The first week that Woon opened in Pasadena, the lines extended the door and lowered the block every day, the guests queue for the bowls of soda or chewable tofu in hot and salted sauce. The Chinese restaurant administered by the family had just debuted its second location after two years of navigating regulations and preparing the space, and the loyal follower of that owner Keegan Fong and his mother, Julie “Mama” Chen Fong, built in Filipinotown Second Location along the edge of Altadena.
Then the fires began.
The Great Inauguration of Woon took place on December 30. It closed a week later on January 7, when the Fire Eaton made its way through Altadena and the edges of northern Pasadena.
Woon survived but remained closed due to the possible water pollution. It was reopened on January 18, but with thousands of lost houses and a dispersed community, Fong, Like many other small businesses in Los AngelesHe wonders if he can hold the incipient restaurant.
“I thought: 'Who are we attending?'” He said Fong. “When we prepare for reopening, they all said: 'Will it be busy?' And I was like, I don't think so.
Keegan Fong and his mother, Julie “Mama” Chen Fong, in 2021.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
The vibrant green wallpaper extends around the dining room, installed by Fong's friend. The new Woon is a love work with the antiquities of his uncle and the famous recipes of his mother.
The largest space of 2,550 square feet allowed an expanded menu, as well as a greater retail selection of frozen meatballs made by hand, sea sea condiments and other basic business cuisine products. It made it possible for Woon employees to grow in their roles and relieve the stress of the small original kitchen, with the new location that serves as a space for preparation for both. The Sake, Wine and Beer Drink program is more or less, expanding both the inventory and the types of small vendors to Fong like to highlight.
Fong, a native of Pasadena with his own young family, had opened his second location on the border of Pasadena and Altadena to serve the local community, especially those with children. I expected, and still plans, debut the day for exactly that reason. But after a week in the business, everything changed.
Woon's recipes come from Julie “Mama” Chen Fong's kitchen, the mother of the owner Keegan Fong and the “Executive Mascot” of local restaurants. In the photo: Braised Pelly Bao with mustard vegetables and pickled vegetables in Woon in Pasadena.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
When Eaton's fire began, the restorer never thought it would even be extended to the wide neighborhood of his restaurant, but sent his staff early as a precaution. The flames ended up stopping only four blocks north of the new Woon.
“I think someone sent me a video that became viral from Lake Avenue, from Minik Market and Rancho Bar has just flames,” he said. “And once I received that, I had a panic attack.”
At that time he was watching his two children at home in Pasadena. His wife, working at the Filipinotown historical Woon, said he could not go to them to see the children for another 12 minutes. That was not soon enough. He arrived at her sister, who lives down the street, and she was there in seven minutes. Upon arrival, Fong took off for the new restaurant with someone's anxiety whose years of efforts could go to flame after just a week.
He was running red lights, frantically striving to see the distance, to see if his restaurant was still standing. When he arrived, he launched inside, he grabbed cash, then led four blocks to the north and witnessed active fires. Text messages and calls from friends and family began to arrive, offering their help to move the numerous relics and Chinese antiques at exhibition in Woon in Pasadena. He told everyone to stay while surveying the scene.
“I was seeing new houses to set fire,” he said. “It was so surreal. There were not even fire trucks around. I had to take a video because I couldn't process it. I was filming like, 'I have to do this later, because I don't know what I am seeing right now' “.
It was then that he dawned in Fong: so many local companies that he loved and the community from which he hoped to be part had gone, at least as the residents and customers of Altadena knew it.
Woon Pasadena's dining room during his first business week, days before Eaton's fire.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Fong called his choice of location “planting the seed”: the native of Pasadena chose the space of Washington Boulevard for his new restaurant due to his proximity to his hometown and Altadena, where he hoped to buy a house and raise his children. That dream has also gone, at least for the moment.
More immediately, he focuses on keeping Woon Pasadena after losing what the restaurateur estimates that 40% of its customer base is.
Wait for you to do it.
As the days lasted in mid -January and Woon was without water, Fong considered “an emerging window without water” outside the passing space simply to keep their staff employee. The plan would have required a menu only to carry and the purchase of multiple bottles of five gallon water to wash the dishes: a “crazy” idea, reflected later, but was desperate. Fortunately, Fong received the news that the new Woon could reopen on January 13.
But they had been using the Pasadena restaurant as curator and as storage for the historical location of Filipinotown in the meantime, so they had to change things.
When Pasadena's location reopened the following week, Fong and her team found the answer and energy far from the first business days of the restaurant.
A larger space in Pasadena meant that Woon's second location could offer more retail items in addition to new dishes and an enlarged drink program.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“The first week we opened, there was a line around the block every day, and it was exciting,” Fong said. “This reopening was that people drip, very bleak, everyone gave themselves hugs. Knowing that just about the building in front of me is [metaphorically] A whole black hole is really strange. It is a really uncomfortable feeling, trying not to serve anything. “
Fong characterized the days after reopening as “death, as zero.” The dining room was almost completely empty for days in a row.
He expanded the restaurant's delivery radius and pointed to the Woon delivery platform that he would like to participate in promotions to try to attract more online orders.
“I really don't know how the future looks,” he said. “We are really going to have to trust the food to carry. That is our only way. But I don't know how sustainable that is. “
As with the original historical location of Filipinotown, Woon's new position in Pasadena specializes in Modern Chinese recipes by Julie “Mama” Chen Fong.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Even so, it is considered lucky. Many restaurants They were razed in the Eaton fire, including culinary reference points of Altadena and community meeting spaces such as the red Hen Little Red Hen cafeteria, Side Pie and Fox's Restaurant. On the other side of the city, Palisades fire devoured food icons The Reel Inn, Moonshadows, Cholada Thai and others.
Although grateful, Fong, like many neighboring companies that survived, wonders what follows. Woon is locked in his lease and barely opens; Fongs have no choice but to continue and wait for the best.
On January 29, for the New Year lunar, both places established red envelopes as a gift for customers. Mapo Tofu served for abundance, green beans for a long life, cake dated for prosperity and cucumber salad “coins” for good luck.
Woon Pasadena is located in 1392 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, and opens 5 to 10 pm every night.
