Monday, December 26, 2016

Noted



I was walking south on Fourth Avenue this morning around 9:15... I noticed just a few people standing outside the new Tim Ho Wan at 10th Street. Lines had been back to 11th Street when it opened on Dec. 16. Perhaps the holiday season curtailed the lines?

Oh! The line was on 10th Street, maybe 30 deep...



Lunch service during Tim Ho Wan's soft-open phase starts at 10 a.m.

The grand opening for this first U.S. location of the Hong Kong-based, Michelin-starred dim sum parlor is Jan. 18.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last night, being xmas, the line was nearly stretched to 3rd ave.

Ronnie said...

there are and have been many amazing dim sum restaurants in chinatown for years that you don't have to wait in line in the freezing cold... right?!?! I guess many people still follow and read food bloggers...

Giovanni said...

I bet they don't even have biscuits.

cmarrtyy said...

I've never seen so many Asians in the EV since I've moved here 45 years ago. I know the 9th and 10th street corridor is known as little Tokyo. But we now look like Hong Kong on the Hudson. Boy, who wood've thunk it!

Anonymous said...

"known as little Tokyo..."
"but we now look like Hong Kong..."

I'm sure you're probably a super intelligent and cultured person, but Tokyo is in Japan and Hong Kong is part of China.

Gojira said...

Anon. 1:08, please notice that cmarrtyyy's post specifically read "I've never seen so many ASIANS in the EV" (emphasis mine). That includes Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and many others, so his post was accurate - he said that the 9th-10th St. corridor is known as Little Tokyo, but now the entire EV looks like Hong Kong on the Hudson. Why, except for possibly political correctness, did you take such snarky exception to his comment?

And as for the people who wait in line for hours for this joint, I guess the emphasis here really is on "dim"...

Anonymous said...

Seriously there is a race discussion on the comment of Tokyo vs Hong Kong.

You do understand that it is as easy to spot the visual differences between a Swedes, English, French, Eastern European, Spanish, Italian and what other fucking area as it is to understand just off visual appearance the difference between Hong Kong(Not Mainland) vs Tokyo(Japan.)

Perhaps you need to hang out a few more Asian people to understand Asian areas are as diverse in facial features as say Europe. Try this before you start being critical of someone differentiating between an area looking more Hong Kong vs Tokyo.

Anonymous said...

got to go to Tim Ho xmas eve for dinner

it was really awesome

Anonymous said...

This recent line-standing trend reminds me of the 80s when yuppies would stand in long lines to hope to be let into restaurants to "graze" on the trendy nouvelle cuisine. It was stupid then and it's stupid now.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 1:08, you started the race discussion. I don't pick up that @cmarrtyy and @Gojira were using Asian as an insult and anyone with half a brain knows that the term is used to refer in general to people who live in that part of the world. I've been in Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong,Macao, Thailand, and Taiwan, and it's understood that those places are part of Asia and the people who live in them are Asian, even if they don't all look exactly alike. So chill, please.

Anonymous said...

Regarding comments that there seem to be more Asians in the EV:
Just for context.....

There has been a significant increase in tourists from China over the past few years. Actually NY Times did an article recently.

There has also been an increase in wealthy Chinese purchasing real estate in NYC (and other parts of US) - and not uncommon for their college age children then go to school in the US.

Anonymous said...

Seriously? This discussion is politically incorrect and tasteless. The last time I checked, this was still NYC, a mecca known for its cultural richness and diversity. Who cares if there appears to be a large Asian presence about? If the individual who posted his or her own initial comment isn't comfortable with certain races, perhaps they should relocate to an isolated, more conservative part of the country.

When I walk around town, I fail to truly notice who is who or why they are or even where they originated from. If others wish to stand in line for dumplings, who many might happen to be of Asian descent, so be it. The asian community in NYC is vitally important and vast with many from numerous countries around the world. Shame on you for even beginning this conversation during a tumultuous time where we should be uniting and celebrating our differences, especially upon the advent of the Trump administration, which has sadly divided our country and brought out ugliness against minorities and the disenfranchised. We need to support and respect one another. Not chuckle at someone else's expense because they are different from you.

On a lighter note, I am excited to try the cuisine here. It looks fun and amazing. Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm overreacting, but there is a tone of racism in some of the comments here about "Asians." I am sure that when any ethnic group, the Jews along Second Avenue or the Ukraine's who followed them opened restaurants and shops in the EV there were people who spoke about an "invasion of foreigners." The same might be said of the Italian shops / restaurants that flowered in the EV. It was racism then and it is racism now to speak as some people here are posting--as if because the Asians are opening restaurants and many Asians frequent them there is something wrong about that. Parts of Brooklyn and the East Village, and LES are a haven and mecca for foodie's. I guess what is wrong with that is that the Good Old Residents feel left out. Look at the past few years how the NYTimes has expanded its food coverage to the outer boroughs. Of course for many of the grouches who post here, any sign that "tourists" are about means the death of their precious plot of land. Get over it. The lines still form at Ipuddo, and I am sure they will continue for a while at this Dim Sum spot. That's the nature of the culture we have allowed to develop (see Jarret Kobek's I Hate the Internet). I was in Paris at the beginning of November, and yes, with French friends I stood on line at Berthillon (on the I'lle St. Louis) to get an ice cream cone (chocolate is king!). It's part of the ritual of being a tourist. What's wrong with tourism? Restaurants like this are part of the good buzz that develops about the EV.

Anonymous said...

Yes there is definitely a different standard for talking down to and about Asians. I have definitely noticed this in my 35+ years of being an American of Asian ethnicity. I am born in the good old USA; I hardly ever even leave these goddamned shores for travel because I love the USA, yet in my life I have been referred to as "Asian" about a million more times than I have ever been referred to as "American". We are the whipping boy of American racist culture. Nobody minds. It should stop but it won't. Come at me.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible that comments (at least some) are not intended to be racist? But just reflect observations of the demographics of the now very rapid pace of change/uber-gentrification/luxurification in NYC neighborhoods, particularly the EV?

For example, the EV has relatively rapidly been transformed from a neighborhood of residents to a section of affluent "transients", particularly in the 20-30 age demographic. Similarly, the widespread use of EV housing for Airbnb has also

When the new hotel (Marriott?) goes up on 11th Street, it too will be a vector of change. My guess is that a hotel will be a commercial tsunami, rapidly changing the area from residential to affluent "transient."

Would also note anecdotally - have numerous friends, first and second generation New Yorkers (whose parents or grandparents were born in China, who themselves have remarked that there appear to be an increase in wealthy Chinese visiting and purchasing real estate in NYC.