![]() Still, it was a special treat to, say, go down to Hester St., and Guss’ Pickles, not even five minutes walk from Nom Wah.īy the early 1980s, New York had grown rougher edges. My own father’s story only slightly diverged from this: Our family had escaped Germany in 1939, but settled up north - in Washington Heights. But among its loyal patrons were Jewish families from uptown, many of whose ancestors forged American roots just blocks away on the Lower East Side. Old Chinatown, meanwhile, spoke to the past, to earlier generations of largely Cantonese-speaking immigrants. They were largely designed for a white American clientele: chopsticks a relative rarity, pointedly formal service, dishes more or less fiery depending who was at your table, blander staples like chow mein on offer. Other, similar spots would proliferate Midtown, including the related Shun Lee Palace, and Uncle Peng’s Hunan Yuan, founded by Peng Chang-kuei, who in Taiwan had devised a dish dubbed General Tso’s chicken, and who wished to be early on the curve of Hunanese food in America. This was important - a Western designer working for a Chinese owner. Shun Lee was pioneering, its Sichuan and Shanghaiese cuisine still rarities on these shores both decor and plates were by the midcentury designer Russel Wright. In Midtown, and farther north, were a new and ambitious cohort, anchored by Shun Lee Dynasty, which Tsung Ting Wang opened in 1965, one of the early spots to debut after the belated end of the Chinese Exclusion Act the previous year. Developers wouldn’t start plying lower Manhattan for another decade or more, and the schism between uptown and downtown extended even to Chinese restaurants. ![]() In that era, though, a visit to Chinatown was often a journey. Uptowners would opine about the superior quality at newer arrivals, like Pot Luck Coffee Shop, just a few doors down the crooked arm of Doyers Street from Nom Wah. Nom Wah had evidently settled into a subdued routine by that point, offering tea with small plates of har gow, siu mai and the like but yum cha, or what Americans were more likely to call tea service, was a source of growing fascination for those outside Chinatown. Five Regulars on Why Wo Hop Still Matters.The Resy Guide to Flushing Chinatown, By Those Who Love It Best.The Resy Guide to Manhattan Chinatown, By Those Who Love It Best.But “dim sum” was still barely a known term to white New Yorkers at that point - indeed, Madame Chu, as she was known, drew attention for teaching students how to make what were sometimes dubbed “Chinese hors d’oeuvres.” It was venerably known as the city’s first dim sum parlor, if no longer new and shiny, as it had been at its 1920 opening. Though his career meandered back toward Fortune 500 executive jobs, dumplings and pot au feu would hold an equally strong tug on his heart.īy this point, Nom Wah had been serving New Yorkers for more than 50 years. He’d not only studied cooking and restaurant management, he also was tutored, around the same time as Marcella Hazan, in Chinese cuisine by Grace Zia Chu, who’d introduced many Americans to it. And my father, while resistantly the former - he’d been kicked out of his yeshiva - was enthusiastically the latter. I can’t confirm this, because I was, what, three years old? But a schlep to Nom Wah was a rite of passage for many uptown New Yorkers in the 1970s, especially Jews and especially the food-driven. Nom Wah Tea Parlor, as my family tells it, was the first Chinese restaurant I ate at.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |