Ninety-year-old Chinatown time capsule Nom Wah Tea Parlor has been on shaky ground ever since it was closed by the Health Department in 2008 and then again in 2009, but the Daily News reports that the owner of over 35 years, Wally Tang, has turned the restaurant over to his cousin Wilson, who left a finance gig at ING. Though the News says it will come back from its six-month hiatus in time for Chinese New Year, the Parlor’s Facebook page (yes, it now has a Facebook page — look for those yellow Department of Health stickers on its profile picture!) says a problem with the gas means the grand reopening will be postponed. In any case, expect a new kitchen and more dim sum items. The dining room, thankfully, will look more or less the same.
The News also points out that Apotheke is “planning to open a Mexican restaurant called Pulqueria in the vacant space between it and Nom Wah.” It’s coming to the subterranean space that formerly held the beloved Doyers Vietnamese, which is sad, but maybe it’ll at least bring some ever-rare pulque with it?
Chinatown’s famed Nom Wah Tea Parlor reopens, in time for the Chinese New Year [NYDN]
