Delivery 1: Amazing Grace Restaurant --> Elmhurst Hospital Emergency Room
Many in the Filipino community might not know Amazing Grace Restaurant, but they remember Krystal’s Cafe, the restaurant with a legacy of being one of the first Filipino restaurants in Woodside. Its memory is instilled in NYC Filipinos; it was where you could dine-in or take-out traditional Filipino cooking or pick up an ube-flavored cake for a family celebration.
On Saturdays, the restaurant offered silog breakfast specials that included juice or coffee, and unlimited freshly-baked pan de sal. In those morning hours, the restaurant turned into an informal senior citizen center, where lolos and lolas can have a taste of home while indulging in the latest tsismis. It, too, was conveniently located near medical offices where many had regular appointments. Dropping by the restaurant after a check-up became routine for many. After the owners retired, Krystal’s Cafe closed, and the space it once occupied has since seen different businesses try to fill its big shoes.
Amazing Grace Restaurant, who opened in the fall last year, understands the high expectations of former regulars to Krystal’s. While keeping the same menu items and reinstating the tradition of Saturday morning breakfast specials, Amazing Grace is gaining acceptance but is making their business their own. The customers noticed; some can explain every change from the difference in price to the ratio of rice to ulam. Still, though, many were happy to have this space be part of their weekend routines once again.
During our current crisis, Amazing Grace is one of the few Filipino restaurants still serving customers after most in Woodside have closed. They have adapted their business to be available via delivery app, and continue to keep their doors open. No longer serving dine-in patrons, the space that once had tables and chairs has since been converted into a makeshift produce stand.
The restaurant continues to deliver on the sense of propriety and consideration that the restaurant’s adopted name promises. Upon preparing for Meal to Heal’s first drop-off to Elmhurst Hospital on Easter Sunday, the restaurant, once again, made their own adjustments to the original order of twenty meals of chicken, white rice, pancit, and a mini pastry dessert. For the staff of ten, this, too, was their gift to the healthcare workers. They not only contributed their own money, but added their personalized touches to the meal. Easter morning, the white rice became vegetable fried rice, dessert now included fresh fruit, and twenty meals multiplied to thirty. For the restaurant owners, they know that it is this community—with its longing for home, its proclivity to tradition, and its shared desire to be with kababayan—they are serving.
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