88 Lan Zhou has been serving up delicious hand-pulled noodles and dumplings to New Yorkers since 2007, and sadly on October 31 it will be for the last time.
The eatery was previously named Lam Zhou and was one of the first Fujianese-owned hand-pulled noodle shops in Manhattan. Later they because known for their dumplings, especially the steamed pork and chive dumpling with house-made chili oil. During quarantine, they began selling frozen dumplings and chili oil that people could make at home. Unfortunately as months went by and business slowed, it wasn’t enough to keep them afloat.
“With a heavy heart, we are announcing that our final day of operations will be Oct 31st, 2020,” they wrote on Instagram. “We tried everything we could to stay afloat, but in the end, it was just too difficult to just survive in these current conditions. For the rest of October, we’ll continue to sell frozen dumplings and sauces to go from our shop at 40 Bowery. (We will not be able to ship or deliver the dumplings or sauces.) We would love to thank our loyal customers who have supported us throughout the years and everyone who has visited our shop.
“And a tremendous thanks to @sendchinatownlove and @welcome.to.chinatown for everything they’ve done for us. We really appreciate it! Please support these organizations because they are doing a wonderful thing to help save small businesses in Chinatown. We don’t know if we’ll ever be back, but stay tuned to our IG for the latest updates. Thanks again to everyone for your love and support.”
Send Chinatown Love, which has been working to provide relief efforts to small, off-the-grid businesses in Chinatown NYC suffering from the impacts of COVID-19, had spotlighted the business recently and even shared how, though they were getting more media attention and business in the past few months, they were still struggling to make ends meet.
They spotlighted the iconic Chinatown business and led a fundraising effort to help the save them, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. They wrote on Monday: “88 Lan Zhou has made the difficult decision to close on October 31, due to the significant loss of business. Zhang has run a one-woman operation while facing months of rent since February. This is the reality of small businesses today.”
They still want to help send the restaurant off well, so through their Gift-a-Meal program you can help raise $20K to gift 88 Lanzhou dumplings to homebound seniors and homeless neighbors in and around Chinatown. You can donate here.
See also: Remembering 20 NYC Restaurants & Bars That Have Permanently Closed Due To COVID-19
featured image source: Instagram / @88lanzhou