Aging is inevitable, and for many, it signals the beginning of a new chapter - one where you cross off bucket list items and live life to the fullest, on your own terms. However, for some men, aging is a horrible prospect, filled with chronic fatigue, irritability, and inability to perform in the bedroom. If you're concerned about life in middle age and beyond, we've got great news: there are easy, proven steps that you can take to help stop the negative effect of aging.
Global Life Rejuvenation was founded to give men a new lease on life - one that includes less body fat, fewer mood swings, and more energy as you age. If you're ready to look and feel younger, it's time to consider TRT (testosterone replacement therapy), and growth hormone peptides. These therapies for men are effective, safe, and customized to fit your goals, so you can keep loving life as you get older.
TRT, and growth hormone peptide therapies bridge the gap between your old life and the more vibrant, happier version of you. With a simple click or call, you can be well on your way to a brighter future. After all, you deserve to be the one in charge of your wellness and health. Now, you have the tools to do so - backed by science and applied by our team of TRT and HRT experts with more than 13 years of experience.
For men, getting older comes with its perks, like living life on their own terms and not having to "sweat the small stuff" day in and day out. At the same time, there are aspects of aging that men dread, like hormonal changes. Yes, you read that right – men, not just women, go through hormonal changes as they age. For men, the biggest change involves a drop in testosterone.
Lower levels of testosterone can wreak havoc on a male's mind and body and when left untreated, can result in symptoms like:
Those symptoms are concerning, but with testosterone replacement therapy and anti-aging medicine, many males improve their quality of life with age. The good news is that TRT and anti-aging meds aren't only reserved for "old guys." In fact, there's no magic age at which men should start thinking about hormone replacement therapy. Everyone's body is different, so if you're experiencing the above conditions in your mid-30s, TRT could be a viable solution when you consult with a doctor.
Testosterone is a crucial hormone for men and plays an important role throughout the male lifespan. Most of a male's testosterone is produced through the testicles. Also called the male sex hormone, testosterone starts playing its part during puberty.
When a male goes through puberty, testosterone helps males develop:
As boys turn to men and men grow older, testosterone levels deplete naturally. Sometimes, events like injuries and chronic health conditions like diabetes can lower testosterone levels. Unfortunately, when a man loses too much T, it results in hypogonadism. When this happens, the testosterone must be replaced, or the male will suffer from symptoms like muscle loss, low libido, and even depression.
TRT is exactly what it sounds like: a treatment option for men that replaces testosterone so that your body regulates hormones properly and restores balance to your life. Also called androgen replacement therapy, TRT alleviates the symptoms that men experience with low T.
Originally lab-synthesized in 1935, testosterone has grown in popularity since it was produced. Today, TRT and other testosterone treatments are among the most popular prescriptions in the U.S.
Without getting too deep into the science, TRT works by giving your body the essential testosterone it needs to function correctly. As the primary androgen for both males and females, testosterone impacts many of the body's natural processes – especially those needed for overall health. For example, men with low T are more prone to serious problems like cardiovascular disease and even type-2 diabetes.
When your body quits making enough testosterone, it causes your health to suffer until a solution is presented. That's where TRT and anti-aging medicine for men can help. TRT helps balance your hormones and replenish your depleted testosterone. With time, your body will begin to heal, and many symptoms like low libido and irritability begin to diminish.
For men, aging is the biggest contributor to lower testosterone levels, though there are other causes like obesity, drug abuse, testicular injuries, and certain prescribed medications. Sometimes, long-term health conditions like AIDS, cirrhosis of the liver, and kidney disease can lower testosterone levels.
When a man's testosterone levels drop significantly, it alters his body's ratio of estrogen and testosterone. Lower testosterone levels cause more abdominal fat, which in turn results in increased aromatase, which converts even more testosterone into estrogen.
If you're concerned that you might have low T, you're not alone. Millions of men in the U.S. feel the same way. The best way to find out if your testosterone is low is to get your levels tested.
For sustainable testosterone replacement therapy benefits, you must consult with hormone doctors and experts like those you can find at Global Life Rejuvenation. That way, you can find the root cause of your hormone problems, and our team can craft a personalized HRT plan tailored to your needs.
Are you used to blasting through a productive day and accomplishing all your daily goals? Do you find yourself losing muscle mass and the craving to be intimate with your partner? Does your partner complain about how irritable you have become? If you're not usually a curmudgeon, your body could be giving you a sign. It could be time to speak with a doctor about TRT and anti-aging medicine for men in Lower East Side, NY.
If you're experiencing any of the following symptoms, you might be battling against low testosterone:
One of the most common reasons that men choose TRT is because they have lost that "spark" with their partner. It's not easy for a man to hear that they're not performing like they used to. Intimacy is a powerful part of any relationship. When a once-healthy sex life dwindles, it can cause serious relationship issues.
The good news is that low libido doesn't have to be a permanent problem. TRT and anti-aging medicines help revert hormone levels back into their normal range. When this happens, many men have a more enjoyable life full of intimacy and sex drive.
Weak erections – it's an uncomfortable subject for many men in the U.S. to talk about. It's even worse to experience first-hand. You're in the midst of an intimate moment, and you can't do your part. Despite being perfectly normal, many men put blame and shame upon themselves when they can't achieve an erection. And while the inability to perform sexually can be caused by poor diet, obesity, and chronic health conditions, low testosterone is often a contributing factor.
Fortunately, weak erections are a treatable condition. The best way to regain your confidence and ability in bed is to speak with your doctor. Once any underlying conditions are discovered, options like TRT may be the best course of treatment.
Hair Loss
Do you find it harder and harder to work out and lift weights in the gym? Are you having problems lifting heavy items that you once had no problem lifting?
Recent studies show that when men are inactive, they lose .5% of muscle strength every year, from ages 25 to 60. After 60, muscle loss doubles every decade. While some muscle loss is common as men age, a significant portion can be tied to low testosterone levels. When a man's T levels drop, so does his muscle mass.
Testosterone is a much-needed component used in gaining and retaining muscle mass. That's why many doctors prescribe TRT Lower East Side, NY, for men having problems with strength. One recent study found that men who increased their testosterone levels using TRT gained as much as 2.5 pounds of muscle mass.
Whether your gym performance is lacking, or you can't lift heavy items like you used to, don't blame it all on age. You could be suffering from hypogonadism.
If you're like millions of other men in their late 20s and 30s, dealing with hair loss is a reality you don't want to face. Closely related to testosterone decline and hormone imbalances, hair loss is distressing for many men. This common symptom is often related to a derivative of testosterone called DHT. Excess amounts of DHT cause hair follicles to halt their production, causing follicles to die.
Because hair located at the front and crown is more sensitive to DHT, it grows slower than other follicles and eventually stops growing permanently. Thankfully, TRT and anti-aging treatments for men in Lower East Side, NY, is now available to address hair loss for good.
While it's true that you can't change your genes, you can change the effects of low testosterone on your body. Whether you're suffering from thinning hair or hair loss across your entire head, TRT and other hormone therapies can stop hair loss and even reverse the process.
Also called "man boobs," gynecomastia is essentially the enlargement of male breast tissue. This increase in fatty tissue is often caused by hormonal imbalances and an increase in estrogen. For men, estrogen levels are elevated during andropause. Also called male menopause, andropause usually happens because of a lack of testosterone.
If you're a man between the ages of 40 and 55, and you're embarrassed by having large breasts, don't lose hope. TRT is a safe, effective way to eliminate the underlying cause of gynecomastia without invasive surgery. With a custom HRT and fitness program, you can bring your testosterone and estrogen levels back to normal before you know it.
Decreased energy was once considered a normal part of aging. Today, many doctors know better. Advances in technology and our understanding of testosterone show that low T and lack of energy often go hand-in-hand.
If you're struggling to enjoy activities like playing with your kids or hiking in a park due to lack of energy, it could be a sign of low T. Of course, getting tired is perfectly normal for any man. But if you're suffering from continual fatigue, a lack of enjoyment, or a decrease in energy, it might be time to speak with a doctor.
Whether you're having a tough time getting through your day or can't finish activities you used to love, TRT could help.
A study from 2011 showed that men who lose a week's worth of sleep can experience lowered testosterone levels – as much as 15%, according to experts. Additional research into the topic found almost 15% of workers only get five hours of sleep (or less) per night. These findings suggest that sleep loss negatively impacts T levels and wellbeing.
The bottom line is that men who have trouble sleeping often suffer from lower testosterone levels as a result. If you find yourself exhausted at the end of the day but toss and turn all night long, you might have low T.
TRT and anti-aging medicines can restore your T levels back to normal, which can help you sleep better with proper diet and exercise.
You're feeling down about everything, and there's no solid explanation for why you're in such a crummy mood. Your daily life is great and full of success, but you can't help but feel unexcited and unmotivated. If you're experiencing symptoms like these, you may be depressed – and it may stem from low testosterone.
A research study from Munich found that men with depression also commonly had low testosterone levels. This same study also found that depressed men had cortisol levels that were 67% higher than other men. Because higher cortisol levels lead to lower levels of testosterone, the chances of severe depression increase.
Depression is a very real disorder and should always be diagnosed and treated by your doctor. One treatment option gaining in popularity is TRT for depression. Studies show that when TRT is used to restore hormone levels, men enjoy a lighter, more improved mood. That's great news for men who are depressed and have not had success with other treatments like anti-depression medicines, which alter the brain's chemistry.
Ask anyone over the age of 50 how their memory is, and they'll tell you it wasn't what it used to be. Memory loss and lack of concentration occur naturally as we age – these aren't always signs of dementia or Alzheimer's.
However, what many men consider a symptom of age may be caused by low testosterone. A 2006 study found that males with low T levels performed poorly on cognitive skill tests. These results suggest that low testosterone may play a part in reducing cognitive ability. If you're having trouble staying on task or remembering what your schedule is for the day, it might not be due to your age. It might be because your testosterone levels are too low. If you're having trouble concentrating or remembering daily tasks, it could be time to talk to your doctor.
Why? The aforementioned study found that participating men experienced improved cognitive skills when using TRT.
Even though today's society is more inclusive of large people, few adults enjoy gaining weight as they age. Despite their best efforts, many men just can't shed the extra pounds around their midsections, increasing their risk of heart disease and cancer.
Often, male weight gain is caused by hormone imbalances that slow the metabolism and cause weight to pile on. This phase of life is called andropause and happens when there is a lack of testosterone in the body. Couple that with high cortisol levels, and you've got a recipe for flabby guts and double chins.
Fortunately, TRT treatments and physician-led weight loss programs can correct hormone imbalances and lead to healthy weight loss for men.
The benefits of hormone replacement therapy for men are numerous. TRT not only grants relief from low-T symptoms but can help give protection against age-related diseases. Additionally, doctors now recognize male testosterone as an important role in alleviating depression.
Some of the most exciting benefits of TRT can include:
Because men do not go through a specific period of hormonal changes like women do (called menopause), many doctors refer to "male menopause" as androgen decline. This is just another term for low testosterone, but like female menopause, the symptoms can be serious and affect your quality of life.
The best way to fight back against male menopause is with male HRT treatment from Global Life Rejuvenation. We provide the following HRT treatments for men:
Our treatment options are personalized for your body and are available as creams, gels, injectables, and implantable pellets. To find out if testosterone replacement therapy is safe for you, contact Global Life Rejuvenation today to schedule your comprehensive testing and anti-aging treatment consultation.
Growth hormone peptides are an innovative therapy that boosts the natural human growth hormone production in a person's body. These exciting treatment options help slow down the aging process and give you a chance at restoring your youth.
Sermorelin is a synthetic hormone peptide, like GHRH, which triggers the release of growth hormones. When used under the care of a qualified physician, Sermorelin can help you lose weight, increase your energy levels, and help you feel much younger.
Human growth hormone (HGH) therapy has been used for years to treat hormone deficiencies. Unlike HGH, which directly replaces declining human growth hormone levels, Sermorelin addresses the underlying cause of decreased HGH, stimulating the pituitary gland naturally. This approach keeps the mechanisms of growth hormone production active.
Benefits of Sermorelin include:
Ipamorelin helps to release growth hormones in a person's body by mimicking a peptide called ghrelin. Ghrelin is one of three hormones which work together to regulate the growth hormone levels released by the pituitary gland. Because Ipamorelin stimulates the body to produce growth hormone, your body won't stop its natural growth hormone production, which occurs with synthetic HGH.
Ipamorelin causes growth hormone secretion that resembles natural release patterns rather than being constantly elevated from HGH. Because ipamorelin stimulates the natural production of growth hormone, our patients can use this treatment long-term with fewer health risks.
One of the biggest benefits of Ipamorelin is that it is suitable for both men and women. It provides significant short and long-term benefits in age management therapies, boosting patients' overall health, wellbeing, and outlook on life. When growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland using Ipamorelin, clients report amazing benefits.
Some of those benefits include:
Whether you are considering our TRT services, HRT for women, or our growth hormone peptide services, we are here to help. The first step to turning back the hand of time starts by contacting Global Life Rejuvenation.
Our friendly, knowledgeable TRT and HRT experts can help answer your questions and walk you through our procedures. From there, we'll figure out which treatments are right for you. Before you know it, you'll be well on your way to looking and feeling better than you have in years!
866-793-9933
For more than 60 years, New Yorkers in search of Caribbean beef patties and fruit cakes soaked in rum have found their way to Allan’s. In Brooklyn, on a stretch of Flatbush lined with takeout counters selling roti, oxtail, and jerk, the offspring of Allan and Gloria Smith run a bakery that’s become known as a one-stop shop for Caribbean staples: hard dough bread, patties stuffed with saltfish, coconut rolls, and doubles.Its third-generation owners steered the business through the pandemic, when customers lined up for baked...
For more than 60 years, New Yorkers in search of Caribbean beef patties and fruit cakes soaked in rum have found their way to Allan’s. In Brooklyn, on a stretch of Flatbush lined with takeout counters selling roti, oxtail, and jerk, the offspring of Allan and Gloria Smith run a bakery that’s become known as a one-stop shop for Caribbean staples: hard dough bread, patties stuffed with saltfish, coconut rolls, and doubles.
Its third-generation owners steered the business through the pandemic, when customers lined up for baked goods outdoors in masks, and opened a bar next door last October. This fall, they are expanding the company outside of Brooklyn for the first time with a location at 116B Allen Street, near Stanton Street.
Unlike the original, which spans three street addresses along Nostrand Avenue, the Lower East Side shop is 400 square feet. The menu will be limited to the most popular items in Brooklyn, including Caribbean beef patties, coconut drops, codfish balls, bake and saltfish, and currant rolls. The approach: “More depth than breadth,” says Christian Smith, the grandson of the bakery’s founders.
Beyond the staples, there’s talk of selling ice cream cakes and black cakes, the rum-soaked fruit cakes that are eaten around Christmas. All of the baked goods at the shop will be made in Brooklyn.
Allan and Gloria Smith, the bakery’s founders, started Allan’s out of a station wagon in Brooklyn. They opened a storefront at 425 Saratoga Avenue, near Eastern Parkway, in 1961, and later moved to their longtime home at 1109 Nostrand Avenue, near Maple Street. Customers still crowd the counter for custom cakes and Trinidadian doubles, which are sold on weekends. The bakery is almost as old as the West Indian Day Parade.
Step behind the unassuming facade of Mendel Goldberg Fabrics on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and you’ll suddenly find yourself surrounded by an array of gorgeous fabrics on its floor-to-ceiling shelves: bolts and neatly folded stacks of fine cottons, silks, satins, taffetas and lace as well as more opulent materials, from bubble-gum pink metallic brocade to apple green silk satin jacquard and shimmery pleated navy chiffon. There are fabrics woven w...
Step behind the unassuming facade of Mendel Goldberg Fabrics on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and you’ll suddenly find yourself surrounded by an array of gorgeous fabrics on its floor-to-ceiling shelves: bolts and neatly folded stacks of fine cottons, silks, satins, taffetas and lace as well as more opulent materials, from bubble-gum pink metallic brocade to apple green silk satin jacquard and shimmery pleated navy chiffon. There are fabrics woven with gold thread or glittering with Swarovski crystals. And there is Chanel-style wool bouclé in pale pink, or black and white woven with little ribbons and pearls. The material is as luxuriously textured as a lamb’s coat. I want it.
I don’t sew. I haven’t got the DNA (no one in my family did). I’ve never really paid attention to the world of bespoke clothing or the fabrics a designer might use, not until a few months ago, when I went to Hester Street — a street once jammed with pushcarts and now crowded with delivery bikes — and walked into Mendel Goldberg, where, feeling as if I’d wandered into a psychedelic dreamscape, I coveted everything.
Presiding over the shop from her usual perch, above a large wooden table where she measures out the fabric, was proprietor Alice Goldberg, wearing a fitted white blouse, a narrow beige skirt with a zipper up the back and black flats. Goldberg is the fourth generation of her family to run the store since her great-grandfather Mendel founded it. Alongside Luis Ortega, the Goldbergs’ aide-de-camp since 1989, Alice has witnessed a few memorable shopping sprees, including the time a few years back when a group of Saudi princesses spent about 30 minutes in the store, “buying like crazy,” and the day seven bridesmaids purchased beaded sky blue tulle for their dresses.
Costume designers are also frequent customers. Among them is John Glaser, who oversaw the wardrobe for season one of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” (along with Ellen Mirojnick) as well as that for the upcoming season three. “You can get things here you can’t get anywhere else, like certain very rich and expensive over-embroidered or beaded material,” Glaser says. He’s used Mendel Goldberg’s fabrics for a number of the costumes for the Regency-era period drama, including a sheer white frock in laser cut silk chiffon, a fabric that “we used inside out,” Glaser adds. “There was also a dress for Lady Bridgerton made of pale blue silk jacquard that reminded me of an 18th-century wallpaper.”
While I’m in the shop, I watch as Goldberg drapes ivory gazar against a bride-to-be, showing her how it would work as an engagement party dress. Later that afternoon, Tsigie White, the costume designer for the TV series “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” stops in. She’s mesmerized by a piece of gold material covered with glittering paillettes. “I’ll find something to do with it for the show,” she says while Goldberg measures a yard of it for her. “I’ve never been here before; a friend mentioned it,” she continues. “This is a great find for me.”
Goldberg knows her stock by heart, and even the stores’s website — seemingly the business’s largest concession to the 21st century — is wonderfully detailed, the fabrics carefully described and shown draped on mannequins. Goldberg’s customers are based all over the country, as well as abroad; some of them ask to browse the fabrics over Zoom or FaceTime. “I want everyone to buy on the internet with the same confidence as if they walked in the store. Let’s say you’re in Texas and you order something online. I don’t want you to open [the package] and say, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she says. “I want you to be thrilled.”
It’s a long way from the days when Mendel Goldberg, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, sold tailoring supplies off a pushcart on the Lower East Side. In 1890, he opened the shop in this five-floor building. (The basement is now the stockroom; apartments occupy the upper four stories.) His son Alexander sold silk to furriers for coat linings; Alexander’s son Samuel — Alice’s father — sold fabric to Gimbels and Macy’s, both of which had large departments for home dressmaking.
The business prospered. Alice was born in Brooklyn and spent her later childhood years in Great Neck, N.Y., where her parents lived and commuted to Hester Street. “I was a very sheltered girl,” she says. “All my clothes were made for me by my grandma Ida, Alexander’s wife.”
After college, Alice taught math, married and moved to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she still lives. She has two daughters, Alexandra, who lives in Jerusalem, and Josefa, who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y. Josefa’s daughter Eliana did her recent high-school senior thesis on fashion. If she eventually takes over Mendel Goldberg Fabrics, Eliana will be the sixth generation to manage the business.
Alice Goldberg didn’t join the family business until she was in her 30s. Her father came to her home and said, “‘Your mother is sick, you have to come into the store.’ I walked in and never left,” she says.
Her first assignment was a fabric buying trip to Europe. “At some of the great Swiss companies, I saw the most beautiful goods. They asked about my credit because they didn’t know me,” she says, smiling. “I say, ‘Can you do me a favor? Please send someone to tell my driver I’ll be here for some time.’ I figured if they saw I had a Mercedes with a chauffeur it would be all right.” She got the credit, and now travels to Italy, Switzerland and France twice a year.
It isn’t just the sumptuous fabrics that make Mendel Goldberg so sought out by connoisseurs, however, but Alice Goldberg herself. “I’ve never had a return,” she says. “Never. How crazy is that?” I’m thinking about a winter coat. As if she’s read my mind, she shows me navy blue French wool bouclé and suggests we line it in printed cashmere. As my mother always said, “Why have economy in fantasy?”
Exterior work is continuing on 165 Broome Street, a 15-story affordable housing building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Designed by Handel Architects and developed by Grand Street Guild Housing Development Fund Company, Grand Street Guild East ...
Exterior work is continuing on 165 Broome Street, a 15-story affordable housing building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Designed by Handel Architects and developed by Grand Street Guild Housing Development Fund Company, Grand Street Guild East Housing Development Fund Company, Southeast Grand Street Guild Housing Development Fund Company, and Clinton Broome Development LLC, the 235,235-square-foot structure is also known as “Building 3-5” and will yield 235 units in studio to three-bedroom layouts, and 65,668 square feet for parking space with a capacity for 126 vehicles. The development will eventually be joined by a 215-foot-tall, 16-story “Building 3-6” at 151 Broome Street to the east, and the properties are expected to yield a combined total of 480 units. Monadnock Construction is the general contractor for the project, which is located within the Seward Park Extension master plan and bound by Broome Street to the north, Pitt Street to the east, and Clinton Street to the west.
The entire reinforced concrete superstructure of 165 Broome Street was erected since our last update in early September 2022. Since then, crews have shrouded the entire exterior in black netting and scaffolding. A mechanical hoist has also been attached to the northeast corner.
The following photos show the progress of the brick façade and window grid installation through the construction netting. Crews only a handful of upper levels left to enclose.
Much of the multi-story podium stands exposed, clad in a light tan brick surface. This will provide contrast with the darker brown masonry covering the rest of 165 Broome Street.
Below are photos of workers power washing the bricks across the podium’s northern elevation.
The forthcoming structure at 151 Broome Street, which has yet to start construction, is planned to span 174,000 square feet and yield 245 units in studio to one-bedroom layouts, 14,280 square feet of community facility space, and potentially include a 6,176-square-foot ground-floor medical office and an 8,113-square-foot below-grade social services facility.
Here we see a Broome Street elevation showing 151 Broome Street to the left and the currently existing 165 Broome Street to the right. Both incorporate the same façade design and general architectural appearance.
Construction is expected to last around 22 months with a completion date in the fall of 2024, as noted on site.
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Permits have been filed for an eight-story community facility and residential building with affordable housing at 18-26 Redfern Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens. Located between Mott Avenue and Dix Avenue, the lot is near the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue subway station, serviced by the A train. Camber Property Group is listed as the owner behind the applications.
The proposed 88-foot-tall development will yield 115,736 square feet, with 39,759 square feet designated for residential space and 75,977 square feet for community facility space. The building will have 59 residences, most likely rentals based on the average unit scope of 673 square feet. The concrete-based structure will also have a cellar, a 20-foot-long rear yard, and 15 open parking spaces.
Akiko Kyei-Aboagye of Urban Architectural Initiatives is listed as the architect of record.
Demolition permits will likely not be needed as the lot is vacant. An estimated completion date has not been announced.
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For the past several years, New York’s Lower East Side neighbourhood has come to epitomise the city’s cool. From cultish bars and restaurants (aka the inhabitants of Dimes Square) to even more cultish boutiques from independent labels such as Bode (whose founder is among the Wallpaper* USA 300), Sandy Liang and Kallmeyer, there is an intimate sense ...
For the past several years, New York’s Lower East Side neighbourhood has come to epitomise the city’s cool. From cultish bars and restaurants (aka the inhabitants of Dimes Square) to even more cultish boutiques from independent labels such as Bode (whose founder is among the Wallpaper* USA 300), Sandy Liang and Kallmeyer, there is an intimate sense of community shared by the inhabitants of the area that will not leave visitors disappointed.
The neighbourhood welcomes a big newcomer to the mix, quite literally at 7,000 sq ft. Essx is a new concept and community store rooted in the idea of bringing the joy of brick-and-mortar shopping back to the fore. Founded by Laura Baker, Abe Pines and Yoel Zagelbaum, all New Yorkers with ties to the neighbourhood, the store is set to be a platform for discovering new brands and designers from all over the world, while also showcasing the work of New York-based creatives, specially curated vintage and archive collections and more.
Case in point, the Essx team worked with the local architecture firm Leong Leong and designer Yossi Shetrit to bring fresh energy to the sprawling footprint. Comprised of distinct yet complementary and interactive spaces, the store showcases a number of playful volumes including an all-glass cylindrical centrepiece that will serve as a pop-up brand showcase, a gallery space where the lines of fashion and art will be blurred, a styling studio where style consultations and other wardrobe services will be available to all, and a gift shop where books, collectible objects and homeware will be up for grabs.
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Pei-Ru Keh is the US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru has held various titles at Wallpaper* since she joined in 2007. She currently reports on design, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru has taken a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars and actively seeks out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
Potluck Club opened last summer on Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side — outside the old boundaries of Chinatown, in an area where younger Chinese businesses sidle up against tattoo parlors, oyster bars and candlelit cocktail lounges with disguised speakeasy entrances. It’s a perfect location for a neo-Cantonese restaurant that looks at Chinatown traditions from a slight distance, through the eyes of young people who grew up eating in and around the ne...
Potluck Club opened last summer on Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side — outside the old boundaries of Chinatown, in an area where younger Chinese businesses sidle up against tattoo parlors, oyster bars and candlelit cocktail lounges with disguised speakeasy entrances. It’s a perfect location for a neo-Cantonese restaurant that looks at Chinatown traditions from a slight distance, through the eyes of young people who grew up eating in and around the neighborhood but have spent most of their adult lives in other places.
Given all the threats facing Chinatown, Potluck Club could have come across as sentimental or wistful, but it’s not. It offers a fresh, energetic look into Chinese culture, and has fun with it, too. It isn’t a great restaurant, but it knows how to have a good time.
The atmosphere helps to put the idea across. The host stand is a green booth with a pagoda roof that looks like a ticket window out of the Sun Sing or the Music Palace, two long-gone Chinatown theaters where you used to be able to catch Shaw Brothers wuxia films. Just past that is a display of movie posters from the golden age of Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema. A mural celebrates “Shaolin Popey,” the 1994 slapstick martial arts movie featuring two ass-kicking boy monks.
Zhan Chen, the chef, and Peter Chen, his sous-chef, are brothers and Chinatown natives who cooked Mediterranean and Italian food before coming to Potluck Club. They fill their menu with classic Cantonese dishes like rice rolls and pot stickers, then bring in flavors from outside the neighborhood.
On weekends, Potluck Club doesn’t serve dim sum. Instead it serves brunch, the most American meal of the week. You can get milk tea made with oat milk or an egg sandwich filled with bacon char siu. The restaurant keeps switching back and forth between cultures like this, a move that a lot of kids and grandkids of immigrants will recognize right away.
The dish that best sums up Potluck Club may be a platter of fried chicken in a lacy, salt-and-pepper-style shell. It’s served with raised biscuits that might have been airlifted from a North Carolina dinner table, except that they’re flavored with scallions. A three-dimensional play on a scallion pancake, the biscuit can be split open, spread with sweet and smoky chile-plum jam, and dressed with a wheel or two of pickled jalapeño for a very entertaining chicken sandwich. When the biscuit’s gone, you’ll still have a few pieces of chicken and the jam to keep you company.
Then again, the rice roll noodles with asparagus and oyster mushrooms may capture the restaurant’s spirit more succinctly. The dish is virtually a straight throwback to vegetable chow fun (or beef chow fun, if you have ordered it with hanger steak). In this version, though, the char from the wok is more emphatic than usual and the sauce contains a spoonful of chile paste, which a cook on Mott Street would probably leave out. Best of all are the noodles, fresh and tender and almost transparently thin; when you bite through one of the rolls, you can feel what seems like every single layer.
The salt-and-pepper chicken should not be confused with the “crispy drunken chicken.” That one is marinated in Shaoxing wine and other flavorings. It isn’t bad, but tastes as if two or three recipes were locked inside it, each struggling for supremacy.
Potluck Club’s version of that Chinese-banquet standby, fried shrimp with candied walnuts, improves on the original. The mayonnaise, usually just plopped on the platter as a dip, is seasoned with Calabrian chiles and brushed all over the tiger shrimp, which gain some fire and keep their crunch.
In its homage to Chinatown’s vanishing traditions, both of living and cooking, Potluck Club resembles another fairly new local restaurant, Uncle Lou’s, on Mulberry Street. Uncle Lou’s tries to appeal to all generations; as the website says of its Cantonese dishes, “The ‘lo wah kiu favorites’ takes grandparents back to the Cantonese villages in Toisan, Sunwui, Enping, and Hoiping. ABC’s and ‘jook sing’ are comforted by classic meals they enjoyed between Chinese school and playing in Columbus Park.”
Lo wah kiu are older Chinese immigrants who were born overseas, while ABC means American-born Chinese, and it’s the ABC sensibility that Potluck Club reflects. It’s a restaurant for younger diners who grew up going to weddings at Jing Fong and eating at Nom Wah before it was cool. The Chen brothers give them the food they remember from childhood, but they’re well aware that their customers’ palates have been shaped by everything that’s happened to Asian cooking in New York since Momofuku Noodle Bar; they use more salt and chiles, pay closer attention to meats and produce, and summon a greater intensity overall.
Occasionally you may come across ingredients that should not have made the cut. The snow-pea stems in a stir-fry were a little tough and woody. The candied walnuts with the tiger shrimp were made from nuts that might have spent too long in storage.
Such lapses are made up for by the sweet and fat-moistened Berkshire pork in the pot stickers and the deep, rolling seafood flavor that XO sauce gives to the fried rice.
And there is the drinks menu, built for people who have moved decisively beyond Tsingtao. Potluck Club has located a green-peppercorn pilsner, Jade Scorpion, brewed in Hong Kong; a pale ale made from puffed rice by a craft brewer on the mainland; and a few other cans and bottles that will be new to many New Yorkers. More familiar, but still welcome, is the assortment of bottles from natural winemakers like Vinyes Tortuga in Catalonia and Meinklang in Austria.
There is just one permanent dessert, a pineapple soft serve topped with two Chinatown signatures. First, there are crunchy, sugary bits from a crumbled pineapple bun. The other garnish is a fortune cookie. I’ve had the dessert twice, but I’ve never gotten a message I liked as much as the motto I once saw spelled out in black plastic letters in an illuminated movie marquee above the bar. It reads: “Here for a good time not a long time.”
