Alice Huang 7/14/21 Alice Huang 7/14/21

The Little One — A Labor of Love

*Eddie Zheng (left) and his wife, Olivia Leung (right)*

As someone who has a huge sweet tooth, I love pretty much any kind of dessert. However, if I had to narrow it down, my two favorite types of desserts in the world would have to be frozen desserts and lava cakes (prove me wrong, but Carnival Cruise Line has one of the best chocolate lava cakes ever — I ate one every day on my spring break cruise to Mexico during my junior year of college). One of my absolute favorite frozen desserts is Asian shaved ice (yes — this is different from American shaved ice). So when Welcome to Chinatown asked me to interview the owners of The Little One, a cute little Japanese-style dessert shop that specializes in Japanese shaved ice, I was super excited.

I first heard about The Little One on an episode of BuzzFeed’s Worth It series on YouTube. The minimalistic interior and the simple-yet-unique desserts immediately caught my attention, and I totally understand why it’s one of Worth It creator Steven Lim’s favorite dessert places. From the cute branded spoons to the picture-perfect ice cream sandwiches to the heaps of fluffy shaved ice, The Little One is a place that will please any dessert lover. Plus, they have a few dairy-free options on their menu, which is perfect for someone like me who is trying to avoid dairy. If this post isn’t enough to convince you to give them a try, then head over to their ~ a e s t h e t i c ~ Instagram page and scroll through an endless wonderland of too-cute-to-eat creations.

During this time of uncertainty and elevated violence against Asians in America, it’s more important than ever to give Asian communities a voice and tell their stories. I hope that Eddie and Olivia’s story can provide an additional perspective and help build the bridge of understanding and acceptance that we so desperately need.

*****

The Little One is a Japanese-style dessert shop that makes high quality, Japanese-inspired shaved ice and desserts. After leaving their day jobs to attend the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and completing stints at top NYC restaurants and bakeries, Eddie Zheng and his wife, Olivia Leung, opened the shop in 2017 on the street they both grew up on. Their store is a labor of love — their “little one,” as they like to call it. Each dessert is handcrafted with the utmost care, and the unique flavor combinations are influenced by Eddie and Olivia’s travels in Japan as well as their daily lives in the States.

Hōjicha kakigōri

Tell us about your business and who you are!

Hi! We’re Eddie and Olivia, the husband and wife team behind The Little One — a Japanese-style dessert shop located at 150 East Broadway. We opened our store in 2017 and make high quality, Japanese-inspired desserts. We fell in love with Japanese desserts and culture during our trips to Japan and were inspired to bring high quality, Japanese-style desserts to NYC.

We are popular for unique desserts such as kakigōri (Japanese shaved ice) and monaka ice cream sandwiches (a Japanese ice cream sandwich that uses thin, crispy wafers typically made from mochi flour).

Chrysanthemum monaka ice cream sandwich with Andrew’s local honey

Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?

Olivia and I both grew up in Chinatown, and both our parents had shops on East Broadway. We first met at Columbus Park while playing basketball together as kids. Before starting The Little One, Olivia worked at the Chinatown YMCA, and I worked in marketing. We are both big foodies, but we never thought of making a career of it until Olivia started to take an interest in baking. I encouraged her to chase her dreams, and we enrolled together at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE). Olivia went on to work at bakeries such as Dominique Ansel Bakery and Tous Les Jours, and I worked at restaurants such as wd~50, The Elm, and La Sirena. After honing our skills, we opened our own dessert shop on the street we grew up on.

How did you come up with the name “The Little One”?

The “One” in The Little One stands for “Olivia ‘n Eddie.” Our little store is our “little one.”

What is your favorite dessert on your menu?

One of our favorites is our best seller: the hōjicha kakigōri. We love hōjicha (roasted green tea) because we would always have it when visiting Japan. This kakigōri has the perfect balance of bitterness from the tea, sweetness from the syrup, creaminess from the whipped cream, and tartness from the lime zest. We were inspired by the Arnold Palmer — a classic American drink that combines iced tea and lemonade — and wanted to create something that would be refreshing on a hot summer day. It was fun developing this dessert because hōjicha has such a complex flavor profile — it’s toasty, nutty, sweet, and caramelly all at once.

*Yogurt and strawberry homemade Calpico sodas*

How did the COVID shutdowns in 2020 impact your business?

We had a baby a week before the city shut down. At the time, we didn’t think much of it because we assumed COVID was going to go away in a few months. Plus, we got to spend more time with our newborn and basically take our maternity and paternity leave at the same time. But as COVID continued to get worse, we decided to shut down for four months. We eventually began questioning whether we could keep our shop alive at all.

Ultimately, we decided to keep pushing and negotiated an agreement with our landlord that allowed us to keep doing what we love. We opened back up in July 2020. Even though we reopened during the summer busy season, when sales typically peak, our revenues were still down 60%. Since there was initially no indoor dining, we had to adapt our menu — which was based on a dine-in concept — to be delivery / takeout friendly. We joined third party delivery apps to reach more customers and created cookie tins for the holiday season to help us get through the winter months. We also added some new menu items such as specialty cakes for celebratory occasions, and we have received great feedback on the cakes so far.

The thing that got us through the hardest days was the overwhelming amount of love and support from our regulars and new customers. We witnessed the true power of the Chinatown community, and we really appreciate everyone that came to our shop during the pandemic to support us or even just to check up on how we were doing.

How has Welcome to Chinatown (WTC) and the Longevity Fund grant helped your business?

WTC has helped us in more ways than we thought were possible. WTC graciously created a T-shirt, mug, and tote bag for us with 100% of the proceeds going to our store. WTC also provided us with multiple opportunities to participate in community events, such as the Chinatown Food Crawl and programs for giving back to nurses and volunteers.

We are going to use the grant proceeds to help pay rent and operating costs. The grant has helped us push forward during this difficult time. We are very grateful for what WTC has done for small businesses and the Chinatown community.

Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

Take it one day at a time, make smart decisions, and stick to your plan. Honestly, we are still making changes every day and are still just trying to survive. Everyone’s situation is different, and we are grateful that we’ve been lucky enough to stay open.

*Assortment of monaka ice cream sandwiches*

What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a business owner?

Our proudest moment is the opening of The Little One. We didn’t have much capital to start with, and we made do with what we had. We’ve hit many milestones over the years, and having the store come as far as it has is something we are very proud of.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Our biggest challenge was when we had to sit down and think about how to keep our doors open. Mentally, we were both prepared to close our doors permanently if our talks with our landlord didn’t go well. We had to make many sacrifices to stay open, and we are still making sacrifices to this day. Every day, we wonder how well we could have done without the COVID setback.

Any plans for the future?

We hope to continue doing what we both love to do at The Little One and introduce more new desserts.

What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember The Little One, what do you want them to remember?

We would like people to remember that we were not just a social media dessert trend and that Olivia and I put a lot of care and time into every one of our desserts. We believe that people shouldn’t have to spend a fortune for quality dessert, and we hope that people will remember us for bringing affordable, delicious, and unique desserts to NYC.

How can people support your business?

Come for dessert! Give us a shout out and spread the word.

Anything else you would like people to know or talk about?

Chinatown businesses need more support than ever. Try to call in and order from restaurants directly rather than use third party delivery apps because those apps charge insanely high fees. Also, tip the staff even if there is no dine-in option. Many people believe that it’s unnecessary to tip when they are getting takeout, but tipping goes a long way for foodservice workers.

*****

Support The Little One by buying some cute merch here!

Chinatown establishments like The Little One 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin, The Little One

Alice Huang 5/14/21 Alice Huang 5/14/21

Public Village — A Home Away from Home

*Kiyomi Wang (right), chef and co-owner of Public Village, and her wife, Kyo Pang (left)*

If you’ve known me for long enough, the you’ll know that I have a soft spot for Sichuan restaurants. My hometown of Chongqing was part of the Sichuan province from 1954 to 1997 (after which it split off into its own provincial-level municipality), so I grew up eating all of the traditional Sichuan dishes. When I got the opportunity to interview Kiyomi — one of the owners of Public Village — for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, I was ecstatic. The items on her menu — wǎn zá noodles (a noodle dish with yellow peas similar to chickpeas), stinky tofu, bīng fěn (ice jelly), tomato egg noodles, etc. — are all items I grew up eating. Similar to how Kiyomi used food as a way to cure her homesickness, food was a way for my parents and I to connect to our culture after emigrating to the US. As I scrolled through the mouthwatering pictures of noodles and Sichuanese snacks on Public Village’s Yelp page, a wave of nostalgia washed over me.

As English is not Kiyomi’s first language, her wife, Kyo, acted as the translator for our interview. Kyo is actually the executive chef and owner of Kopitiam, a super delicious Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown. I went there last weekend with Patrick and our friend Stu, and we were all blown away by the flavors. Public Village is right around the corner from Kopitiam, and I am planning on paying them a visit very soon (super excited — will update this post once I’ve had a chance to visit the restaurant).

*****

Public Village is a Sichuanese restaurant that specializes in homemade noodles and Chengdu-style street food. Chef and co-owner Kiyomi Wang opened Public Village with her business partner, Karen Song, on March 15, 2020 — two days before the stay-at-home orders went into effect in NYC. Through her cooking, Kiyomi has been able to pay homage to her hometown of Chengdu by putting her whole heart into everything that she makes. Read on to learn about how Kiyomi went from being a model in China to a chef in NYC and why she decided to name her restaurant Public Village.

*Spinach Noodle Soup with Scrambled Egg and Tomato*

Tell us about your business and who you are!

My name is Kiyomi Wang, and I am the chef and co-owner of Public Village. Public Village is a Sichuanese restaurant that specializes in homemade noodle dishes and street food from Chengdu (where I am from) and Northern China (where my co-founder, Karen Song, is from). Karen and I opened the restaurant on March 15, 2020, which was two days before the stay-at-home mandate went into effect in New York.

Most of our food is vegetarian friendly, and we are also sensitive to people who are gluten free or vegan. We pair different types of homemade noodles with different soup and sauce bases so that we can accommodate all kinds of dietary restrictions. For example, our tomato egg noodle dish is made with spinach noodles, and our beef noodle soup is made with squid ink noodles. Our mung bean noodles are great for people who can’t have gluten.

Why did you name your restaurant Public Village?

We named the restaurant Public Village after the xiǎo qū – or “little districts” – that are common in China. The xiǎo qū is a specific type of residential development that consists of many multi-story buildings with their own facilities such as gyms, daycare centers, parks, etc. Most of the people who live in the same xiǎo qū will know each other, and there are typically courtyards where residents can gather and bǎi long mén zhèn, which is colloquial for “gossip” or “chit-chat” in the Sichuan dialect. In that sense, the xiǎo qū are like “public villages” where people can congregate and exchange stories. We wanted to create a space for people to eat, drink, and chat like in the public villages of Sichuan.

What are your favorite dishes from your menu?

Everything on the menu is my favorite! Karen and I both love noodles, since noodles are a staple breakfast food in Northern China. If I had to pick one dish, it would be the Drunken Braised Beef Noodle Soup. It’s a super unique dish: we need to cook the broth with the bone in for sixteen hours to get the flavor without using any preservatives — it’s very addictive because we add Sichuan peppercorn to it. It comes with homemade squid ink noodles topped with beef that has been braised for six hours in order to achieve optimal tenderness. I also make my own chili oil, and I put in at least twelve different spices. The oil needs to cook for over an hour so that it absorbs all of the flavor from the spices.

Could you please tell us a little about yourself?

My mother is part of the Yi ethnic minority group in Sichuan, China, and she always cooked a lot of traditional Sichuan dishes for me and my brother when we were growing up. My father is from Northern China, where Karen is also from.

I used to work as a model and news anchor in Chengdu, China, before emigrating to New York. I met my wife, Kyo Pang – the founder and executive chef of Kopitiam, a popular Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown – during an interview that I was conducting for the news station. I moved to the US about four years ago in order to be with Kyo, and we got married last year.

What inspired you to start your own restaurant?

When I first moved here, I had some trouble adjusting because I wasn’t familiar with the food in the US. I was really homesick and missed Sichuanese food a lot. To help cure my homesickness, Kyo would take me to all of the Sichuan restaurants in NYC. Eventually, I started making some dishes myself. Even though I had no formal culinary training, I sort of knew how to make most of my favorite foods because I had watched my mom and brother cook while I was growing up. Also, everyone in Chengdu knows how to cook a little bit, since it’s part of the culture, so I knew some of the basic skills.

When I first started out, it was a lot of trial and error. I would invite friends over for dinner all the time and have them try out my dishes. To my surprise, people really enjoyed my food! Over the years, I met many people through these dinners, including my business partner, Karen. Karen had been friends with Kyo for many years, and we hit it off right away. We realized that we had so many things in common. For example, we are both Capricorns, and we both love noodles. Karen is from Northern China, and my father is also from Northern China. That’s why you’ll sometimes see dishes on our menu that are common in that region, such as the Grilled Chilled Noodle Wrap and the Chicken Skeleton.

One day, one of my friends, the owner of Coffee Project New York, asked me if I would do the catering for an event that she was hosting. I agreed, and the event ended up being very successful. Soon after, when Karen, Kyo, and I were having dinner, Karen asked, “Why don’t we just open our own restaurant?” Maybe it was the red wine that we were drinking that night, but I immediately said yes, and everything after that happened so quickly. Karen was working as an assistant manager at another restaurant at the time, so I thought her managerial experience would make her a great business partner.

At the restaurant, I do all of the cooking, and Karen does all of the business stuff. Together, we make a great team. Kyo has also helped us a lot and gave us some good business advice from her experience running Kopitiam. She introduced us to the contractors that we used to renovate the space and she also introduced us to a lot of our suppliers.

What was it like opening a restaurant during a pandemic?

It was scary. Everything happened so quickly, and we pretty much didn’t have a choice except to open when we did. We had walked by the space so many times, but it was always occupied by another tenant. Then, one day, we passed by and saw a “for rent” sign in the window. Right then and there, we decided to bite the bullet. We toured the space at the end of November 2019 and signed the contract in December 2019. Right after we signed, the pandemic hit. The moment I received the keys to the space, I was so excited, but my excitement was soon shattered when COVID tore through NYC.

The renovation for our space was completed in February 2020, and we officially opened on March 15 that same year. Two days after we opened, on March 17, New York went into lockdown, and we had to rely solely on delivery and to-go orders. After fourteen days of being open, we shut down because it became unprofitable to keep operating. Also, Karen found out that she was pregnant around that time, so we decided that it would be best to put the restaurant on pause for a bit until we got more information from the CDC. We re-opened on May 5, 2020.

When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?

It was complicated. I had been really excited about the restaurant opening. For many nights, we stayed up to paint the walls ourselves and painstakingly went over so many details.

Then, one night at midnight, I read some news about COVID spreading in Asia, and I became so scared. I called home right away to make sure that my family was doing ok. People in China were having issues getting masks, so we bought a lot of masks and shipped them to China. My mom and brother started to distribute them to people in their xiǎo qū who were also having trouble getting masks. We also shipped a bunch of masks to Kyo’s family in Malaysia and made sure that they had enough supplies. But shortly after, COVID hit the US, and the tables turned. Suddenly, Asia had more masks, so our families began sending masks back to us. Looking back, even though it was a tough time for everyone, it was great that we were able to help each other out.

How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business?

WtC has helped us immensely. We opened our restaurant during the worst possible time, and we didn’t qualify for most SBA loans, such as the PPP loan. There wasn’t much traffic in the neighborhood because of the pandemic and also because we were so new. Our landlord was still charging us rent, so we had to pay fixed costs without generating much revenue. The Longevity Fund grant and the WtC Block Walk event helped us to pay off many utility bills and took some of the burden off our shoulders.

How did you use the Longevity Fund grant?

We primarily used the grant to pay utilities, rent, staff, and outdoor dining buildout. Additional funding can help improve our outside seating, because our existing one has been quite damaged by graffiti and late-night crowds.

Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

Try your best to stay healthy and try to help others through this difficult time. While trying to survive ourselves, we’ve also tried to help the community in any way that we can. For example, Kyo’s restaurant, Kopitiam, has partnered with Rethink Food, which is a non-profit organization that utilizes donated food from restaurants to create meals for those in need. Public Village has also partnered with some smaller private organizations who have helped us deliver free meals to people — there is one guy that works as a nurse who sometimes comes in and tells us how many meals he needs, and then we just give him the amount he asks for and he drops it off to people in need.

What are you the most proud of as a business owner?

It feels great to start something and then get good at it – especially when it’s something I never knew I could be good at. The people in the neighborhood always call me the “model in the kitchen” because I had no restaurant experience prior to starting Public Village, and I’m proud that I’ve been able to prove myself through my cooking. I have grown and changed so much throughout this journey, and I am proud of who I have become.

What is something interesting that most people don’t know about Public Village?

A lot of people come to Public Village to play Mahjong and chit chat. We’ve become friends with a lot of our neighbors this way! You probably won’t find another restaurant in Chinatown where people come to play Mahjong.

Any plans for the future?

I want to try doing fresh, packaged food that people can cook easily at home (similar to meal kits). I would package things like the chili oils and sauces that I make. Currently, I’m trying to package the Drunken Braised Beef Noodles so that people can eat it fresh in their homes.

What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now, what do you want people to remember about Public Village?

I want people to remember the Yi minority group and appreciate the uniqueness of Sichuanese food. I started this restaurant to share the taste of my hometown with people in the US. There is a saying in China that Sichuanese food “là kǒu bù là xīn,” which means that it burns your mouth but does not burn your heart. I make every single dish with love, and I hope that people can feel that and remember Public Village as a place that is filled with “heart.”

How can people support your business?

Call us and come pick up our food rather than use third party delivery apps! Third party delivery and pickup apps charge a lot – up to 30%! Since everything we serve is handmade and very time consuming to create, we’re not making very high margins on the food to begin with.

Anything else you would like people to know?

I want people to know that you can do anything if you set your heart to it. I had the guts to open a restaurant without a cooking background – if I could do this, you can achieve your dreams too.

*****

Chinatown establishments like Public Village 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin

Alice Huang 4/22/21 Alice Huang 4/22/21

A (Real) Convenience Store Woman — Yiyan Zhou of Heng Yun Grocery

*Yiyan Zhou, the manager of Heng Yun Grocery*

If you’re wondering why I’m writing about convenience stores on a food blog, then you must have never been to a convenience store in Asia. And if you’ve never been to a convenience store in Asia, you’re missing out. Convenience stores in Asia are AMAZING and are completely different from their counterparts in America. When you think of convenience stores in the U.S., you probably picture a sad looking building in a gas station whose only worthy offering is a public toilet. However, convenience stores in Asia are mini wonderlands with more ramen, potato chip, and flavored yogurt options than you could ever have conceived of. They usually have hot food bars with options that are legitimately delicious, and many of them have public seating areas where students, office workers, and tourists alike can plop down for a quick on-the-go meal or to chat with friends.

A Lawson’s in Osaka (PC: Andrew Leu) — *A Lawson’s in Osaka (PC:* *Andrew Leu*)

In fact, many office workers in Japan regularly go to 7-Elevens and other konbini (short for konbiniensu sutoru, which is a transliteration of “convenience store”) chains for lunch because they offer such a wide variety of fresh food items (think: sushi, oden, rice bowls, soba noodles, onigiri, and countless types of bento boxes). Convenience stores in Asia also usually have free WiFi and offer a variety of essential services such as currency exchange, printing, and ticketing for popular attractions.

A typical konbini cart (PC: Markus Winkler) — *A typical konbini cart (PC:* *Markus Winkler*)

When Patrick and I were in Japan for spring break during our senior year of college, we bought a variety of breakfast items and snacks from 7-Eleven every night (these are EVERYWHERE by the way). Some of my favorite items included milk tea (the Royal Milk Tea by a company called Sangaria is the best; you can get it hot or cold), milk bread, and fruit sandos (short for sandoitchi, which is a transliteration of “sandwich”; and yes, fruit sandwiches are a thing). Similarly, when we visited China in 2019, we always purchased a hodgepodge of food items – ranging from hot steamed buns to Beijing-style yogurt (which, by the way, is probably my favorite dairy item that has ever been made; I hope they come up with a plant-based version sometime soon because I really miss it) – before embarking on a long day of sightseeing. The convenience stores in Taiwan are really good as well; I distinctly remember a rainy day in Kaohsiung when Patrick and I ran to a nearby convenience store and had some ramen, hot dogs, and salted egg yolk potato chips by the window while watching the rain fall.

There are always tons of milk options (PC: Joshua Fernandez) — *There are always tons of milk options (PC:* *Joshua Fernandez*)

When I’m not traveling (i.e. now, because of COVID), I love watching YouTube videos of food bloggers (such as Mike Chen of Strictly Dumpling) who visit and compare convenience stores in different Asian countries. These videos are so fun because there are always new things to discover. Stores are constantly competing against each other and coming up with new food items in order to attract customers. For example, in Japan, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and Lawson’s are regularly the top contenders for the best convenience store egg sando, which is probably the single most popular Japanese convenience store item. Each store has their own formulation, and the seasonings, bread-to-egg ratios, and consistencies are all a little different.

Onigiri display (PC: Markus Winkler) — *Onigiri display (PC:* *Markus Winkler*)

In addition to being treasure troves of deliciousness, convenience stores also have a lot of cultural significance in many Asian countries. A few years ago, I read a book titled Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata that alludes to the significance of convenience stores in Japanese society. If you’re a K-drama fan, you’ll be familiar with the drunken convenience store scene that is in 90% of all Korean dramas: girl drinks soju alone at a table outside; guy sees girl and sits down next to her; girl starts yelling at guy; girl throws up; guy carries girl home; girl falls in love with guy a few episodes later. In China, the local convenience store at the base of an apartment complex is where all the grandpas and grandmas of the complex like to congregate on hot summer nights and exchange stories while eating sunflower seeds and peanuts.

A typical mini convenience store in China, typically located below apartments (PC: Li Lin) — *A typical mini convenience store in China, typically located below apartments (PC:* *Li Lin*)

Perhaps due to their prominence in Asia, convenience stores have long been a popular option for Asian immigrants looking to start a business in America. And, in some ways, they symbolize the American dream. Kim’s Convenience, a heartfelt sitcom about Korean-Canadian immigrants who own a convenience store in Canada, does a great job illustrating how the convenience store – along with laundromats and restaurants – has become a symbol of freedom and resilience: the freedom of business ownership and the corresponding resilience it takes to make an Asian-owned business succeed in a foreign country while navigating culture differences and racial discrimination.

A popular convenience Shanghainese convenience store chain (PC: Levi Lei) — *A popular convenience Shanghainese convenience store chain (PC:* *Levi Lei*)

As you can probably tell by now, convenience stores have always occupied a special place in my heart. That’s why, when I had the opportunity to interview a Chinese convenience store manager for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, I had all the feels. Although Heng Yun Grocery isn’t a full-service convenience store in that it doesn’t offer fresh food items (many Asian-owned convenience stores in America actually don’t have fresh food offerings since they require additional investment in food preparation and display equipment, which can be expensive), it still embodies the spirit of an Asian-American convenience store in America.

The manager, Yiyan Zhou, is a real-life “convenience store woman.” However, unlike the woman in Murata’s novel, Yiyan is vibrant, inspiring, and stong.

During this time of uncertainty and elevated violence against Asians in America, it’s more important than ever to give Asian communities a voice and tell their stories. I hope that Yiyan’s story can provide an additional perspective and help build the bridge of understanding and acceptance that we so desperately need. Even during these difficult times, despite increased xenophobia and violence, Yiyan just wants to work hard so that she can one day give back to society.

*****

Heng Yun Grocery is a small convenience store at 329 Grand Street that sells Asian and American grocery items and household goods. Yiyan Zhou, the manager of Heng Yun Grocery, emigrated from the Fuzhou province of China in 2003. During her 10+ years of working at the store, Yiyan has developed close relationships with many repeat customers who live in Chinatown. Though the pandemic has been tough on the business, Yiyan maintains a positive attitude and lives by her motto, “Be satisfied and be happy.”

Tell us about your business and about who you are.

Hi, my name is Yiyan Zhou, and I have been the manager of Heng Yun for over 10 years now. The store was opened by one of my distant relatives over 20 years ago. We sell typical convenience store items such as snacks, drinks, beer, condiments, lifestyle products, garbage bags, hardware, lottery tickets, etc. We carry a lot of Asian snacks like shrimp crackers, taro chips, rice crackers, Pocky, etc. We have a microwave and water boiler so that customers can heat up microwaveable meals and instant ramen. (Alice note: This is very typical for convenience stores in Asia.)

Most of our customers are people who live or work in Chinatown. Ever since the COVID pandemic started, there have not been as many workers in Chinatown, so our business has taken a hit.

Microwave and water boiler

Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?

In 2003, I emigrated from the Fuzhou province of China, where I worked as a salesperson for women’s hair care products. After coming to New York, I worked at a restaurant for 2 -3 years before working at another convenience store on East Broadway for a few years.

Eventually, I got married and had children in the US. I also helped my mom immigrate here. My father passed away a while ago, so being closer to my mom is very nice.

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID?

We shut down for two and a half months because we weren’t getting enough foot traffic to justify keeping the lights on. At the onset of the pandemic, people were only buying cleaning related items such as alcohol, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. These items were in such high demand that we couldn’t even get them from our wholesale suppliers. Even after the demand died down a bit, the wholesale prices were so high that we couldn’t make a profit on these items.

Sales of our grocery items have fallen to about a third of what they were before the pandemic. We had to let go of one of our employees as a result. Interestingly though, lottery ticket sales have gone up. Unfortunately, we don’t make much money on lottery tickets.

To this day, it’s still very difficult for us. Business is still not the same as before. Before the pandemic, we were open from 8am to 10pm every day. Now, we are only open from 9am to 6pm. One of the reasons we decided to reduce our hours is because Chinatown has been getting more dangerous since the pandemic started. There has also been more theft lately, so we’re scared of staying open late at night.

How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business?

When someone first came to our store and told us about Welcome to Chinatown, we didn’t believe them. We thought, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” However, when another person came over to tell us about it, we decided to take a chance and apply to the Longevity Fund. We never thought we would get the grant but are very appreciative that we were chosen.

We’ve been using the grant to pay rent and salaries. We have also applied for PPP loans. We’re hoping to use the grant money and PPP loans to get some new products so that we can attract some new customers.

Eventually, we want to be as self-sufficient as possible. We’re working as hard as possible so that we can reach that point, even though it might take some time. At some point, we want to be able to give back to society. Just like how WtC has helped us, we also want to help others in return.

What is something interesting that most people don’t know about Heng Yun?

All the old customers in the neighborhood know me. They are like family to me. Whenever a customer passes away, I feel like I’ve lost a family member. There are many touching things that happen with my customers that I can’t recall every single detail, but there is one story that I want to share: During this past Chinese New Year, some non-Asians gave me a red envelope. I didn’t care about how much money was in there — I was just really touched that they had remembered Chinese New Year. This made me really happy.

Another fun fact: The previous manager sold a lottery ticket to someone who won $1 million!

Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?

It’s hard to say, because so many stores in the area have failed or moved due to high rents. It’s hard just to keep a single store afloat, so we can’t even afford to think about opening a new store. Back before COVID, there were a lot of similar stores like this all around, but now there are not too many left. We’re just focused on surviving and serving our remaining customers.

Any advice you’d like to give to others who are struggling during COVID?

My life motto is, “Be satisfied and be happy.” Be satisfied with what you have and be happy with your life. Even though we are going through a hard time, at least the store is alive. Your health and life are the most important. Don’t ask for too much. We’re just lucky to be alive.

Anything else you would like people to know or talk about?

Again, just be satisfied and be happy! Just like with the lottery, some people will always want to take risks and try to make it big. It’s like gambling. However, I think it’s important to just be satisfied with what you have.

*****

Chinatown establishments like Heng Yun Grocery 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin

Alice Huang 3/28/21 Alice Huang 3/28/21

On Food and Being Chinese in America

Photo by Frank Zhang — *Photo by* *Frank Zhang*

It took a long time for me to fully embrace and be proud of my culture. I emigrated from Chongqing, China when I was three years old, and the next decade of my life was spent moving from state to state. In most of the places I’ve lived, I was one of the only Asian kids at my school. It was tough. Kids can be mean. I was always made fun of for bringing a pink thermos full of homemade Chinese food to school instead of eating chicken nuggets and cheese pizza like all the other kids. I was told that my mom’s huíguō ròu (twice-cooked pork) looked “disgusting” and that my favorite pork and chive dumplings smelled like a dead animal. Even teachers would sometimes make insensitive remarks, from commenting on the clothes I wore, which often had broken English inscribed onto the fabric, to scrunching their noses at the food I ate.

Eventually, I started secretly skipping lunch and throwing my mom’s food away the second I got to school. I was so concerned with making those around me feel comfortable that I was willing to abandon my culture and my identity to do so. And it wasn’t just me. I would often overhear my parents argue about what to pack for their work lunches. I distinctly remember one day when my dad refused to bring suāncài yú (Sichuanese hot and sour fish) in order to “not offend the coworkers.”

We were walking on eggshells all the time. For my family, this was the reality of being Asian American immigrants: we were strangers in a country where we were full-fledged citizens, trying to live a quiet life without offending anyone with our culture.

Photo by Kevin Vigerie — *Photo by* *Kevin Vigerie*

When I finally began embracing my culture in college, I noticed the foods that kids had once made fun of me for eating were starting to become trendy. Regional Chinese food from places like Xiian, Chengdu and Shanghai were becoming more mainstream. I started seeing things like cumin lamb, Chongqing chicken and soup dumplings pop up on more and more menus. Foodies from all backgrounds were starting to take notice of the depth and diversity of Chinese cuisine. For a while, I thought that times had changed and that being Chinese was no longer something I would constantly be made consciously aware of.

However, when COVID hit, the thin veil of optimism that I had placed over myself was quickly stripped away. From media reports characterizing COVID as the “China virus” to social media commentators characterizing Chinese people as savages for eating bats, the anti-Chinese rhetoric — which quickly morphed into anti-Asian rhetoric — began to undo any progress that I thought I’d seen over the past decade. As the rhetoric escalated into hate and spiraled into violence against Asian Americans, I began questioning my identity again. When a man tried to spit on me on my way to Whole Foods, I thought to myself, “At least he didn’t try to do anything worse.” I began scanning my surroundings more often and became more aware of the space that I was occupying. Once again, I was walking on eggshells.

The events of these past few weeks have broken my heart. The lives that were taken in Atlanta on March 16th were full of promise. Their stories reminded me of my mom, my friends, and the countless other Asian American women I’ve crossed paths with during my life. Seeing their names flash across my screen made me think that this could have happened to someone I knew and loved, and it made me realize just how far we are from reaching a point of mutual respect and understanding.

Photo by Debbie Tea — *Photo by* *Debbie Tea*

*****

If this post feels a little raw and disorganized, it’s because I’m not good at writing about this kind of stuff. In fact, I’ve never written something like this before. However, I started this food blog with the goal of introducing people to all different kinds of foods and cultures, so I felt that it would be appropriate to put some of my thoughts and experiences about my own culture into words.

I hope that as America falls more in love with Asian food, it can eventually fall in love with its people too. I hope that the next time you go out for hot pot, ramen or Korean BBQ, you will pause for a second to appreciate the rich cultural histories that enable you to enjoy such a delicious meal. I hope that someday in the not-so-distant future, we won’t have to walk on eggshells anymore.

With Love,

Alice

Alice Huang 3/7/21 Alice Huang 3/7/21

Wok Wok — Your Passport to Southeast Asia

*Eric Cheah, co-founder of Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen*

Note: I originally wrote this piece for Welcome to Chinatown.

*****

Erik Cheah (a.k.a. “Shamu”), one of the founders of Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen, emigrated from Malaysia at the age of 15. After graduating from culinary school in New York, Erik worked in some of the most well-known kitchens in the culinary scene, including at Thomas Keller's Per Se. In 2015, Erik, together with his wife and brother, decided to open their own restaurant to bring their childhood memories to life and to share Malaysian cooking with those who may not be familiar with Southeast Asian cuisine.

Tell us about your business and who you are!

Hi, my name is Erik. My friends like to call me “Shamu” because we used to watch a lot of Japanese shows, and my first name is pronounced “Isamu” in Japanese, which means “brave”. As first-generation immigrants from Penang, Malaysia, my wife, brother, and I wanted to open a restaurant specializing in Malaysian street food and traditional Southeast Asian dishes.

What inspired you to start your restaurant?

We missed the delicious flavors of our parents’ and grandparents’ home cooking. We loved eating home-cooked meals while growing up in Penang, and we wanted to share the food that we ate growing up with people who may not be familiar with Malaysian cuisine. Our goal is to make food that is so good that you can’t help but share it with your friends and family.

Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?

Growing up in Malaysia, my siblings and I always helped our Grandma in the kitchen. She would instruct us to get mise en place (French for “everything in its place”) and set up the kitchen so that things would be ready for when she started cooking.

I immigrated to New York when I was 15 and graduated from a high school in New Jersey. Shortly after graduating, I was very lucky to be accepted into The Art Institute of New York City as a full-time culinary student. After completing culinary school in 2010, I interned at the famous restaurant Per Se under Michelin-starred Chef Jonathan Benno. I met my wife while working in restaurants in New York City. After a few years of working in the industry, we opened Wok Wok with my brother in the summer of 2015.

What are your favorite dishes from your menu?

My favorite dishes are White Curry Laksa (yellow egg noodles and rice vermicelli) and Penang Har Mee (prawn noodle soup). My parents used to own a food stall in Malaysia that sold noodle soup every morning at 6am. Every bowl of White Curry Laksa and Penang Har Mee that we serve at Wok Wok takes me back to my fond childhood memories of Malaysia.

When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?

We were very afraid of losing the business to COVID. We knew we had to adapt, but we did not expect the pandemic to spiral so far out of control.

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID?

We’ve remained open for business throughout all of COVID. When the shutdowns first happened, we worked with nonprofit groups to send food to hospitals and adult care centers in the city.

With our family’s help, we were able to keep the business going and started focusing more on our customers’ needs. For example, we started doing contactless delivery for customers who were in quarantine and couldn’t leave their homes to pick up food.

How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business?

Welcome to Chinatown has helped spread the word about our business. As a result, we’ve been seeing an uptick in orders since we began working with WtC. They have also provided us with many resources on how to apply for PPP programs and grants. We were able to use the Longevity Fund grant to build outdoor seating and alleviate business expenses during the recent downturn.

Any advice you would like to give to other small businesses trying to survive during COVID?

First, use social media to get the word out. We need to rally locals to support local businesses or else Chinatown will become a ghost town. Second, reduce all unnecessary expenses and work smart.

What have you been the most proud of as a business owner?

I’m very proud that we were able to remain open during the COVID shutdowns last year while 95% of the restaurants in the neighborhood were closed. That is a reflection of the commitment and passion that we have for our restaurant. We truly love going to work every day.

What is a fun fact about Wok Wok?

It’s very hard for new customers to find our restaurant because we are located in a basement. However, once you step into our restaurant, the space is cozy, warm, and inviting. Wok Wok is your passport to Southeast Asia.

Any plans for the future?

No future plans for now. We’ve been dedicating our time to our single location. Making sure that everything runs smoothly during a pandemic is not an easy task! We remain optimistic about the future and hope that the pandemic will be over soon. We cannot wait to meet and interact with our customers again.

What do you hope your legacy will be?

Hopefully, we can keep the business open for the next 50 years and beyond. New Yorkers deserve to have the best Southeast Asian food at Wok Wok, and we hope that we can be remembered for providing a memorable, delicious experience for all our customers.

How can people support your business?

Our menu is pretty big, so there is something for every palate. Come dine in with us 2 times a week, and we will become very good friends!

Our business is all about happy customers coming back and recommending our food to their friends — it's really that simple! Word of mouth advertising is especially important in Chinatown, since the mom and shops here don’t get a lot of visibility. We are so appreciative of the customers who spread the word about our restaurant and helped keep our doors open for business during the pandemic. Don’t be afraid to stop by and say hello. :)

*****

Chinatown establishments like Wok Wok 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin, Wok Wok Southeast Asian Kitchen

Alice Huang 2/28/21 Alice Huang 2/28/21

Pasteur Grill and Noodles — Preserving Culture through Strife

*Dennis Chung peering through the window of his restaurant*

Note: I originally wrote this piece for Welcome to Chinatown.

*****

After escaping the Vietnam War by boat, Dennis Chung came to New York with his family at the age of 21 to start a new life. In 1995, Mr. Chung purchased Pasteur Grill and Noodles (originally known as Pasteur and founded in 1987) from its previous owner and took over the business to showcase the cuisine from his childhood. For the past 25 years, Pasteur Grill and Noodles has been serving traditional Vietnamese dishes such as phở, pork chops, and bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwiches). Read on to learn more about Mr. Chung and how the restaurant has fared during COVID.

Tell us about your business and who you are!

Hi, I’m Dennis Chung. I’m the owner of Pasteur Grill and Noodles, a Vietnamese restaurant located at 85 Baxter Street in Chinatown. Pasteur has been open since 1987, but I took over the restaurant in 1995. We serve Vietnamese food — mostly phở, vermicelli noodles, barbequed meats (e.g. pork chops), and bánh mì (Vietnamese sandwiches).

What inspired you to start your business?

When I was growing up in Vietnam, I ate Vietnamese food — com suon bi cha, bún riêu, bún bò huế, and chè — every morning on the street before going to school. I never had to pay; the bill went straight to my parents’ house. My mother didn’t cook much at home, so I would frequently go out with my friends to Vietnamese restaurants and eat dishes like banh tam bi. These memories inspired me to share the food I ate growing up with people who didn’t know a lot about Vietnamese food.

I worked at Nha Trang One (next door to Pasteur) for a year before taking over Pasteur in 1995. The owner of Pasteur at the time was a man named Lai Ngo. One day, as I was leaving Nha Trang One to go home, he stopped me on the corner of the street. He told me that he wanted to sell his restaurant and retire. He’d seen me working as the manager of Nha Trang One and asked me, “Do you want to take over my restaurant?” I said to him, “Are you kidding?” He said, “If you want, I will sell it to you.” That same day, I gave him a $5,000 deposit. I hadn’t even seen the inside of the restaurant, but I knew it was in a good location. There were courthouses nearby, tourists, and great local customers.

At that time, there were very few Vietnamese restaurants in NYC. I thought this would be a good opportunity to teach New Yorkers more about Vietnamese food. I like Vietnamese food because it is well-balanced — it’s sweet, savory, fresh, not oily, not too spicy, and mostly served with fresh vegetables. I knew that it had the potential to become really popular.

Could you please provide us with some background on yourself?

I was born in South Vietnam, in a small village called Soc Trang. My father was the owner of a rice factory. He had 7 children — 4 boys, including myself, and 3 girls. I never finished high school.

In 1975, the Viet Cong from the North took over the South, and it was hard just to survive. One day, the people from the North Vietnamese government took over our rice factory. We could barely make a living and used up all our savings to survive. In 1979, we tried to escape Vietnam by boat.

We had to buy tickets from the people who made the boats. A one-person ticket cost 10 oz of gold. We had 9 people, so we needed 90 oz of gold. Luckily, my father had saved up some gold over many years. Those days in Vietnam, people invested their savings in gold, as you couldn’t buy stocks or keep money at home. We spent 5 days and 4 nights on the boat. During the first 2 days, we only had cup noodles and water. Then, for the last 3 days, we had nothing to eat or drink until we got to the refugee camp, which was on an island in Indonesia. Once we landed, we immediately bought some canned meats and rice. We purchased a small house for $50 USD that had one big bed, and all 9 of us slept on it. It was like a jail cell. We eventually opened a small grocery store that my younger brother and I ran, and we made enough money to survive for a year. One year later, my family immigrated to New York City.

I was 21 when we arrived in New York. We came here with our bare hands. We all lived together in an apartment in Elmhurst, Queens. My first job was in a fish market in Chinatown on Bayard and Mott. I did this for a year. While taking ESL and Chinese classes on Mott St, I was doing delivery for a restaurant on 90th and Madison. I had to buy my own bike for the delivery job; after a few months, someone stole it, so I had to buy a new one, which cost $150 at the time.

After doing delivery for two years, I got a job at an accounting firm in Chinatown, where I worked for the next 10 years. During the day, I worked as an accountant. At night, I worked for a cleaning company. I worked 9am to 5pm at the accounting firm and 6pm to 10pm at the cleaning company immediately afterwards. During tax season, the firm would be so busy that after my cleaning job, I would go back and help for another two hours. Sometimes, my younger brother would come help me at the cleaning company, but my boss didn’t like that, so I would tell him to hide in the bathroom. Around the same time, I also opened a fast-food restaurant called King’s Express with 3 other partners and worked there on weekends.

Eventually, I left the accounting firm and became the manager of Nha Trang One. I met my wife there in 1989 and married her on January 20, 1990. I remember that day very well because the weather was very good. Four years later, I had my daughter, and 3 years later, I had my son. In 1995, I took over Pasteur.

How has your business changed over the years?

At first, business was very good. Then, 9/11 happened, and the business almost collapsed. Chinatown was like a dead city. After 2 or 3 years, the business picked back up a little but, by that time, many new Vietnamese restaurants began to open nearby, such as Thai Son, Viet Huong, and Tu Do. With the increased competition, business began to slow down again.

A few years ago, we began partnering with delivery platforms like GrubHub and UberEats to try and reach more customers, but the delivery companies take about 30% of the bill. Rent, property tax, and utilities are also all a lot higher than before.

We’ve had several names over the years. Pasteur was the original name of the restaurant. When I took over the restaurant, we renamed it New Pasteur. A few years after 9/11, one of my partners left, and so I renamed the restaurant Phở Pasteur. Since then, my wife has been helping me with the restaurant — she takes care of the kitchen, while I take care of the dining room. She actually came up with a few new dishes, like bún riêu, hủ tiếu nam vang, bò kho, and bún bò huế. My wife, Lily, based these dishes on her mother’s recipes (her mother is an amazing chef). About 10 years after she began helping me, we renovated the whole restaurant, signed a lease with a new landlord, and renamed the restaurant Pasteur Grill and Noodles.

As the manager, I don’t work in the kitchen, but I still need to know how to make the sauces and help in the kitchen when someone calls out. Sometimes when the cook doesn’t come, I have to cook. I’m not an expert, but I still have to know how to do it.

Dennis’s wife — Lily Lien Chung — *Dennis’s wife* — *Lily Lien Chung*

Who are your customers?

Before COVID, during weekdays, a lot of our customers would come from the courthouse. On weekends, we would get tourists from different countries and states as well as locals from around the neighborhood. We serve all kinds of people: people who sell watches and bags on Canal Street, doctors, fruit vendors, grocery store workers, fish market and supermarket workers, elderly people in the neighborhood, etc.

Last year, before COVID, a tour guide came to our restaurant with 20 people and told me to order for them. He said, “I don’t care about the price or the amount of food, just give me the bill.” When he saw that the bill was not a lot, he was really happy. The customers enjoyed the food and were also very happy.

What are your favorite dishes from your menu? What makes these dishes special?

My favorites are the beef cubes with fried rice, shrimp or squid with salt and pepper, bún riêu, hủ tiếu nam vang, bún bò huế, phở xe lửa, bbq rolled beef with vermicelli, chả giò, and pork chops. These dishes are the most popular, and I like them a lot too. I like beef cubes with fried rice because the sauce is very delicious. The cook must have excellent skills for it to taste good. He / she must know how to control the fire and the oil and know which ingredients to add first — it’s very difficult. You must put the oil in first, then the beef to get a good sear, then garlic, butter and onions, and finally the sauce. You must then toss everything quickly with a big fire.

We cook phở broth every day for the following day. We soak the beef bones, brisket, and oxtails in salted water overnight. In the morning, we grill the onions and ginger. Then, we wash all the other ingredients and cook them in the broth for 8 hours. In the final half hour, we put in rock sugar and toasted spices. We add these last because if you cook them for too long, the broth will become too dark. Then, we filter the broth through a cheesecloth to remove all the impurities and make the broth clear.

We pay a lot of attention to our phở, and we use very high-quality meat that we buy from the meat market on Centre Street. We buy our spices from an Indian supermarket in Jackson Heights called the Patel Brothers. They have high quality spices that you can’t find in Chinatown. Their star anise and cinnamon are fragrant, yet affordable.

We order our pork chops from the meat market one day ahead of time. If they’re too thick, they will be well done outside but raw inside; if they’re too thin, they won’t be juicy. We have to marinate the pork chops for 2 days, not just 1 day. We use lemongrass, oyster sauce, lemongrass, sugar, and onion. These are all classic Vietnamese ingredients, especially lemongrass and fish sauce. You also have to use a grill with charcoal, not gas, because gas has harsh chemicals. Charcoal makes it taste better as well. Most people don’t have charcoal at home so, no matter how you cook it, it won’t taste like the way it does at the restaurant.

You will notice that anything you cook with charcoal will taste better. I lived in the countryside for a few weeks because the Communists didn’t want us to live in the city. During that time, we used charcoal to cook all our food, and everything we ate was natural. Every fish we caught, we ate, and every vegetable we cut, we ate. There were no refrigerators.

When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?

When COVID first hit NYC, I knew for sure that it would be even worse than 9/11. I asked myself, “Should I close my business or keep going?” We made the tough decision to close on March 15th, 2020.

We reopened on May 1st with 4 workers. At the time, no one else on the block was open. Chinatown was completely dead. I was scared, but I told myself that I would be okay if I wore a mask and washed my hands. My workers also wanted to come back to work. They kept asking me to open because they like working at the restaurant. My cook said to me, “Any day, any time, I will work for you, just let me know.”

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?

Due to the pandemic, our revenue has gone down 60% percent. When all the bills — rent, payroll, property tax, utility bills, and raw materials — came due, I couldn’t pay them all. One day, while our restaurant was shut down, the landlord called me on my cellphone to tell me to pay the rent. I asked him, “How can I pay your bill if my restaurant isn’t open?” Then, Time Warner and Con Ed called me to pay their bills. They said, “If you don’t pay the bill, we will cut the telephone line and electricity.” The only thing I could do was apply for a PPP loan to pay the bills for the first few months. Even now, business is still not back to normal, so I’m trying to apply for a second PPP loan.

Ever since the city allowed outdoor dining, business has been a little better, but we’ve lost a lot of our tourist and courthouse customers. Things are still not back to normal. Our menu and prices are still the same, but most of the raw materials that we buy are more expensive. We unfortunately can’t pass those price increases on to our customers because a lot of our local customers are currently unemployed due to the pandemic. Since we re-opened, we’ve been closing 2 hours earlier at 8:30pm (we used to close at 10:30pm). After 6pm, there are usually no customers. On the weekends, there are no tourists.

How has Welcome to Chinatown helped your business?

Welcome to Chinatown has helped us a lot by allowing us to share our story online so that people can read it and understand how hard it is for Chinatown right now. I will use the Longevity Fund grant to pay rent, which hasn’t gone down since COVID hit.

Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

My advice is to work later and do stuff on your own. Learn how to become more independent and efficient. Instead of hiring more people, stay up later to prepare tomorrow. For example, I stay late to cut meat, roll the spring rolls, and mix the sauces. I will always try my best to improve the business. I will never give up. I know it’s tough, but find it within yourself to keep going. Soon, it will be over. Also, try to give customers bigger portions if you can afford to, and make sure to keep the food fresh and clean.

What has been your proudest moment as a business owner? What has been your biggest challenge?

I am proud that we’re still open. We still have customers, but not like before. A lot of our older customers come back to say hello and congratulate us for staying open. I feel very happy when they come back to eat our food and say good things. There are even some customers who no longer work at the courthouse that still drive from their homes to buy our food.

The biggest challenge is definitely COVID. This is a challenge for everyone, not just me. Every day, I pray to God that I don’t get COVID. If I get it, I won’t be able to continue working at the restaurant.

What is one fun fact or something interesting that most people don’t know about Pasteur Grill & Noodles?

A lot of people don’t know that we have a full selection of bánh mì. Most Vietnamese restaurants don’t sell bánh mì anymore. Our Pasteur Classic bánh mì has chili-aioli, pickled carrots, ham, and a pork patty that we make and roast in-house.

Our restaurant is currently the oldest Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown and was named after a famous French scientist named Louis Pasteur.

Another fun fact is that my wife’s brother is the chef at District Saigon in Astoria.

Any plans for the future?

Hopefully, after COVID is over, the government will open indoor dining to 100% capacity again. In the meantime, we are planning on making some small adjustments to the menu. If business is good 5 years later, we may do a small renovation. If the economy doesn’t improve, we may close the restaurant and open a restaurant somewhere else with lower rent since rent just keeps going up every year.

What do you hope your legacy will be?

I hope people will remember us forever for a few items: pork chops, beef cubes with fried rice, and shrimp with salt and pepper. I hope that people will also remember our service. We always try our best to serve our customers well. If you want extra sauce, we’ll give it to you. If we have something in the restaurant that’s not on the menu, we’ll give it to you. I enjoy serving my customers and talking to them. I want to make them happy and have them come back.

*Dennis and Lily in front of their restaurant*

How can people support your business?

The best way to support us is to keep coming back. If people like our food and come back, that is the biggest compliment. Also, it would be helpful to recommend our restaurant to new customers.

*****

Chinatown establishments like Pasteur Noodle & Grill 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin, Pasteur Grill and Noodles

Alice Huang 2/17/21 Alice Huang 2/17/21

Il Bambino — Creativity, Consistency, and Comfort in a Panini

Last July, I published a review of Il Bambino’s brunch panini menu. A few months later, I reached out to Melanie Lawless through Facebook, and she graciously connected me to Darren Lawless (chef / owner of Il Bambino and Melanie’s husband), who granted me an interview and allowed me to tell you guys their story! This is probably one of my favorite pieces to date, as I loved learning more about a restaurant that has been such a big part of my life for the past year and a half. In fact, Patrick and I sometimes joke about how we have a life “before Il Bambino” and a life “after Il Bambino.” I hope you enjoy reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Note: This interview was conducted in October 2020, so some of the references to current events may be a bit stale.

Tell me about your business and who you are! How long have you been open? What kind of food do you serve?

Hi, I’m Darren Lawless, the chef / owner of Il Bambino, a specialty panini shop in Astoria, New York. I’m originally from Dublin, Ireland. I opened Il Bambino with my wife, Melanie, in 2006 — just a few years before the Great Recession hit. We’ve been in our Astoria location for almost 15 years now. Ironically, the recession actually helped our business because it caused a lot of people to leave Manhattan to go to Astoria, where you could get an apartment that was half the price and twice the space.

Over the years, we’ve done a few things that have helped us grow. We didn’t have the outdoor garden in the beginning. When we finally opened it 2 or 3 years later, a bunch of new faces started showing up for al fresco dining. If you haven’t been to the outdoor garden, you must! We decorated it with lights and hanging flowers and put in benches and cobblestones. It’s tucked away behind the building in an enclosed area, so you’ll need to walk through the restaurant to see it. If you sit back there at night, you would never even think you were still in New York.

The outdoor garden

We started our brunch panini menu around 2009 / 2010, and it’s been so popular that we’ve been doing it ever since. (Alice note: I wrote a full review on Il Bambino’s brunch paninis, which you can read here.)

We make everything inside the restaurant ourselves. All of the aiolis are our original recipes. We have a basic recipe that we start with, and then we deviate and add things to the base. Over the years, we’ve created about 15 to 20 aiolis and sauces. Fun fact: The position of “saucier” in the kitchen was always my favorite position. A lot of chefs like working with stocks; I like working with sauces. Some of the sauces that we make for our paninis include our béarnaise aioli, which is a riff on a traditional béarnaise sauce. It’s the aioli that we use on our popular Weekend at Béarnaise panini. We use tarragon as our star ingredient, which has a haunting flavor that lingers when you exhale. And of course, our Lawless Spicy Mayo is a customer favorite.

What inspired you to start your restaurant?

I’ve been a chef my whole life, and I didn’t want to continue doing what I was doing at the time. Being a chef in NYC means living a hectic life. My wife was pregnant with our first baby, so I wanted to dial it back and open a small coffee shop that also served paninis. I wanted to open my business in Astoria, which is where we were living at the time.

Why Paninis?

While I was working in NYC, one of my favorite places that I would visit after work was a panini shop in the West Village called Ino, which has since closed. Lots of chefs would go there late at night after a long day in the kitchen. There is just something comforting about two pieces of hot bread with melty cheese. I have many fond memories of that place, and it inspired me to open my own panini shop. I also wanted to do paninis because it meant that I didn’t have to install a complicated kitchen.

How did you come up with the cute yellow pig as your mascot?

Back in the day, we were very pork centric. Today, 40% of our menu is vegetarian. We’ve actually thought about taking it down since the times have changed and our menu has evolved over time, but we’ve kept it around since it’s been our mascot for a while.

Could you tell me a little bit about your recipe wall in the restaurant? I’ve always found it fascinating and inspiring! Who wrote the recipes?

Those are my recipes that I’ve collected and developed over the years. I have a habit of scribbling down ideas. Sometimes, I would scribble down some thoughts while coming home on the subway. All of my notes were just sitting in a folder in our basement, so I thought it could be cool to use them as decoration.

What are some of your favorite dishes to make from your menu? What were your inspirations behind these dishes?

(Alice Note: My personal favorites are the Wake n’ Bake and the Pig in Japan brunch paninis!)

Besides our sauces, which I talked about earlier, one of my favorite items on our menu is our Panzanella Salad. The star ingredient for this salad is preserved lemons; it’s one of those things where when customers have it for the first time, they’re like, “What is this?!” Preserved lemon takes on a very different flavor profile. The curing process of lemon is like alchemy. It’s incredible. Same thing with carrot: when you eat a raw carrot it tastes like nothing but, when you roast it, it tastes totally transformed.

Another one of my favorites dishes is our string beans with truffle vinaigrette and shaved parmesan. It’s a very simple dish, but it has a very unique flavor. We also used to do a dish that involved sardines with smoked tomato butter — that was a hit as well.

Oh, I can’t forget to mention our Maple Bacon — it’s one of my favorites to make. When we’re making it, the smell of the restaurant is incredible.

*The Love Handles - Scrambled eggs, chorizo, dirty chips, Tuscan cheese spread, spicy mayo*

How has your restaurant changed over time?

When we first opened, we stuck to the flavor profiles of the Mediterranean region and Spain. We have since expanded our flavor profiles and have introduced dishes such as lemongrass braised short-ribs, ginger pork, and a curried cauliflower panini (the inspiration for this was from a samosa that had potatoes in it), which was one of my favorites.

How did you learn how to work with so many different flavors?

The ability to expand flavor profiles is something you just gain from experience. It’s something that will help you go a long way as a chef. If you understand flavor, you’ll know which flavors pair well together and which flavors don’t; some flavors pull, some flavors push, and some flavors clash.

Inspiration is everywhere: everything that you put into your mouth — from the Thai restaurant down the street to the Chinese restaurant next door — can become inspiration for something great.

*Butternut squash soup with garlic bread*

Do you have many regulars who come (besides Patrick and I!)? Any interesting stories?

We have a ton of regulars who’ve been coming for years. I’ve seen kids go from being toddlers to teenagers. Kids who were eight / nine when I first saw them and are in college now. Over the years, there’s been lots of progression in the neighborhood too. Back in 2006, there was barely anything on our block. It was just us and the Chinese restaurant next door. Since then, the restaurant scene has exploded out here. In my opinion, Astoria has the greatest diversity of food of any neighborhood in the city. Right next door to us, you’ve got Bosnian, Chinese, Italian, and a pizza joint — all within one block.

The neighborhood flips every three to five years. It flipped when the recession hit and people moved in from the city. Almost overnight, the restaurant scene exploded. Today, if you walk down 30th Avenue at night, it’s crazy with a ton of bars and outdoor cafes. Fortunately, Astoria still has a neighborhood-y feel because they’ve kept the zoning pretty tight and haven’t knocked down houses to build skyscrapers and tall apartments.

*The storefront — you can see the Chinese restaurant that Darren mentioned to the right!*

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID?

We closed for about 2 weeks and had to let go of 75% of our staff. I would go in every day to check on the store, and it was gut wrenching that what was full of life just three days ago was now dying. For the first few weeks after we reopened, we were only open on Saturday and Sunday, and it was just my wife and I running the store. We downsized our menu and put up the menu of the day every day on Instagram. We went from 25 crostinis to only 6 and from 20 paninis down to 8. We rotate our menu every few days. Over time, we began opening seven days a week again and brought back a few more people. Right now, we’re at 60 - 65% of normal capacity.

(Alice note: since this interview was conducted before indoor dining was shut down again, the following paragraph is slightly outdated.)

Even though NYC is permitting indoor dining now, we’ve only had one person sit in the restaurant since that started. No one has been coming in even though indoor dining has opened.

As restaurant owners, we are just sitting tight and reluctant to do anything new, since the regulations change day by day and we could get shut down again any day now. People are reluctant to spend money revamping their indoor spaces just to be told to shut down again. Restaurant owners have already spent a lot of money on heat lamps and things for outdoor dining, so they need to be thoughtful about what to spend the leftover cash on.

Al fresco dining

How has the move away from in person dining towards takeout / delivery impacted your business?

We’ve pretty much been getting the same amount of takeout business as before. There hasn’t been a significant uptick. We did get rid of some of the online platforms like Seamless and Grubhub because their commissions are way too high. Today, we only use one app: Caviar.

What most consumers don’t know is that any discounts that you see on delivery platforms are coming directly out of the restaurants’ pockets. Restaurant owners already make next to nothing on delivery orders to begin with. The typical commissions start at 18%, plus 4% for credit cards. This is what they are charging for just for sending a fax, in essence. It’s very unfair to be charging ~25% fees for just taking an order for a restaurant.

Any advice you would like to give to other restaurants / small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

As a small mom and pop, we have the ability to cut costs as much as we can and just do everything ourselves in order to scrape by. Everyone is just doing whatever they can to make a dollar. For a lot of people, this means re-inventing their business, whether it be in the form of gift cards, merchandise, etc. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to just re-evaluate your business, look at where you can cut costs, and think about how you can adapt your business to the changing times.

Il Bambino doesn’t just have paninis!

I used to live in Astoria and I know that it has a very nice, neighborhood-y vibe. From your perspective, how has COVID changed Astoria?

It’s not just Astoria; COVID has affected everyone. Some people come into the store and are very skittish about standing next to other people. For restaurant workers, it’s difficult to stand behind a counter wearing a mask for 8 hours a day (people underestimate the difficulty of this). In the beginning, people were asking all kinds of questions and by the end of the day, you would be so frazzled and burnt out.

But at the end of the day, people are amazing. We’ve received a tremendous amount of support from all kinds of people. There have been people who have been leaving generous tips just trying to support us; this absolutely blows us away.

What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a restaurant owner?

My proudest moments are when I get up every day to go to work. We just love going to work and offering the BEST food that we can possibly make. It was never Il Bambino's goal to dominate the panini world — we just wanted to do the best that we can and put a different spin on something classic. The fact that we’ve been in business for 14 years now means that we have beaten a lot of odds, and it’s something that we are very proud of. For reference, 10 years is usually a good run in this industry.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Our biggest challenge aside from COVID is the rising cost of labor. The minimum wage has been going up every year for the last 3 years (going from $11 / hour to $15 / hour), but we weren’t able to increase prices for our menu items by 30%. Of course, we want our employees to make a good living and to pay them as much as possible, but it’s difficult to even keep the doors open when your costs are rising faster than your revenue. Even though we may have seemed busy before the pandemic, we weren’t really making any money. If you ask any restaurant owner what their biggest non-COVID challenge has been, they would probably cite rising labor costs as well.

What is one fun fact or something interesting that most people don’t know about Il Bambino?

I love cooking. Believe it or not, I actually love cooking at home because I’m not under the pressure of being in a restaurant. I enjoy coming home and putting a pot on the stove. I could spend a whole day in the kitchen. In a restaurant, what you cook has to sell — that’s the added pressure. If you take away that pressure, that’s when chefs can really blossom.

Like a lot of chefs, I would just love to cook food and give it away for free. Unfortunately, you have to make a living and charge something for the food. In an ideal world, you would be able to just give it away.

Any plans for the future (e.g. expansion, new restaurant concepts, new menu, etc.)? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?

We actually did have another restaurant in Greenwich Village on 8th Street that was open for a year, but we closed that spot down 2 years ago.

In the future, we want to do something more casual (i.e. not sit-down, more to-go stuff). This would help us keep costs down since you don’t need to have things like wine lists and wait staff, and you don’t have to focus on decorating. It would be kind of like a ghost kitchen, except open to the public with a limited amount of seating (you wouldn’t even know that a ghost kitchen exists as a general member of the public).

What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember Il Bambino, what do you want them to remember?

I’d want us to be remembered for our creativity and our consistency. It’s every chef’s goal to have that “wow” factor. We have very simple recipes, but we make them interesting by adding unexpected twists.

We’ve never faltered — if you came in 14 years ago and you got the chicken mozzarella, it was exactly the same as it is today. It’s that consistency that keeps people coming back. We never compromise on quality, and our product is always our priority.

*****

Select photos courtesy of Darren and Melanie Lawless

Alice Huang 2/7/21 Alice Huang 2/7/21

Soft Swerve — Spoons over Forks

Finally, a post about my kryptonite: ice cream! Back during my prime ice cream eating days (circa 2010), I could down a full half gallon all by myself in one sitting. Last month, I interviewed Mike and Jason — co-founders of Soft Swerve — for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, and I’m super excited to share their story with all of you! I personally tried their ice cream last fall during Welcome to Chinatown’s “In the Mood for Food” block walk, and I can confidently say that, of all the ice cream I’ve had over my quarter century of life, Soft Swerve is probably in my top 3 (my other favorites are the soft serve taiyaki ice cream from SomiSomi and the super unique flavors of ice cream from Wanderlust Creamery — both of which are in Los Angeles).

Opened by two childhood friends, Soft Swerve has been serving unique, Asian-inspired ice cream flavors from its original location on Allen Street since 2016. Over the years, Soft Swerve has captured the hearts of many with their exciting flavor rotations and drool-worthy Instagram page. Read on to learn about how Mike and Jason started their business and how they have been faring during COVID.

Tell us about your business and who you are! How long have you been open? What do you sell at your store?

Hi! We are Mike and Jason, the co-founders of Soft Swerve. By the name of our store, you can probably guess that we sell ice cream! We opened our first store on Allen Street in December 2016. We started off doing soft serve ice cream, but we now offer frozen pints and sorbets as well. We’re known for our specialty, Asian-inspired flavors such as purple yam (ube), black sesame, and matcha. Everything we offer is made in house. We stick to the flavors that we know and like, and we want to make the best possible version of those flavors.

We keep 4 soft serve flavors on tap at the Chinatown store. Our rotations are usually seasonal, and we have about 4 a year. In the past year, due to COVID, we’ve strengthened our frozen / pint offerings so that people can still enjoy our ice cream at home. We now have up to 16 flavors as a frozen option.

Look at their pretty Instagram feed!

Could you please provide us with some background on yourselves? What inspired you to start your business?

Jason: Mike was the brainchild of this business.

Mike: I was a communications major in college. After graduating, I worked for 5 years at a nonprofit that provided affordable housing for the Two Bridges neighborhood in the Lower East Side. I’d known from Jason way back. We went to elementary school together at P.S. 2 on Henry Street and have been friends for about 20 years. While I was working at the nonprofit, Jason was thinking about the next chapter of this life. He was in finance and realized that finance wasn’t for him, so we flirted with the idea of starting a business together. In the beginning, we would just get drinks and spitball a bunch of ideas while hanging out.

I’ve always wanted to do something related to food. My parents worked in the restaurant industry; my dad was a Chinese immigrant and could only get restaurant jobs after coming to the U.S., so I grew up around food. The catalyst for our ice cream shop appeared on a summer’s day, while I was working at my nonprofit job. I stepped out for some ice cream because it was really hot, and I needed something to help cool me down. I was craving some Asian-flavored mochi ice cream, but I could only find large boxes of it in grocery stores. I didn’t want to have to buy a big box and eat it all by myself, so I started thinking about creating my own ice cream shop. At the time, the only ice cream shops in Chinatown were Häagen-Dazs, which is pretty upscale, and Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, which we loved but wasn’t in the area where we wanted to be.

Around the same time, Minus10 (f.k.a. 10Below), a rolled ice cream shop run by 3 of our good friends, opened in Chinatown. The business was a home run, and it made me want to start something similar. I approached Jason with this idea, and he went with it. Jason didn’t have experience in food, but he had a keen business sense from his finance background. Jason’s family also ran a successful laundromat business in the Lower East Side, so he’s been around business his whole life. For 6 to 12 months, we saved up and polished our idea before finally quitting our jobs in 2016 to formally launch our venture.

“*We were facing a fork in the road, but we chose to pick up spoons**. And so, as we swerved from one direction to the other, Soft Swerve was born.”*

The one uncompromisable part of our business was that it had to be in Chinatown. We both grew up in Chinatown, and we wanted to make sure that we knew our audience and that we were familiar with the flavors that our customers would want. Luckily, we found a great space on Allen Street, and our ice cream was a hit! Our first few flavors -- ube, black sesame, and matcha -- were so popular that we still keep them around. Ube was meant to be a seasonal flavor, but customers love it so much that we keep it on regular rotation.

How did you learn how to make ice cream?

Jason: We had zero experience making ice cream before we started our business. It was all trial and error.

Mike: For me, food was just something that I did at home. I love to cook and experiment in my kitchen, but there was no way I could own and operate a restaurant with a full kitchen with no experience, so ice cream / dessert was a good entry point for me. As Jason said, it was all trial and error. In the beginning, we played around by buying plain vanilla ice cream from the grocery store and adding flavors to it. We also bought a Cuisinart and tried to make fresh ice cream, but that didn’t work very well for us. Eventually, we got the ingredients and the machinery right, and it got easier from there.

Who are your customers / what demographic do you cater to?

Pre-COVID, we had a wide range of customers. About a third of our customers were tourists, another third were Chinatown locals, and the rest were from the broader New York Tri-State area.

Post-COVID, the third of business that we got from tourism is completely gone. We started seeing a decrease in tourism in February, even before COVID really hit New York. Of the tourists still in New York, many of them just stopped coming to Chinatown since COVID was being branded as the “China virus” in the news. We’ve never seen Chinatown so empty before; it was like a scene out of The Walking Dead.

Fortunately, we still have a lot of locals who come support us and a lot of people in the broader NYC area that still come and make Soft Swerve a destination stop for them. The majority of our customers are young (in their 20s to 30s), as we do a lot of social media marketing through platforms like Instagram.

What are your favorite flavors that you offer? Why did you decide to make these flavors?

Mike: My original inspiration was mochi ice cream, but we ended up doing soft serve after some back and forth. There’s a Japanese grocery store in New Jersey called Mitsuwa Marketplace. Inside the food court, there is a place there called Matcha Love that has the best black sesame and matcha ice cream that we’ve ever had. My personal favorite is black sesame, and Jason’s favorite is matcha green tea. We wanted to offer both flavors in Chinatown, and they quickly became crowd favorites. These, along with ube, are the 2 flavors that we regularly have on rotation.

We’ve tinkered with the recipes a little bit over the years, changing the ratios of matcha and black sesame, and we think we’ve finally perfected them. Matcha is finicky to work with because if you add too much of it to dairy, it gives the milk great flavor but destroys the creaminess of the ice cream, and the resulting product is very dry. It also presents a supply chain challenge for us, as it’s so popular that we run out of it very quickly. We get our matcha straight from Japan, and it typically takes 6 weeks to arrive since it comes by ship and not air. It was very expensive to do all the initial research on the matcha, as we had to play around with a bunch of different types. We absolutely did not want to compromise on the quality of our ingredients. We knew that we either had to get the best matcha we could find, or we wouldn’t offer the flavor at all. We tried so many different matcha powders, but it took a long time before we got the consistency that we like.

When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?

Jason: I still remember the day when it first started getting serious. It was March 2nd, my mom’s birthday, and I was eating dinner with my parents. They had just confirmed the first case in New York, and we were all like, “Nah, it’s not going to spread here, it’s just in Asia.” Then, 2 weeks later, there was a lock down order. When the lockdown happened, again, we were like, “Oh it’s just going to be 2 weeks and it’ll be ok after.” Obviously, that was not the case.

We were considered an essential business, so we weren’t required to shut down, but we ended up shutting down anyways because there was a lack of business. As we approached the official lockdown date, we weren’t even making 10% what we were making last year, so we decided to close for the safety of our guests and our employees. We were shut down from mid-March to early May of 2020.

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?

We’re just trying to survive at this point. We need to hunker down and get through this until more people get vaccinated or until the stats for the city get better. We’ve been focusing a lot on hard-packed, frozen ice cream and making it available on delivery platforms, and that’s helped us even though delivery services are very expensive. Ever since COVID hit, we haven’t taken a single paycheck, and the company hasn’t been profitable since the pandemic started. We’ve asked all of our old employees to come back, so most of our pre-COVID staff are working in our stores again. As long as they are getting paid, it’s okay.

How has Welcome to Chinatown (WtC) helped your business? How are you planning on using the Longevity Fund grant?

Mike: We are incredibly grateful to still be in business and to have received so much support from Welcome to Chinatown. Even aside from the grant, the sales that WtC has driven to us have helped us stay afloat. WtC was the one who picked us up from one of our really dark places. Without WtC, we wouldn’t have even re-opened as early as May. When Vic (co-founder of WtC) reached out and told us what she was doing, she encouraged us to open our store for Feed the Frontlines, a program that’s helping feed frontline workers in NYC. That encouraged us to start running again. That summer, there were a consistent number of orders that kept coming in.

Welcome to Chinatown also helped us get some publicity by helping us promote our store. Harry (WtC’s lead designer) and his team created these really cool stickers and T-shirts for us. We both bought some because we loved the design so much!

Jason: I echo everything that Mike said. We heard about the Longevity Fund through social media and through our friends in Chinatown. We’re planning on using the grant to weather the storm and help pay for our rent and utilities. We’re not making any money right now. We’re just trying to keep the doors open and keep making ice cream.

Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

We would give the same advice that we’re trying to give ourselves: there is a light at the end of the tunnel. New Yorkers are resilient. We will get through this.

What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a business owner? What has been your biggest challenge?

Jason: My proudest moment was when we were selected as one of the Feed the Frontlines vendors. During the lockdown, there were a bunch of doctors and nurses housed in medical facilities near our store. One day, I saw that one of the nurses who was temporarily stationed there was selling their fridge, and they happened to have Soft Swerve ice cream in the fridge!

In terms of our biggest challenge, it would have to be these past few months / this year. We’ve been fighting to just get the business running again. It’s been all hands on deck.

What is one fun fact or something interesting that most people don’t know about Soft Swerve?

Mike: Our name (which is a tongue twister for a lot of people) reflects the fact that Jason and I were on different walks of life when we started our business. We once jokingly said to each other that “we were facing a fork in the road, but we chose to pick up spoons.” And so, as we swerved from one direction to the other, Soft Swerve was born.

Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?

We currently have 2 locations: Our original location on Allen Street in Chinatown and a new location in Kips Bay that opened during the pandemic. The Kips Bay location was scheduled to open in March 2020, but didn’t end up opening until May 2020 due to the pandemic. For a business owner, there are probably few things worse than opening up a new store in the middle of a pandemic. We had virtually no customers in the middle of May, which is unheard of for NYC.

Before the pandemic hit, we had plans to open more locations. We actually had a few deals on the table to work with investors to open outside of New York. However, right now, we need to focus on keeping our current locations alive. If we start diverting our attention to other places, that would be really detrimental to the two stores we currently have.

What do you hope your legacy will be? I.e., 50 years from now when people think back and remember Soft Swerve, what do you want them to remember?

We want to be remembered for our unique flavors, and we want people to think that this is some of the best ice cream they’ve ever had. We also want to be remembered for the feeling that people got whenever they walked into our stores. We hope that people will look forward to getting our ice cream every Sunday after getting dim sum or something. Our staff is trained to provide the best customer experience ever. We hope that when people are having a bad day, they can leave happier than when they came.

How can people support your business?

Right now, we know it’s a little cold and that it’s off season for ice cream. Whenever you do have an ice cream craving, just remember that Soft Swerve is still here and that we’re still open for business!

*****

You can also support Soft Swerve through Welcome to Chinatown’s exclusive Soft Swerve merchandise collection. Profits from sales will go directly to Soft Swerve to help alleviate the burden of added costs from COVID’s impact.

Chinatown establishments like Soft Swerve 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.

Photo Credit: Fuxuan Xin, Soft Swerve’s Instagram

Alice Huang 1/21/21 Alice Huang 1/21/21

LA Archives: Tsujita LA & Annex — Best Noodles in the World

First visit: July 2016
Price: Affordable
Cuisine: Japanese
Vibe: Cozy with bar-style seating and upbeat, instrumental music
Addresses: 2057 Sawtelle Blvd (Tsujita LA) and 2050 Sawtelle Blvd (Tsujita Annex), Los Angeles, CA
Veg options: There are two vegan ramen options!
COVID-19 delivery: Yes! Order through their website

Over the holidays, I finally had a chance to dig through my archives and draft up some posts about my favorite places on the West Coast. Even though I didn’t formally publish my first post until last year, I’ve been building the foundation for my blog for the past few years. During my senior year of college and throughout my subsequent two years working in Los Angeles, I kept track of all the new restaurants I visited and would take pictures of every new dish I tried. Granted, most of my photos from back then were either taken with Snapchat / Instagram Stories and the quality isn’t the best, so please don’t judge me for the grainy pictures that will be prevalent throughout this series!

I’ve loved food ever since starting university (I never ate at restaurants before that!), but LA is where my passion really blossomed. For those of you who don’t know, I did investment banking for two years after graduating college. Eating with friends on weekends was one of the few opportunities I had to disconnect from the stresses of my job. There’s a saying that food is the simplest form of travel, and I totally concur. Living in the middle of the melting pot that is LA, I was able to immerse myself in cultures from all over the world without wandering out of the ten-mile radius in which I lived and worked. Trying new restaurants was a welcome distraction from my work, but also an opportunity to learn about foods and cuisines I’d never heard of before. It was in LA that I discovered what is probably my favorite restaurant duo in the whole world: Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle and its across-the-street sister restaurant, Tsujita Annex.

*Pictured here is ramen, tsukemen, and rice bowls from the original Tsujita (PC: The Tsujita Team)*

Towards the end of my junior year summer internship, Chris, one of my best friends and former Sheng Kee coworkers (yes, I used to work at an Asian bakery!), introduced me to Tsujita LA Artisan Noodle, a Japanese noodle shop on Sawtelle Blvd that specializes in tsukemen.

Tsukemen — a.k.a “dipping noodle” — is a sub-genre of ramen that consists of thick, cold noodles served with a rich, hot dipping broth. Not to be confused with the noodles used for dipping soba, tsukemen noodles are made with wheat flour rather than buckwheat flour and are much thicker and chewier. If the broth is what makes ramen, then the noodles are what make tsukemen.

I’d never heard of tsukemen until trying Tsujita, but it instantly became my favorite type of noodle dish after I took my first bite. I was half delirious from sleeping only two to three hours a day for the past few weeks (this was during my banking internship when I worked 100+ hours a week), but the springy texture of the noodles and the rich umami of the broth woke up my senses in a way I’d never experienced before.

*Really blurry Snapchat lol, circa summer 2017*

When I flew back to LA to start my full time job after graduating college, Tsujita was the first restaurant I visited. The day I moved into my apartment, I landed at LAX pretty late at night. My roommate was already asleep, so I let myself in with a key that she had left for me under the mat. I was moving into a fully furnished room, so I didn’t have much tidying up to do before passing out. The next morning, I immediately took an Uber to Tsujita to relive my summer internship experience. I got there just as they opened, so I didn’t have to wait in the line, which can be up to two hours long on busy days. Everything — from the instrumental drumming music that played in the store, to the warm “Irasshaimase!” that the staff would shout out every time someone walked into the restaurant, to the irresistible smell of the dipping broth — was exactly as I'd remembered.

During my first year, I didn’t know a soul in the part of LA where I lived, so having a familiar restaurant so close to me brought me great comfort. I visited Tsujita once a month, if not once a week (my metabolism was significantly better back then… if I did that today, I would look like a potato in no time). I introduced every person I knew to Tsujita. I started by converting my roommates, then my coworkers, then Patrick (we were long distance at the time, so it was a while before he came to LA to visit for the first time), and then any of my friends who happened to be visiting LA. Over time, Tsujita became more than a noodle shop to me; it became a collection of memories and a place of comfort.

I thought that I had experienced the best that the noodle kingdom had to offer — until I tried Tsujita Annex. I know this may be a controversial opinion, but I like Tsujita Annex even more than I like the original Tsujita. Chris, the friend who first introduced me to the Tsujita franchise, does not agree, but hey, this blog isn’t about him (Chris, if you’re reading this, you are wrong). Luckily, Patrick does agree with me! The rest of this post is a detailed breakdown of why Tsujita (both the original location and Annex) are so damn good, followed by a guide for what to order when you go to either location and a recommendation for a similar tsukemen shop in NYC.

The Broth (and Condiments)

The main difference between Tsujita and Tsujita Annex is the broth. The original Tsujita uses a thicker, richer broth that has a prominent seafood flavor and the consistency of heavy whipping cream. Because of its richness, the broth is served in a smaller bowl than the bowl used for the noodles. I personally love the taste of the broth, but some people, like Patrick, don’t like the fishiness as much. They give you some lime to squeeze over your noodles to prevent sticking and to temper the richness of the broth. You can also add a special spicy pickled condiment (I recently found out that it’s called spicy takana) that they have at all the tables to reduce the seafood-y taste, but be aware that whatever they use for the condiment is extremely spicy, which I personally really like. At the end of your meal, you have the option to add a light, dashi broth to your leftover dipping broth in order to make it drinkable (they call it “Soup Wari”). I personally skip this step because I try to watch my sodium intake, but I know a lot of people who really enjoy drinking the broth as a way to wash down the meal.

*The broth at Annex topped with a generous helping of onikasu (PC: The Tsujita Team)*

Tsujita Annex, on the other hand, utilizes a lighter broth that has a vinegar base. The broth has the consistency of chicken soup and is served in a large bowl filled to the brim with beansprouts. To counter the lightness of the broth, there is a layer of oil and chunks of pork fat floating on top that provide a delectable creaminess when mixed in with the soup base. However, the best part of Tsujita Annex isn’t the broth itself-- it’s the toppings that you can add for free. At every table and section of the counter, there is a condiment stand that provides a free supply of two of my favorite ingredients in the world: raw garlic and a homemade spicy powder called onikasu. I’ve only ever seen this powder at Tsujita Annex, and I’ve never tasted anything like it. If they sold this stuff separately, I would buy it in bulk because it is just THAT good. It’s not particularly spicy, but it has such a depth of flavor that it completely transforms the bowl of soup. Pair that with a few cloves of crushed raw garlic, and you’ve got a killer combo that will leave you crying but wanting more.

Now, a warning: Some people may not be able to handle the oiliness of the Tsujita Annex broth. I know a few people who didn’t have a great time the night of their first time having the Annex tsukemen but, even then, they still said it was worth the experience. Being Chinese, I grew up eating pork fat my whole life, so I have no issues whatsoever with this kind of stuff, but consider yourself forewarned! If anything, you just have to build up your tolerance. ;)

The Noods

The noodles at both the original Tsujita and Tsujita Annex are hands down THE BEST noodles I’ve ever had in my life (both locations use the same noodles), and I’ve had a LOT of noodles over the years. They have the perfect QQ texture and, despite being thicc af, are able to grab the perfect amount of broth each time. If you just gave me those noodles and a bowl of soy sauce, I’d be a happy camper. There’s really not much else to say about the noodles besides the fact that you’re missing out on what are probably the best noodles in the whole freaking world if you don’t get in a plane, train, or car right this very second to go try them out.

The Eggs

Both the original Tsujita and Tsujita Annex use the same eggs (I’ve seen staff members run across the street between the two locations with containers full of marinated eggs), and the eggs are always PERFECT. They’re probably the best soft-boiled eggs I’ve ever had, including all the ones I had in Japan. The yolk is always a rich, chrysanthemum gold, and the consistency is unlike anything I’ve ever had — it’s custardy, runny, and firm all at the same time, which creates an indescribable sensation when you bite into it. The yolk also tastes subtly sweet, likely from the soy sauce marinade that they soak the eggs in prior to serving. The contrast between the sweet yolk and umami outer layer is the definition of happiness in one bite.

The Chashu and Toppings

*Thick slices of chashu from the original Tsujita — you can get this for a little extra! (PC: The Tsujita Team)*

You know something is good when the meat is just a side character. Although the chashu (braised pork belly) is delicious, it isn’t a necessary part of the tsukemen experience. The standard orders at the original Tsujita and Tsujita Annex both come with small bits of chashu in the broth, so I never add chashu to my order. However, if you’re a huge meat lover with a big appetite, both locations have a version of the tsukemen with extra slices of chashu that is sure to delight any pork lover.

The portion sizes at both locations are HUGE (the portions at Annex are even bigger than the portions at the original Tsujita), so I rarely get any additional toppings. However, on days that I’m feeling particularly spendy, I might indulge in some extra green onions or menma (fermented bamboo shoots) to add a little extra crunch to my meal. I have a friend who really loves the bean sprouts at Annex, so he always gets extra bean sprouts when he’s there. When I’m REALLY hungry, I’ll sometimes order an extra serving of noodles to share with a friend, but I’ve only done that a handful of times and was out of commission for the rest of the day each time.

What to Order

*Annex — onikasu and garlic in jars on the left*

The below are what I recommend ordering for your first time at either location. I ONLY ever order the tsukemen. I know people who’ve tried the ramen and have been disappointed, so I would urge you to not be basic and to steer away from the familiar option. Trust in the process. If you end up ordering the ramen and don’t like it, I don’t even want to hear about it.

Tsujita LA Artisan Noodles — Order the Ajitama Tsukemen (tsukemen with egg). Add a little bit of the spicy takana that they have on the tables (it’s a dark brown / black color). Squeeze the lime over your noodles (ask for extra lime if needed). Order extra noodles if you’re hungry. Ask for the “Soup Wari” after you’re done with the noodles.

Tsujita Annex — Ajitama Tsukemen (tsukemen with egg). Add a big mound of onikasu to the broth (as much as you can handle). Crush in a few cloves of garlic (the more the better!). Order extra noodles if you’re hungry.

After your meal, head to B Sweet Dessert Bar down the street to detox with some insane desserts, such as hot ube bread pudding with vanilla ice cream (my favorite), their famous halo halo, or the sluttiest brownie (per their website: “made with 5 layers of sin: chocolate chip cookie, Oreo cookie, graham cracker, marshmallow and yup... brownie”).

Note: If you tried Tsujita or Annex for the first time during COVID via delivery, you have to go back after on-premise dining opens back up again. It’s just not the same delivered.

Tsukemen in NYC?

When I moved to New York, I was desperate to find a place that could satisfy my constant Tsujita cravings. Luckily for me, an alumni of Tsujita LA started his own tsukemen restaurant, Tabetomo, in the East Village. Tabetomo is more like Annex than the original Tsujita, and they fancify their tsukemen by giving you a hot stone to put in your broth whenever you want to get it warmed up. They also have a sister stall called Tomotomo in the Urbanspace on W 52nd Street, but that one has a completely different style of soup and is currently closed due to COVID. I could write an entire post about Tabetomo but, long story short, it’s very, very good — just not as good as either of the Tsujitas in LA. However, if tsukemen is what you’re craving and you don’t want to fork over hundreds of dollars for a flight to LA, Tabetomo will do the trick.

Soon after this pandemic is over, I’ll be on a flight to LA so that I can reunite with my favorite restaurant(s) in the world. Until then, I’ll keep writing about places I want to visit again while sitting on my bed in my sweatsuit.

In Summary:

Hangry Alice rating: 5/5
Must-get dish: Ajitama Tsukemen (tsukemen with egg)
Skip: The ramen — I’ve never had it, but they’re most well-known for the tsukemen, so definitely get that if it’s your first time

Alice Huang 1/17/21 Alice Huang 1/17/21

Ben Meat Market — Chinese Barbeque for all Generations

Alice and George manning the shop at night (PC: Fuxuan Xin) — *Alice and George manning the shop at night (PC:* *Fuxuan Xin*)

From the name of this post, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing about a meat market on this blog. Well, I’m here to tell you that Ben Meat Market is so much more than just a market. In fact, it’s one of the oldest Chinese barbeque shops in town! Think Wah Fung No. 1 Fast Food, except older and very much under the radar. Ben Meat Market may not be a formal restaurant, but it’s a great place to grab a delicious, hearty bite for when you’re on the go. As you may know, I don’t eat meat very often, but hearing Alice, the store manager, talk about their customer-favorite roast duck made me drool.

I interviewed Alice last week for Welcome to Chinatown’s Business Spotlight series, and I’m super excited to share her story with all of you!

Alice opened the store with her husband, George, in 1995. For the past 25 years, Ben Meat Market has been serving juicy roast meat and supplying pantry staples to the Chinatown community from its storefront at 288 Grand Street. Read on to learn more about how the business has been faring during COVID and why Alice decided to apply to the Longevity Fund.

Tell us about your business and who you are! How long have you been open? What do you sell at your store?

Hi! My name is Alice, and I am the manager of Ben Meat Market. I started the business in 1995 with my husband, George. When we first opened, we named our store AA Meat Market. Around 2005, we renamed the store to George Meat Market after my husband’s name. Our eldest son, Benson, is the current owner, and we renamed the store once again to Ben Meat Market when he took over the business in 2018, after my husband decided to retire.

Ben Meat Market is a combination of a mini grocery store and a Chinese deli. We sell all sorts of things: from 25lb bags of rice to noodles, fruit, soda, flour, and everything in between. However, we are the most well-known for our meats, hence our name. We sell both raw and cooked meat, but most of our customers come for our barbequed meats that we roast ourselves in the basement of our store. Our best-seller is our Chinese roast duck. We also sell lunch sets consisting of barbequed meat and rice for around $5, which is $1 - $2 cheaper than most places around Chinatown.

*George holding a juicy roast duck in 2003*

*A throwback of Alice standing in front of freshly baked buns*

Could you tell us a little bit about your family and what inspired you to start your business?

My husband is from China, and I am from Hong Kong. My husband had been living in America for seven years before a mutual friend introduced us to each other. After that, my husband came to Hong Kong to meet me, and we were married there. After we married, we came to New York together and worked in the restaurant industry for about ten years. Over the years, we gained many new skills and ultimately decided to start our own business. We wanted to stay in the food industry because eating is essential and fundamental. It’s not like opening a clothing store where your customers’ spending is purely discretional. Everyone has to eat!

We decided to specialize in roast meats for two reasons: one, because there weren’t many places to buy good, authentic Chinese barbeque in Chinatown at the time and two, because the Chinese village that my father is from, Xinhui, is famous for its roast meat. In particular, Xinhui is famous for roast goose (if you don’t believe me, you can look up videos of Xinhui roast goose on YouTube!). However, since we’re not allowed to roast geese in the states, we decided to roast duck instead. Traditionally, you would roast the duck / goose over a fire using wood from lychee trees but, since that’s not allowed in the states, we had to adapt and learn how to roast meat using a gas fire.

*Two of George and Alice’s children in the store*

Who are your customers / what demographic do you cater to? Do most of your customers live in Chinatown, or do they come from other parts of the city?

The majority of our customers are Chinatown locals, though there are some people who come all the way from Brooklyn and Queens to get our roast meat. We also get a small number of restaurants that come to us for roast meat, since it’s not worth it for smaller restaurants to roast meat in-house.

We have customers who have been coming to us for a long time. I even recognize the children of some of the customers who used to come. Let me tell you a funny story: In 1995, there was a school nearby, and sometimes the teachers would bring all the kids to our meat market for lunch, since our lunch sets were only $1 - $2 at the time. As with all schools, there were some nice students and some naughty students. In particular, there was one student who was so naughty that I never forgot about him. Many years later, he came back to our store with his wife and a stroller and asked, “Do you remember me?” I laughed and said, “Of course, you were the naughty one!”

When COVID first hit NYC, what kinds of thoughts were running through your head?

I was very scared. I was scared because our business is our livelihood. I was also scared of getting the virus myself and putting my family in danger. I didn’t know how to protect my family because there were initially confusing messages about the masks, and the masks were very expensive. You had to walk very far to even find a box of masks.

Also, when the pandemic first hit, all 1,000 bags of rice that we had in stock were sold out. There were all kinds of supply chain issues, and we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to get enough inventory to satisfy our customers.

Alice hanging roast duck in the window display (PC: Fuxuan Xin) — *Alice hanging roast duck in the window display (PC:* *Fuxuan Xin*)

How have you been faring with the impact of COVID? What are some things that you have been doing to stay open?

Before the pandemic, we were open seven days a week from 8:30am to 8:30pm. We never really took breaks because our inventory is perishable, and there is a certain window of time during which you need to roast meat before it goes bad. Now, we are operating with reduced hours and are only open from 9:30am to 6:30pm. This new pandemic schedule has been an adjustment for us, as we were so used to working all the time.

Luckily, we were able to continue operating throughout the pandemic because we are classified as a supermarket. However, we had to let go of all our workers, as we couldn’t afford to pay them anymore.

In terms of operations, not much else has changed. The main difference is that all our groceries are now sold at a lower price to ensure that our community can still enjoy delicious food despite the pandemic. As an ancient Chinese motto goes, “Many a little makes a mickle, like water dripping into a river.” We’d rather work more to make our customers happier. What we earn is not important; our customers’ happiness is the most important.

Due to the pandemic, the economy has become weaker than ever, and we were hit as well. Customers now prefer to shop online rather than visit stores in person. Like many other small businesses, our market struggled to stay open, and we had to reduce the variety of our offerings in order to stay alive. We also began selling ginseng products to try and attract more customers.

Ultimately, our meat market is very dependent on demand. The small restaurants that used to buy from us don’t come as often anymore, and there are fewer people who are willing to buy our meal sets and eat outside. We’re just trying to stay afloat and get all the business we can get.

How has Welcome to Chinatown helped your business? How are you planning on using the Longevity Fund grant?

The reason why we applied for the grant is because we didn’t want the store to close during my son’s generation. The store is our livelihood and our legacy.

We are planning on using the grant to help with our utility bills. Our biggest expense each month is electricity, which can be between $2,000 - $3,000 a month. Our gas bill is also very high. Our utility bills are so high because we’re a meat market, so we need to keep the electricity and gas running at all times in order to roast our meats. We are very grateful that this grant can help us with some of these expenses.

Current price list as of January 2021 (PC: Fuxuan Xin) — *Current price list as of January 2021 (PC:* *Fuxuan Xin*)

George smiling next to bags of rice (PC: Fuxuan Xin) — *George smiling next to bags of rice (PC:* *Fuxuan Xin*)

Any advice you would like to give to other small business owners trying to survive during COVID?

I have two pieces of advice: One, be patient. Two, persevere and don’t give up. It’s so easy to give up right now, since it seems like COVID is not going to end anytime soon. 2021 will probably be a difficult year as well. During these times, it’s more important than ever to show your customers that you’re there for them and that you can provide for them. That way, once this is all over, your customers will keep coming back. You need to build trust with your customers. As long as you are not starving to death, everything will be okay. Be optimistic that this too shall pass.

What has been your greatest accomplishment or proudest moment as a business owner? What has been your biggest challenge?

I’m proud that we are open every day and that we happily service our customers. In Chinese culture, it’s difficult to talk about what you’re the most proud of, but I can confidently say that we have good relationships with our customers. We’ve never been accused of cheating our customers. Our goal is always to do good, honest business.

Our biggest challenge is probably happening right now, during COVID. We’re struggling to stay afloat with reduced hours and fewer customers.

Alice and George bagging orders for customers (PC: Fuxuan Xin) — *Alice and George bagging orders for customers (PC:* *Fuxuan Xin*)

Any plans for the future? Both amidst and beyond the pandemic?

We would like to open a second store someday. We would probably do something similar because we would want to leverage our reputation and customer relationships.

My hope is that Ben Meat Market will still be around years from now to offer Chinese barbequed meat to future generations. Unfortunately, the demand for roast meat is starting to wane. In Chinese culture, the older generation would typically order a whole roast pig or some other animal (like duck or chicken) to celebrate holidays and special events. But that sort of culture and thinking is disappearing with the younger generation.

How can people support your business?

Come stop by if you can! We understand that people’s disposable incomes have gone down significantly due to the pandemic. Some customers used to come in and buy a whole pound of roast pork, but now they are only buying half a pound. However, if you are around the neighborhood and want to try some yummy roast meat, please stop by for a visit!

***

Note: This interview was conducted in Cantonese with the help of a translator. Photos c/o Ben Meat Market and Fuxuan Xin.

Chinatown establishments like Ben Meat Market 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.”