Dragon Seed Restaurant Luau Hut

Jackson Heights, New York, United States

Dragon Seed opened for business in April 1949 and closed July 1993.

The name probably came from a contemporary novel of the same name by Pearl S. Buck first published in 1942. The book describes the lives of Chinese peasants in a village outside Nanjing, China, immediately prior to and during the Japanese invasion in 1937. The story was adapted for the big screen in 1944, starring Katherine Hepburn in a whitewashed role as "Jade".

It was a very popular Chinese and Tiki fusion restaurant. There were beaded curtains and a wishing well. You could order Mai Tais and Zombies, which were served in tiki mugs with fruit garnishes and paper umbrellas, and they had a pu-pu platter.

It was also a favorite restaurant of Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lucille. The neighbor kids would go there while he was eating and ask for autographs and he would oblige them, but sometimes his food got cold so he would just eat the fortune cookies and when he got home his wife would make him a Dagwood sandwich.

After closing in 1993 the tiki decor persisted a surprisingly long time, especially a couple of moai outside the front door which were brought inside at some point and then disappeared prior to the last remodeling in 2017.

Since 2017, this location is Raices Colombianas, a Colombian restaurant.