Food Review: Uncle Lou’s, NYC
Growing up, food has always been my dad’s love language. Whether it was cooking extravagant dinners or going out to try new and interesting restaurants, if my dad was involved, there was going to be good food.
I remember the first ever pork bun my dad brought me home from Chinatown, I became enamored. I remember when my parents would take me and my brothers for dimsum. We’d all sit at a big table filled with strangers trying all the different foods from the carts rolling by. If you, like me, need a place that gives you the nostalgia of pre-Covid large group dining, paired with delicious classic Cantonese food, look no further than Uncle Lou’s in New York City.
Restaurant owner, Lou, is a Chinatown local and has been living and working in the neighborhood for many years. Before the restaurant, he actually owned a cellphone shop, Speedy Communications, which shut down with the onset of Covid. Lou has always been in the business of connecting people with each other so when his cellphone shop shuttered, he moved on to the restaurant business.
While he is the restaurant owner, you’ll most likely find Lou working and running the restaurant floor almost every night. When I asked him what he hopes his patrons leave their dining experience feeling, he said, “We want diners to walk away with a uniquely Chinatown experience”.
When walking up to the restaurant, your path is lit by beautiful yellow and red paper lanterns, almost making you forget you’re in New York City because it seems too peaceful. The menu was perfectly balanced with well known American-style Chinese food and also more classic dishes.
About the menu, Lou says, “The food is uniquely representative of this diaspora community, with traditions of the Seiyap Region of Guangdong, China and NYC. The people of this region built Chinatown and old timers enjoy the homestyle village dishes.”
Once at the door, we were greeted by a very kind hostess (who kindly let me know they were BYOB). Though the restaurant was quite packed, we were seated in less than 10 minutes. The menu was filled with a plethora of options and has a little bit of something for everyone. The real fun began once we got seated.
After lots of consideration we decided to get the peking duck, the shrimp rice rolls, and of course, the steamed pork buns. The duck was crispy and tender and came with small bao buns, sauce, and other toppings for you to make your own little duck rolls. I could have easily had an entire duck to myself, however I was dining out with my boyfriend so I had to leave some bits for him.
The shrimp rice rolls were equally as wonderful; the shrimp was tender and fresh with light ginger notes. The shrimp rice rolls were so good that I never even got the chance to take a picture before they were all eaten up. And my all time personal favorite: the steamed pork buns. They were clearly homemade buns almost bursting at the seams. They were fluffy, sweet, savory, sticky, and scrumptious.
I was curious how the community this restaurant serves had been feeling since the rise of hate crimes towards AAPI folks. When I asked Lou about this, he said, “We hear from locals, especially the elderly, that they are less willing to dine out due to Covid and fears of hate crimes. We look forward to the day when more old timers feel comfortable shopping and eating out in Chinatown again.”
My dining experience was so much fun. I felt happy, relaxed and very full at the end. I’d highly recommend this place for your next group outing.
My final question I posed for Lou was this: In 5 years, where do you hope your restaurant will be? He said, “We just want to be there for people and be a part of the community we love so much. Less than two months in, we look forward to welcoming more people to Chinatown and serving food that makes people happy. Our name in Chinese means ‘Happy People’. So if you’re in the neighborhood and want some food that will make you feel happy, stop by to say Hi to Uncle Lou.”