Oranges hang from a cherry blossom branch along with envelopes full of money. The small tree is flanked by towers of pumpkin seeds, baskets of cookies, and a big golden dragon. Happy New Year from Shining Rainbow.The restaurant, located at 209 Central, celebrated with dinner specials of lobster and fresh fish, says Xinging Zhang. Behind him Asian television station's broadcast fireworks from celebrations that took place thousands of miles away. He points to the tree, explaining that guests hung the envelopes to bring prosperity in the coming year. The oranges, held to the branches with scotch tape, are a wish for safety and wealth. The pumpkin seeds represent a wish for many male children, which was important in old China.
Further down the street at Van's Vietnamese at 307 Central, they rang in the lunar new year with similar excitement. In Vietnam the celebration is called "Têt" and offers a chance to honor family and wish one another luck for the entire year, says Tho Tran, wife of the restaurant owner. "We are Americans, but we don't forget the traditional celebration. We are Vietnamese, too," says Tran. Friends and family brought traditional dishes to share, including rice cakes and cookies. "We had flowers and we wished each other good luck for the whole year," says Tran.
A couple of doors down, at Anita Hui's CCK Chinese Restaurant at 299 Central, close friends and family gathered outside the restaurant to watch the traditional dragon dance. The costumed dancers threaded their way up and down the sidewalk, and even lunged into the road a couple times, all to the spirited accompaniment of drums and gong. Hui also put out roast young pig, pineapples and oranges on the small offering table at the front of the restaurant, and the air was thick with the fragrance of incense.
At the recently opened Taiwan Noodle at 218 Central, Vince Yu took a relaxed approach to New Year's. The restaurant specializes in Taiwan traditional noodle soup. It's simple food, at affordable prices (nothing on the menu costs more than $5.95), and Yu hopes students will take advantage. Yu came to the area from New York City, following his son, a first year University at Albany student. He has spent the last 30 years in the restaurant business, but it took the encouragement of friend, Lanny Lau, owner of the Ala Shanghai restaurant in Latham, to convince him to open his own, he said. Yu spent his New Year's watching martial arts demonstrations at his partner's martial arts school and enjoying a good meal, he says. Business has been slow since opening on January 4, but Yu is certain that the location, which housed Saso's for years, and Kitsu after that, will be good for him.
