Scores of Big Apple eateries are evaporating amid the coronavirus crisis. So each week, Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants will highlight top neighborhood spots fighting to stay afloat while adhering to strict safety standards: the HONoR Roll. Thanks to Kyrie Irving and Beyond Meat, a New Yorker in need will get a plant-based burger whenever you order.
“Every day vendors are either closing or they’re running out of stock,” says Layla Chen, who owns this congee shop and market in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. That’s only a portion of her challenges. The week the coronavirus hit New York, her sales dropped 70%.
To keep afloat, Chen streamlined the menu at Maya Congee Cafe & Chinatown, and she is stocking extra groceries that customers can buy alongside a bowl of her signature rice porridge, like steak, ground beef, potatoes, garlic and fruit. “We just try to provide value for our customers,” she says.
Chen, who immigrated from Guangzhou, China, at age 7, grew up on congee. “It’s a street food that’s similar to a bowl of ramen, but it hasn’t had its moment in the food world,” she says.
She opened Maya Congee Cafe & Chinatown two and a half years ago after a career working in business and operations. “My dad was always a cook, so he taught us a lot about food, growing up,” she says. “It was the one thing I didn’t have to go back to school to learn.”
Chen’s congee is made with white rice, brown rice and quinoa, a departure from the traditional version of dish, which is made solely with white rice. Customers now flock to Bedford-Stuyvesant for shiitake chicken congee, vegan congee and homemade kimchi.
Looking forward, Chen aims to convert more New Yorkers to congee, but the last six weeks have been a struggle. “I’m a mom [and] can’t work anymore because I have to watch my child, and because of that I can’t take any salary,” she says. She hopes more Bed-Stuy residents will drop by for food or groceries: “Right now we are depending on the locals.”
Maya Congee Cafe & Chinatown
Address: 563 Gates Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Suggested Dishes: Shiitake chicken congee, vegan congee, house kimchi.
Price Range: Bowls range from $9 to $15.
Phone Number: (347) 326-6003
