A holiday meal tradition for many, Hunan Lion, closed by fire, expects spring reopening
During the season when the Hunan Lion restaurant in Columbus has always been its busiest, Steven Chang was getting ready to board a train Thursday to spend the holidays with his fiance’s family in New York.
His parents, Allyson and Jason Chang, who opened the Chinese restaurant 36 years ago, have been trying out new places such as Valentina’s in Dublin and Cento in German Village.
It’s a nice, relaxing season for the family, but it’s not the holiday any of them anticipated.
Nearly three months after an early morning fire Oct. 4 fire shut down the restaurant at 2038 Crown Plaza Drive on the Northwest Side, the Changs are trying to coordinate what Steven calls the “ton of moving pieces” to get Hunan Lion back up and running. They don’t own the building in the shopping center off Bethel Road, so they’ve been somewhat at the mercy of others’ timetables for getting a lot of the work done.
Although they originally hoped to reopen by now, Steven Chang, the Hunan Lion's 32-year-old general manager, said he anticipates a spring reopening. March or April is most likely.
“I’m getting a great crash course in learning about the restaurant business,” said Chang, who had been preparing to take over the restaurant for his parents before fire severely damaged the kitchen.
Chang laughed and called it an understatement to describe the year-end holidays as a busy time of year for Hunan Lion. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was talking about life since the fire when he said, “It’s a lot of stress.” But it became obvious he was talking about holidays at the restaurant when he continued with, “It’s also a time to appreciate family and community.”
Chinese food is a Christmas tradition for all faiths
Rabbi Joshua Eli Plaut, the former director of the Center for Jewish History in New York and the author of “A Kosher Christmas: ’Tis the Season to Be Jewish,” traces the link between Chinese food and the holidays to American Jews in the 19th century.
Enclaves of Jewish and Chinese immigrants were located near each other in New York at the time, and neither group was part of the Christian celebration of Christmas. While other ethnic restaurants seemed welcoming only to their own communities, Chinese restaurant owners welcomed all.
Chinese food was appealing to many Jews, Plaut wrote, because it didn’t include dairy products, which kosher law forbids mixing with meat. Ingredients like pork and shellfish were often minced and hidden inside dumplings or eggrolls, so some considered it "safe."
Chinese food — either carryout or dine-in — is now a holiday tradition for many.
“Your family has fed my family numerous Christmas dinners and then some!” one customer wrote on Hunan Lion’s Facebook page after the fire.
Holidays at Hunan Lion
Chang said he and his parents had just started preparing for the holidays in the days before the fire. People would start to call for reservations as early as September, he said.
Holidays at Hunan Lion have always been special for his family as well. Just like aunts and uncles at family get-togethers, long-time customers would marvel at the youngest of the four Chang children being all grown up.
“They’d say, “Steven, I remember you were this high. You couldn’t even reach the fish tank,’” he recalled.
Some customers even offered to help rebuild the restaurant.
At the end of the day on Christmas Eve and Christmas, the Changs would eat something at their own restaurant.
“We were too tired to even think about preparing a meal, let alone go to another restaurant,” he said.
'They're itching to go back'
But Chang said his “very, very, very close-knit” family has always shared much more than the Hunan Lion.
They gathered after the fire in October to spend time together, “to just kind of swallow and process it all.” Steven’s older sisters live in Columbus, Minneapolis and Brooklyn with their husbands and children. Allyson and Jason Chang got to spend time with their seven grandchildren.
“I will say, the silver lining in this is my parents are finally getting some time off,” Steven Chang said. “They’re itching to go back, though.”
'We'll definitely be back'
The new Hunan Lion will probably look much the same, just updated a bit, Chang said. The fish were rescued the day of the fire. The business that has maintained the tank is caring for them until the restaurant reopens.
Hardly a day goes by when the family hasn’t received an email or social media message wishing them well — and asking when they’ll reopen.
“We have been customers for decades and have held graduation dinners, baptism parties and many Lunar New Year celebrations for our extended family there,” one of their customers wrote. “We are looking forward to your swift return and will bring an army of friends and family to celebrate your reopening.”
Another comment: “We'll be back for our usual as soon as you reopen!”
“We’ll definitely be back,” promised. “I’m missing our food, too.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A holiday without Hunan Lion: fire puts meal tradition on hold
