Farideh Sadeghin is a chef and video host based in Brooklyn. In this series, she explores New York City neighborhoods through their food and histories.
Brooklyn’s Chinatown in Sunset Park runs along 8th Avenue, which is fitting as eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture.
And according to the Brooklyn-Chinese American Association, the draw of the number eight, along with easy access to the N train from Manhattan, is what led to many Chinese immigrants to open businesses on this stretch from 36th to 65th streets in the 1980s and onward.
While I’ve spent some time exploring Sunset Park, which also has a thriving Hispanic community along 5th Avenue, I’ve been keen to get back there with my friend (and James Beard Finalist, Food and Wine Best New Chef Class of 2022 and Forbes 30 Under 30) Calvin Eng. He’s the chef and owner of the popular Cantonese-American restaurant Bonnie’s in Williamsburg.
Eng grew up in nearby Bay Ridge. His great grandfather moved to the Bronx in 1938 before relocating to Sunset Park and then Bay Ridge in 1957. His mom (for whom his restaurant is named) moved to Bayard Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown with her siblings on Thanksgiving day in 1964 when she was 13 to join her parents, who had come here ahead of them.
Eng learned everything he knows about Cantonese food from his mom and has done his best to preserve traditions. But his own upbringing in Brooklyn also influences his cooking.
Eng continues to frequent Sunset Park as well as the Chinatowns in Manhattan and Queens for fresh rice noodles, dried seafood and other hard to find ingredients for dishes on his menu.
An egg tart from Xin Fa Bakery.
Nathan Bajar for Gothamist
We began our day by grabbing an egg tart at Xin Fa Bakery on 8th Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. I’d heard that the popular bakery sells out fast and when we arrived, it was bustling even at 11 a.m. on a Thursday. We got in line and were fortunate to be able to snag the last egg tart.
We stepped outside onto the…
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