How Blood Bros. BBQ Uplift Houston’s AAPI Community

In the early days of the pandemic, a rumor swirled online like wildfire that an Asian supermarket in Houston’s Chinatown along Bellaire Boulevard was home to a confirmed case of COVID-19. It not only led to the store shuttering within hours but countless Asian-owned businesses suffered, too.

Brothers Terry and Robin Wong, the restaurateurs behind the successful barbecue joint Blood Bros. BBQ they opened in 2013, had grown up nearby in Alief and knew they had to jump in to help.

“People didn’t know what was going on. They were saying it was an Asian thing,” Robin Wong said. “It made people want to stay away from Chinatown — not just white people but Asians, too.”

“It was literally a ghost town,” Terry Wong added.

The Wongs quickly realized Chinatown restaurants needed the outpouring of support that helped make their own businesses successful. The siblings went from operating a trendy karaoke bar in Chinatown catering to the city’s diverse Asian communities in the early aughts to opening their award-winning Blood Bros. BBQ with pitmaster Quy Hoang — both establishments thrived in part because of AAPI patronage.

Within weeks, Terry and Robin launched the Facebook group Chow Down in Chinatown. They had gathered with some friends to create an online resource — which made most sense because of the low cost and wide reach — for the Asian American Pacific Islander community. “There wasn’t a forum like this until Chow Down,” says Terry Wong. “We try to uplift everyone.”

Today, Chow Down has grown to a community of nearly 37,000 members. Its mission has expanded beyond helping restaurants deal with pandemic-related rumors and regulations. The Facebook group is equally influential as a cheerleader for restaurants with its virtual megaphone and as a resource for all things related to Asian food.

The reach of Chow Down is also significant for restaurants without budgets to hire a public relations team or the generational knowledge family members may pass along in operating a successful restaurant. On average, a post in the group garners 15,000-17,000 views within a day or two.

Part of the group’s success is Wongs’ focus on keeping the community’s “energy positive.” The forum welcomes questions from people with queries ranging from where to find stellar egg tarts to the grocery store selling the freshest durian.

Rallying community support to help one restaurant at a time

Early on, Chow Down focused on helping local restaurants weather the pandemic. One such restaurant was Chung Wang BBQ in Katy, a growing suburb in the Houston area.

Chef Alex Au-Yeung, who owned popular Malaysian restaurant Phat Eatery next door, posted in the group’s page about Chung Wang BBQ’s struggles and implored members to help out: Miao Liao’s husband died of cancer in March 2020 and she was left to operate the restaurant, which sold crispy-skinned roast ducks and sweet Cantonese barbecued pork among other Chinese dishes. The restaurant, Au-Yeung wrote, “is everything that she has, she told me it’s her only hope.”

After the story went viral in Chow Down, local media outlets also covered the news. Even more people placed to-go orders as a result of the exposure. For a few weeks there were lines out the door, often wrapping around the corner of the strip center where, to this day, Chung Wang is still going strong.

“This was just one example of how Houstonians rallied around a small business,” said Stevie Vu, an admin for the Chow Down page and the director of operations for the Asia Society Texas. “Everyone had the same goal of making sure Chinatown businesses not only survived but thrived.” 

The ongoing mission to help AAPI-owned restaurants thrive

Nearly four years later, Chow Down’s ability to signal-boost successes and challenges within the AAPI community is still reaching more Houstonians.

Hong Kong Food Street was a longtime favorite in Chinatown, known for Cantonese comfort food like dumplings and congee, but the restaurant closed in December 2020. Earlier this year, owner Johnny Cheung teased plans that he was bringing back his parents’ restaurant to Katy, where a newer Chinatown area has grown the past few years.

“It’s been inspiring to see everyone’s excitement and support,” says Cheung of the hundreds of comments that flood each update post on the restaurant’s progress.

The support and cheerleading that can come from Chow Down didn’t happen overnight.

The brothers regularly dine at time-tested restaurants as much as new ones to support the AAPI community. Their cheerleading goes beyond Chinatown restaurants but also in supporting Asian chefs working in kitchens across sprawling Houston, the fourth largest city in the country.

“We’ve always tried to be supportive of the Asian community,” Terry Wong says. “We try to be one of the voices for many.”

Most recently, they helped promote various campaigns pushing Asian- and Asian-owned restaurants into the spotlight during the month of May, when Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month is celebrated.

“We have been so blessed to have the help of so many of our restaurant brothers and sisters,” Robin Wong says. “This is one way to pay it forward.”

Visit Blood Bros. BBQ at bloodbrosbbq.com & check out the full list of The BentoBox 25.