Banquet halls fight for survival

What does it mean for S.F.’s Chinatown as its storied restaurants dwindle? See story in Culture Desk, pages F4-5.

This is part of The Chronicle’s Landmark Watch series, where reporters check in on the Bay Area’s longtime businesses during the pandemic. If you have a suggestion, email food@sfchronicle.com.

Frank Chui watches the news. He’s seen story after story of longstanding restaurants saying farewell, unable to withstand the crush of the pandemic — or the high costs that make operating in the Bay Area so difficult in general. He is determined not to let his 100yearold San Francisco Chinatown restaurant, Hang Ah Tea Room, fade away as well.

“I’m holding on with my dear life to stay afloat, to stay relevant,” he said. “We’re almost a forgotten past, a piece of history that’s no longer on top of people’s heads.”

Chui remembers Hang Ah, which he says is the country’s oldest dim sum restaurant, taking a 70% hit almost overnight about a year ago, as Chinatown emptied out far before the rest of the city. Some days, the restaurant sells only $200 worth of food. His staff dropped from 25 employees to four.

With Hang Ah’s unusual location in an alley — and next to a construction project that only just started wrapping up — the restaurant has never taken advantage of outdoor dining. Tourists trickled in during the summer months, grabbing Hang Ah’s popular barbecue pork buns and housemade chili oil. Others never realized it was there, an easytomiss storefront with “1st Dim Sum House in USA” handwritten along a brick wall.

This was not how Hang Ah’s 100th year was supposed to go. Chui envisioned celebrations with regulars packed into the snug, quirky space, all orange walls, lowslung ceilings and framed photos of old Chinatown beauty queens.

Hang Ah was an institution in the early 20th century, but as Chinatown grew, bigger dim sum houses dominated the scene. Then, as Asian immigration to the Bay Area increased dramatically in the 1980s, dim sum destinations started popping up in suburban cities like Millbrae, Alameda and Dublin, allowing fans to get their dumpling fix without trying to find a parking spot in Chinatown. To Chui, part of Chinatown’s current challenge is competing with thriving Chinese food scenes all over the Bay Area.

Chui bought the restaurant with a friend in 2014, when the previous owners wanted to retire. At the time, the restaurant was open just three days a week for lunch and had two employees, Chui said. He sensed the place was already fading from people’s memories and wanted to bring new energy — to make it synonymous with San Francisco dim sum like the Buena Vista is for Irish coffee or Boudin Bakery for sourdough.

Slowly, he grew it into a bustling daily operation with 45 dim sum items, a mix of original recipes — like the pork buns — and seasonal offerings to keep people interested, such as a pumpkin mochi pancake for fall.

Now, he doesn’t want all that work to go to waste. Helping to keep the lights on, and to bring back two more employees, is the city’s new $1.9 million relief plan for Chinatown restaurants. Hang Ah was one of the first to participate in the program, which links restaurants with nonprofits Chinatown Community Development

Center and S.F.

New Deal to feed vulnerable residents.

But seeing how many Chinatown neighbors are struggling, Chui has decided he wants to do more. After this relief plan runs out of money, he plans to distribute 2,020 meals to foodinsecure families in Chinatown as a way to say goodbye to last year’s pain and greet a more hopeful period. He’s hoping the slow reopening of the economy and the eventual return of indoor dining will bring in enough money to pay for the meals.

During fall’s brief stint of indoor dining, he finally saw familiar faces again — regulars who left San Francisco to live in Walnut Creek, Truckee or Seattle but still make sure to visit

Hang Ah whenever they’re back in town.

“We’re not a neighborhood restaurant. We’re lucky enough to keep longtime regulars because of our history, even though they don’t live close by,” Chui said. “But during the pandemic, most people aren’t going anywhere.”

He misses interacting with customers every day and hearing their stories. There’s the woman who grew up going to Hang Ah every January to celebrate the new year with her parents, and now she keeps the tradition going with her grandkids. There’s the man who comes every year on his deceased dad’s birthday to remember him. There was the teenager from the Midwest who traveled to Hang Ah so he could see the setting of his parents’ first date.

“Those are the stories that keep us going,” Chui said. “They make us want to keep this living museum alive so folks can come in, think about the good old days and also build new memories for generations to come.”

Hang Ah Tea Room

Takeout and delivery. 1 Pagoda Place, San Francisco. hangahdimsum sf.com

Bean curd roll at Hang Ah, which had expanded its menu to 45 dim sum items before the pandemic.

Barbecue pork buns are cooked in bamboo steamers at Hang Ah. The restaurant still uses the original 100yearold recipe.