Early 2006

My dad decides to go where the real action is: the Golden Shopping Mall, the hottest food court in Flushing at the time. But competition is so fierce, he can’t get into the actual basement food court. Instead, he’s relegated to a street stand in an alcove along the building’s exterior, a literal hole in the wall next to the Q58 bus stop. He spends the winter making food at home, carting it over to his stall, freezing in the cold until he sells out, and starting all over again.