Owner Of NYC's Oldest Chinese Eatery Nom Wah Sees Bright Future

NOLITA, NY — When the owner of New York City's oldest Chinese restaurant starts his day, he never knows where he'll end up.

On one recent morning, Wilson Tang — who took over the nearly 100-year-old Chinatown dim sum eatery Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street nearly a decade ago from his uncle — went from taking his 5-and-7-year-old kids to school to crawling around a walk-in refrigerator that had busted.

Shortly after, he dashed to the market to buy extra fish after his chef alerted him they were short on deliveries for the day. By the afternoon, he said he had a hard-hat and reflective vest on at a dusty construction site at the to-be-completed Market Line at the new Essex Crossing development, where Nom Wah will soon have another outpost.

"It's super hard. I have a very big support team," Tang said at the eatery's Nolita branch. He added it's a team effort between him and his wife, Mae Tang.

Taking over the restaurant was "my chance of preserving old New York," he said. He hopes his kids will take over Nom Wah in the future.

Since he took over the restaurant, which opened in Chinatown in 1920, he quickly began revamping the institution by updating its website, centralizing where dumplings are crafted and improving efficiency to expand. He opened the "fast-casual" spot in Nolita at 10 Kenmare St. in 2016 as well as another restaurant in Philadelphia.

"I think change is inevitable," he added. "With the rising cost of labor, the rising cost of real estate taxes, if I don't pivot and change, I'm going to get left behind."

Another newer outpost on the Lower East Side shuttered after six months last year, but Tang said he's still eyeing towards expanding the eatery further.

Some projects stay close to home — like plans to join the future market at Essex Crossing.

The "neighborhood project" for him comes after a four-year stint on Community Board 3 during the public review process for the sprawling Lower East Side development, which is bringing more than 1,000 units into the neighborhood on land largely left as parking lots since previous tenement buildings were razed in the 1960s. About half of the units are below market-rate.

"I'm very passionate about our community and our neighborhood," he said. "That was really the driving force behind going into that location."

"I thought that it was a combination of the Lower East Side and Chinatown — one big melting pot," he said. "It just feels very organic to me."