"Debuted in 1990 and credited with helping shape how New Yorkers eat Chinese food, the original Flushing location served as the launch pad for chains like Xi’an Famous Foods and the Dashan Restaurant Group, behind the acclaimed Szechuan Mountain House and CheLi. After a five-year, $2 million overhaul — an effort to keep pace with intense competition in a rapidly changing neighborhood — the Flushing location reopened in July 2023, hosting a mix of familiar names and modern newcomers. When it opened, food icons like the late Anthony Bourdain and Jonathan Gold celebrated the food hall for its sheer number of homestyle offerings at affordable prices, a destination at the time unlike any other food court in New York." - Melissa McCart