New York City restaurant marketing 'clean' Chinese food stirs controversy

NEW YORK CITY - It hasn’t even been open for a week, but a new Chinese restaurant in Manhattan is at the center of a firestorm.

Lucky Lee's, the brainchild of nutritionist Arielle Haspel, is being marketed as “clean” Chinese food, which critics say has implications that demean American-Chinese cuisine.

Social media posts from the restaurant quoting someone saying “I wish there was a place to get healthy Chinese food,” are meant to highlight Haspel’s additive, gluten, MSG and wheat-free approach, but they backfired. Many on social media lambasted the chef, accusing her of cultural appropriation and saying a white woman was profiting off a culture she was disparaging.

Amid the controversy, the restaurant had a sizable lunch crowd on Wednesday afternoon however some outside were disturbed by its branding.

“It seems very inappropriate,” said Harold Heale. “It’s sort of insinuating that all Chinese food isn't up to the standards that some people expect it to be.”

Haspel declined an interview request with WPIX, but referred to a statement posted on the restaurant’s Instagram page. In it, she insists Lucky Lee’s is here to celebrate Chinese cuisine.

“There could’ve been a really easy way to do this sensitively,” MacKenzie Fagan, a writer with the VICE food blog Munchies and host of 112BK, told WPIX.

Fagan, who is Chinese American, says Lucky Lee’s got it wrong primarily for the “clean” language they used.

“In the broader world, the opposite of clean is dirty and also some of the language and branding around it distinctly mentions 'healthiness' and by saying that you’re being culturally insensitive to people who eat Chinese food every day,” she said.

Since the backlash, Lucky Lee’s has deleted the social media posts that ignited the controversy.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the restaurant told WPIX they plan to move forward and concentrate on its healthy mission.