The phone was ringing off the hook recently at Halal Grill Eats while customers lined up, at the newly opened restaurant at 1441 Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park, near New Hyde Park Road.

Owned by Jimmy Ahmad, the restaurant is part of a new wave of restaurants and businesses in New Hyde Park. The Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce also helped with the grand opening February 6, with balloons marking the birth of this new restaurant in New Hyde Park.

Passersby stopped to look not just at the restaurant, but two Lamborghinis prominently parked in the parking lot, causing many drivers to slow down — and even stop — to see what the buzz was about.

While the demographics across much of Long Island have been changing, that’s certainly been the case in New Hyde Park, where this ribbon cutting is part of a much larger shift and welcome. Restaurants and businesses catering to, but not only to, an Asian-American population are finding business, while some others may be facing dropping demand.

Much of New Hyde Parks retail and dining are along Jericho Turnpike, including Halal Grill Eats, in the area that includes the New Hyde Park Shopping Mall and Hillside Avenue.

New Hyde Park, which now has a population of over 10,000, was once the site of the United Nations. It today is home to a large and growing Asian American population, fueling growth among businesses catering to them.

The racial composition of New Hyde Park includes about White, as well as more than a third Asian, just under 10% Hispanic and smaller percentages for Black or African American residents, according to the Census Reporter. Businesses, like Halal Grill Eats, are reflecting this changing demographic.

Of the roughly 30% born abroad, 65% were born in Asia, 12% in Europe, 23% in Latin America and 1% in Africa, according to Census Reporter. About 93% of New Hyde Park residents were living in the same house as a year ago, while 5% moved from another county and 1% from elsewhere in Nassau.

New Hyde Park also has a relatively affluent population, with a median household income of $142,927, more than 92 % of residents with a high school degree or higher and 3.6% below the poverty line, according to the Census Reporter.

The median age is about 43 with about 62% between ages 18 and 64, but about 29% age 60 or older, according to the Census Reporter.

Source: LI Press