Chinatown menu? New development, not dumplings

Dumplings and scallion pancakes, move over. Gentrification and new development are taking over Chinatown.

The neighborhood’s restaurant scene is on the front lines, with old-time eateries being replaced by new types of cuisine and bank branches.

Ali Baba Organic Market Now Occupies 1 Mott Street, while Pulqueria, a tequila and taco joint, has opened at 11 Doyers Street. Next door at 9 Doyers is Apothoke, a cocktail bar popular with suburbanites, according to the New York Post.

“There are not as many restaurants” in the neighborhood, admitted James Tang, a grandson of “Shorty” Tang, who opened Hwa Yuan at 40 East Broadway in 1968. A revamped and expanded version of the restaurant is opening soon, but it will feature a marble facade.

Beyond the restaurant scene, rental and condo development has found its way to Chinatown in recent years, and last year landlord Andy Chau filed plans for a mixed-use building at 86 Canal Street.

Several large-scale projects are also rising in Two Bridges, including Extell Development’s One Manhattan Square at 252 South Street, JDS Development Group’s 247 Cherry Street and L+M Development and CIM Group’s 260 South Street.  [NYP] — E.B. Solomont