Farewell Dinners from Death-Defying 'Chinatown Mayor'

By LEN LEAR

Joseph Poon, owner of his eponymous restaurant at 1002 Arch St., often referred to as the “Mayor of Chinatown,”wears hardship like a second skin. While growing up in war-ravaged Hong Kong after World War II, food was so scarce that four of Poon’s nine siblings died from starvation and an absence of medical care.

“I survived,” explained Joe, 56, “by taking food from garbage cans and begging for money at hotels and on the street. Extreme poverty taught me to keep going, keep learning, keep improving and work harder and longer hours than everybody else. And since we had so little food, I decided as a child that if I survived to adulthood, I would be in the restaurant business. At least that way, even if I had nothing else, I would always have food to eat.”

Joe’s intense grittiness and tenacity paid off after he arrived in Philadelphia in 1972 with eight dollars in his pocket and a very limited knowledge of English. He worked as a dishwasher, then waiter, in construction and in a fortune cookie factory, holding as many as three jobs at one time.

Thanks to a dentist in Chinatown, Dr. Augustine Au, and others who were impressed with Poon’s beaver-like determination, Joe was awarded a college scholarship from the State University of New York at Oneonta. He majored in nutrition and graduated with a B.S. degree in 1978. He then studied international cuisine and pastry arts at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.

Poon’s first entrepreneurial venture was Sang Kee restaurant, which he opened in Chinatown in 1979 and is still in existence under different ownership. In 1984, just one year after receiving his green card, Poon opened Joe’s Peking Duck House, which was named “One of America’s Top Cantonese Restaurants” by USA Today in 1989.

Joe later opened another restaurant in South Jersey but sold both of his businesses to accept an executive position as managing chef for China Coast Restaurants, a sister company of Red Lobster. Within six months he was named product manager for all 52 of the chain’s restaurants. Poon later became a consultant for Disney World’s Dolphin Hotel and for four-star Italian restaurants in Boston and Portland, Maine, before opening Joseph Poon Asian Fusion Restaurant at 1002 Arch St. In 1997.

Despite his success, Joe’s lease is up in October and is not being renewed because the landlord’s son is planning to open a new restaurant at the site. “I am disappointed,” said the lifelong bachelor, “but I’m in no danger of turning into a couch potato. I’ll focus on my restaurant consulting business and my catering, and I am considering starting an Asian Fusion culinary school. I will also continue with my walking tours of Chinatown and my appearances on TV shows.”

(Joe appears once a month on Channel 10 with cooking demonstrations, and he has demonstrated artistic food carving on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Ellen DeGeneris Show. He is also known for his legendary philanthropic work on behalf of numerous local charities and for feeding rescue workers at the 9/11 site. “It’s not how much you get in life that counts,” he insists, “but how much you give back.”)

Before Poon closes the doors to his namesake restaurant on September 30, he is swinging them open for a series of farewell dinners, which began this week and will continue through August 7. The five-course dinners will feature the most popular recipes from Joe’s recently published autobiography and cookbook, Life is Short ... Cooking is Fun.

The farewell dinners are available for parties of two or more by reservation only. The cost is $49.95 per person plus tax and tip, and every diner will receive a copy of Poon’s new book. (Couples who want to share a book may reduce the cost to $35 for the second person.)

“I am so grateful to Americans,” said Joe. “So many people have opened their hearts to me that I can never express my gratitude enough. That is why I feel such an obligation to use my talents for fundraising for good causes whenever possible.” For more information about the farewell dinners, call 215-928-9333 or visit www.josephpoon.com.