The Changing Face of Chinatown: Can New Trendy Restaurants Replace Favorite Establishments?

On a Sunday night at Katie Grand Square, the mall’s parking lot was full. Peeking through the windows, you can see long lines filling the stores, almost going out the door.

The mall is not something you might find ten years ago in Houston when there were fewer Asian Americans in the population. Storefronts are full of transplants in the Houston area — Tim Ho Wan dim sum, SomiSomi soft serve, and Japanese bookstore taiyaki and Kinokuniya hail from Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.

Haidilao, the largest hot pot chain in China, opened its Katy Restaurant in 2021. Inside, there are marble countertops, a flower wall for posing photos, and a food delivery robot serving up plates of noodles, meat, and vegetables.

Restaurants like this one contribute to the changing mosaic of Asian restaurants in Chinatown at Bellaire, Sugar Land and Katy. In these regions, a growing number of outside franchises from New York, California and Asia are opening stores in Houston. These places often place more emphasis on the atmosphere, service, and Instagram features, often catering to a younger clientele.

“Yeah, they’re definitely taking over,” said Julie Nong, an Instagram and TikTok food blogger known by her username @juliejulez.jpg. She grew up in Southwest Chinatown and talks about many of these restaurants on her social media.

“I guess it’s no secret, but the cost of living in Texas is much cheaper,” Nong said. “If they fail, I don’t think it’s that much of a loss compared to failing in a big city like New York or Los Angeles.”

One of the places that welcomed these stores was D-Square on Bellaire Boulevard, one of the first malls in Southwest Chinatown in the 80s.

“We were great, amazing pioneers, and now we’re old,” said Beatrice Wong, managing director of D-Square.

She said that a few years ago, clients were on average 40 to 50 years old. They were looking for tasty cheap food.

“This is the best value for money,” Wong said. “I’m leaving, paying 20 bucks for dinner. I eat a lot and I have two boxes to take home.”

Now the goal is to attract a younger audience in order to stay relevant, Wong said. Since then, the center has spent a significant amount of money on facade repairs and landscaping.

Left: Google Maps, Right: Sara Willa Ernst

“Now it’s all about experience,” said Beatrice Wong. “We’ve done a lot of things that make it a nice place where you really slow down and get in rather than just want to get in and out. We’re trying to do culture, authentic cuisine, and also the Instagram accessible factor.”

Social media and digital marketing have become an important part of the mall’s efforts to attract more younger customers. D-Square is part of the new consolidated marketing trend. This is when the shopping center itself has its own brand, and not just individual restaurants.

D-Square has hired a social media specialist to help the owners promote their restaurants.

But not everyone in Chinatown thinks this is the right way to do business. Symonds Wong is the owner of Hong Kong Cafe, a longtime cha chaan teng or Hong Kong eatery located on D-Square.

“In the 20 years I’ve been open, I’ve never advertised,” Symonds Wong said. “I mind my own business. I stick to my standards and try to be happy with that. And so I don’t worry about what other people are doing.”

He said Houston’s Chinatown has changed a lot over the years, including the taste of food. In some major aspects, Chinatown’s identity is moving away from its roots.

“As long as you produce authentic fragrances – and for me, these are Hong Kong fragrances – no one can replace you,” said Symonds Wong. “But now a lot of what customers are tasting in Chinatown is no longer traditional flavors. They don’t look like they used to.”

He sees these changes taking place around him.

A poster near an empty storefront says that D-Square is looking for “fashion retailers”, “young fashion brands” and “themed cafes”.

Beatrice Wong said the average age of their clients is half what it used to be. Demographics are changing.

“We are seeing more diverse traffic — more races and ethnicities,” Beatrice Wong said. “A lot more traffic in Midtown and downtown. Prior to Chinatown, a lot of people came from Katy, Sugarland and Pearlland.”

Bellaire Food Street was also a destination for many of these customers. Last Saturday, a queue lined up at the door of Two Hands Corndog, a Korean street food eatery.

“It’s a variation on a Western corn dog,” said Kevin Kahn, a mall developer. “Throw in some crushed spicy Cheetos. People understand this kind of food and they are more than willing to try it…”

Kang said his goal for Bellaire Food Street, which opened in 2019, was to make Chinatown more accessible.

Sara Willa Ernst

In previous generations, the menu was only in Chinese or poorly translated into English.

“For a lot of people — especially non-Asians — it’s very scary,” Kahn said. “If there are no pictures on the menu, you are kind of playing a guessing game.”

According to food blogger Julie Nong, the global obsession with Asian entertainment — K-pop, K-drama and anime — has seeped into Houston and is another driver of new traffic to Chinatown, Sugar Land and Katy.

She cited BTS Jimin, who is a member of the biggest K-pop boy band in the world, as an example.

“(Fans) are saying, ‘Jimin drinks banana milk in training. I need banana milk,” Nong said. “And you will see a group of non-Asian people at H Mart buying banana milk. And it’s so great.”

However, the trends affecting Chinatown go beyond Asia’s soft power over the United States.

Over the past 24 years, more than $50 million of local money has been directed to public infrastructure projects along Bellaire Boulevard and Fondren Road.

Chinatown is located in the TIRZ, or Tax Reinvestment Reinvestment Zone, which allows the area to receive the majority of the property taxes levied there compared to other parts of Houston.

“Usually TIRZs are set up in what could be called a brownfield to try and encourage private public investment,” said Don Huml of Hawes & Associates, administrator of TIRZ 20, which includes Chinatown.

Sara Willa Ernst

The money went towards street repairs, widening lanes to relieve traffic, as well as landscaping, storm drains, new street lights and bus stops.

In 2017, the City of Houston approved a 10-year extension of the TIRZ through 2040.

“This investment has really been kind of a catalyst for the economic development of Bellaire Boulevard,” Huml said. “Private developers want to be around this because it gives them an edge and something that will attract customers.”

Stevie Wu has witnessed the growth of Chinatown over the past few years. He is a founding member of Chowdown In Chinatown, a Facebook community of over 25,000 followers dedicated to Houston’s Chinatown restaurants.

Part of his mission is to promote old eateries, not just trendy franchises.

“Even though they’re all starting to show up in town, I still want to focus on mom and dad,” Wu said.

He said it’s important to respect the places that held their ground when Chinatown didn’t have a bustling economy. He believes that people don’t have to choose between the old and the new – both can coexist in a modern Chinatown.

“Because when they don’t work anymore, it’s like a bygone era. We will never see the real handmade noodles that this man has been making for half of our lives or anything like that. These are the ones who pioneered and paved the way for all these new ventures to flourish.”