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Since the closest member of my immediate family lives more than 200 miles away and none of us get any time off for the New Year, gathering my nearest and dearest for wei lu on New Year’s Eve meant getting a bunch of my friends on the Brooklyn-bound N train for dinner in Sunset Park, home to NYC’s third-largest Chinatown.

My friend Robert had suggested Sun Ming Gee, a dim sum/banquet restaurant located just a little outside all the 8th Avenue action. But the restaurant saw plenty of action inside on Wednesday night: both floors were packed with multigenerational families assembled around big tables, noisily putting away the large spreads arrayed before them on the lazy susan. Most of them ate early and were finishing up when we arrived — presumably so they could get started on the mah jong game, a very important part of New Year festivities for many.

Homophones are behind much of the symbolic meaning of foods (and indeed, of many other things) for the Chinese. To ring in the New Year most auspiciously, we ordered a whole fish (the Mandarin words sounds like the word for “abundance”) and chicken (sounds like “luck”). We also had E-Fu noodles (whose long, uncut strands symbolize longevity). Chinese meals usually end with fruit, and oranges are especially popular this time of year (orange sounds like “wealth”).

Sun Ming Gee
618 62nd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11220

Other good restaurants for a big wei lu:

Pacificana
813 55th St
Brooklyn, NY 11220

Szechuan Gourmet
21 W 39th St # 1
New York, NY 10018

Hot Pot City
40-33 Main Street
Flushing, NY 11354