Joseph Poon Asian Fusion Closing

[Holly Moore]

Just got a press release that Joseph Poon's will be closing at the end of September when the lease expires.

He is running a series of farewell banquets between July 18th and August 7. I'll post more info on that as a July 18th calendar item.

Joseph Poon goes way back - he opened Sang Kee in 1979 and the Joe's Peking Duck (named one of America's top 14 Cantonese restaurants by USA Today in 1989). Sold both when he went the corporate consulting chef route. He opened Joseph Poon in the late 90's (I think). Joseph Poon's never really caught on like his other ventures did.

[Rich Pawlak]

Just got a press release that Joseph Poon's will be closing at the end of September when the lease expires.

He is running a series of farewell banquets between July 18th and August 7.  I'll post more info on that as a July 18th calendar item.

Joseph Poon goes way back - he opened Sang Kee in 1979 and the Joe's Peking Duck (named one of America's top 14 Cantonese restaurants by USA Today in 1989).  Sold both when he went the corporate consulting chef route.  He opened Joseph Poon in the late 90's (I think).  Joseph Poon's never really caught on like his other ventures did.

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Caught on? He just lasted 10 years at the 10th and Arch location. Depite his showmanship and peripatetic nature, I still think e is one of the unheralded chef geniuses in the city. He cooks with an out-of-the-box, envelope pushing creativity that few chefs really have. His "fusion" cooking, to me anyway, is the only one in the city that isnt derivative.

[Holly Moore]

I agree. Which is why I said what I did. The buzz was never there beyond the first few months of his opening. Which is surprising considering both his skill and his elan.

(Note: I am an avid NY Times crossword puzzle attempter. Thursday, verging on Friday. I mention this because I have never before used "elan" in a sentence and anyone who does crosswords knows that it is a popular answer, probably because it begins with an "e." My next challenge is to work amah into my everyday conversation.)

[philadining]

As a fan of both Sang Kee and Joe's Peking Duck, I was thrilled at the opening of Joe Poon's place on Arch. I went several times in the first couple of years, but experienced decidedly mixed results.

As for the food, every time I went, I got a combination of absolutely fantastic, interesting innovative, delicious food, and some barely edible disasters. The good stuff was good enough that I kept going back for a while, but we kept being subjected to enough bad ideas, or sloppily-executed good ideas that I finally gave up.

The service we received was occasionally pretty good, but more often abysmal.

I'm only guessing, but it might have been another symptom of the celebrity chef syndrome, I did notice that our best meals occurred when Joe Poon himself was in the place, and at our worst ones I saw no evidence of him.

So, I'm a little sad to see him close his restaurant up, but I have to say that I haven't been able to bring myself to spend what always ended up being a lot of money for hit or miss food. I'll agree that the hits were pretty thrilling.

I'm not sure the hyperactive chinatown tours or TV fruit-carving shtick has helped solidify his reputation as an important chef, although I'd agree he has been just that.

[rlibkind]

I cast my vote with Philadining. Went there a couple of times last winter and spring, and each time we had the same experience as Philadining: one or two wonderful dishes, and two or three awful or just barely passable ones.

[marinade]

I agree.  Which is why I said what I did.  The buzz was never there beyond the first few months of his opening.  Which is surprising considering both his skill and his elan.

(Note:  I am an avid NY Times crossword puzzle attempter.  Thursday, verging on Friday.  I mention this because I have never before used "elan" in a sentence and anyone who does crosswords knows that it is a popular answer, probably because it begins with an "e."  My next challenge is to work amah into my everyday conversation.)

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I’ve always like Joe’s food. He was/is one of the city’s most generous cooks.

BTW Holly, amah definitely going to go to one of the farewell banquets.

[herbacidal]

I agree.  Which is why I said what I did.  The buzz was never there beyond the first few months of his opening.  Which is surprising considering both his skill and his elan.

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I'm not suprised he's closing. I never got the impression he built a good team/organization to enable longer-term success. I don't think he uses a PR person.

I don't think he put together a good FOH and BOH.

He does have great marketing and PR instincts, but he was the guy doing everything.

The Watermelon Carving Board and other ideas were great PR stunts, but they were probably slightly misguided and better for Chinatown than the restaurant.

I don't think that kind of restaurant serving food with that style of service and pricepoint can survive in Chinatown. Too many people will just lump the food together with what they're familar with based on their past experiences with Chinatowns here and elsewhere.

Simultaneously, since he didn't put together a solid cooking staff and service staff, he wasn't able to have an appropriate 2-star restaurant elsewhere.

But the man is a fabulous ambassador for Chinatown.

My impression overall was that the only way he was able to keep the restaurant together was with bungee cords and chewing gum.

[Rich Pawlak]

I agree.  Which is why I said what I did.  The buzz was never there beyond the first few months of his opening.  Which is surprising considering both his skill and his elan.

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I'm not suprised he's closing. I never got the impression he built a good team/organization to enable longer-term success. I don't think he uses a PR person.

I don't think he put together a good FOH and BOH.

He does have great marketing and PR instincts, but he was the guy doing everything.

The Watermelon Carving Board and other ideas were great PR stunts, but they were probably slightly misguided and better for Chinatown than the restaurant.

I don't think that kind of restaurant serving food with that style of service and pricepoint can survive in Chinatown. Too many people will just lump the food together with what they're familar with based on their past experiences with Chinatowns here and elsewhere.

Simultaneously, since he didn't put together a solid cooking staff and service staff, he wasn't able to have an appropriate 2-star restaurant elsewhere.

But the man is a fabulous ambassador for Chinatown.

My impression overall was that the only way he was able to keep the restaurant together was with bungee cords and chewing gum.

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You really should check your facts before posting something here, Herb. Joe Poon has had Irene Baker's Spotlight PR Co. as his PR firm for years and he certainly hasnt lacked for exposure locally and nationally. She is one of the best in the business.

[webhill]

I agree.  Which is why I said what I did.  The buzz was never there beyond the first few months of his opening.  Which is surprising considering both his skill and his elan.

(Note:  I am an avid NY Times crossword puzzle attempter.  Thursday, verging on Friday.  I mention this because I have never before used "elan" in a sentence and anyone who does crosswords knows that it is a popular answer, probably because it begins with an "e."  My next challenge is to work amah into my everyday conversation.)

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I'm disappointed to hear of this. I really like his restaurant; I tried to have a big birthday bash there (two years ago? three?) but we got snowed out by some monster blizzard - he called us personally to let us know he just couldn't open that day and sadly it was next to impossible to reschedule with all the out of town guests and so on :(

And Holly, since an amah is a wet nurse (at least, that's one of the definitions) my question is: if the milk is not given directly "from the tap," is one still considered an amah? (hey, this sort of involves food...)

[herbacidal]

You really should check your facts before posting something here, Herb.  Joe Poon has had Irene Baker's Spotlight PR Co. as his PR firm for years and he certainly hasnt lacked for exposure locally and nationally.  She is one of the best in the business.

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Well then I was wrong about him not using someone for PR. Good thing I wasn't doing anything more than speculating.

He may not have lacked exposure; in fact, he no doubt got way more than anyone else in Chinatown. Whether it was the right kind for him and the restaurant is another thing.

It may have been more than he wasn't in the right position to take advantage of the particiular kind of exposure and market demographics to which the restaurant was introduced.

As I said, the tours made him an unofficial ambassador for Chinatown, and for that, I thank him tremendously.

[Scoats]

This is a shame.

I was a regular when he owned the Cajun place in the Liberty Place food court. The food was wonderful, a good value, and he was a nice guy.

I was only at his fusion restaurant twice in these 10 years, despite having made countless visits to Chinatown during that time and having a very positive opinion of him from his food court jaunt. While the food was great both times, something about it didn't click to make it a regular haunt, a bit too upscale for an spontaneous meal and a little too much on the southern on the edge of Chinatown to keep it on my radar.

It's a bizarre space, and maybe because it is rented, didn't justify being particularly well exectued. Hopefully he'll resurface soon in a better overall situation. I'd like to be a regular patron of his again.