used.
Due to this dynamic, Nick’s wife would always bring her own food into the restaurant for meals rather than eat the dishes made at the restaurant where they both worked. When she floated the idea of starting a vegan Sichuan restaurant with Nick, Nick thought she was crazy. What dishes would they make? Who would come? How would they get Sichuan chefs who were willing to cook vegan? After all, in Chinese culture, and particularly in Sichuan culture, meat is associated with health, wealth and prosperity. In a sense, eating meat is seen as a prerequisite for sustaining life. Unless you are a Buddhist monk, vegetarianism and veganism are extremely rare in China due to the overwhelmingly connotations associated with a carnivorous diet. However, Nick eventually gave in and together, he and his wife opened their first location in East Village.
Dan dan noodles ($12.95)
As you can probably imagine, opening a vegan Sichuan restaurant came with a host of challenges. For one, adapting traditional Sichuan recipes to utilize solely vegan ingredients took a ton of work. Everything— from the types of seasoning to the ratios of the ingredients— had to be adjusted, as veggies have a different absorption rate than meat. However, after much trial and error, Nick and his wife were able to recreate some of the most beloved Sichuan dishes such as dan dan noodles and wontons in chili oil, without sacrificing taste or tradition. In additional to serving up a host of traditional Sichuan dishes such as double cooked beyond sausage and mápó tofu, Nick has taken advantage of the creative freedom that operating his own restaurant has afforded him and has created a few Chinese fusion dishes, such as mountain yam (known as shānyào in Chinese) vegan cheese puffs, Sichuan guacamole, “honey” walnut edamame nuggets and peppercorn brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts are very rare in Asian cuisine, but are very trendy in the U.S., so Nick wanted to create a dish that highlighted flavors of Sichuan cuisine while taking advantage of trendy ingredients.
To Nick’s surprise, people loved Spicy Moon! Most restaurants bleed cash the first two years and grow slowly, but Spicy Moon started gaining good momentum after only six to eight months. Most of this momentum was driven by word-of-mouth and by the NYC influencer community, which Nick has a very good relationship with. Fun fact: I actually first heard about Spicy Moon from an influencer named Crystal Pang who goes by the Instagram handle @veganeatsnyc.
Fried vegetable dumplings ($9.95)
Demonstrating Hospitality during COVID-19
Over time, Nick and his wife started coming up with more and more menu items, and Spicy Moon blossomed in popularity. In February 2020, a few weeks before the state-mandated restaurant closures, they opened their second location in the West Village. Unfortunately, by the time the pandemic was tearing through NYC in full force, they were already locked into their lease and had no alternative but to continue operating as much as the city would allow. Eventually, they were forced to close down both locations towards the end of March and weren’t able to reopen until the end of May.
“It was horrible, and we had no other choice,” Nick stated as he recalled the first few weeks of the shut-downs. He paused, leaned back in his chair, and told me, “When we were signing our lease in the fall last year, we went to a Chinese fortune teller. She warned us that this was coming. She told us that the first half of 2020 would be full of bad luck, since the year of the rat signifies the start of a new Chinese zodiac cycle, but that things would improve in the second half of the year. I don’t usually believe in fortune telling and all this zodiac stuff, but I find it interesting that, so far, things have been playing out exactly as she had predicted.”
Málà wet jerky strips ($8.95)
However, despite the seemingly insurmountable challenge that the pandemic had presented, Nick and his wife found ways to continue serving their community. For 10 weeks while the restaurant was closed, the couple donated over 1,000 meals to people in need and frontline workers by partnering with community organizations. One notable organization that Spicy Moon partnered with is Chilis on Wheels, a non-profit that aims to make veganism accessible to all by providing hot, vegan meals to individuals and families in need. In addition to cooking and packaging ready-to-eat meals, Spicy Moon also donated fresh produce to local agencies and pantries in order to support their meal preparation efforts.
When I asked Nick why he participated in all these food donation programs, he told me that, in his view, food donation should be a requirement for restaurants, as the essence of any foodservice business is hospitality. “When you think of hospitality,” Nick pondered, “you think of the weary traveler knocking at your front door in search of warm food and shelter.” His eyes wandered off into the distance. “To me, that’s what you’re signing up for when you open a restaurant. By hanging up the “open” sign, you promise to never turn anyone away and to be a provider of warmth and comfort in times of need.” I sat in silence for a few moments while jotting this down. Wow, what a powerful image. No wonder why Nick greeted me like family when I first walked up to Spicy Moon, despite never having met me before.
Chive and JUST Egg dumplings ($11.95)
Challenges and Legacy
As Nick reflected on how far Spicy Moon has come over the years, he concluded that their biggest challenge, aside from COVID, has been finding and retaining Chinese chefs who are willing to cook vegan Chinese food. Most Chinese chefs in NYC are on the older side and are very loyal to traditional methods of Chinese cooking (this is especially true of Sichuanese chefs). As a result, they tend to have a difficult time accepting changes to recipes that they grew up with. There were a few Chinese chefs who straight up quit because they felt uncomfortable working in Spicy Moon’s all-vegan kitchen. Although there are many younger vegan Asian chefs out there these days (for example, I follow a young, Taiwanese chef who’s an undergrad at UC Berkeley and goes by the handle @chez.jorge on Instagram)— especially in vegan-friendly countries like Taiwan and Singapore— there aren’t that many in NYC, and it’s difficult to attract the few who do live in the city.
Towards the end of our chat, I asked Nick one final question: 50 years from now, when people think about Spicy Moon (crossing my fingers that it will still be around then), what do you want them to remember? Without hesitation, Nick replied, “Our fair labor practices and how much we valued our customers.”
Fair labor practices are an interesting point. The restaurant industry in American is notorious for underpaying workers and other questionable labor practices, such as refusing to grant overtime. In fact, the entire tradition of tipping in the United States has a troubling history and arose from a desire to pay workers the bare minimum in order to maximize profits. In some places, foodservice workers live entirely off tips and are forced to take on multiple jobs in order to even begin making a living(1). At Spicy Moon, Nick and his wife have made it their mission to ensure that all of their employees are able to make a living wage and readily offer overtime opportunities to their chefs. After all, hospitality runs in the couples’ blood, and how can you claim to be a business in the hospitality industry if you don’t treat your employees with kindness?
As I was leaving, I remarked to Nick that the funky neon tape decorating both Spicy Moon locations was an interesting touch. “Ah yes,” Nick explained as he pressed down the corner of a piece of tape that had begun peeling due to sun exposure, “This was done by a local tape artist. He comes back to change up the designs once in a while.” I don’t know why, but the thought of a local artist beautifying a local business made me smile (I later found out that the name of the artist is Kuki Gomez). I lingered for a second more to take in vibrant colors of the tape, the cute neon sign that spells out Spicy Moon in Chinese (Málà Yuè), and the black and white mural next to the entrance before telling Nick that I would be back soon.
Notes:
It is important to note that, in many instances, the restaurant owners themselves are not the only ones at fault, as they need to achieve certain profit margins in order to keep the restaurant open at all. This is especially true of mom-and-pop shops. Oftentimes, there are a multitude of external factors, from unfavorable laws to sky-high third-party fees, that make it difficult to operate a restaurant profitably.
Junzi — Food that Moves us Forward
“In times like this, we in the hospitality business can only continue to do what we know best: to cook, serve, and nourish. Just because there’s a crisis out there, doesn’t mean what we eat at home can’t be opportunities for creative collaborations and cultural exploration.”
Junzi takeout bags
One of the things that has surprised and inspired me the most over these past few months is witnessing how eateries of all sizes have been able to innovate and fight against the seemingly insurmountable challenges that COVID-19 has presented to the restaurant industry. Michelin-star establishments such as Carbone and Cote have pivoted to delivery models, dim sum houses such as Nom Wah Tea Parlour have started selling frozen dumplings in bulk for delivery, and popular chains such as Xian Famous Foods have started selling DIY meal kits.
However, the most innovative and impressive move, in my opinion, was made by Junzi Kitchen. Dubbed by Vogue as the “Sweetgreen of Chinese Food”, Junzi Kitchen is a local, fast-casual chain of “New Chinese” restaurants that started as an incubator project at Yale with the ambition of creating healthy, good-tasting Chinese food made with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Their classic menu consists of customizable noodle bowls and chūn bǐng(1), although they’ve recently introduced rice bowls and salads.
Chinese Food is Good for You
I had originally heard about Junzi from one of my coworkers who went to Yale for undergrad. I was particularly intrigued about the concept of “healthy” Chinese food, as Chinese food has had a reputation in the West as being greasy, chock-full of MSG and generally just bad for you. My office orders group lunch every day, but we only ever order Chinese food on Fridays because people complain that it’s a “gut bomb” and that it’s “too heavy” for a weekday meal. Funny concept, since billions of Chinese people all over the world eat Chinese food every meal of every day and are perfectly functional. Unfortunately, the reputation of Chinese food as being “unhealthy” or a “cheat meal” has permeated the American psyche (case in point: Chinese Restaurant Syndrome is a real term in the Merriam Webster dictionary), and many Americans won’t even visit a Chinese restaurant unless they have a “no MSG” sign displayed in the window.
I could get into a whole discussion about how MSG has been unfairly demonized, but I’ll save that for a later date. Chefs like David Chang and food writers like Harold McGee have spoken and written extensively about this subject, so, for now, you can read about it here and here.
A few restaurants have tried to capitalize on the “fear” of Chinese food by introducing “cleaner” Chinese food, but were unsuccessful because they failed to make an effort to understand and respect the culture and history behind traditional Chinese cooking. Lucky Lee’s, a former Greenwich Village restaurant run by nutritionist Arielle Haspel, closed down within a year of opening-- likely at least partially due to an onslaught of backlash it had faced for the way the restaurant was marketed (the exact cause of the restaurant’s demise is unknown, and there are likely many other factors that led the owners to decide to shut the restaurant down, but it is widely speculated that the seemingly racist marketing strategy had a part to play).
In one Instagram post that was later deleted, the caption read: “We heard you’re obsessed with lo mein but rarely eat it. You said it makes you feel bloated and icky the next day? Well, wait until you slurp up our HIGH lo mein. Not too oily. Or salty.” (2) The comment section was immediately flooded with people pointing out that the caption implied that traditional Chinese food was “icky” and undesirable, and that the owner was profiteering off a fear of Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. While I personally don’t believe that the owner had any ill will, I do think that this unfortunate instance of insensitivity illustrates the importance of understanding the culture that you are representing. The line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation can be thin, and the best way to avoid crossing the line is to take the time to educate oneself about the history behind each country / region’s unique cuisine.
Volume 14: Five Elements of the Chinese Pantry ($32)
Clockwise from the top left:
Vinegar - Hot and sour soup with simmered littleneck clams, wood ear mushrooms and Zhenjiang vinegar
Tea - Tender beef brisket braised in pu’er tea red sauce
Salt - Cured celtuce medallions and picked Hunan peppers tossed in wasabi and white soy
Soy Sauce - Steamed Tofu skin stuffed with tofu, lima beans and ground pork belly
Oil - Egg noodles tossed in abalone sauce, XO, smoked chive oil and Chaozhou chili oil (my fave!)
Junzi Kitchen is one restaurant that not only seeks to introduce healthy Chinese food to the Western world, but also aims to stay true to its Chinese roots and maintain the authenticity behind each dish. Rather than positioning itself as a restaurant that is reinventing Chinese food and making it “healthier” (which in and of itself implies that Chinese food is inherently “unhealthy”), it aims to highlight the healthy aspects of Chinese eating that have existed for centuries. Just like how not all American food is inherently unhealthy, not all Chinese food is inherently unhealthy. For example, when native Chinese people like my parents think of American cuisine, they typically think of burgers, pizza or steak. When I visit my hometown of Chongqing, “let’s get xī cān” (xī cān(3) refers to Western food) typically means “let’s go get some burgers”. However, that doesn’t mean that burgers, pizza and steak make up 100% of the American diet. The same goes for Chinese cuisine. Just because orange chicken, broccoli beef and lo-mien are what come to mind for most Americans when they think Chinese food, doesn’t mean that the scope of the Panda Express menu represents the extent of Chinese cuisine. Just like how American cuisine has healthy options like avocado toast, kale salads and quinoa bowls, Chinese cuisine is full of healthy options such as liángbàn mù'ěr (wood-ear salad), zhēng shuǐ dàn (steamed egg), dòu huā (savory tofu pudding) and xiānggū jītāng (chicken mushroom soup).
In fact, traditional Chinese cooking is fundamentally rooted in the belief that food has medicinal and healing properties. Food plays a central role in traditional Chinese medicine, which is based on the principle that medicine should be preventative rather than reactive. For centuries, traditional Chinese doctors have used “food therapy”(4) as a way to prevent (rather than treat) chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. The idea behind food therapy is that the body is in a continuous state of flux, and that by eating a well-rounded, balanced diet, you can prevent imbalances that lead to disease by keeping the opposing forces of yin and yang in check.
TLDR; you can stay healthier and live longer by eating a wholesome and balanced diet.
Rather than marketing itself as “re-invented” Chinese food, Junzi incorporates the already healthy elements of traditional Chinese cuisine in its dishes. For example, Junzi’s tomato & egg sauce is derived from a traditional Chinese dish called fānqié chǎo jīdàn (tomato & egg stir fry), which is a nutritious dish that I and most other Chinese kids grew up loving. Their noodles are springy and unfried, an authentic recreation of the noodles enjoyed on a daily basis in the northern regions of China. Their vegetables are fresh and seasonal, which reflects the Chinese food philosophy that “eating well means eating seasonally”(5). True to this philosophy, Junzi’s menu focuses on seasonal vegetables and ancient Chinese grains to create a rich symphony of flavors, textures, and colors. You can read more about their ingredients and vegetable-forward, health-conscious approach on their website.
In an authentic expression of the company’s mission, the Junzi staff poured their faith in the healing abilities of Chinese cooking into the creation of Distance Dining Volume 1: Chinese Food is Good For You (we’ll talk more about Distance Dining in a bit). The menu featured three hallmarks of Chinese cooking: healing chicken broth with red dates, lion’s head meatball (shīzi tóu)(6) with goji-braised cabbage, and a yam and osmanthus (guìhuā) dessert featuring longan fruit, ginger and black sugar.
Volume 13: Creole Chinese x Chef Kia Damon ($32)
Yaka mien with Cajun egg - Yaka mien is a New Orleans twist on Chinese beef noodle soup
Building Bridges with Distance Dining
When COVID-19 hit, Junzi, like all restaurants, was hit hard. Columbia students had fled from the campus, abandoning their Morningside Heights location, and office workers had stopped commuting into the City, impacting their Midtown (Bryant Park) location. However, remarkably, Junzi stood its ground against COVID-19 and fought with everything it had to become stronger than ever before. What was once just a fast-casual lunch spot has become a platform for change and a beacon for hope for the restaurant community.
There were two things that Junzi did that, from my point of view as an outsider, drastically altered its course and contributed to the restaurant's survival and strength as a social and political platform:
The first was their “Share a Meal” program, which provides “healthy, balanced and convenient meals” for healthcare heroes fighting on the front lines against the coronavirus pandemic. This program allows delivery customers to donate to the cause by adding “Share a Meal” to their carts during the checkout process. For every $10 donated, Junzi delivers a freshly made noodle or rice bowl into the hands of a frontline healthcare worker. As of June 9th, according to Junzi’s official Instagram account, they have donated almost 6,000 bowls to healthcare workers and have extended the program to accommodate requests from local shelters, as well as essential teams at community activism and non-profit organizations.
The second thing that Junzi did was launch a “crisis delivery pop up” called “Distance Dining” (7) . Distance Dining is not your ordinary delivery meal experience— it’s an entire production that involves chefs from all over the city and highlights the complex relationships between food and identity. Every week, there is a different theme, which usually involves exploring the intersectionality between Chinese food and other food cultures. Each meal consists of three to five impeccably packaged, fully or partially cooked (the majority of the noodles come uncooked in order to prevent the noodles from getting soggy during the delivery process) courses which are meant to be reheated in the comfort and safety of your own home. Each set also comes with a colorful info card that has some background on the history and culture behind each dish on one side and cooking / reheating instructions on the other side. And finally, of course, no Junzi meal would be complete without a White Rabbit candy to top it all off (you can read more about this iconic treat here ).
Volume 9: Korean Chinese x Nowon x Farmshelf ($32)
Top: Jjajanngmyeon with black bean braised pork over fresh flour noodles, with potato, summer squash, cucumber, and danmuji
Bottom: Sweet and sour soup with glass shrimp, clams, octopus and squid; topped with red sorrel; served with guo ba (Chinese crispy rice)
Banchan: Honeyed anchovies, soybean paste cabbage, beansprouts
Every Friday at 7.00pm, Junzi’s head chef Lucas Sin would host an Instagram Live video along with the chefs involved in preparing that week’s dishes to explain how to reheat each course. During the stream, Lucas and friends would share stories about how their unique backgrounds and perspectives have influenced their cooking and how COVID has impacted their businesses. There were frequently discussions about race, culture and about how food encapsulates the intimate relationship between cooking and identity. This was particularly poignant and relevant in Volume 11: West African Chinese and Volume 13: Creole Chinese, which were developed in light of the rejuvenation of the Black Lives Matter movement in June to celebrate the influences that Black culture has had on Chinese cooking and Chinese lives. As a Chinese American immigrant who grew up in the shadow of the model minority myth, these series were especially eye opening and helped me question some of my own pre-existing assumptions about race, privilege and identity.
Volume 5: Chinese-Thai x Fish Cheeks ($28)
The full kit
Volume 5: Chinese-Thai x Fish Cheeks ($28)
Top: 19th Century Khao Soi with Chin Haw style curry broth, egg noodles, minced chicken, pickled cabbage, red onion and crispy egg noodle topping
Bottom: Yunnan beech mushroom shumai steamed with taro, fish sauce and coriander; served with a mushroom chili sauce
Volume 5: Chinese-Thai x Fish Cheeks ($28)
Pào lǔ dá - Creamed coconut dessert with forbidden rice, tapioca, condensed milk, lavender perfumed coconut flakes and coconut melba toast
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to try every week of Distance Dining (I didn’t hear about it until Volume 5, and there were some weeks when I was out of town), but I have tried the majority of the volumes that have been released so far. It would take days to fully summarize my experiences with and thoughts about each volume, so I’ve chosen to feature a couple of my favorite menus throughout this post. My favorite menu was Volume 5: Chinese-Thai, a collaboration with cult-favorite NYC restaurant Fish Cheeks, which featured mushroom shumai with Yunnan beech mushrooms, 19th century khao soi with Chin Haw(8) style curry broth, and pào lǔ dá— a Yunnanese creamed coconut dessert with forbidden rice that originated in Thailand.
Although Distance Dining is over for now, I hope that, through this blog post and other articles, Junzi’s “COVID attitude” can continue to inspire others even after this pandemic is over and that the restaurant’s legacy will live on.
Volume 7: Maylaysian Chinese x Kopitiam ($32)
Top: Criss Cross Shrooms - Kopitiam’s famous curry leaf and red chili stir-fry with Smallhold blue oyster mushrooms, woodear, and lotus; served with coconut rice
Bottom: Lobak - deep fried five-spice pork roll wrapped in tofu skin, served with sesame cured cucumber and a soy dipping sauce
Surprise course: Soy-braised chicken
Tips:
Unfortunately, Distance Dining is over for now, but I would highly recommend checking out their regular menu as well! Their bowls and bings are all customizable, and they have a ton of vegan and vegetarian options!
Notes:
Chūn bǐng translates to “spring pancake”, and is essentially the Chinese version of a crepe or tortilla. It is typically eaten in the northern regions of China during Lìchūn, a holiday celebrating the first of 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar.
Quote courtesy of Eater
Xī cān refers to Western Food, whereas Zhōng cān refers to Chinese Food. On flights from the US to China, you’ll typically hear the inflight meal options referred to as either Xī cān or Zhōng cān
Article about medicine as food
From the Junzi website
Shīzi tóu, also known as “lion’s head meatballs”, are an oversized Chinese meatball typically made with ground pork. The dish originated in the Jiangsu Province of China and eventually became a staple of Shanghainese cuisine. Click here to learn more
Here are some other articles about Distance Dining if you want to learn more:
Article from the NYT
Article from The New Yorker
Article from NBC
The Chin Haw are Chinese people from Yunnan, a province in southern China, who migrated to Thailand during the 19th century during a period of political unrest