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After Fat Choy was forced to close its New York City restaurant due to the pandemic’s impact on small businesses, the acclaimed vegan Chinese eatery is staging a comeback in New Jersey.

Justin Lee, the restaurant’s owner and chef, plans to reopen Fat Choy as a sit-down spot in Englewood this summer through the Cure Cos., a recently launched venture development and advisory group backed by Tenafly entrepreneur and Aussie coffee chain Bluestone Lane co-founder Jonathan Krieger.

Located at 52 E. Palisades Ave. in Englewood, the new full-service joint will still feature a vegan menu — but tweaked so it’s more accessible to a wider audience, including with Kosher offerings.

At the time of the December 2022 closure of his Lower East Side restaurant, Lee told New York Magazine, “The reason we’re closing is just business isn’t good enough – it’s very plain and simple. To be honest, we’re doing pretty weird food and it’s during an economic recession and people just want a little more comforting stuff. While I think the experience is comforting, getting them out of their element to come and try it is difficult.”

Fat Choy’s menu – whose items were all initially priced under $10 – included its signature mushroom sloppy joe, salt-and-pepper cauliflower, sticky rice dumplings and sesame smashed cucumbers.

Lee also told New York Magazine that the restaurant was “a little bit limited in doing the volume” it needed from a check-average perspective, citing the location’s small size and delivery zone. Inflation also made it more difficult to keep the prices accessible to all customers, he said.

Curating success

Along with reopening Fat Choy, Lee is becoming culinary director of the Cure Cos., whose portfolio includes businesses in the wellness, lifestyle, food & beverage, education and technology industries.

Brands developed by the company include the Spring, a 12,000-square-foot community learning and wellness center in Tenafly. The firm has also invested and advised two ventures, so far: Glosslab, a waterless nail salon, and Celcy, a countertop kitchen robot that remotely cooks healthy, gourmet meals.

After Krieger, the founder and CEO of Cure Cos., was connected to Lee through a shared contact, he tapped the chef’s expertise to develop dining options at the Spring, which now include a café and ice cream shop.

The collaboration also came as the Cure Cos. was trying to figure out what to do with a property it owned in downtown Englewood.

While the company initially planned to open Urban Shuk, a Kosher food collective featuring five different dining concepts, at 52 E. Palisades Ave., that deal fell apart and Krieger said they considered selling the location. However, after meeting Lee and working with him at The Spring, Krieger believed the busy Bergen County city could be a “perfect” place to give Fat Choy a second chance.

According to Krieger, the restaurant is slated to open by August.

Krieger, who is also president of the Tenafly Chamber of Commerce, said he’s “very bullish” about the eatery’s chances of success in the area, noting the affluent demographics and population.

“It … says a lot about what’s happening in New Jersey – especially in Tenafly and Englewood, which are undergoing a massive shift,” he said. “Both towns have unbelievable mayors and support systems and [are] working on initiatives to help support small businesses and attract new ones.”

He went on to say, “I strongly encourage all my friends and colleagues when considering expansion to look at these markets. To anyone interested consider me your tour guide.”

According to Krieger, plans are still in the works to develop Urban Shuk in a new location.