I noticed a new Chinese restaurant on Seamless called Joe’s Noodles. The address is 121 Reade Street next to Hudson. I haven’t walked by yet but that address appears to be the Tribeca Abbey apartment building. Do you have any idea what’s going on? Is the restaurant on Seamless just a front for another location? —Archie
If you’ve ever wondered whether all the Chinese food delivery in the city comes from one kitchen, or how on earth there could be so many Chinese restaurants in FiDi, this post is for you.
Joe’s Noodles is on Seamless, GrubHub, Menu Pages, et al, with 646-301-4010 as a phone number. There was no answer when I called at lunchtime. The Joe’s Noodles website listed the same number for ordering, but also 212-729-0499 at the bottom “for other information.” I got a recording saying that the voicemail wasn’t activated. So I Google searched the number, and what came up was AAA Asian Food at 325 Broadway. Clicking through to AAAasianfood.com, however, led to a home page with “Asian Diet Food” as the restaurant’s name—and more confoundingly, it listed two locations: 325 Broadway and 5600 N. Clark St. in Chicago (with the phone number 212-233-3915).
I called the number for 325 Broadway (212-233-7447), but it was busy. 325 Broadway is the same address as Arome Cafe, so I was wondering if the kitchen there was pumping out Chinese food—but they had no idea what I was talking about.
Then I noticed that on AAAasianfood.com’s “location” page, Asian Diet Food is listed as a sister restaurant at 70 John. I called that number (same as the Chicago one, 212-233-3915): “You want to order?” replied the person to each of my questions, so I asked for the owner—who confirmed that the food from “Joe’s Noodles” and “AAA Asian Food” comes from their kitchen.
Only after I hung up did it occur to me to use Google Street View to see if there actually is an Asian Diet Food at 70 John—and from what I can tell, there isn’t. And when you Google “70 John NYC,” you also get a restaurant called Joe’s Dumpling….
The question remained: Where is the actual kitchen for the false fronts listed online at 121 Reade, 325 Broadway, and 70 John?
I called Asian Diet Food (“70 John”) again and asked: Where is the kitchen? The answer: 31 Oliver Street. So I Googled that, and now we know: Lily’s Japanese & Chinese Restaurant is the source of all this food. The only question that still remains is how many more restaurants on Seamless and the like are fronts for it or other establishments. (Forget it, Jake….) Actually, there’s one more question: Is GrubHub Seamless (it’s one company now), which certainly benefits from showing restaurant growth in the period before it goes public, aware and/or complacent about the issue?