ATHENS, Ohio –– The weather was cold but spirits were high on Wednesday, Jan. 29, when local entrepreneurs Hei Hei fed a large crowd of revelers who came together to eat, drink and celebrate the Lunar New Year.
The event, held both in and outdoors at Jackie O’s Taproom on Campbell Street, spanned five hours and hosted over two hundred people –– a multi-generational crowd welcoming the Year of the Snake, most of who waited an hour or more for a taste of what the Athens’ small-batch-food darling offered.
Under a new moon, Hei Hei served Korean fried chicken wings, kimchi pancakes and dumplings, a signature offering that gained popularity at the Athens Farmers Market in 2024. Local ingredients ground Hei Hei’s menu in southeastern Ohio; their dipping sauces, according to one attendee, “take you to another planet.”
Lunar New Year marks the arrival of spring on the Chinese lunisolar calendar, which determines dates based on the phases of the moon and sun, and has been celebrated for thousands of years. Festivities span two weeks, until the full moon, and center feasts among friends and family.
Hosting a Lunar New Year celebration in Athens has been a long-time goal for Hei Hei founder Irene Kim Chin Vincent, she said. Wednesday’s satisfied crowd saw her vision through and brought alive the Hei Hei ethos: honor her Asian heritage and Appalachia, support local economy, and create culture through food.
Irene Kim Chin Vincent spent the night busy, simultaneously taking orders and cooking. Photo by Al Maloney.
Within the first 10 minutes of the event, with the line already fifty people deep, Hei Hei’s flat top grill stopped working, co-owner Kurt Vincent said, slowing down the pace of service. A growing crowd danced to K-pop playing from the speakers while the team tapped in friends to set up an auxiliary cook station with borrowed propane camping stoves outside of the food cart. When Nick Finocchioli, who owns local catering business Olive Branch, sent a large propane grill, the orders started flowing.
“Honestly, it was one of the most exciting nights of my life,” Vincent said. “We felt so loved.”
The community team on Wednesday included Ronnie Givens, owner of the food truck business Rhythm and Food, Mike Young of Kiser’s BBQ and Little Fish Brewing Company, Adam Kody of ACENet, Matt Rahal, and Brian and Jen Muehlenkamp.
“We set up outside and all of a sudden we were cranking out orders,” Vincent said. “Our buddy Liam ran home and brought his generator to give us more juice. My dad ran to my housed and grabbed our cast iron skillets. It’s really heartening to know that we have so many friends here that wanted to help and stepped up.”
“It was extreme bonding,” Chin Vincent said. The atmosphere and support, despite the cold weather and food delay, “says something good about Athens.”
The menu was themed –– anju, or “food to go with drinks” in Korean, which Chin Vincent describes as bringing “flavor that lends itself to eating alongside a cold beer, soju, or cocktail.” For the Lunar New Year pop-up, Jackie O’s staff curated a special drink selection to complement the Hei Hei menu, featuring cocktails with soju and sake, and mocktails with boba and muddled mandarin orange. Vincent’s mom was among the family and friends who helped decorated inside the taproom, where red lanterns hung from the ceiling, creating a warm, festive atmosphere.
By the end of the night, Hei Hei sold out of dumplings and almost all the chicken, which Vincent predicts would have also sold out had technical issues not disrupted their turnover time.
Kimchi was a hit, and is the latest offering Hei Hei is excited about serving up at the farmer’s market. Made with heirloom cabbage and gochu peppers, onions, asian pear, radish, the kimchi “really embodies our whole mission,” Vincent said, which is to collaborate with local farms.
“It’s better tasting food and supports the local economy – which means it supports our friends. The closer you can get to the food you eat the better it is for you, health-wise, environmentally and economically. So we really keep that as our northern star.”
Throughout the night, crowd members joined in to help carry parade a colorful dragon – meant to bring good luck in the new year – throughout the taproom and patio. Yi-Ting Wang, friend of Hei Hei, and her family brought the puppet, which is used in the traditional dragon dances. It was Wang who suggested children lead the dragon through the space, Vincent said, and their enthusiasm was contagious among those patiently waiting in line.
A busy night didn’t keep Irene Kim Chin Vincent from scoping out the paper dragon, then being paraded through the crowd by a group of children. Photo by Al Maloney.
At the end of the night, the Hei Hei team toasted and celebrated success, downing somek, or a shot of soju and beer. The shot is placed on top a glass with chopstick, Vincent explained, and drinkers pound the bar causing the shot to fall in the beer.
“It was a well earned drink,” he said.
A colorful dragon puppet was marched in and around the crowd multiple times at Hei Hei’s Lunar New Year party. Photos by Al Maloney.
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