Meet the independent businesses we are deeply proud to partner with and carry out our mission together with purpose and integrity!
Helen Nguyen, chef-owner was one of our first restaurant partners and donated her first two deliveries (300+ hot lunches!) Since then, Helen and the Saigon Social team have continued to cook thousands of culturally thoughtful dishes for elderly recipients.
Saigon Social
Lower Eastside, Manhattan
Visit Saigon Social
Jacqueline Russo-Eng, founder-head baker first reached out to us to donate focaccia and desserts when we first began our initiative. Jacqueline and the Partybus Bakeshop team have since baked thousands of custom-orders of milk toast and our Heart of Dinner x Partybus Bakeshop collaboration scallion buns for all of our elders every week.
Partybus Bakeshop
Lower Eastside, Manhattan
Visit Partybus Bakeshop
NB Wing Wong on Bowery specializes in Cantonese cuisine. Every week, the team prepares hundreds of meals for our Elders, including popular dishes such as non-spicy mapo tofu and soy sauce chicken with Napa cabbage.
NB Wing Wong
Chinatown, Manhattan
Partner Farms
We're so proud to work with AAPI women led farms in upstate New York.
Helen Nguyen
Owner-Chef, Saigon Social
Heart of Dinner has definitely given us a different sense of purpose, not just as individuals, but as business owners, as well as community.
Christina is the owner and farmer of Choy Division, a half-acre diversified vegetable farm with a focus on growing East Asian heritage crops using regenerative agricultural techniques. For her, farming is about more than putting seeds in the ground—it’s about the cultivation of the community around you. After all, food is what connects each and every one of us. Christina believes that fresh, locally grown food is a right, not a privilege, and strives to make her produce accessible to all communities.
Choy Division
Visit Choy Division
Amanda is a farmer at Star Route Farm, a farm with a social justice mission. She and her team seek to address food inequities by growing nutritious food, farming with integrity and responsibility, distributing produce to those who are food insecure, and crop-planning with the communities they’re growing for to ensure their produce is culturally relevant.
Star Route Farm
Visit Star Route Farm
Led by Salt Wang and Kaija Xiao, Gentle Time Farm is a trans and queer cooperatively owned diversified vegetable farm growing culturally relevant East Asian crops for Asian community and diaspora in New York.
Gentle Time Farm
Visit Gentle Time Farm
Rise and Root Farm is committed to engaging rural and urban communities through food and farming. They have worked with community gardens and urban farms in NYC and beyond, having dedicated their lives to increasing the number of people growing and eating good food. Passionate about justice and equity, the team is invested in building a strong local food economy.
Rise and Root Farm
Visit Rise and Root Farm
Pei Wei, co-owner of Zaab Zaab restaurant showcasing Thailand's Northeastern Issan region has been a Heart of Dinner restaurant partner since 2021 as sine cooked tens of thousands of heart-warming meals for our Elders. Fun Fact: Pei Wei's tam has also contributed by drawing heartfelt illustrated brown bags and writing hand written notes!
Zaab Zaab
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Community Partners
It takes a village. As we work towards establishing our own Headquarters, we are incredibly grateful to community partners who have warmly welcomed us into their space and provided us with a location to pack and distribute care packages on a weekly basis.
Essex Market is the flagship of the Public Markets family. Established in 1937, these markets have been culinary gathering places for generations of New Yorkers. Originally a ten-market system, the City built these markets to provide affordable fresh food to its citizens. Today, six markets remain, showcasing the rich food history of New York City. Since 2021, Essex Market has donated their test kitchen space to Heart of Dinner for packing care packages distributed across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx.
Essex Market
Lower Eastside, Manhattan
Shrimp and egg, Char siu pork, seabass filet with loofah are just some of our Elders favorite meals cooked by the team at Wu's Wonton King, a Heart of Dinner restaurant partner since 2022 and is a beloved neighborhood restaurant in the Two Bridges serving comforting Cantonese cuisine!
Wu's Wonton King
Two Bridges, Manhattan
Since 1933 The Eng family has been providing the Chinatown neighborhood and beyond with Toisanese staples including tofu, soy milk, noodles and rice cake. Since 2020 we have been able to include freshly made soy milk from Fong on for our Elders on our independent care route!
Fong On
Chinatown, Manhattan
EIn 1936, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia transformed the Park Avenue Retail Market from an informal gathering place for vendors into a bustling market. Today, La Marqueta thrives as a vibrant community, showcasing a rich blend of culture, cuisine, and a large Latinx population. Since 2022, La Marqueta has generously provided us with space to serve as a hub for packing and delivering care packages to our Elders residing in East Harlem.
La Marqueta
East Harlem, Manhattan
Food Partners
Beginning in April 2020, we work with local restaurant partners by purchasing each lunchbox of freshly cooked dishes; and local farms and food distributors by placing bulk orders of Asian heritage crops.