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 of Saigon Social, was one of our very first restaurant partners, generously donating her first two deliveries of over 300 hot lunches! Since then, Helen and her team at Saigon Social have continued to pour their heart, soul, and meticulous care into the tens of thousands of culturally thoughtful meals they’ve prepared for our Elders.
Saigon Social
Lower Eastside, Manhattan
Visit Saigon Social
Jacqueline Russo-Eng, founder and head baker of Partybus Bakeshop, was one of the first to reach out to us, offering donations of focaccia and desserts when we began our initiative. Since then, Jacqueline and her team have baked thousands of custom orders, including milk toast and our Heart of Dinner x Partybus Bakeshop collaboration scallion buns, providing these treats to our elders every week.
Partybus Bakeshop
Lower Eastside, Manhattan
Visit Partybus Bakeshop
NB Wing Wong on Bowery specializes in Cantonese cuisine, and each week, their team prepares hundreds of meals for our elders. Some of their popular dishes include 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 Choy Commons, a cooperative of Asian-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
Pei Wei, co-owner of Zaab Zaab restaurant showcasing Thailand's Northeastern Isan region has been a Heart of Dinner restaurant partner since 2021 and has since cooked tens of thousands of heart-warming meals. Fun Fact: Pei Wei gathers her restaurant team to regularly hand-illustrate heartfelt bag decorations and pen loving notes for our Elders!
Zaab Zaab
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Community Partners
It truly takes a village. As we work towards building our own Headquarters, we are incredibly grateful to our community partners who have generously welcomed us into their spaces, allowing us to pack and distribute care packages every week.
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 2020, 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, and seabass filet with loofah are just a few of the favorite meals enjoyed by our Elders, prepared by the team at Wu’s Wonton King. A beloved neighborhood spot in Two Bridges, Wu’s has been a Heart of Dinner restaurant partner since 2022, serving up comforting Cantonese cuisine.
Wu's Wonton King
Two Bridges, Manhattan
Since 1933, the Eng family has proudly provided the Chinatown community and beyond with Toisanese staples such as tofu, soy milk, noodles, and rice cakes. In 2020, we were thrilled to start offering freshly made soy milk from Fong On to the elders on our independent care route!
Fong On
Chinatown, Manhattan
In 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
Each week, 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.