When the Golden Mall opened in Flushing, Queens, in 1990, its patrons didn’t mind getting lost within the maze of vendors in order to find chilli oil-slicked noodles, chunky sea bass dumplings or cumin-scented lamb burgers.

For nearly two decades, it pioneered the food hall business model in Flushing, providing a launchpad for chains including Xi’an Famous Foods, KungFu Kitchen, Laoma Malatang and Lanzhou Handmade Noodles. The Dashan Restaurant Group started with Yozi Shanghai at the Golden Mall and eventually opened spots like Szechuan Mountain House and CheLi.

“Everybody started with nothing,” said Robert Cheng, whose family has owned the Golden Mall since 2000.

Now there are big plans to open a second location of the mall in Manhattan this summer, about a year after the original space in Flushing reopened following a major renovation.

The mall’s influence and direct role in the local immigrant food economy has been felt far and wide – from its customers to incipient entrepreneurs – and has had ripple effects on restaurateurs’ successes. It’s also helped shape how New Yorkers eat Chinese food.

It was a mall food court with offerings so good it drew high-profile visitors including Anthony Bourdain and chef Eric Ripert. For the local community, the Golden Mall provided entrepreneurial opportunities and home-style food at affordable prices for homesick Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants – vendors and customers, alike.

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“People flooded that place during the weekends,” said Dian Yu, who has lived in Flushing for most of his life. He noted the appearance of non-Asian patrons helped cement downtown Flushing’s status as a top food destination in the city.

And patrons kept going back because “the food was really good, home-style Chinese food, and it was cheap,” Yu said. Eight dumplings sold for US$2 back then, and it was possible to see dishes being prepared in the open kitchens. Especially for those unfamiliar with the regional cuisines of China, it was easy and fun to mix and match from all the different stands there.

But as the neighbourhood became a popular destination in the 2010s, local and citywide developments contributed to the mall’s subsequent sales decline. Food courts such as New World Mall and New York Food Court competed for its clientele. The local demographic gentrified with the inflow of wealthier Asian immigrants, who displaced low-income senior immigrants. To meet the new demand, landlords converted rent-stabilised apartments into condos and co-ops.

Real estate developers, particularly F&T Group, launched glossy, sprawling projects like Queens Crossing and One Fulton Square with built-in restaurants that changed the course of dining in the area. Restaurants such as Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, Szechuan Mountain House and Jiang Nan upped the ante with stunning presentations, spacious interiors and higher prices.

The competition in Flushing “just went crazy,” Cheng said. Furthermore, the business model based on good, cheap food was being pushed out, in favour of one that prioritised an eye-catching aesthetic that could be posted and promoted on social media. “And if the market changes, we also have to change.”

In 2019, Cheng and his family decided to shutter and renovate the Golden Mall to catch up with the competition, but what was supposed to be a cosmetic makeover turned into a US$2 million overhaul, and more competition opened during the renovations. In 2022, F&T Group opened its shiny, nearly cavernous, mixed-use Tangram project, where a two-bedroom apartment sells for US$1.13 million. Its customers can grab takeout at a cool, new food court or dine at popular, spacious restaurants such as Shoo Loong Kan and Juqi.

The Golden Mall finally reopened its doors in July 2023 in a changed landscape. But the neighbourhood had also retained characteristics key to the mall’s survival. Downtown Flushing was still a culinary destination for New Yorkers at large, and the neighbourhood’s Asian residents, the core customer demographic, remained a majority at 67 per cent.

The new food court now hosts mainstays that once put the mall on the map along with trendy imports, like Original Cake, a Taiwanese bakery focused on flavoured Castella cakes. Each vendor has its own designated seating area against sleek, neon-lit interiors that are unrecognizable from the mall’s previous iteration.

Laoma Malatang, a pioneer of mala dry pot among the food courts in Queens, is now run by Tuo Liu, the owner’s son, who’s innovating with new dishes. A Sichuan skewer stand caters to the recent demand for tongue-numbing flavours. At the ground level, a veteran tenant sells US$1.50 vegetable buns from 5 am to 10 pm to its long-time customers. And a Chinese dessert chain is building out its station to sell coconut eggs, balls of white coconut flesh carved out of the hard shell.

What’s more, the Cheng family is betting big on the citywide uptick in demand for modern Asian food with an immense, new iteration of the Golden Mall on Broadway in the financial district this summer. Out of a seven-floor, 32,000-square-feet space, a mix of full-service restaurants and food court stands will offer pan-Asian dishes.

“We’re one of the oldest food courts in New York,” Cheng said. “We have a special history and a lot of experience.” Particularly now that Asian restaurants have boomed in popularity throughout the city, “we want to grow our business, expand our brand, share our goods,” he said. NYTIMES