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“And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for…”
A hush settled over the crowd gathered in Sunset Park, an intergenerational kaleidoscope of faces. A drummer began to pound on the barrel-shaped tanggu, slowly at first then gathering speed. As the resonant beating crescendoed, the lion dancers on stage began to toss lettuce into the sky, symbolizing the spreading of prosperity to onlookers.
With a flourish, a new sign was unveiled beneath the street markers for 8th Avenue and 60th Street: Brooklyn Chinatown. A deafening cacophony of firecrackers ensued.
The Origins of Brooklyn Chinatown
Sunset Park has always been a working-class neighborhood due to the jobs created by its industrial waterfront. It drew a large number of Scandinavian, Irish, and Italian immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries until the shuttering of the Brooklyn Army Terminal in the 1940s caused many inhabitants to move to the surrounding suburbs, and the local housing sector to crumble.
When the Immigration and Nationality Act was introduced in 1965, banning discriminatory quotas based on nation of origin, New York City saw its first wave of Chinese immigrants since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Manhattan’s Chinatown became increasingly crowded, largely due to the influx of Fujianese immigrants, and many Cantonese-speaking residents began to move to Sunset Park, from which Canal Street was directly accessible via the N train.
Eventually, the Fujianese community followed suit, establishing a “Little Fuzhou” enclave in Sunset Park that has exceeded the original Manhattan enclave in size. And while 8th Ave has long been known as Brooklyn Chinatown colloquially, last Friday’s ceremony held incredible significance to many locals.
“For generations, Chinese immigrants, including so many Fujianese, have built their lives, business, and community here,” the Fuzhou Sisters recently shared. “Today we celebrate not just a name, but a home we’ve built together.”
In honor of this momentous occasion, and of 8th Ave’s layered history of Chinese immigration, we’re sharing a guide of some of our favorite spots to eat and drink in Brooklyn Chinatown.
Bamboo Garden
📍6409 8th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220
When Chinese immigrants first began arriving en masse in Brooklyn in the late 70s, pushing dim sum carts was an accessible job that didn’t require them to speak English. However, as the previous generation ages out of the physically and mentally demanding job with nobody to replace them, traditional pushcart dim sum is becoming a dying art.
At Bamboo Garden, you can still fill up on classic dim sum delicacies such as har gow (Cantonese shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (open-faced pork dumplings), stacked high in bamboo baskets and served hot from steaming carts. One block over, East Harbor Seafood Palace (📍714 65th St, Brooklyn, NY 11220) always attracts a crowd. Arrive early on weekends to avoid the lines and bring cash.
Rice Noodle Cart
📍 Corner of 8th Ave & 61st St, Brooklyn, NY 11220
💵 CASH ONLY
Cheung fun, or steamed rice rolls, is another popular breakfast dish originating from the Guangdong Province in southern China. And while you can get your fill at the aforementioned dim sum restaurants, few places make it better than this unassuming food cart, simply named Rice Noodle Cart.
The cart itself is so nondescript that you could easily walk past it without noticing, except that there’s usually a crowd around it. The main attraction is the house special rice roll, which is made fresh-to-order with ground pork, eggs, bean sprouts, and corn, bound together by a thin layer to glutinous rice.
For me, this humble cart’s rendition of cheung fun shines because of the saline crunch of Chinese pickled veggies sprinkled throughout. Ask for extra soy sauce and sriracha to ensure your deli tub of rice rolls is saturated with flavor.
