Chinatown’s Sang Kee Peking Duck House has reopened after city-imposed shutdown
Steam generated by a long-standing water leak had threatened Sang Kee’s electrical panel. The restaurant's owners announced "a temporary solution" late Friday night.
Sang Kee Peking Duck House has reopened, a week after it was closed by the city because its electrical panel was threatened by a mysterious stream of steam pouring into its basement.
The root of the problem remains undetermined, but a temporary solution made it possible for the restaurant to reopen at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“We’re not sure what will happen next, but we are thankful for the love and support from the city,” owner Henry Chow said Saturday. ‘We really felt like everybody was behind us this week.“
It is a joyful turn in a battle that one of the oldest restaurants in Chinatown has been grappling with for over a year.
When the closure was announced, Chow told The Inquirer steam generated by a long-standing water leak was threatening Sang Kee’s electrical panel, which also governs its fire alarm.
The steam came from water dripping onto pipes operated by Vicinity Energy, the company that provides heat to Center City buildings through an underground high-pressure steam-pipe system, Chow said, stressing both Vicinity Energy and the Philadelphia Water Department initially denied any leaks.
Contractors came in and out but no one could identify and repair the leak. As they continued to look for answers, officials feared that the electrical panel would be damaged by steam.
“The fire department has been out multiple times, and every utility company has been out multiple times,” Henry Chow’s father, Michael, told The Inquirer after the restaurant was ordered closed. “They all refer a different team and a different inspector and it gets nowhere.”
A Department of Licenses and Inspections notification appeared on Sang Kee Peking Duck House’s door on Dec. 13 stating “cease operations” in black bold letters spread across a white paper crossed with red lines, alleging electrical and fire violations.
“This is a nightmare,” the Chows posted on the restaurant’s Instagram account last week, announcing the indefinite shutdown to the mournful comments of longtime customers asking how they could help.
A spokesperson for Vicinity told The Inquirer it was working on “a root-cause analysis.”
Last week, Vicinity workers created a temporary vent by making a hole in the ground, turning it into a chimneylike system to release part of the steam, Henry Chow said in an interview Saturday.
This temporary solution helped the Chows reopen the restaurant, the owner said, by reducing the amount of steam enough to prevent the electrical and fire panels from being at risk.
As they continue to search for the source of the leak, Chow said he is grateful to be back in business.
“This is not just a Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, it’s what people consider a Philadelphia institution,” Chow said. “To be part of the fabric of the city is really meaningful.”