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a14 people & arts
Friday 20 November 2020

Nom Wah at 100: a cookbook about a restaurant and community

By ANN LEVIN dried shrimp, a key ingredi- Choys sold it to their long-
Associated Press ent for the aspiring home time employee Wally Tang,
NEW YORK (AP) — Wilson chef, are called the "Allen the "Uncle Wally" of the
Tang was getting ready Iversons" of dim sum — small book, although he's not re-
to celebrate the 100th an- but with disproportionate lated to Wilson Tang.
niversary of his restaurant, impact. The house egg rolls By the time Wilson was born
Nom Wah Tea Parlor, last are "OG." in 1978, his father, who was
winter and launch his first- The book frankly addresses also in the restaurant busi-
ever cookbook. Then CO- the racism and xenopho- ness, had moved the fam-
VID-19 arrived, and Chi- bia that Asians have faced ily out of Chinatown to
natown's lively restaurant in America for generations, Queens, where Tang grew
scene shut down, along from 19th century legisla- up. But on weekends, his
with bars and eateries tion restricting Chinese dad would take the fam-
across New York City. immigration to recent at- ily back to the old neigh-
Suddenly, Tang was scram- tempts by the White House borhood to shop, eat and
bling to make sure his staff to label COVID-19 the "Chi- hang out at Nom Wah.
was safe, source his ingredi- nese virus" or "kung flu." In 2000, after graduating
ents, and figure out a new Tang collaborated on "The from college, Tang landed
retail landscape of frozen Nom Wah Cookbook" with a job as a financial analyst
foods, meal kits and online Joshua David Stein, a for- at Morgan Stanley — for his
classes. mer restaurant critic, food parents, the culmination of
Instead of being devas- writer and children's book the American Dream. But
tated, he found the expe- author who recently co- for Wilson, it was drudg-
rience strangely invigorat- wrote Kwame Onwuachi's ery. And so, in 2010, when
ing, reminiscent of earlier well-received memoir, Uncle Wally was ready to
days in Chinatown when "Notes from a Young Black retire, Tang bought Nom
scrappy Chinese immi- Chef." "When I was writing Wah.
grants like his parents strug- This cover image released by Ecco shows “The Nom Wah reviews, I frequently tried Some things have stayed
gled to survive. Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from 100 Years at New York to bring in political or con- the same — the 1930s-era
"I feel like for my genera- City's Iconic Dim Sum Restaurant," by Wilson Tang with Joshua temporary issues outside counter, black-and-white
tion, maybe life was too David Stein. the scope of restaurants," tile floor and mismatched
easy. Sometimes I'd catch Associated Press Stein said. "Cookbooks are teacups — but Tang
myself thinking, wow, things mouth-watering dim sum customers have started to wonderful ways to have poured money into the
are going pretty smooth. recipes that manages to trickle back, Tang saw busi- conversations about topics kitchen and introduced
But I don't come from that. be much more than that. ness drop by as much as other than food but that in- crossover recipes, includ-
I come from a head-down- It's also a social history of 70% at his iconic storefront tersect with food and per- ing for sweet potato kale
and-work-hard mentality," New York's Chinatown, with in Chinatown, which sits in tain to lots of other things." wontons (a vegan offer-
the 41-year-old Tang said in profiles of merchants and the crook of Doyers Street Nom Wah was founded ing) and an Argentine-fla-
an interview shortly before artisans who are trying to under a faded red and in 1920 as a bakery and vored dumpling made of
the book's recent virtual keep the historic neighbor- gold sign. tea parlor by Ed and May chorizo, potatoes and dill
launch. hood alive now. The cookbook is written Choy, immigrants from chimichurri sauce devel-
Tang's pride in his commu- Although COVID-19 restric- in a slangy, wisecracking Guangdong province, the oped for a special event
nity is reflected in the glossy tions have eased a bit since style that works in all kinds same region of southern with Adidas.
pages of "The Nom Wah the city closed restaurants of sports, music and other China where Tang's fam- He also opened other
Cookbook," a collection of last March, and hungry pop-culture markers. So, ily came from. In 1974, the branches in the city, plus
one in Philadelphia and
Out magazine names Lizzo, Monae, Maddow to its two in China, for a total
of six.Wellington Chen, ex-
Out100 list ecutive director of the Chi-
natown Business Improve-
ment District, admires what
By MESFIN FEKADU Tang has done with Nom
AP Entertainment Writer Wah and says it's rare. "You
NEW YORK (AP) — Award- can count on less than
winning singers Lizzo and two hands the number
Janelle Monae, Apple CEO of young, American-born
Tim Cook and MSNBC's Chinese who have taken
Rachel Maddow have over their family stores," he
made Out magazine's 2020 said.q
Out100 list.
Pride Media announced Solution Sudoku
Thursday that its annual list
honoring the 100 most in- This combination photo shows Apple CEO Tim Cook, from left, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and
fluential LGBTQ+ people of singers Janelle Monae and Lizzo.
the year includes 99-year- Associated Press
old trans WWII U.S. Navy Wilson Cruz, Keke Palmer, at Out.com/Out100Live. enne Jackson, Jonathan
fighter pilot Robina Asti, co- Jeremy Pope and Joe Others who made this year's Bennett and Dashaun Wes-
median Wanda Sykes, fash- Mantello. list include Donald Trump's ley. Several members of
ion icon André Leon Talley, Honorees will be celebrat- niece, the psychologist and President-elect Joe Biden's
the creators of "Queer Eye," ed Saturday at the first 2020 author Mary Trump, former team made the Out100
Black Lives Matter Toronto Out100 Virtual Honoree In- baseball player Billy Bean, list, including Jamal Brown,
co-founder Janaya Khan duction Ceremony, which teen rapper Kidd Kenn and Reggie Greer and Karine
and actors Jameela Jamil, will stream live at 8 p.m. EDT actors Lili Reinhardt, Chey- Jean-Pierre.q Puzzle on Page 13