Danny has left the building

From the Queens Chronicle:

Clamoring between cardboard boxes that hold the memories from the past 33 years, Danny Chan runs to the phone that continues to ring off the hook despite the fact that his restaurant, Danny’s Szechuan Garden, officially closed its doors at the end of June.

“I have to be here, answering the phone because people are still calling for takeout,” Chan smiled. “So I take down their information and tell them I’ll let them know when we’ll be opening again.”

After more than three decades at 164-14 Crossbay Blvd. in Howard Beach, Danny Chan and his wife, Veronica, sold their building to the New York Families for Autistic Children, a nonprofit, and hope to soon open their restaurant in a smaller venue somewhere in Howard Beach.

“We want to run a more modern, smaller place,” Veronica Chan said. “It’s a good thing NYFAC will move in. It’s for a good cause.”

Originally from Hong Kong, the Chans describe their experience of owning the restaurant as “the story of the American dream.”

“We came here with nothing in our pockets and slowly but surely built this place up,” Danny Chan said. “Over 30 years, we made a lot of friends here.”