Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo Getty Images
In this series, “Looking to Settle,” Eddie Huang chronicles his search for a downtown restaurant space. In the previous installment, Huang made an offer on his dream Lower East Side restaurant but decided against partnering with its owner, the Dapper Gentleman.
Two years ago, when my son, Senna, was born, we went through what all parents go through trying to get him down for naps. My father came over a couple times and I asked him what I was like as a kid.
He laughed, covering his mouth, then shot me a fair answer.
“Honestly, I can’t remember because I wasn’t around.”
I burst out laughing; he really wasn’t.
A few minutes later, after the laughter wore off, the sadness set in his face as he looked at Senna. He let out a big sigh, pursed his lips, and turned to me. “You know how I got you to sleep in the car?”
“How?”
“I play Sade.”
Gotta find out what I meant to you.
You’re the one who broke my heart in two.
Where were you just when I needed you?
Deep down, I’ve always wanted to be my dad; that’s probably because he wasn’t really around.
After he mentioned Sade, I started to play Senna music for the same reason and the song he kept falling asleep to was Gazebo’s “Masterpiece.” This is how it became the inspiration for the restaurant.
But on a recent day, Sade’s “Cherry Pie” was playing on shuffle as I walked into The Flower Shop to tape our podcast, Canal Street Dreams. At that moment, I got a call from the Dapper Gentleman. He had just received our offer a few days before.
“This isn’t what we spoke about. I thought we were partners,” he said, right off the bat.
“We definitely spoke about being partners, but after reviewing your offer it felt more appropriate to make this a straight lease purchase,” I said, a little shocked that he was upset. I’d found his request for $500,000 in key money exorbitant, and the open-ended clause to negotiate his equity in the project made me nervous. By making the percentage ambiguous and leaving us on the hook to negotiate that part in good faith later, he would be able to maneuver for the most key money in the present while also having the right to come back for a bite on the back end. It was slick.
“But that’s not what we spoke about,” he repeated.
“Your offer leaves the equity conversation TBD, so I think you’re hedging as well.”
“Eddie, what do you want?” he asked me sternly and directly.
“I wanted to work with you, but after looking at your offer, our group wants to make this a lease purchase,” I repeated.
“Eddie, is that what you want or what the group wants?”
I paused. As much as he had hurt my feelings the past few months, I respected him … admired him … at one point wanted to be partners with him. And after making an offer that was quite noncommittal on his part, now he was putting it to me personally.
I paused. In moments like this I think it’s important to acknowledge the value of silence for yourself and the person on the phone. “I wanted this,” I said.
More silence. I was uncomfortable that I’d revealed so much and I blurted something out just to break the quiet. “It’s just an offer. You can say, ‘no’.”
He laughed. “I know I can say ‘no’, but I wanted this to work.”
Remorse was setting in as I walked to the front of the restaurant and sat down on a stool to continue the conversation.
Outside, there was a homeless man slumped on the sidewalk after what I have to assume was a rough night. I looked at his face and he looked sweet and charming and lovely, as all humans do when they’re sleeping like a baby.
As the Dapper Gentleman continued to talk on the phone about how I’d gone back on my initial intentions to be his partner, I started to see one of my exes in the sleeping man’s face.
I was transported to the day we broke up at the Public Hotel. She had done something that had cut me wide open and I couldn’t come back from. She sat on the corner of the bed with the sun shining through the window onto her bright blue eyes, wearing a sundress projecting innocence, which is absolute kryptonite to any non-white male that grew up horny for Topanga from Boy Meets World.
She copped to what she did, asked me to stay, and within about 20 seconds, I was in the elevator on my way out of the hotel. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made and I was in a lot of pain over it for several years. But you can’t open back up to people who cut you with both eyes open. I was lonely and angry for several years after that. It was the kind of anger that shows up when you’re asleep grinding your teeth, or flares up involuntarily when doom scrolling. It was largely subconscious and unacknowledged until I met my wife who simply would never do what that woman did.
To be honest, I didn’t even know why the Dapper Gentleman was calling me after I’d cut him, and as that thought crossed my mind, I asked myself if I could see myself caught up in a situation with Roman like I was now with the Dapper Gentleman. The answer was no, and my anger spiked.
“Look, I think the offer we made is fair,” I said. “What would you want for equity anyway?”
“Twenty percent.”
“Let’s focus on the lease purchase. I want this to work out,” I said, and I got off the phone without wasting another word.
I don’t know shit about shit, but my gut told me when I met my wife that she was a real one and that if she was ever going to cut me, she’d do it by walking in the front door. After 43 years on this planet, I know that’s what I need: someone who will make eye contact when stabbing me.
None of this was about the Dapper Gentleman. He’s an extremely successful man whom a lot of people like myself adore, but I need assurance and security from a partner. Because when things start coming in from the side, the back, or the ceiling through the HVAC, I get really upset and can’t show up as the best version of myself.
In a perfect twist of timing, the second guest on our podcast that day was none other than Roman. As my guy walked in with a caddy of drinks from Mixedin to pod with me and my wife, it felt like a new day. We talked about how he had come up in the nightlife scene, then had an urge to put his mother’s recipes front and center at Regina’s on Orchard Street, and now has a 2-year-old with an incredible Greek woman like I do. As we kept talking, I caught a lot of unhinged genuine smiles and heart eyes all around. Natashia looked at us like two boys at the park and everything felt right.
When the episode ended, I caught him up on the offer with the Dapper Gentleman.
“It’s a lot of money. You think he’s going to go for it?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I blurted out that he could just say ‘no’ if he didn’t like it.”
“My God.”
Roman laughed and face-palmed. As the laughter wore off, he rubbed his chin and looked like he was measuring me up for the first time.
I gave him space to think, and after a few moments he told me what was on his mind.
“Look. I know we’re talking Gazebo. But I have an idea.”
“What is it?” I asked intently.
“I want to do Gazebo. But I walked by this space yesterday on Eldridge that Baohaus could slide into and I just feel like I gotta say that out loud.”
Now it was Natashia’s turn to laugh.
“I tell him all the time! Gazebo is amazing, but what everyone wants in the comments is Baohaus. We walk around the city and every day there is someone that’s like, ‘Bring back Baohaus!’ We all want Gazebo, but you kind of owe us Baohaus first.”
I shook my head. If anyone else had said this to me, I would have mistaken it as not wanting to do Gazebo or not believing in me as a chef, but with Roman and Natashia, I knew it was love; they were looking out for me.
“Let’s go see it.”
We walked out of The Flower Shop down Eldridge and stopped right before reaching Canal Street. Next to the bootleg 7-Eleven was a stall about 300 square feet just like Regina’s and just like the original Baohaus on 137 Rivington Street. I almost fucking cried, I loved that restaurant so much.
“My phone is dead but take a photo of the agent’s number. I’m gonna look into this for you,” said Roman.
I gave him a hug and Natashia smiled; she knew this meant a lot to me. While I have plenty of ideas and enjoy working, what truly gets me up every day is the opportunity to do things with other people like a family.
I walked back to The Flower Shop listening to “Cherry Pie” because I missed my father, whom I hadn’t spoken to since Thanksgiving of 2024. No matter what is going on in my life or what business I’m conducting, the issues I have with my biological family are always rumbling underneath it all.
Where were you when I needed you?
You were the only one
You’re a son of a gun
Work has always been easy for me because everything else has been hard.
I thought of the Dapper Gentleman and smiled. He’d be an excellent partner to someone who came from a more solid family. In my personal life and business, I simply require more security.
I walked into The Flower Shop to get my bag and Dylan was there.
“Hey, brother! How’s it going?”
“Amazing. Honestly, one of the best days I’ve had in quite some time.”
“What’s going on? Talk to me!”
“We just had Roman on the pod and it was just great,” I said, cautious not to say too much since I’d spoken to Dylan about Gazebo several times as well. He’d just been so busy with the five restaurants and bars he already had, and with opening another private members’ bar on Chrystie Street, in a month that I didn’t want to pile on him.
“Right, right, are you two working together?”
“Yeah, I think so. Wouldn’t have happened without you though, man. I really appreciate you giving me a home for Gazebo this summer.”
He smiled, nodded his head, and then the smile disappeared from his face as if he knew something I didn’t.
“Well, look, brother, we’ve loved having you and I wanted to ask if you’d consider staying as the executive chef here.”
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