Joe Redux

by Helen i-lin Hwang

What’s in a name? Well, in the restaurant business, it’s a touchy subject, even if you’re not in the same state. There was much excitement (at least mine) surrounding the opening of a New Joe Shanghai in Philadelphia (as mentioned in this newspaper’s Dish magazine, Fall/Winter 2003). The restaurant registered its business name with Pennsylvania on Feb. 24, 2003, and was widely assumed to be a Philly outpost of the successful New York-based Joe Shanghai. But, within a year, the eatery at 915 Arch St. was shut down. Betty Mon, chairperson of the Asian Business Alliance of Greater Delaware Valley, says she is not aware of what happened to the restaurant. Did they go out of business, or did the New York City-based restaurant frighten them into closing, on account of the similarity of the names?

A call to New York's Joe Shanghai confirmed their restaurants have no affiliation with the Philadelphia one with the similar-sounding name. The owner did not return calls but a manager who gave his name as Ken said they sent a warning letter to Philly's New Joe Shanghai telling them they couldn't use their name. "It's misrepresentation," he called it.

He said that people were calling the New York restaurants to get the phone number and address of a subsidiary in Philadelphia when none existed. He'd have to tell them the restaurants were not affiliated. In New York, there are five locations in Chinatown, Queens and Midtown, and Joe Shanghai has built a loyal following for its famed soup dumplings.

According to Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson Brian McDonald, the warning letter from New York "doesn't hold water." Before an incorporated business is allowed to register its name in Pennsylvania, the Corporation Bureau checks to see if another business has the same name. Unless a business in New York registers the name in Pennsylvania, it has every right to use that name in Philadelphia. (There are many restaurants that share the same name, which is legal if the business registers a "fictitious name," meaning the company hasn't been incorporated and the owner's personal assets can be held liable in case of a lawsuit.)

When I interviewed the owner of Philly's New Joe Shanghai restaurant last August, he did say they weren't owned by the same people. But he did state that a former Joe Shanghai's Chinatown chef was now cooking for the local eatery.

Whatever the outcome, it seems there's a new name we should be learning: In April, the Jade City Seafood Restaurant, a Cantonese-style dining venue with no ties to New Joe's, will be opening on its old site. Already the decor has changed to a more banquet-room feel; there's a a double happiness Chinese symbol bordered by a lucky phoenix and dragon against a red velvet backdrop. Though Joe is out of the ring, Jade is rising.

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