"The bakers would line tangerine-orange plastic trays with jiggly egg custard tarts, fluffy mini cakes, and bouncy sesame dessert balls each morning and throughout the day. But Lung Moon Bakery was never busier or more in demand than when the Mid-Autumn Festival rolled around. Longtime residents of Chinatown and Asian Americans all over the city would beeline to the tiny storefront for expertly made mooncakes to celebrate the annual tradition. Like many others, pastry chef Jansen Chan made it a point to make one more visit when the longstanding old-school bakery announced it would close permanently shortly after last year’s festival in October. Chan says he spoke to the owner during one of the bakery’s last day in business, and they struck a deal: Chan would buy the mooncake molds, used to turn out the popular delicacies filled with everything from white lotus seeds to salted duck eggs to red bean paste. The mooncakes and other desserts stood out here because of the 53-year-old bakery’s personal touches. Handwritten signs on Post-It notes would sometimes point customers to specials — lucky visitors might get an extra pastry thrown in. “You let us know that our foods really touched your hearts,” said a closing note back in October. The feeling was mutual." - Eater Staff
