Philly’s chefs celebrate Chinese New Year with a bonanza of collaboration dinners and special menus

In many cultures, Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 17 this year, is a holiday spent at home. It’s a time to get together with one’s family, preparing auspicious dishes that represent wealth, like spring rolls that mimic the appearance of gold bars and dumplings that are shaped like ancient gold ingots.

Here in Philadelphia, it is the perfect opportunity to get out and about within the wider Pan-Asian community. Several restaurants are joining forces to celebrate the Year of the Horse, collaborating on menus that combine different New Year’s traditions, while others have special one-offs and time-limited offerings to mark the event.

Philly observes a truly global version of Chinese New Year, which is sometimes called the Spring Festival, celebrating the end of winter and onset of spring. Chinese New Year is also known more inclusively in the U.S. as Lunar New Year, though not every East Asian or Southeast Asian community celebrates the New Year at the same time (or for the same length of time). For instance, Khmer New Year occurs between April 14 and 16 this year, and Tibetan New Year, or Losar, is Feb. 18. In Vietnam, Tết is celebrated for several weeks (longer than in most Chinese cultures).

If you’re celebrating at home, Chinatown’s grocery store shelves are well-stocked with essential New Year foods like seeds and nuts for good beginnings and plants that are considered lucky, like mandarin trees and bundles of willow branches. Vendors are now selling red envelopes for lai see, or lucky money, and red scrolls denoting traditional well wishes on most Chinatown street corners. Expect some restaurants to be closed for the holiday.

Here are some noteworthy opportunities to celebrate.

This list may be updated as new information becomes available.

Scott and Lulu Calhoun, the owners of Passyunk’s Ember & Ash, are hosting their fifth annual Lunar New Year celebration, this time welcoming Gabriella’s Vietnam chef Thanh Nguyen. There will be Vietnamese street food-inspired bites to start, then meat and fish cooked over live fire, along with noodle dishes (denoting long life) and rice and vegetable sides.

Dinner is $75 per person (not inclusive of tax and a 20% auto-gratuity) and will be served family-style starting at 5 p.m. in staggered seatings throughout the evening. Reservations, available on Resy, are strongly encouraged.

Feb. 17, Ember & Ash, 1520 Passyunk Ave., 267-606-6775, emberandashphilly.com

The Muhibbah Dinner series was started by chef Ange Branca of Kampar in 2017 to celebrate diversity and raise money for immigrant and refugee nonprofits in Philadelphia. Its next iteration is on Feb. 16. While it isn’t strictly a New Year’s celebration, dinner will commence with a prosperity yee sang salad, which diners traditionally toss in the air with chopsticks.

Participating chefs and restaurant owners include Yun Fuentes of Bolo, Natalia Lepore Hagan of Midnight Pasta, Brizna Rojas and Aldo Obando of Mucho Peru, Enaas Sultan of Haraz Coffee House Fishtown, and David Suro of Tequilas and La Jefa.

Dinner is BYOB and tickets are $170 per person. Sales will benefit Puentes de Salud, a nonprofit that promotes the health and wellness of Philadelphia’s Latinx immigrant population. Tickets are available at muhibbahdinners.org/tickets.

Feb. 16, BLDG39 at the Arsenal, 5401 Tacony St., 215-770-6698, bldg39arsenal.com

Ba Le Bakery, Cafe Nhan, Le Viet, Miss Saigon, and more are teaming up for Com.unity’s third annual Tết dinner, hosted this year at Yakitori Boy in Chinatown. After dinner, guests can walk over to the Lunar New Year Parade presented by the Chinatown PCDC and the Philadelphia Suns. Áo dài, or traditional Vietnamese outfits, and other formal garment are strongly encouraged.

There will be one 60-seat seating, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. A cash bar will be available for the LNY cocktail menu from the Yakitori Boy team. Dietary restrictions cannot be accommodated. Dinner tickets are $108 per person and can be booked via a link accessed through Com.unity’s Instagram profile.

Feb. 16, Yakitori Boy, 211 N. 11th St., 215-923-8088, yakitoriboy.com

Ellen Yin’s the Wonton Project will host Lunar New Year Hot Pot parties at the Bread Room for groups of six to eight ($125 per person, excluding tax and gratuity). The parties are inspired by an event the Bread Room hosted with Natasha Pickowicz, the author of the cookbook Everybody Hot Pot.

Diners will cook Lunar New Year menu staples together, such as noodles for longevity, Shanghai rice cakes, and dumplings for prosperity. There will also be whole fish on the menu and spring rolls. It will be available to book on OpenTable.

Feb. 17-21, the Bread Room, 834 Chestnut St., Suite 103, 215-419-5820, thebreadroomphl.com

Stephen Starr’s Buddakan will be serving modern interpretations of traditional Chinese New Year dishes like trotter-stuffed spring rolls, Dungeness crab longevity noodles, whole fish with black bean sauce, as well as a horse-themed dessert (for the Year of the Horse). Brunch runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Seats are $75 per person (excluding tax or gratuity), with a four-person minimum for reservations. Reservations can be made on OpenTable.

Feb. 22, Buddakan, 325 Chestnut St., 215-574-9440, buddakan.com

The Kensington-based Vietnamese coffee roaster and cafe will serve two specialty drinks based on Tết treats: a black sesame hojicha, consisting of black sesame paste, hojicha (roasted green tea), milk of choice, condensed milk, and topped with salted foam. “This drink reminds us of kẹo mè đen, which is a black sesame taffy usually found in the traditional Vietnamese Mứt Tết tray (the tray of dried fruits and candies),” said owner Thu Pham. They’re also making a black sesame banana matcha (black sesame paste, matcha, milk of choice, condensed milk, and topped with banana foam), reminiscent of kẹo chuối, a banana taffy also found in the traditional Vietnamese Mứt Tết candy tray.

Feb. 13-20, Càphê Roasters, 3400 J St., 215-690-1268, capheroasters.com

Luk Fu is serving an a la carte menu of very traditional Chinese New Year dishes such as braised pork trotters ($38), whole pompano ($48), and a New Year’s stir fry with spring vegetables and auspicious ingredients like snow peas, wood ear mushrooms, and sweet lapchong, or Chinese sausage ($28). Reservations are available on OpenTable.

Feb. 1-28, Live! Casino, 900 Packer Ave., 267-682-7670, livech.com/Philadelphia/Dine-and-Drink/Luk-Fu

At this Washington Avenue institution, you can pick up Tết essentials like the cylindrical bánh tét ($20) and square-shaped bánh chưng ($25), savory rice cakes made with mung beans and pork belly and wrapped in banana leaves. Takeout only. Order online.

Available now until Feb. 18 (or until sell-out), Ba Le Bakery, 606 Washington Ave., 215-389-4350, balebakery.com