TABLES FOi\ lWO
Nom Wah and the Coronavirus
Restaurant Shutdown
A few Saturdays ago, I was surprised
to .find at least a dozen people milling
around outside Nom Wah Tea Parlw-,
taking pictures and waiting for tables.
On any other weekend, I wouldn't have
~ batted an eye. Norn Wah, which a:l.e-
., brates its hundredth anniversary this
~ year, has bragging rights as the oldest
~ restaurant in Manhattan's Chinatown.
ti Situated on Doyers Street-a boo-
~ merang-shaped block once known as
::::i the Bloody Angle, for its history of
~ gang killings-the dim-sum parlor is
"' ~ one of the neighborhood's most popular
~ destinations, especially among tourists,
~ who line up for dumplings and "OG"
~ eggrolls. But I was there just as the
~ COVID-19 pandemic was taking over
j the news, and Sinophobic paranoia
"' ~ was threatening Chinatown businesses
~ across the country.
" The persistence of the crowd was
~ i;; likely due to the media savvy ofWilson
~ Tang, Norn Wah's forty-one-year-o1d
~ proprietor, who had been drumming
5 up attention on lnstagram. "'There is no
i!: coronavirus bs here,"Tang captioned a
post in February. "#Supportchinatown." cover the labor it would take to fulfill
This wasn't the .first time the fate of the them, but it was a way to use up inven-
restaurant had been uncertain. Tang's tory and "to wind down slowly and stop
uncle Wally started working there in the bleeding."
1950, as a sixteen-year-old Chinese Norn Wah has seen an uptick in sales
immigrant, and bought it in 1974, But of merchandise and gift certificates
by the time Wilson, a telegenic former since the shutdown, but that woift help
investment banker, took over, in 2010, it much, either. Still, Tang is better poised
had fallen into decline. to weather the current moment than
Wilson upgraded the kitchen and many others in the restaurant industry,
transitioned from cart service to a which is in a state of panic and despair. In
made-to-order a-la-carte menu, but he New York, restaurants arc often forced to
also preserved the dining room's dated operate on razor-thin margins; without
diner decor and the once red awnillg, government assistance, many of th.em
which had faded to a dusty pink. Norn may never reopen. Tang's wide awns the
Wah became retro-chic-the perfect building on Doyers Street, so he doesn't
location for a Met Gala pre-party, in have to worry about getting kicked out
2015 (the theme was China), and an for failing to mab: rent. Taking his lead
lnstagrarn darling. In the past four fiom "the big dogs," like David Chang,
years, Tang has opened two outposts he planned to pay his salaried employees
in Manhattan, one in Philadelphia, and at least through April, and his hourly
three in Shenzhen, China. employees at least through the end of the
On Sunday, March 15th, Mayor Bill week. After that, he said, "we'll play it by
de Blasio ordered all New York City ear. We're in survival mode."
restaurants to cease service, with the Asked about his neighbors in Chi-
cxception of takeout and delivery. By natown, he sounded surprisingly opti.-
that po.int, several of the city's dim-sum mistic. Small immigrant-run businesses
parlon had closed of their own accord. tend to be "very resourceful and resil-
When I spoke to Wilson the following ient," he said. "They don't have debt
morning, he told me that he would offer and they're living within their means."
takeout and delivery from the Nolita Nom Wah has survived for a century.
location but not &run Chinatown; many The outposts in Shenzhen, which were
of his employees there, he explained, closed for six weeks as the Chinese gov-
are Chinese-Americans who live in emment fought COVID-19, reopened
intergenerational households and are recently, and, so far, business hasn't been
fearful of spreading the virus to relatives. bad. "Confidence in dining out is slowly
In Nolita, his staffis much smaller and building there,"Tang said. '"Things are
skews younger and more diverse. The improving week by week."
revenue from to-go orders wouldn't even -Hannah Goldfield