1,000 meals Donated

Our goal was to donate over 800 meals for our Elmhurst pantry partner, New Life. Through part of the crawl ticket cost and additional donations, we exceeded this goal and were able to donate funds to provide 1,000 meals to New Life.

145 participants

After a long winter, our inaugural crawl event brought 145 people into Elmhurstand introduced them to dishes and cuisines from five restaurants. In our post-crawl survey, many of our participants responded they have never been to Elmhurst, and many plan to go back to dine at these incredible neighborhood restaurants. 

$5,000 in ADDED REVENUE

Homecoming: Elmhurst was able to bring in almost $5,000 of additional revenue to our partner restaurants without impeding on indoor dining and takeout service, and included a 20% tip with each takeout dish.

VISIBILITY FOR OUR PARTNERS

Our crawl on June 5 created more visibility for our partner restaurants through press coverage, including GrubStreet, Time Out New York, and the Queens Post. Additionally, we shared our content with our partners to help build their social media and digital presence.

• “Homecoming Is a New Queens Food Crawl Designed to Support Mom-and-Pops” (GrubStreet)

• ​​"This new food crawl will take you through mom-and-pop eateries ran by immigrants all over Queens" (Time Out New York)

• “Food Crawl Through Elmhurst to Take Place Saturday, Organizers Aims to Promote Neighborhood” (Queens Post)

We worked to tell the stories of Elmhurst restaurants that represent the spirit, culture, and vibrancy of the neighborhood. Our goal is to highlight what makes a restaurant a place to call home by giving a voice to the people behind food that are so central to their community. These stories helped encourage New Yorkers from across the city to come to Elmhurst to visit these restaurants and experience their cuisines that have become neighborhood staples.

Meet Anastasia Dewi Tjahjadi, better known as Dewi. Over thirteen years ago, Dewi and her co-founders decided to open Indo Java, a grocery store to help remind them of their hometown in Indonesia. The store became a space for the Indonesian community to come together, gossip in Bahasa, and teach and share recipes.

In that spirit, Dewi decided to also host a pop-up restaurant in the store called Warung Selasa (“Tuesday Stall”), another homage to her hometown. It made Indo Java one of the tiniest and most coveted restaurants in the neighborhood.

While the pandemic hasn’t been easy on her business, Dewi still continues the spirit of community building that built the store in the first place. During the height of the pandemic, she encouraged Indonesian moms in the neighborhood to make and sell take-out products to help them make ends meet. Dewi is a force for the community and a trailblazer of Elmhurst.

Interview by Jenny Acosta
Filming by Craig Nisperos
Editing by Abigail Faelnar

Alvin Chen and his family are owners of Taiwanese Gourmet, a restaurant that has been a pillar in the Elmhurst community for over 25 years. Created by two immigrants from Taiwan hoping to promote Taiwanese culture in the community, Taiwanese Gourmet became a restaurant where everyone from toddlers to senior citizens come to enjoy the food. Sharing a meal across generations is one of the things that makes this restaurant so special.

Taiwanese Gourmet prides itself on its authentic cuisine that as Alvin says, “hits close to home.” It’s why you feel like you’re home as soon as you walk through their doors.

Interview by Bryan Lozano Dorian Chen
Filming by Craig Nisperos
Editing by Abigail Faelnar

Meet Coco Lim, the daughter of immigrants from Malaysia and namesake of her parents’ restaurant. Coco Malaysian is a long-standing Elmhurst restaurant, and they make a roti canai that everyone who comes in will order. Coco grew up with the restaurant – they’re both 19 years old – and it’s a part of her identity. Working there, translating for her parents, and talking to customers helped her grow as a person too. Coco’s story of helping her parents navigate the American dream while also finding her own place in this country is just one representation of the Elmhurst story.

Interviewed by Jenny Acosta, Bryan Lozano
Filmed by Craig Nisperos
Additional footage by Abigail Faelnar
Edited by Abigail Faelnar

Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House is a northern-style Chinese restaurant on the corner of Broadway and Whitney Avenue in Elmhurst. For owner Tashi Penpa, when they first opened, the most important thing was to make sure every meal was done well, and that every meal is the best it can be. Their dumplings and hand-pulled noodles are all freshly and artfully made, and it comes as no surprise that they are among the best-selling items on their menu.

Interviewed by Dorian Chen Bryan Lozano
Filmed by Craig Nisperos
Translated by Ziyi Zhao
Edited by Abigail Faelnar

To just have one dish offered at Eim Khao Mun Kai and be a favorite in Elmhurst speaks volumes about the owner, Bobby. He grew up in Thailand loving khao mun gai (chicken rice) and found a way to translate that love into incredible flavors he introduced to the neighborhood six years ago. Bobby immigrated 17 years ago, studying and initially working at a restaurant in New York. Little by little, he worked his way up and was encouraged by his boss to start his own venture. Luckily for us, he started Eim Khao Mun Kai in Elmhurst and brought us home to the flavors that built his childhood.

Interviewed by Jenny Acosta, Bryan Lozano
Filmed by Craig Nisperos
Edited by Abigail Faelnar