Monday, March 20, 2006

Uh-Oh

The New Chinatown Restaurant has closed. I found this out this evening when I went down there for dinner after work. There was a sign on the door thanking everyone for their business, and saying that a place called "College Hots" would be opening up soon in that space.

I'm not sure when it happened. I suspect they closed the Saturday before the university's Spring Break (a little over 2 weeks ago) and then just never opened up again.

I wonder why they closed. I hope it's not due to an illness. I'm pretty sure it was family-run, and if someone got sick it might throw everything into turmoil. Perhaps business just fell off? Dine-in traffic was sparse for the dinner hour, but they did a brisk take-out trade. The phone was always ringing, and a lot of people would pop in to make or pick up orders to go. And the few times I went there for lunch with a friend from work (whose New Chinatown name was "Walnut Chicken," just like mine was "Chicken Broccoli"), the place was busy and full. Often we'd have to wait for a table.

Here's a thought: maybe they'll be running "College Hots" when it opens. Perhaps they noticed (like I did) that we have an awful lot of Chinese restaurants, and decided to try something else.

I guess I'll have to wait and see. In any event, I'll have to find somewhere else to conduct my not-chicken-and-broccoli experiments. I could probably go to the restaurant the next block over. Or to the one in the block after that. Or the one after that...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's a College Hot? Or why?

And how much does a Grecian earn?

(I know a joke about how many f's there are in broccoli, but it wouldn't travel...)

--V said...

I haven't the faintest idea. Maybe it's something like a "Texas Hot," which is a hot dog with some sort of fancy-schmancy secret-recipe chili on top of it. If you can call any chili "fancy." Maybe the restuarant's turning into a hot dog stand? *Shrug* I guess I'll know soon. Watch this space.

Don't get me started with the puns. I collect punny names: Rocky Schorr, Rose Trellis, Bob Wire, Citronella Candle (and her brother Roman), Gloria Patri, Polly Dactile...best one I ever heard was on "A Prairie Home Companion," listed as one of the writers: Amanda Reckenworth.

Anonymous said...

V - I know this is going to sound like anyone you can name, I can name exoticer (exoticker?), but it's true.

I have an ancestor whose given names were Violet Fanny.

Now allowing for the Great Transatlantic Meaning Shift, it's still amusing, no?

--V said...

Violet Fanny? Teehee. You win. Mine were all phrases that sound like they could be names. Though my 7th-grade history teacher (who loved puns) knew someone named Shawnda Lear. And (this isn't quite the same category) my Mom went to school with a Chinese-American boy named Peter Pan.

--V said...

Oh! I just thought of someone I met with a punny name. My sophmore year of college, I roomed with a girl in the university marching band. One of her fellow clarinetists was named Kelly Green. Hand on my heart, that was the girl's name.