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For New Yorkers, ordering Chinese takeout is second nature—as convenient as picking up an egg sandwich at the corner bodega or scarfing down a late night dollar slice of pizza. But these days, if you open any restaurant delivery app, you’ll be hard pressed to find a place (forget about mom-and-pop restaurants in Chinatown) to order crab rangoon to go with your General Tso’s chicken
Enter Junzi Kitchen’s “Nice Weekend” delivery concept offering the greatest hits of American-Chinese favorites. No, we’re not talking about the regional cuisines of Asia’s most populous country—from Sichuan’s mapo tofu to Northern China’s cumin lamb—that’s gained popularity in recent years. Instead, the inaugural menu which launched this past weekend highlights classics like egg drop soup, fried rice, chicken wings, hoisin ribs and of course, steamed dumplings. It’s the food that brings back memories of white to-go cartons and fortune cookies.
The menu is only available for delivery on Saturdays (5-9pm) and Sundays (12-9pm) in Lower Manhattan, where the mini fast casual chain has a location on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. The chef, Lucas Sin, has garnered accolades for his updated takes on Chinese dishes while keeping touches of authenticity. His weekend-only menu, which is expected to be offered for a least one month, is a nod to the nostalgia of American-Chinese food during a time when many takeout joints remain closed (the reasons include wholesale suppliers halting deliveries as well as a drop in business during the current crisis).
“A lot of people love [American-Chinese] food because it’s very familiar,” says Yong Zhao, Junzi Kitchen’s CEO. “We’ve given it little changes to make it a little different but the same.”
The menus are also meant to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month through Memorial Day weekend.
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