By LILLIAN GLAROS
Photo credit Lilliain Glaros
Filled with hungry customers enjoying noodles and sesame balls, Northwest Chinese Food on Baltimore Avenue was packed on a recent November afternoon.
Mayor Fazlul Kabir proclaimed the nine-year-old restaurant, which is popular with both students and residents, College Park’s 2024 Business of the Year.
“Their efforts have made College Park a more vibrant and diverse place to live,” Kabir said during his proclamation on Oct. 22 at the city council meeting.
Kabir said the restaurant won the annual award, in part, because it gets high reviews and its management has made a commitment to engage with and invest in the community.
The restaurant sells food in the style of the northwestern and northeastern regions of China, including popular dishes like rou jia mo, which are Chinese-style burgers, and hot oil noodles, according to Xue Ling, the restaurant’s brand manager and daughter of the owner, Hua Wang.
The restaurant opened in 2015 to share authentic dishes that are different from typical American Chinese food, Wang said.
Wang said the restaurant got the award because of its unique cuisine. While a lot of restaurants have similar food, Wang said, diners can sample the restaurant’s secret recipes, created by Wang herself, only by visiting the store.
One of Wang’s favorite dishes to cook is stewed pork mo, which contains braised pork, onions and jalapeno peppers, although she said she likes cooking all of the items on the menu.
City Councilmember Stuart Adams (District 3) said the restaurant demonstrates the diversity of Chinese cuisine.
“It’s not the typical, you know, take-out Chinese that many folks are used to,” Adams, whose district includes the restaurant, said.
Some of the customers at Northwest Chinese are regulars, like Ashfiha Rahman and Flavyne Tsongwain.
The pair has been eating at the restaurant since their freshman year at the University of Maryland three years ago.
“I just love how, like, there’s always so many people here, and everyone’s … always chatting,” Rahman said.
For Tsongwain, Northwest Chinese is a cozy place where the food is consistently good.
Some of that food includes the sesame balls, something Tsongwain said they get everytime they come to the place Rahman called their “spot.”
They agreed the restaurant deserved to win Business of the Year, and that the announcement was unsurprising.
“It’s always full,” Tsongwain said. “Always has people. There’s always a line or a wait.”
This is the first time in five years that College Park has chosen a Business of the Year, according to Kabir.
Kabir said the restaurant eventually will close its Baltimore Avenue location to make room for new student apartments and will move to the city hall building.
According to Ling, the new restaurant, Li Chun Cafe, will open in February and will serve Chinese wraps, rice balls and tea, as well as coffee and snacks.
