Flight of the Conchords Fave ‘Wing Shoon Seafood Restaurant’ is Out of Business
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Wing Shoon Seafood Restaurant shuttered last week (September 16) after a City Marshal paid a visit and seized the joint. Now the security gates of 165 East Broadway are shut and a new leasing sign hangs above.
The restaurant was the archetypal budget Chinatown eatery – cheap eats with a helping of rude service. Reviews of the place were generally mixed, especially due to the latter. We will certainly miss the photogenic smoke breaks that always seemed to transpire around the corner on Rutgers Street (near the subway entrance).
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Photo: CI
165 East Broadway has somewhat of a famous culinary pedigree, too.
The fabled Garden Cafeteria previously operated here, and became a home base for author Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Yiddish literati. The hangout closed in 1983, and was eventually replaced by a variant of Wing Shoon that remained in operation until last week. This wasn’t their first closure or run-in with the Department of Health; those seemed rather common. But this looks to be final…
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Outside the Garden Cafeteria in 1973, Photo: Bruce Davidson
Bonus: Flight of the Conchords filmed “Sugar Lumps” at Wing Shoon back in 2009.
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