Theatricality always has been a trademark of chef Fu Li Zhang.
Performing behind a window that looks into the kitchen of the 3-year-old LanZhou Ramen on Buford Highway, the China native pulls noodles by hand, or cuts them with a knife into pots of boiling water, then uses them to concoct the delicious soups and stir-fries Atlantans love to slurp and twirl.
At Yunnan Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle in Duluth — open since November as the second restaurant from Zhang and his wife, Rachel Yuan — the showmanship happens right in front of you. Servers scurry from kitchen to table with pots of boiling hot broth and an array of ingredients, which they dump in and cook in the crossing-the-bridge style that originated in Yunnan province.
Or, at least, they used to: After watching the COVID-19 nightmare play out in their homeland, Zhang and Yuan decided to close both restaurants temporarily on March 14, send their employees home, and wait it out. “If one person gets infected, it will affect the whole restaurant, and then it will affect everybody, and all their families,” said Frank Zheng, the Crossing Bridge manager, who started out at LanZhou and serves as a company spokesman and interpreter.
On May 16, LanZhou and Crossing Bridge reopened for takeout only. Zheng isn’t sure when customers will be allowed inside again. A lot of people have asked for dine-in, but the restaurants are “just not there yet,” he said, voicing concern over Georgia’s fluctuating COVID-19 data.
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In a candid conversation, he painted a portrait of a once-prosperous family-owned business now challenged by a public-health crisis. When it comes to takeout, LanZhou holds a considerable advantage over Crossing Bridge. The Doraville establishment is a media darling with a solid reputation and devoted clientele. Crossing Bridge, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer on a busy stretch of Pleasant Hill Road, still trying to prove itself in a community saturated with Asian-food alternatives. Sales at Crossing Bridge are down 80 percent from the pre-pandemic peak; plus, the rent is significantly higher than on Buford Highway.
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Zheng said Crossing Bridge reached out to its landlord to “request a discount,” but never heard back. “If Crossing Bridge continues this way for another two to three months, four months maximum, I guess probably we have to shut it down,” he said.
Let’s hope it never comes to that, but the situation is a reminder of the fragility of Atlanta’s immigrant-owned restaurants, on Buford and beyond.
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As for staffing, the restaurants laid off most of their approximately 40 employees in March. They currently are operating with skeleton crews: four at Crossing Bridge and five at LanZhou, including the chef and Zheng. The chef is super-cautious about exposing workers to the virus. All the current crew, except Zheng, lives with the chef and his wife, rarely venturing beyond the restaurants except for once-a-week grocery shopping, Zheng said.
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To further seal themselves from the public, both restaurants have installed stationary wood-and-plexiglass boxes with doors on either side for transferring food to customers waiting outside.
Should you visit LanZhou, peek through the front window, and you’ll spy the chef at work: bending, stretching and twisting blobs of dough into tender noodles — for now, a performer in search of an audience.
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LANZHOU RAMEN
Menu: hasn't changed
Alcohol: no
What I ordered: chive pancakes, Shanghai pork buns, sausage fried rice, shrimp stir-fried hand-pulled noodles, stewed meatball hand-pulled noodle soup. Keep in mind that stir-fries travel better than noodle soups, though LanZhou does package the broth and noodles separately. The soup could have used a brief reheating, but the noodles were dreamily tender, and, man, those big fluffy lion's head meatballs! The shrimp stir-fry was tasty and scarfable at room temp. Chive pancakes can be a little chewy if not eaten right away. Loved the buns.
Service options: call for pickup; order via Grubhub for pickup or delivery; delivery via Chowbus, an Asian food delivery platform
Safety protocols: follows CDC and state guidelines.
Address, phone: 5231 Buford Highway NE, Doraville; 678-691-2175
Hours: 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. daily.
Website: lanzhouramenatlanta.com
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