San Luis Obispo’s Chinatown mainstay Mee Heng Low Noodle House hopes to get a much-awaited revamp, and it’s looking to a historic small restaurants grant to further cement its future.
“Times are tough for restaurants,” Mee Heng Low chef-owner Russell Kwong said. “I started on the board of directors for SLO County Arts, and I realized that there’s a lot of grants out there, a lot of them for small businesses, small restaurants. … This one is very aligned with this business.”
The noodle house is a 97-year-old remnant of SLO’s Chinatown founded by restauranteur Gin Jack Keen—passing through the hands of different owners throughout the years. Kwong’s family became the restaurant’s third set of owners in 2009. Since 2019, Kwong’s been running the place mainly on his own.
“When we first opened, the hotel nearly put us out of business,” he said. “Then we have this sewer issue that nearly put us out of business. Then we had the pandemic. Every time we start to get going again, something happens. It just kind of knocks us back down.”
Yet, the noodle house is still standing, and it’s eyeing the Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant program for help.
Now, in its fifth iteration, the $50,000 grant is a collaboration between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Community members have until May 30 to submit nominations for the small and/or historic restaurant that needs support. While nominations don’t guarantee the money, strong community support holds weight. Make nominations at savingplaces.org/restaurant-submission.
Kwong told New Times he applied for other grants in the past but didn’t receive any. But this time feels different because the noodle house is specifically aligned with the historic and small restaurants criteria.
Besides being small—having fewer than 100 employees—and/or independently owned, eligible restaurants contribute to the history and identity of the surrounding community, tell a story about cuisine in the U.S., have a compelling cultural significance, and have been disproportionately impacted by difficulties of some kind.
Kwong credits SLO’s Economic Development Analyst McKenzie Taffe for introducing him to the fund. Winning it would mean improvements to the restaurant’s façade, updating its balcony, and fixing its neon sign. An estimate for repairing the iconic dragon sign alone, according to Kwong, puts the cost at $20,000.
Since its inception in 2021, the Backing Historic Small Restaurants program awarded nearly $5.7 million to 130 historic restaurants across the country. So far, California restaurants in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, La Verne, San Bernardino, and Joshua Tree have won the grant. In 2025, 50 such restaurants stand to receive $50,000 each.
“This critical financial support helps small restaurant owners better navigate economic challenges, disasters, or other hardships so that their establishments’ legacies can continue,” the grant website said.
This year, the program allows eligible restaurants to work with a “preservation partner,” who can support them with grant reporting, identifying preservation-sensitive contractors, and arranging community engagement opportunities like improvement tours after renovation. Mee Heng Low tapped the SLO History Center as its preservation partner. The History Center could receive up to $10,000 from the grant proceeds if the restaurant is awarded the money.
The grant is contingent on the noodle house performing improvement projects from August to January—completing them by Jan. 31, 2026.
Restaurants must provide evidence of project completion at the 50 percent and 100 percent marks through photos and a written description. The National Trust staff will provide technical assistance, guidance, and feedback on proposed exterior improvements and restorations to the restaurants.
“It’s like Chinatown is getting this kind of makeover right now, and we haven’t been able to keep pace with that,” Kwong said. “It’d be cool if the restaurant was really beautiful again.”
Fast fact
• The Community Foundation SLO County awarded more than $618,000 to more than 100 students through 50 scholarships. The funding helps students pursue paths like aviation, ballet intensives, trades, STEM, and even returning to complete education. Seventy percent of recipients demonstrated significant financial need, underscoring the scholarship’s ability to remove barriers to entry. Δ
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 8, 2025.