What happens when a group of childhood friends band together to create a restaurant personifying their shared experiences growing-up in Manhattan's Chinatown as Asian-Americans? You get Bib Gourmand Potluck Club, a high-energy Cantonese-American restaurant filled with nostalgic cues from the team's upbringing.
Founders Cory Ng, Kimberly Ho, Justin Siu, Ricky Nguyen and Zhan Chen believe that Potluck Club exists to promote the cultural heritage of Chinatown and its future while preserving its history. Below, we speak with the team about how they created the haute boîte and where they see their place in the gastronomic landscape.
Before you dive into the story below, check out our Inspectors take here.
Figuring out what it means to be a Cantonese-American restaurant was one of the hardest parts in opening a restaurant in Chinatown. Inspired by potluck dinners, the name “Potluck Club” was conceptualized to evoke a communal feeling one would get from said dinners. “Whether it’s a dish, a great story, or even just positive vibes, no one comes empty handed,” Ng explains. “We wanted the restaurant to embody that potluck spirit.”
That convivial spirit comes to life through the interiors. Walls are decorated with Hong Kong cinema movie posters and murals; from Bruce Lee to Rush Hour, and represent the collective childhood of the founding partners as Asian-Americans. “Our parents are immigrants, so early in their lives, they weren't home. Instead, they were working long hours trying to provide a better life for their family,” Ng reminisces. “We were home watching Hong Kong VHS tapes. They helped us learn about the nuances of the culture and helped us retain more of our family’s Chinese identity. We love it when people of all different ages and backgrounds come to Potluck and something on the wall sparks a memory of theirs—we love those moments.”
Their favorite decor, riding the wave of nostalgia and childhood memories, remains the repurposed vending machine that’s brimming with household items more often found at your grandma’s house. “It’s another touchpoint in the restaurant that triggers nostalgic memories and conversations with our guests.”
But high-energy interiors and a fun name can only get you so far in the Big Apple. The restaurant still needed that “X factor” to separate itself from the long-established restaurants and neighborhood favorites in Chinatown. This comes in the form of their menu, a fusion of flavors rooted in techniques mirroring the experience of being Asian-American. “I believe the general public understands that we’re doing something different but still familiar," says Chen, the executive chef. That familiarity comes from the marriage of chef's inventiveness with the classics. Take the salt and pepper chicken with scallion biscuits, for example, which is their riff of the iconic scallion pancake. "We’re glad that we were able to still capture the essence of the food we love but put our spin on it," says Chen.
Beyond the group's childhood classics, another area they're focusing on is raising awareness on uncommon dishes like the jellyfish tiger salad. “A lot of our guests have never eaten jellyfish before, but it’s something we all grew up eating," adds Chen. "It’s been great to see people open their minds and palettes to new things."
And while the restaurant expertly marries fun with flavor, at its core, Potluck Club is a beacon for preserving the cultural heritage of Chinatown. "We’ve seen what has happened with the other Chinatowns in different cities, and we don’t want that happening to NYC,” says Ng. “Businesses, communities, and the neighborhood itself is shrinking and disappearing. We want to continue to cultivate that entrepreneurial spirit and landscape so that legacy businesses can continue to thrive and new and fresh businesses can grow.”
For the founders, safeguarding the traditions that shaped their neighborhood is as important as its location. The restaurant actively engages with the local community and collaborates with neighborhood organizations to host events championing the rich history of Chinatown. “As the old adage goes, it takes a village to raise a child, and we are the product of that collective effort," adds Ng. "We have to honor that and give back to the community for the next generation."
Hero image: Paulsta/Potluck Club
Thumbnail: Paulsta/Potluck Club
