I cannot possibly believe that the number of Chinese restaurants is decreasing. Been to North Harvard Street in Brookline recently, or in Quincy or Malden?
the difference is that the new restaurants produce tasty food in a clean environment without the greasy compose-your-food-by-numbers approach.
First generation make delicious food. Second generation are computer consultants.
3
These guys are amazing....hard workers, fast learners and family, church, school and country centered.
3
While I think the article catches a real an important insight into the immigrant experience (my grandfather arrived from Germany in the early 20th century, learned English from the Times and a German/English dictionary, became a butcher, and eventually built a successful meat purveying business.)
However, I think the aticle misses one important element - American tastes. I grew up enjoying meals at white tablecloth Chinese restaurants and was introduced to regional Chinese cooking in Philadelphia's diversity of regional Chinese and, later, other Asian foods. I believe that American tastes have become increasingly more sophisticated while their search for quality and diversity has led them in many directions.
My most recent experience in a Chinese restaurant proved the food to be excessively bland, over-cooked and under-flavored...hardly worth eating. That has not been an unsual recent experience. Meanwhile, many Thai and Vietnamese restaurants (althought certainly not all) provide truly tasty, interesting meals at comparative prices. Also, contemporary cooking shows on television have broadened and elevated our tastes to both eating and cooking a variety of Asian styles. I expect that the decline in Chinese reatuarants not only reflects upward mobility, the the general mobility of American food tastes.
3
I miss Sam Chinita's.
Growing up in small towns in Iowa and Nebraska, Chinese restaurants were equated with an exotic, urban experience, as depicted in Hopper’s Chop Suey. While some see alienation in this painting, I see two independent city girls living the urban life I dreamed of.
My high school friends and I would drive an hour to Omaha to attend classical music concerts and live theater, and these “sophisticated” outings were always topped off with dinner at King Fong’s. Lo mein, egg rolls, nothing like it was available in farm country.
I’ve lived my adult life in cities and still feel that excitement 50 years later when I get Chinese takeout. In my Boston neighborhood, only one storefront Chinese restaurant remains, while a dozen shabu and Korean hotpot spots have sprung up. They’re fun and delicious, but I still love lo mein and eggrolls on Friday night. A young woman runs the cash register, but I see lots of gray heads in the kitchen. I hope they hang on a little longer.
4
This story nicely highlights the sacrifice and tireless work ethic of immigrant families. I myself am a first-generation American. However, I take issue with the reporters' conclusions about the reason for the decrease in Chinese-American restaurants. The tradition of ethnic restaurants providing a pathway for immigrant families to make a living here while their children take advantage of educational opportunities that feed them into higher-paying professions is longstanding. This is not a new phenomenon. I doubt the last two or three generations of owners of these restaurants ever expected their children to take over. Finally, I also disagree with the reporters' findings that people are just as just as interested in eating standard Chinese-American food as ever, notwithstanding the "analysis" of Yelp data. I think the food itself is a big factor in the decrease. I'm sure there are many exceptions, but most Chinese-American restaurants I've ordered from offer food that is high in fat, sugar, salt and preservatives, and can churn a dish out in five minutes because they rely on use of bottled sauces. As tasty as the food is, many young people just don't want to eat that way anymore. For that matter, many older people don't want to eat that way anymore, either.
3
I still hope that someday we can have a “Star Trek” economy where people who love to sing, can sing. And people who love to cook, can cook. And people who love to draw, can draw all they want. I would much rather have better music, food, and movies than better iPhones, drones, and weapons.
Asian immigrant parents will often send their kids to college, so their children can have their own career working 9-5 instead of working 10-10 6 days a week.
This is a wonderful article, but I find one part of it to be very sad: "With social mobility and inclusion in more mainstream parts of the economy, the children of immigrants are less likely than their parents to own their own businesses." Hate to be the bearer of bad new, but that is not progress.
3
There are in the US, according to Wikipedia, more that 5 million American Chinese, including foreign born and their US born descendants, 1.5% of the country population. How likely are Chinese restaurants of various regional cuisines become extinct?
It's worth noting that many (otherly qualified/better qualified) immigrants opened restaurants in the 20th century, even if not trained chefs, because of the racism of the host society which didn't give them "normal" jobs.
BTW, I know that 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture, but it's the first time I've heard of someone actually NAMED "8" (Jennifer 8. Lee)!
3
This is the natural progression of immigration in America.
My great grandfather came here from Baden, Germany in the 1800's and settled in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He and his sons were rope makers. Today, there are no rope makers in the family. We now have pilots, artists, tech workers, lawyers, architects, etc in the family.
When I was growing up I remember Little Italy having a very big footprint that was slowly engulfed by a rapidly growing Chinatown. What's left of Little Italy today? A few blocks.
Back then there was also 70 or more German owned businesses on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Today there is Schaller & Webber and one German restaurant. The kids broke away and assimilated into America.
I also used to hang out in Flushing before the neighborhood flipped to a large Korean population. What group will be next as their kids grow up, go to college and decide they don't want to be in the family business?
And so it goes... the promise of a better life for the future generations. That's why people come to America.
10
I'm glad the kids are climbing the ladder, but I'm so sad to see these wonderful restaurants go away. I do see how hard the work is, for anyone. Will the authentic cuisine survive, somehow?
I neither praise nor bad mouth the ethnic cuisines that I like or dislike, respectively. Humans' tastes went from those of cavemen and cannibals to the 18th century French aristocracy. Globalization of food rules supreme everywhere. The US national food is turkey (wild), Maine lobster, and cranberries. In reality the image of the US is of a country of hamburgers, pizza, and peanut butter.
True story from Kingston NY circa 1940 Chinese Restaurant. My grandfather, Henry Forst, owned a meat packing plant that provided meat to a local Chinese restaurant. Maybe the one in this story. In the middle of the night, he was awakened by a police officer. Someone had set fire to the restaurant and the owner was being accused. The owner said my grandfather could vouch for him, hence the summons. My grandfather went to the police station and said the owner was an honorable man who would never set his own restaurant on fire and the owner was released. For the next many years, the owner sent my grandfather and family presents every Christmas. I found out about this when I asked my mother why she had so many pairs of children's slippers and various little Chinese-made items. Gifts over many years.
15
When I was in college in the 1980s, cheap Greek restaurants were a big part of campus and urban life. Whenever you had a potluck, at least two people would bring the moussaka they were trying to make as well as the Greek place on the corner. Now you have to really hunt in Manhattan to find an authentic Greek salad. The generational financial success that happened to Greek American families should have happened to Chinese American families long ago. Great news that the cultural barriers to advancement are finally coming down. Hopefully the restaurants that are passed among generations of Chinese Americans will be able to command higher prices when the idea of replaceable ubiquity recedes into history.
4
How foolish, if these restaurants were decent investments others would purchase them. You don’t have to be Chinese to own or run them. The fact that the owners must work so hard means they are not good investments.
2
@vulcanalex
Not true. The owners work hard because it is their desire to succeed and the drive that is inherent in their culture. The also work hard and long hours because, since it is their livelihood, they take ultimate responsibility for it. They are reluctant to allow anyone else to take this responsibility.
4
@vulcanalex It is extraordinarily rare for a restaurant to be a good investment. The vast majority of restaurants work on incredibly thin margins, even successful ones. Ask any franchisee from Subway. Here in San Francisco, even the high end restaurants are now suffering because the newest generations are not into the dining experience, preferring GrubHub and DoorDash to deliver restaurant-style food to their homes because many lack the social skills involved in public dining. Plus, a new awareness of fair and equitable salaries for restaurant workers have made the margins even slimmer with restaurants forced to add on fees for workers health insurance costs.
3
The United States has been a land of opportunity for people from many parts of the world.
I believe immigrant families are basically different than native born citizens. To pick up and leave what you are familiar with and head for another nation, often with little money and some not even knowing English, takes an inner motivation that the ordinary person does not have.
Immigrants that come here are different then their fellow citizens they left behind.
So I believe immigrants, as a whole, share an inner drive that is not representative of people in general. This drive separates them from others and explains why so many of them are successful and explains why their children become professionals.
It was a good thing that the United States welcomed them here. The immigrants and the U.S. both benefited. I just wish that the door had remained opened. What is happening now is more than sad.
25
"Decent people" like you support more immigrants because then you benefit from the service they provide. Meanwhile, people in the bottom tier of the society have the urge to drive away or even purge immigrants because a) Immigrants compete for their job and they will surely lose the competition b) Immigrants become professionals because of their inner drive so they feel jealous and ashamed
7
I'm happy that the founder of my favorite restaurant found someone to take over so she could retire. The couple that bought the place run it with a completely different hand, are kinder to the employees and made some significant modernization decisions, such as online ordering and kitchen tickets that print in Chinese and English. I hope it's benefitted them as much as I think it has!
3
This is the American Dream coming true. The first generation of the immigrants had no English language skill, no money and no connection. What they had were hope and motivation for better life for their children, and believes this was a fair and free place for their children to grow.
The Sits’ story is a typical immigrant one. Hope their daughters are proud of their achievements and appreciate their love. Then of all they have done are worthy.
9
Last year a Canadian publisher issued CHOP SUEY NATION: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui. Ms Hui is a writer for the Toronto Globe & Mail. The book’s thesis parallels the trajectory of Chinese restaurants in Canada with the owners of establishments from British Columbia all the way east to Fogo Island, Newfoundland — we are seeing the passing of an era and the melding of the Chinese into North American society. It’s our loss, even though it might reflect their gains. I doubt that their replacement by trendy, jacked-up self-important chefs (probably with equally self-administered titles like executive Director of Culinary Excellence) will ever be able to serve such basic and comforting meals.
3
I understand with all my heart. As a native New Yorker and musician, I spent many a night in Chinatown after gigs or recording. Growing up on Long Island, there was a beautiful restaurant I would go to with my parents that was in Syosset. Both Italian food and Chinese food were so much a part of growing up for me. These places were all run by hard-working immigrant families. I am truly grateful for having had these experiences.
10
I think I'm going to Eng's when I get home tonight!
7
This isn't just happening in Chinese restaurants. I travel the country a lot and see one after another restaurant closing for the same reason. The children or grandchildren do not want to run a restaurant. Different people from the parents with different desires.
1
@Don Lawrence I thought the same thing. I can name three beloved restaurants that have gone out of business for this reason in the central part of our state. One had started in the 1930s and closed about 15 years ago; the others just this year.
"But he is proud of what he built. He is proud that his daughters, American-born educated professionals, are working jobs they have chosen, jobs they love." A great story, thank you NYT.
20
I loved this article on so many levels. Whether it was learning about the unique cultural history and experience of Chinese immigration in the US or the impact Chinese people and cuisine has had in this country. It was such a timely and personal article for me...and I’m Jewish! Like so many Jews in America, I went out for Chinese food on Christmas. It’s now a tradition. My father, of the WWII generation, got our family hooked on Chinese food (in NY’s Chinatown and suburban NJ haunts) during the “Golden Era” of Chinese restaurants in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He’d be happy to know the tradition continues 20 years after his death...and that my daughter-in-law is Chinese.
8
The 500 lb gorilla in the dining room, esp in northern California , where I live, is the obvious fact that most of the new Chinese restaurants are staffed by newcomers to the USA with presumably no legal residence or papers. The epoch of this type of labor is rapidly expiring.
4
Interesting article, and a clear reminder - America has BEEN great for a very long time. It never stopped.
18
Can I just say, owning your own restaurant is a great accomplishment!
If you moved to the US from another country and had the courage to open a restaurant, congratulations! There are a lot of Americans with a bachelor's degree who are waiting tables for whom the idea of owning a restaurant is a very worthy goal.
If you own your own small business, is it really an American nightmare that your educated kids might wind up with a similar level of success?
To all the mom-and-pop small business owners: You made it!!!
21
Thank You!
We are proud, hard working owners of a whole wheat bread Bakery.
Our 2 daughters graduated from William's, Harvard PHd, and soon Berkeley post doc...and the other from UVa.
The PHd cellular biologist is working to solve cancer and wont be taking over the bakery.
UVa daughter....maybe....we hope.
2
It's interesting that this article mentions Nom Wah which had the dubious distinction of being the oldest dim sum parlor in NYC Chinatown. It did have the worst dim sum in Chinatown and I always wondered who ate in there and how it stayed in business. (Did they own the building?)
Nom Wah had great atmosphere, but it's competitor - the nuts-and-bolts Mee Sum Cafe - right around the corner had great cheap food and was always packed. I ate many a har gow, shu mei, and beef noodle - with excellent coffee - in there.
Little funny now - in the context of this article - that Nom Wah has been resurrected by the scion of the family that ignored it for decades...
2
@Pepe McOrlan the greatest Chinese restaurant in NYC was the Bo Bo tea room on 20 1/2 Pell street as I recall. The address. My parents were the original foodies and my 7th birthday was held there. That restaurant was the only place of family harmony I can remember.
1
I go to Mee Sum Cafe or May Lai Wah on Bayard St. all the time. Even Filipinos go to Bayard St. on weekends for their roast pork buns. Nam Wah is for hipsters & tourists, you don't find the locals standing outside.
1
there were three chinese restaueants in walking distance from my house, two of them facing each other. Now tgere aee two. chinese food is overserved, reduction in restaurants will make the remianing ones sronger.
Most of the Chinese restaurant owner from the old country has worked long hours so their children would have got a good education and not have to repeat the hardship they encounter as new immigrants. To many Chinese restaurant owners, the decreasing in the number of the restaurant reflect their wish had come true.
As with Chinese food restaurants, Jewish delicatessens are disappearing. I can remember in Toronto growing up with the choice of many places to get a pastrami or smoked meat sandwich. Now there are a couple left!
5
I see the same thing with Italian restaurants. Fewer & fewer. It is just hard work, long hours.
1
Thoughts...
1. Millions of children take roads that differ from work their parents did. No one should have to take over a restaurant if that conflicts with their own dreams.
2. Consumers have become more health conscious and msg is to be avoided.
2
There is no evidence that MSG is unhealthy.
11
Maybe it’s also a factor of changing tastes? I can’t eat the fried, greasy, and oversalted food that many Chinese restaurants serve.
I would gladly eat more Chinese food if it were more carefully prepared with higher quality ingredients than are to be found in the vast majority of Chinese take-outs.
5
@Practicalities
You just haven't found a good place.
2
I’m surprised there was no discussion of other immigrant groups taking over these types of restaurants, for example in my hometown there is a local Italian food and pizzeria restaurant and that is run quite successfully by Mexican immigrants.
3
Middle Eastern owners have taken over many independent pizza shops. As long as they make a good pie, so what....
Japanese restaurants have become much more popular than Chinese restaurants. They are constantly opening while you see Chinese restaurants constantly closing
1
If any Asian, Chinese or whatever, person really wants to open a nice Chinese or other Asian restaurant, Hilo, HI needs you badly. We have a sizable Asian community, but only the Thai restaurants say come back!
Nice article, but the second graphic is not comprehensible...
8
Ah! A story the powers of mount Olympus thinks we're allowed to comment on! Hooray for the Chinese! Gettingmout of the restaurant business!
And exactly who is the decider of what's ... 'good' - for a person, family, etc?
Most people who've coffee to this country - no matter where they're from - due to language differences, or if, perhaps they were in a medical field, there's different criteria to become accredited, would start off in their new home - the US - doing what are termed 'menial' labor.
Does this mean the person doing the work is less?
I think if you even bothered to ask anyone who started out on the 'bottom rung' they'd say 'absolutley NOT!'
Theydalso be Offended that you'd decide for them what's 'menial'.
They also would do it so their children would have better chances and opportunities.
Living in NYC (ALL my life), there used to be to s of Korean markets. Before them, these same markets had been owned by Italians, is Irish.
That's how life goes.
It ISN'T 'racist' if someone does this. Is not belittling, or anything else you deem.
You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Majority of the Chinese "restaurants" are no better than Panda Express anyway. lol
Yes, good for the progress!
I have and idea to save the business.
A) clean your restrooms
B) clean your kitchens
C) choose better quality ingredients and charge for it
D) treat your customers as important
E) provide a product that is infinitely more healthy
The old line way of Chinese business has eroded the eating public as more choices existZ
If your place looks in need of repair do the work.
For such a industrial culture to be stuck in the 1950’s is sad
6
Very interesting. One business that’s closed with smile on account of children’s success in the field of their choice. Hard work of parents well paid.
6
Nothing compares to Lums in Flushing Queens on Northern Blvd. which was across from Flushing HS. We used to drive over the bridge from the Bronx in the late 1960s and 70s to have the best Chinese food and I remember being so proud that Mr. Lum treated my step dad and us like family royalty. We went about twice a month. Delish.
10
@This just in
I also grew up eating in Lum's. It was always a treat. And now there is so much great asian food in that neighborhood along Union St. and all along Main St. it would take a lifetime to sample it all.
Mr Sit should be proud. He has done a great job and I would certainly visit his restaurant. I hope he finds another hungry migrant to pass his restaurant to. Maybe a person from latin America. As a migrant, I can tell you that this is the norm. We work very hard and yes we get rewarded in America. We are very grateful. This is the American Dream for us and we love it. That is why when we read demeaning words from our present clown in chief, our dignity is hurt. We are none of those things. The majority of us contribute abundantly to the US and we love this country as much as natural born citizen. Just look at the statistics, immigrants contribute minimal to crime and ample to the economy.
30
Successful Chinese Americans owe their success to the unselfish sacrifices made by their parents
It has always been the case that every generation making sacrifices for the next, to have something better, Chinese or not
13
Bless them all. Send more.
10
Having visited mainland Canton, China in 1978 along with Hong Kong, I’ve seen both sides of Chinese life.
Living in San Francisco and Marin County for 35 years meant I enjoyed delicious Chinese food for years. As a career vocational counselor I was aware of the incredibly hard work the Chinese restaurants endured.
I’m delighted to hear that fewer Chinese Americans will need to work in the back breaking jobs found in Chinese restaurants and have to put up with rude customers.
For my own sake, I couldn’t wait to retire at 55 and leave America for a more civilized culture in a Provençal village in the south of France.
16
Retired at 55?
6
Me too.
This is a good thing. It is intergenerational upward mobility. Chinese restaurants can be wonderful. Let trained, motivated, voluntary aspirants to the restaurant industry run them. I am sure there are countless professionals whose parents pushed them to do their homework in the back of the restaurant, who had to work there while in high school or even at local colleges, who agree: let those who want to be chefs, be chefs, but let those who want to be scientists, financiers, software engineers, writers or musicians not feel guilty if the old family place closes or is sold to a new aspiring generation of arrivals. I would not mourn a place that advertises 'Chop Suey', whether in Kingston New York or a college town such as, say Ithaca New York or Eugene Oregon.
3
I’m a second generation Chinese immigrant and while I’m glad to see second and third generations moving on to more prosperity, as a consumer I’m saddened we’ll lose some of the cuisines the older places made so well. This article reminds me of the NYC Chinatown shop May May that made the best white steamed buns and red bean paste buns and the best sticky rice buns wrapped in bamboo leaves, and which closed in 2008 because no one from the younger generation wanted to keep running the business. What a loss to us all!!!
9
Thank you for this article. My parents came to the California from just outside of Guangzhou in the 80s. They were over 18 and were too old for high school. Instead they started working in a Chinese restaurant immediately upon arrival. When he was young, my father never considered the restaurant industry, but once in the US, that was the only option. He worked six days a week for 10-12 hours/day. I rarely saw him because of his work hours, but I remember he'd come home late and always stop by my room to give me a kiss on the cheek as I slept.
In the beginning of his career, he washed dishes. Eventually, he moved his way up. For years he would come home late but stay up carving carrots, daikon, etc. into flowers, monks, dragons, etc. for big dinner parties. He became very passionate about cooking, and is now a chef and specializes in sauces. He would work six days a week at one restaurant, then save his days off to work at another restaurant.
Born and raised in Southern California, I was often sad we never had typical "American family experiences" like summer road trips or traveling for the holidays. But I learned about hard work and perseverance. I am the first in my family to go to college, and am now a professor at an Ivy League institution. My parents are so proud that their journey and hardship paid off, but often I am proud they had the courage to leave everything behind and take a chance in a new country.
549
@CC
Your father’s work ethic is admirable. I am touched by the gratitude you feel for your parents’ example. Thanks for sharing.
76
@CC Very touching story. Your ancestors were with you in spirit. Please don't forget that. I am sure you are proud of your parents as they are of you. Thank you for sharing. Best wishes...
26
@Dr. Sam Rosenblum, my people did not come to America in chains and sold as slaves. They faced discrimination but not to the often violent extent that African Americans have in this country. Furthermore, Chinese restaurants back in the 1960s had acquired a certain 'cachet' among White people showing their 'sophistication' in eating Chinese (Americanized) food. And Chinese restaurants were allowed to operate in White neighborhoods. There was and is no parallel with soul food restaurants - almost none exists in White neighborhoods that I know of, and very few White people go there.
27
I’ve often described myself as generation 1.5, born in China but raised in the US from a young age. I’m not quite a first generation immigrant like my mom, but also not quite second generation. I wonder about the correlation vs causation to this article’s argument of restaurant numbers and Chinese-American social mobility.
But, it wonderfully captures the spirit of the Chinese-American immigrant experience (including my own). The incredible work ethic of older generations, which they’ve often passed down to younger generations, have helped fulfill many an American dream. Mr. Sit and his generation have much to be proud of.
244
I can personally attest to the goodness of Eng's - I lost 20 lbs. when I relocated from IBM Kingston to a new job back in the 80's. Mr. and Ms. Sit are such a wonderful family, I'm so happy they are well and perhaps retiring soon.
403
@ErinsDad
I'm glad to hear that Eng's served good food in the 1980s.
As a current resident of the Kingston area, I can attest that the food there was abysmal the last time I went, with the exception of the egg rolls, which, regardless of how good they are, do not make a meal.
Also, amusingly, during the hour we ate dinner, Mrs. Eng took no fewer than three phone calls from people complaining about some aspect of their deliveries and demanding their money back. These appeared to be very routine calls, and indicated that either the restaurant is comfortable not delivering what customers expect, or that it serves a clientele eager to whittle every penny off of their bills, neither of which is particularly flattering to the business.
7
So, since (a) lots of people still want to eat in Chinese restaurants, and (b) social mobility for children and grandchildren of Chinese immigrants means fewer Chinese people *have to* operate restaurants due to limited prospects, and thus fewer are doing so, can we finally say that (c) it’s OK for white people who want to operate restaurants (and are interested in Chinese food) to operate Chinese restaurants if they put respectful effort into learning about the culture and cuisine, without being accused of cultural appropriation?
Because I’m pretty sure the retiring restaurant owners would prefer to sell their businesses as going concerns to the benefit of their own retirement and the inheritance of their offspring (who don’t *want* to operate restaurants and have other career options now, so would certainly not be “robbed” of economic opportunities by white people taking them over), rather than just shut them down, get pennies for the equipment, etc., and nothing for the recipes and goodwill/reputation they have developed over decades?
Also, where will Jews go out for dinner on Christmas if they keep shutting down?
24
@Kieran McCarty
Good questions. Here's some more. Let's say you have two Chinese restaurants to choose from. You look in the window of one and see white people working there. You look in the window of the other and see Chinese people working there. Which one you gonna go to?
If you're a savvy white person who buys a Chinese restaurant, you're going to figure that out, so what do you do? Hire Chinese people to work for you. So why not just sell to a Chinese person in the first place?
1
Honestly, there is a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant near me owned and run by a white man. I think his QC coordinator in his Vietnamese wife, but I don’t complain about his race so long as his food remains delicious.
17
@steve Who is eating there - that's the question.
4
I being a child of Chinese immigrants am glad to see that more and more Chinese restaurants will close in the near and distant future. Second, Third, and Fourth generation Chinese Americans have zero interest in working in the restaurant business of which we perceived as being low class, uneducated, foreigner status oriented labor. Moreover, we are sick and tired over answering questions from non-Chinese folks about what's this and that on the menu! Just search for the answer on Google or Wikipedia!
38
@Keith - Just to note your experience may not be one of only chinese immigrants but i perhaps immigrants of minority groups in general. Italians and the fruit & veggie stores in the boroughs of mid-last century comes to mind immediately. The fathers worked long hours, the sons became lawyers, the fathers sold out to newer asian immigrants.
4
@Keith Often trying something new and asking questions is a sign of respect. Of course racism and a lack of respect the working class can cloud everyone's eyes and make making a living harder than it needs to be. But both Chinese folk and Non Chinese folk deserve to be treated well.
5
I am Canadian. Our former Governor General The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson titled her Massey lecture series Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship.
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2014-cbc-massey-lectures-belonging-the-paradox-of-citizenship-1.2914166
Those of us who grew up with Adrienne Clarkson nee Poy on the television would have a difficult time naming anyone more Canadian than Ms Clarkson.
That being said the ubiquitous Chinese take-out is Canadian not American. The truth is that the so called Chinese Americans are as every bit as American as your Trump voter.
I read Haaretz every day and many are as convinced as I am of the impossibility of being both an American and an Israeli. Seventy years may seem a short time but sometimes 70 years seem millenia.
It is too late to make reservation for Christmas Eve and Christmas our citizens of Chinese descent have taken our tables for Christmas dinner.
Meanwhile before the restaurants disappear forever maybe you can take some of our doctors, lawyer and business executives and teach them what to do in the kitchen. I can't imagine them more unhappy than they are now.
5
This article is proof positive that immigrants are the backbone to America’s prosperity and continued growth. The first generation came to America to embrace the American dream and find and build a better life for their children. It is sad that the current occupant of the White House and his supporters fail to see through their hate filled eyes immigrants come here to embrace the American Dream and that through hope, one finds prosperity.
29
@Rufus T. Firefly
Trump is focused on undocumented workers, not all immigrants.
2
Yet Asians are being penalized by Deblasio when it comes to anti-Asian elite school policies. Consistently working hard. But we pity other minorities and make excuses for their poverty and criminal behavior. SMH.
Most of the Chinese restaurants I’ve been in, including a local one that recently closed, seemed more like throwbacks than restaurants; elaborately constructed look-alike sets with tacky faded (or ownright dusty) decor and menus that never changed from the 60s and 70s. It’s like the culinary equivalent of being forced to watch reruns of Emergency, Frazier, or anything with Fran Drescher. Of course, the same can be said for most Mexican and Thai joints as well. So while I enjoy good Chinese cuisine, part of me says “good riddance.”
8
As a Puerto Rican New Yorker, I always admired the hard work, persistence, strong family unity, and resilience of our Chinese Americans. I first witnessed this as a student at Brooklyn Tech H.S. with the first wave of Cantonese students at Tech in the 1970s. Even back then, with their poverty and limited English speaking skills, they quickly mastered English, excelled in AP Math and Science courses and went on to Ivy League schools. I witnessed more of the same as an undergraduate at Columbia and law student at the University of Wisconsin. For me, it is probably a centuries old cultural tradition of "work hard at all costs and never say die" warrior attitude. This comes from strong-willed parents, no doubt.
There should be more articles in our press, books and documentaries about the Chinese-American experience in America and large cities like New York and San Francisco.
This was a carefully researched great article by Ms. Nierenberg. This brings back great memories eating lunch at Wo Hops when I was at the Manhattan DA's Office. I still go to my favorite spot at Mott Street in Manhattan to eat dinner once a week. This will always, and forever, be part of the New Yorker in me that will never die.
13
@Mel G
Was at Wo Hops the night of the 1977 blackout in NYC.
They threw some fat in jars and lit them like candles and then stood by the door which was down the stairs of course, to make sure we paid before leaving. Here was one place we did not want the food to change. We went for what we expected in the food and got it. Then we walked around Chinatown to eat Sweet white bread steamed pork buns and dessert cakes. Best experience ever.
1
My family came from Ireland, bar tended, then owned bars. my dad made it clear to me that would not be my path (and given the armed robberies, mob extortion and pumps and drug dealers, thieving staff and crazy, crazy hours was enough motivation for me to get a top notch education and choose a different career path.
My parents not finish high school, though they seem better educated and more well spoken than many US college grads. And I am grateful for the efforts and the freedom they gave me to live a vastly different life.
27
The Chinese restaurants near us turned into greasy spoons years ago. The owners were never particularly friendly and have gotten worse. Other ethnic food restaurants have taken over with better quality food and better service. Like everything else, something comes along that is better and unless you reinvent yourself you aren't going to make it.
9
Perhaps the analysis needs a bit more nuance. While the Chinese restaurants that functioned with family-based staff working twelve hours a day and seven days a week are becoming fewer, other sorts of Chinese restaurants may prosper. These would have employees with no family relationship to each other working eight hours a day for owners operating substantial restaurants. The P.F. Chang is perhaps an example and both the food and the ambiance can be quite pleasant.
1
FYI, while PF Chang is too Americanized for my Chinese taste buds, PF is Philip Chang who is the son of pioneering Chinese restaurateur Cecelia Chang, so one instance where the family trade passed on to the next generstion.
What this article does not cover as much are the next-gen who invest in food businesses rather than cook in them, the people who jumped from other professional careers into cooking (early example is Charles Phan of Slanted Door), and the professionally trained, near-celebrity Chinese chefs from abroad who have taken over Chinese restaurants in big cities.
My favorite Chinese restaurant on the upper east side of Manhattan closed which also had take out but moved because an apartment building was going up in the space. They moved a few blocks further uptown for takeout only. The same thing happened. A new apartment is going up but this time they closed permanently. Their chicken and broccoli was out of this world and I have yet to find another Chinese restaurant to take its place. I did find one in Connecticut while visiting family that was quite good but it is awfully far to travel just for Chinese food. I will just keep looking in search of a restaurant for good chicken and broccoli. I am determined to find one.
2
And that's how we lost wonderful German bakeries. The kids went to college and 86th Street became the dullest street in NYC.
17
Parents have really worked hard and their business prospers. Their good kids who have been seeing it don't want to succeed. Their bad kids do and the business goes bankrupt. It's ironic but quite common.
1
Like most small, rural NE town, ours has a “Chinese” restaurant operated by the only Chinese in a town of 6000 - who thus overcome total cultural difference and isolation along with the challenges of their urban counterparts. Amazing determination and 24/7 work ethic. But they are alike in that their kids are heading for SUNY degrees so their existence is unlikely. And, sadly, our community won’t miss a culinary or cultural beat when they depart as quietly as they arrived.
4
What I feel is remarkable and laudable is how ethnic Chinese worked long and hard for many years to assure the next generation that they would not have to face the same work they did in order to their children to college while maintaining a home and a business. Their children were raised, educated and are pursuing professional careers. The first generation is grateful for the opportunity created through hard work to help their children and grandchildren have a better future.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if other people would feel the same and make the same sacrifices to be certain that the new up and coming generations would have wonderful opportunities.
I am 3rd generation America. Our great-grandparents came to America penniless and unable to speak English. They worked as postal clerks, a ragman, small clothing store operators ( an Army-Navy store in the Bronx) and then in the apparel business first pushing racks in NYC and then owning their own factories. It was brutal. The 2nd gen had their college interrupted by WWII. Even my mom served as a Navy WAVE. Dad was in the Pacific as an Army Engineer for more than 3 years.
My brothers, sister and I got to complete college and earn professional degrees and do very well. Three of us are millionaires. Our son and daughter went to the University of PA, Towson and the Beasley School of Law.
It all began with the sacrifice and hard work of the first gen. By the way we are Jewish. And we were bared from schools, housing and jobs.
11
@Jack Frost
You write: "Wouldn't it be wonderful if other people would feel the same and make the same sacrifices to be certain that the new up and coming generations would have wonderful opportunities."
OMG, I'm one of those parents... a single mother who worked two jobs so her daughter could go to college. She did so and is a spectacular success in her field.
People who have sacrificed are all around us, and not just Chinese.
4
What I've noticed out here in Seattle, is less Chinese-American restaurants, and more seriously Chinese restaurants, not aimed at bland middle-American taste buds. Some still have an American menu and a Chinese one, but which one you order from depends less on your ancestry than your adventurousness. I'm much happier eating hand-torn noodles with lamb or a soup full of tasty offal than I'd ever be eating sweet-and-sour anything.
6
To the young Americans of Chinese descent,
Your grandparents and great grand parents gave New Yorkers of all backgrounds a great gift— as a Jewish New Yorker who grew up with it, I think love of Chinese food is in our dna, If you would, please consider following Nom Wah and others in recreating or updating the restaurants for our times, your cuisine is magnificent and irreplaceable.
7
Almost none of the the Chinese restaurants employ Chinese because they are all working in Japanese restaurants. They typical Chinese restaurant employs Vietnamese and Fillipinos.
3
Yes, things change. In the late 1970s into the early 1980s New York had more Japanese restaurants than any other. That faded. And I still mourn the demise of the red checkered table cloth Italian restaurants (Oh, for one more meal at Tony's Italian Kitchen on West 79th Street or The Good Earth on West 72nd!)
No need to miss the Chinese cuisine. Get yourself a wok and a good cookbook (I highly recommend "An Encyclopedia of Chinese Food and Cooking" by Chang and Kutscher). Or, for the more visual among us, this video will get you up and running:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arEWFXWtCIw
That stove in your apartment is a much more versatile cooking implement than your telephone...
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
I ran over to our local Chinese restaurant to put my Xmas meal order in ASAP today. It’s still going strong & was mobbed by the time I went to pick up. Doesn’t hurt that we also have a good Jewish population in the neighb!!
1
We've never gone out to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas, but I suspect we had better do so before our neighborhood restaurants close!
1
Same thing with Greek diners ...
1
Well, look at the source: YELP.
1
Interesting article, thanks. Well researched, good human touch, informative. You do a great job. This kind of quality writing is what keeps me reading your paper.
1
These people are the true spirit of America. They come here -- by hook or by crook-- and work like slaves to provide a better life for their children. I'm proud to call them my fellow Americans.
4
Mr. Sit, you have worked hard. Take a vacation, travel, you deserve it.
5
We just took out Chinese dinner for Xmas night! In support of Chinese restaurants:)
4
“He’s 76, and they’re going to be grandparents soon.”
There’s a lesson in that sentence that a whole lot of people, immigrants and natives both, can learn from.
3
I know this is a serious piece, dealing with the seismic shifts in the Chinese American community.
But where will we Jews eat on Christmas Eve?
6
Only one Washington Heights Irish bar remaining—but many jumping, fun, frolicking Dominican replacements.
5
This writing deepens my admiration for immigrants who have to endure so much to survive, let alone succeed and go on to make their descendants' lives better. It is a wonderful article, and a hopeful portend for more recent immigrants.
8
Christine Lee's in northern New Jersey (and, later, Florida). Joyce Chen's up in Boston area. Long gone faves of mine.
Cantonese Chinese food filled my boyhood with exotic food from a distant land I could only imagine beginning in the 1950s.
I lived in Boston and my relatives came to visit for a few days just so they could get their fill of Chinese food.
In the Bay Area today there aren't any more Cantonese restaurants. They're truly exotic now as American taste has opened to more authentic flavors.
China Sails in Revere, Mass. provided the best food memories of my childhood.
5
That was my birthday place as a kid. i loved the family size pupu platter!
I'm sure this is a familiar story, even to readers who are not part of the Chinese-American community. A few years ago I had a very bright student in several of my classes. His parents immigrated to the United States and operated a restaurant. My former student went on to graduate from an Ivy League law school and recently wrote me to let me know that he had passed the bar. He will not be taking over his parents' restaurant. No surprise.
4
Delicious food served is a great treasure for satisfaction in life . I had the pleasure cooking for my parents in their final years. The enjoyment I gave them on a daily basis was the greatest gift I received.
10
There are many reasons why small family restaurants are closing in many cities. Let’s start with extremely high rents , increasing health care costs, competition from corporate self service establishments, city rules which continually write tickets against small businessmen, high minimum wages, and let’s not forget charges for water and garbage , and the majority of customers using credit cards . In addition, delivery service internet companies get a piece of deliveries. Without deliveries Chinese restaurants will not make it. There are so many empty stores in NYC for the risk of succeeding is very low with extremely high rents. The children from restaurant families know that after a 10 year or 15 year lease there Is no guarantee that they will resign with greedy landlords. Or buildings will be torn down to build luxury apartments that will be most likely empty. New rents in new buildings are so high that the stores stay empty for years sometimes. City planners have created nightmares for small business owners. Better off with a job coding with benefits and a fifty hour work week and a retirement plan.
17
“50 hour work week??”
Bring back unions and a 40 hour work week. And weekends!
And structured pensions. And health insurance.
My grandfather came from southern China as a teenager, and became a US citizen. He worked in a Chinese hand laundry. Then he was drafted into WWII, served in Europe, and was trained to be a mess sergeant. That army training on managing a large kitchen staff and cooking for enormous numbers of troops provided my grandfather with the skills and experience for him to start his own small Chinese restaurant in Milwaukee, WI after WWII.
He told us he chose to open a Chinese restaurant because he knew that even if the restaurant didn't make much money, he would always have access to food to feed his family. He, my grandmother, and my mother worked that restaurant from early morning to midnight. They rode the bus to and from the restaurant until my grandparents could afford to buy a car.
When the restaurant is open for customers, workers are busy cooking for and cleaning up after customers. It's during the time that the restaurant is closed to customers that the staff do their heavy cleaning, and food prep for the next day. It is a grueling and relentless cycle of hard, manual labor.
Most of my aunts and uncles also owned and operated Chinese restaurants. None of my cousins continued those businesses, and their parents understand their children's choices. They're proud of the life they've been able to give their children in America (Golden Mountain).
15
I remember Nom Wah when I went to photograph the "old Chinatown" back in 2000. It was sad to go in there during peak dim sum hour, as nobody was there but the owner and myself. I thought that place was near its end.
Fast forward two decades, it is great that the family has been able to continue the business, but taste-wise and price-wise, it really should reconsider. If it weren't for the new crowd of mostly non-Chinese people who frequent it, Nom Wah would be done for.
6
My parents did not own a restaurant, but a small stationery store, as Dad took a huge drop in professional standing relative to his education and former professions in order to make a living and provide a future for his children. I never figured out how they managed their hours, with just the two of them, and us providing a helping hand after school and on summer vacations, store open 17 hrs a day, 365 days a year.
But they gave us three Ivy League educations, and sure enough, we match the article's statistcis, now all three in high tech (by affinity).
Although that period in our lives was traumatic at times (some having been held up at gun or knife point), and we never really experienced a 'normal' American childhood, we nevertheless learned important lessons in life and in relating to people from all backgrounds, compared to our classmates. Still, it came at an enormous psychological, and eventually, physical cost to our Dad (and, by extension, our family dynamics), the scholar with traditional Chinese intellectual values who never imagined he'd be in commerce.
18
As a high school student from China and came to the US to pursue my college education and after 70 years I am still here to enjoy my my American life. With $200 dollars in my pocket when I first arrived in NYC and I must find a part-time job to support myself and finish my college education. In those post WWII years only jobs available for Chinese students were working in restaurants or in a Chinese laundry service. I was hired as a busboy and dishwasher in a Cantonese restaurant in NYC Chinatown on Mott Street. Because of this restaurant job I was able to finish my college education and later worked for the Federal Government for almost 50 years and happily retired. Because of my restaurant experience I was a part-owner of big Chinese restaurant in Washington, DC from 1954-1995. Our restaurant became one of the most popular Chinese restaurants in DC for diplomats and government workers. Dr Henry Kissinger was our regular customer. President Eisenhower also ordered Chinese food to take out back to the White House. Our restaurant also hired a large number of Chinese students as busboys and waiters to helped them to complete their college education or PhD degrees. Some of them returned to Taiwan and later became government leaders. By 1995 our partners were getting older and unable to continue the restaurant business. It is a hard business and I respect Tom Sit's successful restaurant career. A great story by NYT's reporters.
30
@A. Stanton: Katz’s deli is still open and going strong. But decline of delis have been well documented. People’s diets have changed as well in a growing shift away from meat based products. Also, same phenomenon addressed in article regarding offspring of Chinese restaurant owners also can probably be said of children of Deli owners.
I also lament the decline of the Greek diners.
9
I wish Thai restaurants had been included in the article. I think that there are more of them here than any other Asian cusine.
The sacrifices that many first generation immigrants made for their descendants is inspirational.
4
I came to the US as an undergrad student when I was 17 with a scholarship. My family was well of in India and I would've been fine there (one of my childhood friends from India is from one of the very richest families there). I got my PhD at 24, became a professor, got my tenure at 32 at a top 20 university, etc. I've accomplished what I set out to accomplish when I moved here:
I only moved here because of what I read and saw in entertainment, particularly comic books. I was so fascinated with Archie and other comic books (which I still read) and movies like Ferris Bueller's - I wanted to experience it all. It was such an idealised view I had of the US, which I still have and which I've managed to carve out for a small circle of people around me. I only wish this were the reality for everyone.
I dated people from all over the world but in the end I ended up marrying someone from Thailand. She lacked in formal education but made up for it in entrepreneurial spirit. She opened a Thai restaurant in Seattle for seven years which was successful and put our kids to work in it (she's an excellent chef - I'm really lucky to eat amazing Thai food almost every day). So my wife's story is somewhat like this one.
13
@RamS What a wonderful Indian American man you are. Your wife is lucky too. I dated too many sexist Indian men. I had a PhD and they didn't handle it well. I ended up marrying a wonderful Methodist Jewish Anglo man. Unfortunately he got Huntington's. But we had a few wonderful years. Happy Diwali, Sankranthi and Christmas Ram. Sawadikaa.
This is not just a story about Chinese immigrants. It's a story that applies to most that were brought up by parents that had a restaurant or local store of all kinds. It is very hard to start up a business and have it succeed; the hours one puts in are astounding. Most kids today are not interested in 80 hour work weeks and rarely take over the business their parents started.
13
I have loved Chinese food ever since I heard a line in a 50's rock song, "I went to Chinatown, to get some egg foo yung." I rarely go anymore, though. Something new has appeared: our newspaper reports weekly on food safety violations in our local restaurants. The reports on Chinese restaurants, particularly buffets, are frightening.
4
Perhaps the only thing different now is that there are "food reports".
1
Really? can you point me to a link to back that up
Place: Moon Palace across from Columbia University.
Time: 1970s - 1980s - hot sticky summers
Characters: 16 year old teenager and Chinese restaurant chef Father
I would go to Moon Palace to hit up my father for the occasional $20 to hang out. A back door to the kitchen was open and the kitchen is brutally hot. My sister and I would eat in the dining room and Daddy would make our favorite: pan fried dumplings. He would come out and sit for a minute. I was so embarrassed. He was in an apron! Everyone stared. My fathers mantra stuck in my head. education, college. I became a lawyer, sister in sales, another kid whose father was head chef is a doctor. Both Dads illiterate. Why? Strong parental foundation; Federal government support for disadvantaged kids with money for anti-poverty programs. College that was still attainable. Now? Bootstrapping in one generation without the programs of 30 years ago incredibly hard with the Feds wholesale withdrawal, myopia, right wing xenophobia.
As a college student returning to Moon Palace, this time I felt proud of my father when he entered the dining room in his apron. Yes, people - my father made the delicious (Shanghainese) food you’re eating!
30
Perhaps my read of this article is a tad selfish. I always found the classic family owned Chinese restaurants to be the best and new generations will not know what they are missing. The chains and the upscale restaurants are fine for what they are but I am sure they can't quite match the stir fry at Engs or the dumplings at Nom Wah.
9
I've noticed the same thing happening in the Chinese & Greek communities in Montreal. The quality has gone down & restaurants have closed. Meanwhile, other cultures are moving in, meaning that Montreal has yet to lose its' title as home of the good, cheap eats.
1
It's been happening since 20 years back: The full-service, sit-in restaurants have been first replaced by take-out places. Now the children of that take-out generation are not following the foot path
"But his grown daughters, who have college degrees and well-paying jobs, don’t intend to take over."
They will regret that. They should find a means to keep that business operating, even if it means selling or leasing the restaurant to another party.
I know about a dozen people, whose father (and in one case a mother) had their own thriving businesses, usually some sort of labor heavy work - and their children, friends and associates of mine from grade school thru University, who turned their backs on that work. To a person, they all regret not taking over, or at the very least figuring a means to sustain "the old-mans" business.
Many are middle-aged, underemployed, due to being laid off their good paying "American Dream" jobs a few years ago, or aged out of their jobs, or their businesses relocated, or they truly hate their chosen professions.
Wisdom comes with age. The Sit children need to look past their prejudices, job-snobbery, etc and realize how that restaurant, and their father created their lives from nothing!
I only wish my father or mother had such a business to pass down to me. I was always bumfuzzled by those I knew/know who turned their noses up at the "dirty work" of their fathers, and in that one case mother. (she owned a flower distributor, not a shop)
Abandoning this restaurant, means the Sit daughters are abandoning their heritage. I wish I could pony up the cash and buy it from Mr. Sit. I love Kingston...great town, great region.
11
@Boregard , This is very true, when you hit your late 40s and a middle managers and lose your job, your prospect is very limited to regain the same level of position, having backup plan is a great idea, even way beneath a person's education, but hey, its honest work and living.
1
You’re making a lot of assumptions about the daughters—who said anything about being prejudiced and job snobbery? How do you know whether or not they appreciate their parents’ business? You make them sound like ingrates when the article says nothing of the sort. If their parents worked that hard to send them to college, why shouldn’t they pursue jobs that interest them or make more money for less work? I don’t know who wouldn’t want to find a job that pays well that isn’t backbreaking and involves working every day, 12 hours a day. My parents owned a dry cleaning store, and neither I nor my siblings wanted to take over the store—not because we thought we were better that it, but because that very store gave us other opportunities. That’s the entire point of this article.
And yes, there’s always the fear the daughters will lose their jobs—but owning a business is no better or more secure. When the economy isn’t doing well. Owning a business is just as risky and insecure and is insanely stressful. Plus, it can close in an instant. And not only are you responsible for yourself, you’re responsible for the livelihood of others.
10
There is a parallel between disappearing Chinese restaurants in USA and the Sino-USA trade war.
Chinese immigrant children achieved upward mobility as professionals with university degrees. Their hard working parents can retire from exhausting jobs like running Chinese restaurants. The second generation kids are not interested to take over the family businesses. However, Chinese kids are too successful scholastically. Many big name universities like Harvard artificially limited their enrollment. US courts usually side with the establishment in discrimination cases. In NY City mayor Blasio and other tribal leaders targeted Chinese students for taking to many places at high performance schools. Chinese Americans working at research universities and high tech companies face renewed McCarthyism scrutiny from FBI. The struggle for Chinese immigrants in USA continues.
Meanwhile manufacturers in China moved up the value chain to produce high quality high value products. Some low value jobs moved out of China. The rise of Chinese economic power is facing powerful American containment in a big way. Technology companies like ZTE and Huawei are on USA's kill-list. Decoupling is a sure bet, how much is the question. USA has a track record of trying to kill off number-2 since the end of WW2. Ask UK & Japan. It's not just trade-war either. It's a new cold war.
Supremacists bring old Yellow Peril scare back. Look at facts.
2
With these stories of success, rarely mentioned is that due to the long hours adults spent generating wealth and children studying to rise above, often familial connections are sacrificed. Even though traditional Asian relations are not of the huggy lovey Leave it to Beaver trope, something is amiss.
We will never get enough good Chinese restaurants.
But Jewish delis are the eateries in far greater danger of total extinction now.
Kosher hot dogs wrapped in bologna, topped with sauerkraut and horseradish mustard served on an old fashioned Kaiser roll, alongside a bowl of garlic pickles and tomatoes and huge servings of fried onion rings,
Whitefish salads, beef tongue sandwiches, chopped liver, potato latkes, noodle kugel, kasha varnishkes, egg creams, you name it,
they had it.
Carnegie Deli, Katz's and hundreds of others all across the land, all gone now, to the great distress of the few sane Americans still left with taste buds.
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-new-deli-the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-the-old-n-y-jewish-deli-1.5730860
7
Katz’s Deli is still here.
1
Make that:
Carnegie Deli, Katz's in Toronto and hundreds of others all across this fair land, all gone now, to the great distress of the few sane Americans still left with functioning taste buds.
1
@Steve Mason
You are right, I was thinking about the one in Toronto.
Pity. Where will I go on Christmas?
3
@MIKEinNYC
Try a decent kosher restaurant.
In NYC there are many for you to choose from.
1
Let us all remember where the family on "A Christmas Story" ended up on Christmas Day (after a kitchen disaster)....
A Chinese Restaurant.
3
Great article about wonderful people. Thank you.
8
Oy vey!! How will future Jewish generations survive Christmas without the comfort of Chinese food?
6
Trump has it all wrong.
6
After reading this article, bringing back many wonderful memories of my own family's trips into Chinatown regularly, I proposed to my husband today that we eat Chinese food today, on Christmas.
Up here in NH, there are very few restaurants open on Christmas Day, but the local Chinese restaurant had cars in front, so we entered and had a delicious array of food.
My prime rib roast will be cooked another day this week.
Merry Christmas!
5
I agree that the increased closings of Chinese restaurants is a good thing, considering that for a long time, working in these restaurants was the only thing that Chinese immigrants could do, and was allowed to do. U.S. immigration policies for a long time only allowed Chinese immigrants to work in a few industries, in order to prevent them from "taking jobs away" from native-born Americans, and one of those industries was restaurants.
1
My family has a similar story, though we are not Chinese. My father took over a small pizza restaurant about 1968, working 7 days a week, 9 or 10 a.m. to midnight six days and 4p.m. to midnight on Sundays. My mother worked there too. Their three children went to college, one to graduate school. One briefly owned the restaurant, then changed careers and sold it. When my son and his wife, both well-educated talked about opening a restaurant, I told them his grandparents worked hard to make sure they would not have to work such hours, neglecting their children. Thank goodness they listened.
8
I worked in Silicon Valley for over 20 years with many Chinese, both mainland and Taiwanese.
Although they went to the local restaurants, they would tell me, "This is not really Chinese."
If you want to se a good documentary about how Chinese food became popular in America, watch "The Search for General Tso."
7
I went to Chinese restaurant in San Jose in the early '80s with a group that had some Chinese in it. All the other customers were Chinese. House made soy milk soup with hot chili sauce condiment served with long fried crullers wrapped with scallion pancakes. Pan fried noodle cake with shrimp. A few other stir fried dishes, and for dessert, a pastry filled with sweet red bean paste. One of the best meals ever!
3
I am glad that the children of Chinese restaurateurs choose easier jobs. But please do not say that such offspring avoid self-employment because they are more economically mobile. People who choose self-employment do it because they are resourceful and independent. Those are the same qualities that drove them to emigrate in the first place. Those traits, however, are not guaranteed to be passed on to their children.
5
Immigration is often difficult, but I took that step back in 1971 - not to run a restaurant but as a teacher, and to Germany rather than the US. My family now has members from England, France, Germany, Italy and Honduras. The USA has been buoyed by "healthy" immigation - that is, people who look for a new start of whatever kind suits their abilities. It is easy to look at the poor examples - Trumps or Giulianis, or otgrowths of the Mafia. But most immigrants make the US a better place.
10
Too much reliance on sugar in Chinese food for flavor brings them up short on healthier choices with other Asian cuisines. Remember the New World was discovered searching for a short route to the choice Asian spices. Those spices draw an increasing portion of the Thai basil chicken and Japanese poke crowd where the restaurant offers dishes with less sugar, while, retaining unique flavors and textures. Bravo.
4
This article was a gift. Thank you.
The lifestyle of Mr. Sit in this article makes the "Puritan WASP work ethic" look lame in comparison. They take Sundays off!
Please forward a copy to Trump and Miller. Immigration is an infusion of ambition, appreciation and solid family values. More please.
17
@Bob Bruce Anderson
Trump is concerned about undocumented workers, not all immigrants.
2
During the Gold Rush in California, the only two businesses that a Chinese was allowed to own was Restaurant and Laundry. These were two jobs no one wanted. Family, was the untaxed labor these low margin businesses had to use to survive. Restaurant businesses now survive on low wage immigrant workers from Mexico and Central America. This is also true of the construction business, landcaping, gardening maintenance, food processing, butchering, agriculture, child and elder care. Because of the courage, desperation and love of our parents and grandparents, we lucky 2nd 3rd and by now 4th generation immigrants no longer toil in the fields and hot kitchens, unless it is our passion. This manufactured hostility toward immigrants "invading" our country is a lie believed by the desperate for the failed policies of the last 30 years to address immigration and cheap immigrant labor on which America depends mightily. America has become too expensive and hostile for most to actually live here so, immigrant workers run the organbized crime controlled gauntlet at the border, live in the shadows, suffer insult, theft and fraud and send money back to family. One thing this diminished Chinese Restaurant event will do is make that steaming plate of wok cooked lunch and pork bun cost what it really takes to prepare. And probably by an undocumented Central American or Mexican cook.
9
i had always wondered where the good irish restaurants were at, this explains it.
3
We are here. They are just more American Tavern than Irish Pub but same spirit of hospitality. Cheers.
1
We diminish the very real contributions of people like this and the many others whose skills don’t come with a PhD certificate attached when we push college as the be all and end all of meaningful work. My father never graduated from high school and was a skilled mechanic and tradesperson. Now we dismiss the value of hard and talented work and the people who do it because getting your hands dirty isn’t “sexy” enough. But every thing that touches your life has hard dirty work attached. Value the work and the people who do it. The world would be a better place for it.
15
Many years ago in the late sixties, I used to takes dates to a a wonderful restaurant unlike any other called The Flower Drum located on Second Avenue and 48th St (?). A few years later after the opening to China when the PRC established its UN Consulate, the Chines did a search of restaurants throughout the City to find one or two that could provide the Consulate with catering as well as serve the staff. They settled on The Flower Drum. I haven't lived in New York for many years but on a recent visit I searched for The Flower Drum and could not find it. I have since wondered what had happened to it.
1
Wo Hop on Mott Street is still there. Since 1938.
At the risk of stating the obvious, this story is absolutely relevant to the ongoing global immigration debate. Whether here in the US or in Europe. A perhaps simplistic (stereotypical) analysis, but not too far from reality, is that many immigrants came into the country willing to take up low-paying, manual jobs. They worked hard and gave their children the benefit of good education. The children are then able build their careers often competing with children from more privileged and ‘non-immigrant’ families, and succeeding. Careers very likely in completely different professions from their parents. If this is the story of the last 50-100 years, what about the next 50 years? Who will take up the low-paying jobs that our aging and largely well-off society still needs? We shut the door on immigrants, then we should be prepared not to expect the same economic system, including cheap Chinese restaurants or having taxis or taking care of the old, or be willing to let robots take over these jobs. We can’t continue to keep the economic ecosystem which has existed all these decades by taking out immigrants from the equation. This is not an advocacy for unchecked immigration, but we need to square the circle. If we don’t allow immigrants then the ‘American way of life’, as we know it, would need to drastically change. Something has to give in this debate.
26
I wonder how many second generation kids didn't get into the family business because the first generation never encouraged it.
I had a friend (Italian American) who was a very bright guy. He died suddenly this year at age 58. He could fix, repair, or rebuild anything. In the last few years, he had a successful one man business installing and fixing backup electric generators. He, nor his siblings, ever went to school beyond high school.
He put all his kids through college, determined they would be better in jobs where they wore suits instead of technician uniforms. I told him that he had a successful business, had much to teach his son, and could leave him a family business. My friend insisted his son would not have a job where his hands got dirty.
The son has had several jobs in sales. In two cases, the employer sold out or went out of business, leaving the son without a job. The son is now 30, and not much further along than when he graduated college. And the one man generator business came to an end with the death of my friend.
I know many people with higher educations, indeed, professionals, who would give their eye teeth to own their own established business. With their educations and insights, they could introduce new methods to increase productivity and efficiency, and better manage what they had.
I don't know if leaving the family business is necessarily progress.
34
@RM I think the article was more about being able to make the choice... having options. That son has a college degree now and more options than if he'd taken over the business with only a high school diploma. Seems like a better choice if in fact it was his choice. He could have gone into the generator business, never gone to college, worked the rest of his life, made a living but hated it and feeling he had no other options with his high school diploma. He could have gone to college and taken over the family business but maybe he just doesn't want to work in generators. I think freedom to choose our own way, including making our own mistakes, is an important aspect of optimum mental health and quality of life.
12
@Gini Brown
No, I did not suggest the son skip college. While my friend could install and repair any generator, he had limited skill and ambition to improve and expand the business If, after college, he had taken in his son (who had some mechanical aptitude) as an apprentice technician to learn the nuts and bolts of the business, the son could have then taken over as a manager, better marketed and expanded the business with employees and franchisees. Instead, the son is seeking employment with others, making them prosper, instead of his own family.
7
This story is simultaneously heart-warming and unsettling. What comes to my mind is “model minority.” Actually, I used to be proud of being a member of such. I’m an Asian immigrant myself - 1.5 generation. I worked in Chinese restaurants to pay for college, and now I’m a dentist - fitting into the statistics very well.
As I work with many low-income, immigrant patients from other cultures, however, I have learned a broader definition of the “American Dream.” For example, most second-generation Mexican-Americans I have encountered don’t have college degrees. They take up construction or restaurant work as their parents have done. I don’t think they failed achieving the American Dream. Having a professional job is only one of the paths; not everyone can or should be a professional. Perhaps the Asian-American definition of the American Dream is a little narrow.
Recently I hired a group of Mexican workers to build a fence for my house. I couldn’t help marveling at their efficiency and how much pride they have in their work. Conversing with them in my imperfect Spanish, I learned they have lived in the US for decades and have extended, loving families here. I gladly delivered Chinese food for them.
107
@Harry Schaffner
Mr. Schaffner, your comments about Jewish-owned businesses brought a story to mind that is slightly off topic, but I want to share it with you:
When my mother divorced my stepfather in 1963 she struggled to support herself and 4 children. The family was nearly destitute, but children grow quickly and must be clothed. When it was too far to travel to a Goodwill for shopping, Mother would sometimes go to Freedman’s, a family clothing store In the small Ohio town town where she lived. Often, if Mr Freedman waited on her, upon arriving home she found an extra pair of children’s socks or t-shirts that he had slipped in the bag.
On this Christmas Eve, I honor Mr. Freedman, a Jewish shop owner, and his heart of gold. And to you I wish a Happy Hanukkah.
61
One of my favorite chinese restaurant memories was, as a child, dumping a whole packet of sugar into the little tea cup full of tea we got before our food was ready. The tea was somewhat bitter and the sugar made it drinkable. Today, at 54, I only drink tea, no coffee and no sugar! Thanks chinese restaurant!
6
The comments are better than the article. Thank you for sharing your stories. Inspiring and infuriating at the same time considering the madman who has denigrated and hurt so many immigrants in the last 3 years.
25
@scout77
There is a difference between illegal and legal immigration.
Although I detest Donald Trump, I doubt he would bash legal immigrants as his mother and 2 of his wives were immigrants.
2
@Mary B.
Good post. Many liberals love to lump all immigrants into one pile for the sake of a phony sob story.
2
@Mary B. Trump bashes legal immigrants constantly,just as he bashes FBI agents, judges and pretty much anyone that disagrees with him, and don't get me started on what he says about women!
1
In a nod to Wilson Tang, I work as a background actor in NYC and one day worked a TV production on location at Nom Wah on Doyers Street. This show had rented the restaurant all day for filming and into the evening. On one particular shot the crew had blocked the entrance with a large muslin screen that covered up the entire storefront to diffuse the large lights shining in to recreate daylight. If you know this part of Doyers Street, you know that this would have taken up the entire street. While inside waiting for the next shot, a group of several tourists managed to squeeze past the pipe frame of the fabric screen while stepping over numerous sandbags holding it down, to come in and try to get a table. They didn't seem to notice the camera equipment, crew and cast and were surprised that the restaurant was closed.
5
Is there still such a thing as an "appetizing" store in Brooklyn? Circa 1960 there were four within walking distance from our apartment. My mother always insisted that I go to the "good one".
4
This is what American Dream looks like. Immigrants who came, worked hard to provide for their children, affording them education and upward social mobility. Restauranteuring was never a chosen profession for them, it's a means of livelihood.
And it's not just the Chinese. Here in my chinatown, I used to go to this Vietnamese restaurant to have their very authentic pho noodle and drip coffee at reasonable price. The children used to huddle together around a table at the back and do their homework. When they're not doing homework, they would help waiting the tables, manning the till, cleaning, and all.
And now, they're closing. The owners (the couple who are in their 70s too) decided they've had enough. They open 7 days a week, more than 12 hours each day, for years and years. All the children are now grown and have their own chosen professions. The parents don't want to see any of the children to have to work as hard they were to make a living. So, yes, it's a success and they are proud of it.
In its place, a Chinese restaurant arose, but it's very generic. I still haven't found another Vietnamese restaurant with drip coffee as good. I miss them.
13
Similar but different: I became a union projectionist in NYC in the 70s, working in movie theaters. I was able to join the union (as was the mother of my kids - I met her in the union hall) because so many projectionists were able to provide a college education for their kids, and those kids became professionals (and not professional projectionists, of course). And so it goes.
15
It is a pleasure to read about the genuine success of families immigrating to the US. I don’t think “grueling” is the right word choice for restaurant work though. Grueling labor better describes the conditions these families fled in their native country. An opportunity of a lifetime to start anew in this country, warts and all.
5
“I hoped they have a better life than me,” he said. “A good life. And they do.”
The hopes and dreams of every parent, immigrant, 1st generation or 5th.
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year.
34
This happened in Tucson as well. There was a beloved local Chinese population who worked in farming, liquor stores, and restaurants. Their kids (my peers) became doctors and engineers and CPAs and the quality of the local restaurants never recovered.
13
This tragic but inevitable, the essay is spot on.
Ever since 1981 I have been going religiously to Henry's Hunan on Sansome Street in San Francisco. Then there were various branches scattered around the city with varying quality. I have introduced so many people to this restaurant. I take credit :) w/o evidence that I introduced two items to their menu, Kung Pao Tofu and the "Indian" hot sauce. The second was of menu. They knew me and my office fireds so well that all we had to do was walk in, we would be seated and food would start appearing. They knew our preferences. The people in other tables would be astounded with food appearing without menus.
Last year they shut down, I was devastated. I was finally able to reach the late owner's son, Marty. He said the cooks were growing old, the next generation were all professionals and could not get cooks brought in from China.
I am hanging on to one branch that comes closest to the original Henry's, I hope they don't shut down before I do...
20
The road and belt plan must be working well, even in America.
2
For anyone who thinks immigration from Asia is a good thing, think again; when you hear a story like Mr. Sit's, you know Americans just can't compete with Asians.
6
Naturalized Immigrants are Americans, even non-whites.
29
@Sirlar Go back far enough in the family tree, and the people you call "Americans" all had at least one ancestor like Mr. Sit.
1
I can’t follow your thoughts? Is it that most white Americans do not like doing low paying, grueling jobs, such as yard work, construction, maid, or share cropper? Go into any grocery store ( in NYC) or look at the women who clean up your hotel room. I have not seen a white American doing this kind of work. I am wondering what kind of jobs people have in mind when they claim that immigrants steel our jobs. Obviously, not theirs.
3
Arts and education for the second-generation Chinese immigrants？That's good news. I understand the role of education in the Chinese society, but arts？Now, that's something really interesting.
2
@Chuck, Don't let stereotypes throw you. Second-generation Chinese-Americans are not just one monolithic group that only guns for established professions like medicine and engineering. Although there are many a parents who are tigers, there are yet more who truly let their kids choose whatever their hearts lead them.
12
I have noticed that Hispanics are seldom mentioned as immigrants in the comments. Well, perhaps you guys are right, they were the very first people to arrive as immigrants in the USA. 120 years before the Mayflower... Even the very first cowboys were Hispanic..
7
I miss Charlie Mom's in Manhattan. The last calendar gift they gave their regular customers at the end of the year is still proudly displayed in my work place. Times change, but we will always have the memories.
9
Like the Greeks in their diners and the Jews in their delis, we are constantly evolving through generational changes.
These immigrants had such a strong work ethic coupled with an admiration of formal education, could there have been any other outcome? I think not, except the very few.
Nicely presented article on a subject that on its surface may appear simple, however not.
Thanks from a second generation Mediterranean import.
13
No wonder I can't find real Chinese food anymore! All things must pass and this is certainly not the first. I saw a lot of little family Italian places in south NJ close or just change so much they were far from the original. Oh well, at least there is a good ending here. But why is it the one cuisine I cannot cook at home!
4
@ExileFromNJ, the mix of Chinese migrants has changed over time. There are much less migrants from Hong Kong, but more from mainland China. In my chinatown, there are so many "ma-la" (numbing spicy hot) places now, none of them distinguishable from the next. The Hong Kong-styled eateries are becoming a rare find. Sad.
2
@ExileFromNJ Amazing you say this. Having loved a certain style chinese food since I was very young, we often wonder what has happened to it. There are still many of the so-called "chinese" restaurants around in our area, but try to find one that is any good. This article has answered some of our questions as to where has it gone ?
A bowl of Greasy soft noodles with a pile of Cabbage thrown on it is NOT Chow Mein. And that seems to be what you get wherever you go now. Since we miss the cuisine so much, I have been learning to cook several dishes. I have even learned how to grow small batches of Bean Sprouts, as they have mostly disappeared from the grocer (for different reasons I have been told). Just last night I made a pretty successful batch of Bacon fried rice (which my wife loves and can't be found anymore). I look forward to the leftovers today -Xmas
This same story happened with Jews and the NYC delis. The food service industry is the launching pad for many new arrivals to the US. Unfortunately in Israel, many ethnic groups are not welcomed and thus there is a lack of really good ethnic foods. And Kosher food is the blandest food imaginable
16
@ Schlomo Sheinbein Israel
I am deeply sympathetic with those who have to put up with the Kasher gastronomy in the shadow of the Parchment Curtain drawn along the East-Mediterranen littoral by the Judaic Orthodox politicians.
To note, there is nothing on food prohibitions in the Ten Commandments, the straightforward foundation of primordial monotheism.
5
I grew up in the 50’s when Chinese food was the ONLY Asian option. Although I still like it,
my wife is not a fan. But if I had to pick a favorite, I would go for Vietnamese, Thai, or IndIan food before Chinese. Tastes have evolved, but that’s also in appreciation to all those who cooked in and ran Chinese establishments who set the tone of change in this country.
9
It is a very good sign that the restaurants are closing.
It means they have succeeded. Let new ones open.
P.S. - I now want some dumplings. No fork thanks, give me the chopsticks.
8
When I was a child I trained as a chef. I quickly realized that unless you are extremely lucky there is way too much hard work and way too little money in a commercial kitchen.
I am proud of my cooking skills and still try to learn new things. I keep being told I should open a restaurant. No thanks, been there, done that, moved on.
I enjoy the food from a really good restaurant chef as much as the next person but I would never recommend going into the field. Kudos and honours to all these people, but I fully understand it when they finally have had enough.
16
Notice that, in contrast to other cities, the decline in Chinese restaurants in New York is miniscule. I'd guess this is because there is still a large, regular influx of immigrants from China into the city to take over restaurants, work in them and start new ones.
15
This must not be the case in the Seattle area where Kirkland now has a free Chinese newspaper to go with many new Chinese restaurants.
Here in Phoenix, there were a surprising number of above average to very good Chinese restaurants.
In recent years, several have closed or changed hands, and we are gastronomically poorer.
I'm very happy that the older Chinese are retiring well, and their ABC children received a good education. But really great, authentic Chinese food (the kind not eaten by Caucasians) is become scarce.
8
This was a great story - describing how immigrant Chinese families make a contribution to themselves and to society. It also reflects the limited opportitunities that immigrants had - for Chinese, either run a laundry or restaurant- largely due to resistance and discrimination that the immigrants had in the workplace. My grandparents came from Japan and only opportunities were as farmers or fishermen and in urban areas, gardeners or working in family grocery store. Several uncles and aunts had college degrees but could not latch on to a job before WW2 - one became a gardener (despite degree in chem. engineering), another a farmer, 3rd went back to Japan. We have truly benefited from a more open society, civil rights legislation, and less discriminatory immigration. My children (4th generation) had the choice of careers with hard work and are now all professionals. In some places, we are still questioned "what are you?" - but now say proudly "we are Americans".
47
Mr Eng might consider what happened in Seattle.
John Yokoyama, 78, had owned the Pike Place Fish Market since 1965.
But as the Seattle Times reported Friday, July, 2018, after 53 years of 12-hour workdays, Yokoyama is ready to pass it on to four longtime employees who helped him make it a success.
Yokoyama started the fish-tossing tradition when he realized it would save him close to 100 steps that he would have to walk to serve customers out front. It quickly became a popular attraction for the public and tourists.
The four employees who have been tossing fish for decades plan to continue the tradition.
43
Have not these restaurants improved the lives of their patrons, who got to expand their minds and palates with the tastes of another culture?
Have not these restaurants improved the lives of the immigrants who established them, allowing them to be rewarded for their hard work and culinary talent?
Have not these restaurants improved the lives of the children of the immigrants, by giving them the opportunity to pursue their own careers, be it the restaurant business or otherwise?
Do not these restaurants embody the best of America - a more diverse market, a better life for those that work for it, and a better future for the children? We are but a nation of immigrants with dreams.
36
I remember one year in which all of the Italian fruit & vegetable stores on 1st. ave. became Korean fruit & vegitable stores. Most likely, just as the children of the Italians had no interest in taking over the business, neither will the next generation of Koreans. This is one of the many reasons we will always need new immigrants.
23
Immigrants are what make America great. The diversity of cultures, languages, and food, ooooh the food!
23
Owning a restaurant is one of the most demanding jobs that exists - if you do it right - and has one of the highest rates of failure. I admire anyone who has been able to "make it" through hard work and talent but, like any small enterprise, things are changing.
MY problem is - if I want to go out on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, a great Chinese meal was my go-to option. I so looked forward to seeing all my non-Christian friends on those days feasting on dim sum, egg drop soup and a great entree. Pastrami is a close second, but a great Deli is a very rare find.
Thank goodness for immigrants - they broaden our horizons, enrich our lives and add much-needed diversity to an arrogant population that thinks it already has all the answers. They are wrong.
57
So many Asian emigrants have been successful through hard work - no handouts for them. Of course they want their children to go on to spectacular careers. I think people who are dismissive of employees of Asian restaurants should be reminded that most of these employees are bilingual and their native language is a non-Indo European language. How many of us could learn Mandarin or any other Chinese language? Not many.
15
@Eli agree with the hardworking nature of some immigrants, but do get "handouts." It does not fit the feel good narrative you note but being on the public dole includes Chinese immigrants as well:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-s-hard-line-immigration-rule-could-disproportionately-hurt-asian-n1068406
3
@DAWGPOUND HAR
A very small minority. Typically they join ethnic credit clubs, open their own businesses, employ their relatives, and work hard.
1
@Eli
"So many Asian emigrants have been successful through hard work - no handouts for them."
That's not quite true. When they sponsor their elderly parents (>65 years of age) from Asia and bring them to the U.S., those parents who never worked a day in the U.S. or paid any taxes here, qualify for and receive full Medicare benefits. It's a loophole in the legal immigration system that provides these kinds of benefits to elderly parents of green card holders who never paid into the Medicare system yet are able to take full advantage of it.
9
As a 9-year old in mid-Century New York City, I was permitted to go unsupervised to a Chinese restaurant with my best friend, Phyllis. The place was beautifully decorated with red banquettes, gold accents and a gleaming fish tank. Since my friend’s family was known to the proprietor, we were treated like royalty, sharing a luncheon special of soup (Phyllis), chicken chow mein, rice and egg rolls (us), ice cream (mostly me) and fortune cookies (us).
The waiter, wearing a jacket and tie, was mum as he came and went with the courses and we chatted away, pretending to be “ladies who lunch.” As wonderful meals go, it is in the top 10. It also made me a loyal fan of Chinese restaurants.
49
An exception is the Upper West Side, Manhattan’s heavily Jewish neighborhood.
An owner of a popular Chinese restaurant that I frequent informed me that his busiest day is Christmas!
Why?
When the area’s Christians are with family, we’re “eating Chinese food”...a uniquely New York and Jewish tradition!
16
Not unique to New York
It’s all over
11
@SNY
Very common in the SF Bay Area too. Assume the same for LA.
5
@GMooG
Ask Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen.
1
My grandfather immigrated from Guangdong province to San Francisco in the late 1800's. He later brought his wife and existing sons. After the family immigrated my dad and younger brother were born in Chinatown San Francisco in 1918 and 1920. Though my dad was really booksmart and sent to what became the high-achieving Lowell HS in SF, he rebelled and skipped going to college to instead move to Los Angeles to work as a bartender and waiter in Chinatown LA. In 1959 he was promoted to manage an upscale Cantonese dining room in a Chinese-investor-owned bowling alley in a Los Angeles suburb. The restaurant served steak, lobster and westernized Cantonese food and my dad basically taught the non-Asian customers what to appreciate in the westernized Cantonese food. For authentic Cantonese food, however, we drove in to Chinatown LA each Sunday after church. It wasnt until after college in the'70's that I learned about all the other types of Chinese food. As there are no more high quality authentic Cantonese-style restaurants left in southern California, I make sure I get my fill on trips to SF, NYC, London, and recently Tokyo.
5
Thank you for this article, which resonated with me because I am a second-generation Chinese American whose father ran a Chinese restaurant on Long Island starting in the 1960s. He put me to work there during the summers when I was a teenager and it was the best life lesson he taught me - I saw how hard he and his co-workers worked all day, 7 days a week. I saw how he had to deal with all the customers ranging from the nicest ones to the you-know-whats. And that's exactly what he wanted me to see so that I wouldn't have to go through what he had to do to achieve 'the American Dream'. Thanks to him and my mother, they were able to save enough money to send me and my siblings to college (this was when it was still affordable for working 'middle-class' families without having to go into student loan debt) so that yes, we could eventually go on to get that 'professional' career. When I got my PhD years later, my father said to me, "They call you 'Dr.' now?? No kidding!" He was so proud of me. But I am the one who's also proud...of my father who did all he could to help us make it in this country. Thank you, Dad.
1524
@CA You made me cry - thank you for sharing your story.
Happy Holiday to you and your family!
120
@CA Too many children focus on the negatives, the complaints and not the positives. But maybe they never hear the positive sides from their parents. One can work less hours and possibly trust a manager to run the restaurant part of the time, such things are feasible. One can make a lot of money in such places, too. There can be great honor and pleasure in serving the public.
21
@CA
What a lovely comment.
I also worked in my father's business as a teenager.
I am so thankful to have had a great Dad.
72
Yes, immigrants make our country a better place. This was a terrific article and thank you for highlighting this important issue of generational change.
828
@Meighan Corbett The legal kind
8
@Edward V Chinese Americans were illegal for a long time thanks to Chinese Exclusion Act. The ones who were here worked no less hard.
5
@Edward V - Oh please! All kinds. The only difference between all immigrants up to the 1960's, besides the chinese exclusion act and other "yellow peril" acts, those who come here to work but can't get in legally now because of quotas, is the timing. Nothing else. Heck, the discrimination was so bad south asian indians who had become naturalized citizens were stripped of their citizenship once the classification of non-white was granted by the supreme court back in the 1920's because retroactively they got their citizenship "illegally".
Let 'em in. They ll contribute more to the economic growth of the country than they get out of it. This story you've been reading portrays that. You want to compete against a country with near a billion and 1/2 people you're gonna need numbers, and india will overtake china in population within the next 10 years. 3 billion people between the two. We're gonna need all the help we can get.
9
Thank you for the wonderful article. It is a reminder of the richness that immigration brings. How selfless it is, to work so tirelessly in order to pave a way for your children to live a more prosperous life.
927
@Sara May I point out the a "more prosperous life" is not the same as a "much better life". I, for one, am not rich, and have not had a perfect life, but I have had a great life.
15
@Carlos R. Rivera Bravo Carlos. Well said !
9
@Sara It is unique to America. And something to admire. But many years as a social work academic and a practitioner I know not everyone integrates in the same way. The value given to good parenting, education, the educated or the learned is high in Asian/Indian cultures. I admire them greatly. I struggled to help some people integrate. Not all integrate well. To those who keep the best in their culture and take the best from others I raise a glass in admiration and gratitude. But there are others who don't integrate. More misogynistic they are harder it is for them and others. Thank you for your good heart.
4
The demand for Chinese restaurant food is not falling, but the supply is.
So, inevitably, the marketplace will provide a solution: prices will rise and then companies will do what families will not.
2
Chinese food in my NYC childhood was bland--Moo Goo Gai Pan and egg rolls, until Shun Lee opened in the late 1970's. Then Hunan and Szechuan food became the rage and took over most Chinese restaurants. I am sad about the loss of restaurants, but there are fewer Jewish delis, fewer real Italian restaurants in Little Italy, and other ethnic restaurants have gone as well. My favorite Chinese restaurant in Denver closed a few years ago; the owner's daughter was my son's Fifth Grade teacher.
10
Also gone are so many Italian bakeries and the German restaurants and shops of Yorkville. The first generation wants the second generation to do better and they have.
7
A lovely story! Thanks. I would have also liked to have heard about the other elements of getting established here - dealing with racism over the years for example. But congrats to the Sits and Tangs and all the other immigrants :)
7
Help!!! I am visiting NYC this spring, and one of my sentimental intentions is to dive into the Chinese-American food I dream about living here in France. (Who knew that’s what I’d miss the most!) I have one week to take in as many real NYC Chinese restos as possible, but I’m not willing to go out to the Burroughs. Any suggestions in Manhattan? In Chinatown? Are there any left there?
@joymars
Look on Chowhound and Eater NYC for recommendations.
3
Native Manhattanite/Upper West Sider, recent Denver transplant. Aside from experiencing what's left of Chinatown, I have three suggestions for you. Empire Szechuan on Columbus 69th, near Lincoln Center, have eaten there for years, since I worked at Lincoln Center. Also the remaining Ollie's at 411 West 42nd Street, great soup bowls. Also Ningbo Cafe all the way downtown at Battery Park City on South End Avenue; it's on the waterfront with an awesome view of the Statue of Liberty. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
3
@joymars
p.s - You are missing out on the "Real NYC" by not wanting to venture to the boroughs. I'd rethink that decision. Especially on the food front.
3
Nothing new
Each new wave of immigrants took over the lowly paid and exhausting jobs that the offspring of the previous wave had escaped
Look for more Ethiopian Restaurants. The food is great
6
@John
Ethiopian has been all over the DC area for many decades. So good.
4
Chinese restaurants are nowhere near as good as they were back in the late 50s, when my family would go to Joe's Fu Manchu on Tremont Avenue or the Woh Ping on Lexington. There may be more variety than the standard Cantonese in the old days, but changes in ingredients have resulted in much less interesting food. For example, when did celery or broccoli replace bok choy in roast pork and Chinese vegetables? The sauces are also less than appealing.
These days I much prefer Indian cuisine, or a steaming bowl of pho.
1
I appreciate all these hard-working folks. Thank you for your extraordinary effort and good example.
8
Always be generous with your local first-generation immigrant -owned business establishment - in tips and in kindness.
Pound for pound, your generosity could not be put to a more selfless cause. What these parents will do for their children is superhuman. Thank you mom and dad.
39
Living on the west coast of Florida, I long for the family owned Chinese American restaurants of my youth in Brooklyn and later adulthood in the Baltimore and Philly areas. My kingdom for a fat crispy egg roll.
14
Passionate home cook of Chinese food here...and restaurant goer. Own several of Fuschia Dunlop's books, as well as Barbara Tropp, Grace Young, Ken Hom and Yan Kit's. I know how to use and sharpen my cleaver.
With all that said, most strip mall (and also white table cloths) Chinese (Thai too!) joints sell unmitigated glop.
4
Consider this: without immigrants your only choice of takeout food would be McDonald’s and Burger King.
12
Restaurants in general are hard work and Chinese restaurants are probably worse because of the style, demands and expectations... Worse, know a few people, separately, died from 2nd hand smoke. Of course, now, with food channels and food porn all the rage, the industry got glammed up. Still, long hours and low margins, a steady rise of regulations doesn't help
@Bos
Having spent years in hospitality & food service between the mid-70s and mid-90s, I can tell you that a big part of the problem is that, compared to most establishments, too many Chinese owners demanded too many hours and also paid poorly.
I worked with some very capable Chinese cooks & chefs who said they'd never work for another Chinese owner again.
6
@MorinMoss
I am sorry, the people I have in mind were the owners themselves and the restaurants were really ma & pa stores with extended family holding down the front and back. I don't know what segments you were operating in but price conscious customers could put a squeeze on these families. Of course, the newer generations may know how to calculate profit margin and research on location, and know a liquor license in a restricted town can secure financing, but like the elderly Sits, their metric was properly customers. That is why people love Chinese food, taste good, hefty portion and cheap! We are talking at Chinatown and not hotel attached upscale Chinese food or PF Chang, which is neither Chinese nor run by Chinese!
The inner city Chinese takeout joints can be lucrative but very risky
I will never forget the Chinese restaurant near my first job. The Hot Pepper Beef Chow Fun was heavenly, as was their in-house BBQ Pork. My girl friend and I would play Food Roulette by randomly ordering the specials written in Chinese on paper taped to the walls. We discovered some amazing tasty dishes like Mei Cai Kou Rou. They went the way of this article. Sad but yet happy.
10
Great article but I don't think Yelp is a reliable source for the argument being made and the evidence seems anecdotal at best.
10
@Paul Cantor I thought the same thing>
The modest decline in Chinese restaurants across America reflects much more complex dynamics between different waves of immigrants, capitalization of businesses, and changing American tastes. The segment of the Chinese restaurants that are falling off the cliff is the old-fashioned Cantonese restaurants that largely cater to less sophisticated customers. Like the Sit’s featured in the story, these are run by the old-stock Cantonese immigrants—often through Hong Kong—who relied on personal and family savings to raise their families in an unfamiliar society. These restaurants were and are ubiquitous part of the American landscape from big city Chinatowns to rural America. Since the immigration from Mainland that began in earnest from the 1980s, the growth segment of the Chinese restaurant are highly capitalized restaurants built by experienced entrepreneurs. These restaurants began in suburban Chinatowns of California’s San Gabriel Valley to ethnic enclaves in Brooklyn and Queens, and they bring together capital from ethnic and overseas banks with large pool of experienced chefs and low-wage workers. The huge dim sum palaces and northern China-inspired banquet halls have become dominant formats. Finally, as more Americans are seeking healthier and authentic fares and Instagrammable experiences, the second generation Chinese going into the industry are catering to this social media crowd and, in the process, take Chinese American food to new and interesting places.
16
The single thread that ties Mr. and Mrs. Sit's story, their children's story and the stories shared by those readers who relate their own experience of growing up in America is their belief in education: we need education and, more importantly, we need to have faith in the goodness that eduction will bring to us, now or in the time to come.
11
I came to America as a foreign student from Hong Kong in 1971. I became a U.S. citizen in 1987. With a Ph.D. degree in Chinese geography, I founded a consulting practice in 1983 helping U.S. companies do business in China. I've served more than 100 large and small U.S. businesses and I am self-employed. There is plenty of opportunities for Chinese immigrants and their first-generation children who are educated and acculturated. Opening a Chinese restaurant is very much an option, not one of only a few choices as it was in the old days.
6
When we moved to New Jersey 7 years ago the first thing I noticed was how few Chinese restaurants there were. Lots of Thai and even Vietnamese but very few Chinese. We found a couple we really like - family businesses and wonderful people. Can’t wait to go on Christmas Day- it wouldn’t really be Christmas without Chinese food.
14
Having just recently eaten at Eng’s, had I known, I could have commiserated with Mr. Sit about retiring and turning over my restaurant, Taco Juan’s in Woodstock to any family member interested. They all similarly declined the offer and preferred to have a ‘life’ elsewhere (NYC). So I would be on my way to dinner at Eng’s tonight, except for the fact that they will be too crowded. It’s Christmas-Eve, the traditional night to have Chinese food!
11
Not so in Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley. New Chinese restaurants are opening constantly and subject to intense attention. However these are not the old-style Americanized Chinese restaurants like Eng’s. They are a whole new generation of much higher quality, much more nuanced Chinese food. I will miss the old restaurants like Eng’s but I’m too busy with the new ones to miss them much.
9
Wonderful article!
I often wonder how more difficult it must be operating a Chinese dining spot since they're typically aligned for value pricing ... & there's limited alcohol consumption to help boost profits.
The only caveat I would mention is how Chinese restauranteurs have changed courses [no pun] and opened Sushi places. Here in SF some saw the trend to another type of emerging Asian cuisine as a better business opportunity.
We frequent both tasty types & enjoy the familiar hospitality.
5
@Vt The profit margins for Japanese cuisine are much higher than for Chinese cuisine (akin to Apple vs Wintel)
This article reminds me how lucky I am and how happy I am to be living in Jackson Heights, Queens. Besides all of the cuisines outside my door I am also close to Elmhurst and Flushing so there is no end to the choices I have for eating out.
7
Small restaurants have also been closing in France. Living there
in the 50s, 60s and 70s there were many quality inexpensive
restaurants. The young French did not want kitchen work, too
hard and relentless. Speaking with owners, they also mentioned the advent and widening use of credit cards, so
more sales were being declared. France has onerous tax laws,
and restaurants ceased being as profitable when everything
was declared.
6
We are in the Northern suburbs of Chicago, 15 years ago we had two excellent Chinese restaurants within five minutes of our house. Both closed, one rebranded itself but was terrible and closed within a year. The building was bought by another family which owned other restaurants but by the time they could open the family had sold. I have a Chinese cookbook that has a recipe for Mandarin pancakes but also says if need be to use tortillas. I made my own pancakes when I was cooking more and making moo shu pork. The local restaurant uses tortillas.
1
There are a dozen Chinese restaurants in this area, I've tried them all and only one of them is any good. One was shut down for human trafficking, another for health violations. At one of the most poorly-patronized establishments we tried several dishes to no avail. On the fourth visit the manager asked, "Why do you order a different thing each time?" Explaining myself I asked, "Which dish is the most popular here?" and he replied they were all equally popular. Feeling a surge of hope, I asked, "What is your own favorite dish?" Making a face, he said, "I never eat the food here."
This was a superb article and I know a Chinese family just like the Sits who are sending their son to college. Another possible reason for the decline is there are so many other choices and with food quality falling, I almost never eat Chinese any more. Those delicious dishes pictured are not available here. I've searched.
7
@Kevin Perhaps you should try Chinese restaurants outside your comfort zone of what seems like "joints", there are literally numerous highly rated and successful Chinese restaurants in the bay area (SF, Peninsula, East Bay) that serve the rich variety and quality of Chinese cuisine.
5
I spent more than a year in China in my fifteen travels. I love Chinese food, diverse as is; it is amazing, whether in fancy restaurants of the big cities or sitting on crates in an alley, or the bowl of noodles in a market stall...
I travelled extensively and must have eaten Chinese food in at least 50 countries.
And we get to my point. Why in the vast majority of Chinese restaurants in US the food is a departure, often quite foreign to the real Chinese? I don't understand! Furthermore, as I frequently asked the owners to make me the authentic Chinese, the response - invariably - was that "this is how Americans love it". Wrong!
- I saw how over decades Chinese restaurants were frequented less and the Thai of Korean more.
- When a small Chinese restaurant served authentic Chinese food, there were lines at the door.
- I kept challenging the owners and got "this is how Americans love it"...
I came to a conclusion that there is a strong form of presumption and patronizing that many Chinese are doing to Westerners.
Example: I drove three Chinese university professors (part of Confucius exchange program) through Croatia. In Rijeka we went to a Chinese restaurant. The owner made 'authentic' food. I was given a fork. When I asked to have chop sticks the professors told me that it is difficult to eat with chopsticks, even though they knew that I travelled extensively through China.
I had no words. I am sure I am not alone in my assessment.
19
@Nicholas ; very interesting perspective. Something to think about.
@Nicholas One of the first times I was in China, in the early 80's setting up a lab at a gov't geological institute, my lady professor host, who was going to a meeting in the US when the Chinese gov't was first allowing academics to go to foreign meetings, had me give her a lesson in using a knife and fork. It was sort of funny, since I had been using chopsticks for about 25 years here in the US, loving Chinese food, but there were very few if any Western restaurants in Beijing at the time, and certainly none affordable on an academic's salary.
1
Nicholas — In big cities with large immigrant populations like San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York, there is greater appreciation of authentic, varied Chinese cuisines (as well as many other ethnic cuisines); but in rural areas & white-bread suburbs, where people eat biscuits & gravy, pot roast, or ham sandwiches w/mayo, Chinese restaurant owners knew their market when they started (if Mr. Sit is any example, probably in the 50’s or 60’s when magazines still featured recipes for tomato aspic & jello “salads”) — & in many places, tastes haven’t changed much. You may not like it, but you are not a typical American: a typical American has never traveled outside his country & likes things to be Americanized.
After spending most of my life in the culinarily sophisticated SF Bay Area, I now live in that other America, a small town 50 miles from the nearest city. Chinese restaurants here are the kind you describe, there are only 2 Thai restaurants & 1 Vietnamese; Yelps on the last included one who was surprised they didn’t have [some standard Cantonese dish]. Locals want the same Chinese food their parents took them out for years ago. I mostly cook my own Asian foods at home with ingredients ordered on Amazon (a few are on the “international” aisle at my local Safeway).
Americans still largely expect Chinese food to be cheap. That impairs ability to source authentic ingredients, hire sophisticated chefs. If you want authentic, be prepared to pay more.
4
The problem with Chinese food, for me at least, is that its so terribly unhealthy, at least the way its served in the United States.
The solution, to my tastes, would be full integration with macrobiotics and organic low fat and low cholesterol and low sugar cooking.
Cuisine and price point are the critical factors in the urban centers at least. I lost interest in Chinese food some 20 years ago.
24
@David Kesler
But if they took your solution to the "unhealthy" problem, it wouldn't be Chinese food (as we know it) anymore.
Anyway, it certainly looks like the Chinese, at least in the U.S., are living very long lives, or is it just that their eating habits make them look older? Just kidding. But, Mr. Sit is 76 and is now working only 72 hours a week. Can even vegans hope for more?
My parents used to take me to local Chinese restaurants for what was, in those days, almost exclusively Cantonese food. That was around the end of World War II, and even my six- or seven-year old self loved it. Then came the glorious Hunan and Szechuan revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s, and I simply couldn't get enough of it all. I still can't.
By being overly concerned about your health ("full integration with macrobiotics and organic low fat and low cholesterol and low sugar cooking" is almost as bad as Mayor Bloomberg and his smaller-sized soft drinks), you are missing too much. You don't have to eat it every day (although the Chinese do); just a few times a month.
The next thing you know, they'll be telling us that double banana-splits are bad for you.
44
@David Kesler
Then it would not be the "chinese" food we have come to love and appreciate. Eating primarily for health is often a recipe for dull food (as Anthony Bourdain said and wrote).
34
@David Kesler What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? Not the point of this article.
19
I do enjoy great Chinese food, however what is being served in most restaurants is mostly bulk rice and noddles with a sprinkling of protein and veggies saturated in lard and oil.. It is neither healthy nor nutritious . I have not eaten Chinese for quite a while I prefer Japanese food which is fresher and healthier.
21
@JG
Let's be clear - that's not Chinese food - that's American's perception of what Chinese food ought to be.
25
I can understand how hard it was for some of these immigrants who had no other education.
I am an immigrant though I claim a degree from Caltech and had a very successful 4 decades in the oil patch.
And that too, all over the world.
I rarely eat at Chinese restaurants overseas after you have samples the real Chinese food in China.
I think once you taste that food - all these American restaurants are more like McDonald's. Not that McDonald's are bad - they are literally same everywhere - to be sure dependable.
You close your eyes in an American Chinese restaurant - you would not know what city you are in. Even the photos here of the dishes - it brought an "ugh" reaction from me.
I live in Bogota where recently a Chinese restaurant opened in my neighborhood which caters to well to do folks.
But here too - the food is so predictable.
Once was more than plenty.
I think in America - the Chinese restaurants are losing to these other newcomers because as of yet - they have not become McDonald's.
Though Indian restaurants are coming pretty close.
2
What a GREAT story. Only in the USA are dreams of 1st generation so realized with 2nd generation.
11
@Stephen Roberts Not true! I saw the same thing happening to second generation Turks in Germany.
5
Thank you for the article. I've met some people, second and third generation Hispanic who do not understand there parents language and think there Grandparents are quaint. America is amazing. It takes in strangers on the one side and spits out Americans, a generation or two later, on the other side. It appears that Chinese parents are having the same sort of problem, but in the case, having to give up a family business because the second generation has no interest in it.
11
I came back to New York in the 80s. Almost all groceries were run by Koreans back then. In the 90s, 1 in 3 taxi drivers were named Singh, then came the drivers from Balkans. Happy for the first generation immigrants who, through their hard work, managed to provide opportunities for their offsprings to pursue their dreams. This is what truly made America great in the first place. To make America great again is to celebrate the immigrants.
524
@Heidi Weber times change and unskilled labor is of little value today, unlike the past. Our country is overpopulated we need no unskilled immigrants.
A generation ago, immigrants from any Asian nation would work at a Chinese restaurant. Now there's Vietnamese, Indian, Japanese, Korean restaurants staffed by those same folks. And we're enjoying the variety. But ya still can't beat Kung Pow Chicken.
6
The best Chinese food these days IMO is Vancouver and Monterey Park ( LA County).
I know a first generation antiques dealer from China who would return to the PRC twice a year to eat. He no longer goes because he says the food is better in Monterey Park. The chefs have been lured to the US by the restaurant owners with housing and salaries far exceeding what they were paid in PRC. The chefs also get to work with superior ingredients .
We still have a ton of Chinese tourists in LA although there has been a precipitous decline with Trump's restrictions of visas. The Chinese pack their tour buses ( Chinese owned) and head to Monterey Park to gorge. They know a good thing when they see it.
Great article NYT!
18
Any restaurant names in Monterey Park?
@joymars
Chengdu Taste. Mama Lu's. Skip Din Tai Fung.
3
This is a complete parallel to my childhood growing up in the resto biz. Once a customer asked if I was going to take over the shop. I answered demurely but, in my mind, I was never going to spend the rest of my life in the place.
9
When I moved to NYC in the late 70s there was a “Korean Market” on every block, selling fruit and groceries 24/7. The whole family worked there, long hard labor. They are virtually all gone now. I assume it’s because the kids are educated and pursuing easier more lucrative careers. I miss the markets. But so happy to see their dreams fulfilled.
40
I’ve noticed lately that prices of Chinese food has gone up, which reminded me that Chinese restaurants are considered to be “expensive” restaurants in Japan, unlike here in the US. We love Great China here in Berkeley, whose specialty is Peking Duck with deliciously crispy skin with lots of tender duck meat. I’m happy to pay more to help restaurants like it prosper.
4
I was in mainland China twice in the late eighties and early nineties. I had heard that some called the Chinese people “Jews of the East.” There WAS a similarity in the strong emphasis on family and a good education and food! I never had that much food and beverage pressed on me in my life. So much fabulous and sincere hospitality.
I so admire this man’s work ethic. Retirement may actually not benefit him. I wish I could taste his cooking. I sincerely hope that enough Chinese restaurants stay open so that American Jews can continue the tradition of a movie and a Chinese meal on Christmas!
17
This story is the story of our family. My parents brought their family of six, soon to be seven, from Hong Kong to this country in 1962. After a couple years, we settled in Harrisburg, PA, where my father worked in the kitchen of a cliched “polynesian” restaurant/bar. Eventually, my parents opened their own “chinese” restaurant business that grew to two restaurants and a small grocery store. It would have been easy for any of the children to take over the family business, all of us having worked in the business over the years. Instead, we ventured off to earn five bachelors, an M.S., three Ph.D.s, and a J.D. degrees. We became teachers, lawyers, scientists, managers, and homemakers—essentially becoming fully integrated into the American culture. This story of first generation immigrants working hard in whatever jobs that would improve the lot of their off spring, however, is the story of the American Dream, from the first British colonists, to the Irish, Jewish, and other European, Asian, African, or American emigrees. As this country struggles once again with the question of who “belongs” in this country, we should all ask ourselves this question: “Where and when did our own American story begin?” We must remember that, except for the Native American, we are all immigrants to this country.
781
@P. S. Ho while this is a nice heart warming rendition of the American immigrant good fortune since arriving to this great nation. I would like to make one minor correction to the narrative. In addition to native Americans, there is another group that gave greatly to this nation, but were not immigrants under the normal measure of "the immigrants."
https://www.ncpedia.org/history/forced-migration.
Thanks
43
P.S. Ho, thank you for your parents and their dream that materialized via hard work, bless them. Our Democracy is built, brick by brick, by families like yours. We are a nation of immigrants. May we continue to aspire to live by the words on the Statue of Liberty.
23
@P. S. Ho I wish this were the case. I grew up in an Irish family - my grandparents escaped the famine. But my mother constantly berated me for working hard in school - I think she saw it as British/Protestant behavior. I now have a graduate degree and a good job; my mother still disapproves. Across my brother and sister, there is alcoholism and criminal behavior. Encouraging the next generation to do better resonates in some ethnic groups, but not all.
67
This is such an American story. Each wave of immigrants suffered indignities and hardships, yet so many crawled out of the morass of intolerance to become mainstream Americans. They stitched themselves into the American fabric and we are richer for it.
415
Re: Chinese restaurants closing down.
I better hurry then.
As a grad student, I would walk past a Chinese restaurant - which I suspect was sustained by a home-delivery model (there was not much space to sit there). It would inspire me; I'd see them work 24-7-365 days and tell myself: 'if you worked that hard, you'd be done with grad school by now.' Or rich, or successful (I was none of those things then).
I made a note then to take my children there to see how people work (very, very hard). I made a hash of it; but the time I took them there, they were too jaded to be moved by my observations.
So, I won't blow it this time. When they show up for Christmas, I'll shovel all the grandkids in the van and take them there to see, draw inspiration from this beautiful American institution. My personal 'thank you' to this inspirational part of the American cultural fabric.
6
Except a few high quality and very expensive restaurants or San Francisco which is more respectuous to traditional recipes, it is bad food they make .
Nothing to do with real Chinese food. Like Mexican restaurants in the USA have nothing to do with real Mexican food.
The American culture of money destroys everything.
8
Just shared with my wife: "When was the last time we went to a Chinese restaurant?" But those eggrolls and the dish pictured look delicious!
3
My favorite local Chinese takeout only establisment in a local strip-mall surrounded by a heavily Jewish demographic has become a Kosher Chinese takeout called "Holy Chow". I was surprised when I found out by calling the phone number on the old takeout menu to order a while back. Kosher requirements eliminated many of my favorites of course.
7
They could have named it ShangChai.
Good for them all.
Immigration worked for them, and they managed to live the American Dream. What else can anyone ask for ?
BTW, for India, I note that 'motels' have not been mentioned in table for first generation. And 'computer services' for first generation ? Why not include 'doctor' ?
Seems the table might be just a wee bit off.
Anyway, the point of the article is well made.
14
@Nirmal Patel It's for self-employed occupations. I think most doctors work for hospitals or clinics.
2
@MP as of 2019, for the first time, the AMA says that employed physicians outnumber independent physicians.
Oh, no. Where are my people going to eat tomorrow, next year or after that?
10
To offer some perspective, 75 years ago the small towns of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan known as the UP had many Jewish business owners of clothing stores, shoe stores and the wholesaling of produce and heating oil.
Most of those businesses no longer exist and the Jewish families' children never returned to the UP. Instead they became highly educated and their careers and new families they started are spread across America. It is a story of success. Parents want a better life for their children and high education was and remains the best option.
So the hundreds of Jewish families that dotted the UP are gone now. Nostalgia for them in their families is ever present but life in America means opportunities to rise above one's origins.
This same story is also present in the small towns of the South where Jewish owned businesses were ever prevalent in small towns. Their small businesses suffered the attrition of all small businesses in America. Rural Jewish life in America is all but gone.
Of course it is the same for immigrants of all backgrounds. America is the one place where being born into one economic class is not a life sentence for the children of immigrants.
44
@Harry Schaffner
Mr. Schaffner, your comments about Jewish-owned businesses brought a story to mind that is slightly off topic, but I want to share it with you:
When my mother divorced my stepfather in 1963 she struggled to support herself and 4 children. The family was nearly destitute, but children grow quickly and must be clothed. When it was too far to travel to a Goodwill for shopping, Mother would sometimes go to Freedman’s, a family clothing store In the small Ohio town town where she lived. Often, if Mr Freedman waited on her, upon arriving home she found an extra pair of children’s socks or t-shirts that he had slipped in the bag.
On this Christmas Eve, I honor Mr. Freedman, a Jewish shop owner, and his heart of gold. And to you I wish a Happy Hanukkah.
2
Isn’t the oldest Chinatown in the U.S. in Honolulu?
2
@DASW no. San Francisco. The oldest one in the world is in Manila.
Ate at eng s for over forty years! Still there in Kingston!
6
What most people in the US consider “Chinese food” can only be found inside the US.
7
Let's recall that of the eight participants in the December Democratic presidential debate, one of them was entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the son of a Chinese immigrant.
In this case though his father was a mathematician who worked for IBM. Indeed, times have changed.
7
We loose more great Chinese food to aging parents than we do to industry.
1
It is what it is. Question: What will the Jewish community do on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve? I always assume good Chinese food is equivalent to Jewish food on days like those.
2
@RDL
Good question.
I remember, as a kid, all those years of Chinese food on Christmas Eve. And, it was, truly the highest revenue night of the year for Chinese restaurants. I found that out, many years later, when I was a lawyer and had some Chinese restaurant owners as clients. Christmas Eve was like their Black Friday.
At some point, maybe when I was in my late teens, I told my parents that it was ridiculous to be on some kind of food-hold on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and that we should invite people over and cook like we would any other dinner party. They agreed. It became a tradition. Everyone was happy.
Factually, for at least 10 years, more restaurants have stayed open on Christmas Eve, and Christmas, so the "only Chinese food" thing is over. As far as NY Eve.....that's a huge restaurant night. Who closes on NY Eve?
Why is it a bad thing that Chinese restaurants are disappearing? It is a direct reflection of a generation of Chinese immigrants who are now retiring, and their children, who are successful and no longer have to be in the restaurant business. I applaud their success.
Frankly, I'd rather have a few authentic Chinese restaurants that charge market prices for authentic dishes ($20+ per dish) than a plethora of horrible little Chinese take-out places that only serve Americanized Chinese garbage for less than ten dollars.
7
@workerbee
"Why is it a bad thing that Chinese restaurants are disappearing?"
It's not. The title literally says, "It's a Good Thing" and the article makes the point you do about their success. So the really good news is that you're on the same page.
3
We need more Chinese restaurants.
6
If it's Sunday, it's Chinese for dinner.
One from column A, one from column B.
3
And the refusal to go on your own and do what you like to do is a big reason of the downfall of labor and big corps being able to issue orders and shaft their workers. When I was 26 I told corp America to shove it and never looked back that was over 4 decades ago now.
1
I see a similar trend in our farmers markets. St. Paul is home to one of two major Hmong population centers. Hmong are traditionally farmers and, here in Minnesota, they rent plots of farmland in suburbs where they grow vegetables and flowers - beautiful flowers - they sell in farmers markets. Now there are fewer Hmong vendors than there were 20 years ago, and older non-English speaking Hmong have well educated grandchildren helping them at the Minneapolis farmers market. It's also interesting that produce prices at the market increased over the last couple of years, perhaps because there are fewer vendors.
7
In suburban DC where my family lives, the number of Chinese restaurants has stagnated, but the many restaurants remaining are more authentically Chinese than Chinese American. Indian, Vietnamese, Korean and particularly Ethiopian restaurants are increasing in number. The DC Metro area has the largest Ethiopian population in the country. The number of Italian restaurants, other than pizza places, also is stagnating. Probably due to few Italian immigrants arriving or Italian cuisine is something many Americans feel they easily can cook at home. Bon appetit!
7
A very heart-warming bittersweet story, thank you.
22
if i were 40 years younger i'd try to work something out with Mr. Sit. at 29 i was at the height of my powers as a line cook. i really don't care if the food served at the typical Chinese restaurant is not what the Chinese typically eat in China. i like it, and i would love to know how to prepare it. the use of the pine cones was absolutely inspired.
46
It is happening all over the country but not just with Chinese restaurants. A truly sad, but joyful situation. We have lost many "family-owned" business when the person that started the business, built it up, wants to retire. Three of my favorite restaurants have gone away. Their children did not want to own and operate their family businesses. One was bought by another business owner who changed the menu so much, they had to attract new customers. Another was sold to a franchise. The third was torn down.
9
I love Chinese food, but many of the dishes that are served in Chinese restaurants in the US would be cuisine designed for a celebration. Celebration food is delicious but also high calorie and really not intended for everyday consumption. We have a skewed view of what Chinese people eat.
15
@Sutter I generally go to a nice restaurant to celebrate, and the food I eat there is not like what I ordinarily eat at home.
So I'm not surprised the same would pertain to food served in a fine Chinese restaurant vs. what ordinary people eat in China...
21
There have many restaurants and even food stores that have shuttered because of the lack of a successor. One of the ones I miss is May May on Pell Street which used to make the best lotus buns and zongzi. Another one I miss is South Wind on Division Street with its dried shrimp rice rolls. As time marches on these businesses become happy memories. Hopefully, those legacy restaurants find new owners!
11
This is a really interesting article to read, especially for me. The article indeed captured well about the better economic mobility and more career choices for the 2nd generation, thanks to education! However, Two other things I think have contributed to this decline should be mentioned. 1) Historically, Chinese restaurants are heavily relying on cheap labor, especially on immigrants from coastal provinces (Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, etc). These coastal provinces also happen to have developed the most in recent years. In other words, people are less inclined to move to a new country if they can explore opportunities domestically. 2) The shift of demographic. In the past, more immigrants from China are mostly family sponsored. They’d come to the US, help in a cousin’s or other family member’s business, then start their own as they accumulate money and experiences. Nowadays, there are more students/business/working/investment-related immigrants. Most of them are well educated and are free to explore other career choices. The shift of demographics has actually lead to the flourishing of more restaurants focusing on authentic Chinese food, catering to these new immigrants.
77
@WS
In LA the "cheap labor" in many of the Chinese restaurants are Latino immigrants.
18
As a working mom living in Manhattan's "Szechuan Valley" where Jennifer 8 Lee's parents had their restaurant, I was always grateful that a delicious meal was only a phone call away, and for a reasonable price. I miss these places, but who can begrudge their children their hard-earned rung on the ladder of success? With today's rents, I doubt they'd be viable any more. I bought myself a rice cooker and a wok.
58
It is newcomers to America like Mr.Sit who have helped shape the America that so many immigrants seek. The skills and determination of newcomers to America contribute to its greatness.Trump needs to be constantly reminded that Lady Liberty welcomed his grandfather and his mother and his current wife to this country with welcome arms. Hardworking newcomers strengthen America. Remember this Mr.President and Merry Christmas.
132
@Milton Lewis Tom Sit has been in the US for 44 years. Not exactly a "newcomer."
5
@Timmermac It is about where he was born. Not when he came here.
6
@Milton Lewis
Trump has no idea.
Do not expect him.
We need to get rid of him and put him in jail.
7
Thanks for this story. Maybe corny, but this being the season, it made me think of "It's A Wonderful Life." You work hard and show that the American dream is, in fact, reality. Pine cones as a life preserver? My gosh.
God bless Mr. Sit, and please, take some time off. You've earned it.
215
About 12 years ago a student of mine told me she had been singing at Chinese weddings which take place on Monday and Tuesday nights, these being the slow nights in Chinese restaurants. Holding the wedding on a Monday or Tuesday allowed people working in those restaurants to attend. A bit of social data that I simply found interesting. Don't know if that is still the case.
100
"They adapted their method of cooking to American tastes..." This may be one of the factors in the high rate of Chinese restaurant closings. If people want an authentic, ethnic food experience, they are not going to get it at most Chinese restaurants in the US. You will only find it in areas with a high concentration of Chinese immigrants. I got spoiled when I moved to San Francisco in the late 70's. I will only eat in Chinese restaurants where most of the other diners are Chinese. Now in Orange County, CA, I am fortunate that there has been a large influx of Chinese immigrants to and around Irvine, which has many good authentic Chinese restaurants.
27
@Jerry
The emergence of authentic dining options in OC is certainly welcome -- but, still, the classic Americanized Chinese food of past will also be missed. In OC, Yen Ching closed last year after decades of old-school service and Orange chicken, Egg Drop soup, Moo Shu pork, and of course fortune cookies.
10
@Jerry
Jerry,
I don't consider authenticity of the food nearly as important as the food tasting good.
10
What a wonderful chapter in the story of America. The Irish, Italians, Germans and immigrants from all over have all followed much the same path. Yorktown no longer has a German restaurant!
The hard work in the service of a better life for their children is a defining characteristic of our United States. I’ll miss inexpensive Chinese takeout but feel better knowing the contributions of their offspring are helping to guide America into the future.
96
@Chris Ryan Yorktown does still have a German restaurant: The Heidelberg! I went back about a year a go and I'm happy to report that it's still great.
10
@Chris Ryan
If you’re referring to the onetime German enclave in Manhattan, that’s Yorkville, not Yorktown. There are still a few places, but when I worked in the area in the mid-1970s the delicious smells from German, Austrian, Hungarian, and Czech bakeries and restaurants must have added up to about 1,000 calories per sniff.
In a living city, demographic change goes on.
Is it a good thing? What would be a good thing is a well-run, top-quality, and respected Chinese restaurant that the owner's children wouldn’t HAVE TO cook in or run, but rather, a successful one that they could, if they chose, to run or cook in. They could even possibly make it more successful than their parents. Is there shame in that???
10
It’s the incredibly long hours that mere mortals born in the USA can’t stand.
4
@Wesley And mere mortals born in the U.S. who can stand those hours go into more lucrative professions like law, or professions with decent salaries and good benefits like politics (not necessarily respected, but Congress and even other government positions can have long hours but the healthcare is good and it's a middle class salary and if you get elected to office in a lax state with few rules like Pennsylvania there are plenty of perks. Civil service has slightly fewer benefits, but still decent healthcare) Come to think of it, maybe if theAsian immigrants had stayed in parts of China or Taiwan they and their kids could just worry about salary and hours, because they'd have healthcare.
2
@Letitia Jeavons I know plenty of "mere mortals born in the U.S." that have and continue to work those hours (for a myriad of reasons). To say (or imply) that these mere mortals all turn to more lucrative professions is a simplistic and false statement.
The overabundance of Chinese restaurants must be related to the demographics of immigrants. Too bad that the Japanese cuisine of seafood, without equal in the world, has not gained the same degree of popularity in the US.
7
@Tuvw Xyz
Has not gained the same degree of popularity....where? Maybe not in Illinois, but any place worth living has certainly a plethora of Japanese food.
6
@Tuvw Xyz Most of the Japanese restaurants in the US are run by Chinese or Koreans.
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@ MP SF Bay Area
Thank you for these, sad as they are, news. It is truly a gastro-ethnic per- or inversion.
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This is true in other areas, namely the Korean grocery store.
New immigrants or established Americans we take over and new restaurants of all types will take over including Chinese.
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The same thing happened with Japanese restaurants, the immigrants have passed on or retired. But Japanese restaurants appear to be growing only they are run by non japanese. Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese food is relatively cheap and Japanese food is seen as a way to raise prices and margins so it’s rare today to find a Japanese owned Japanese restaurant.
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@Jammer
The Japanese-owned Japanese restaurants are far better in terms of the quality of the food, freshness and authenticity.
The strong education ethic among immigrants is to be admired and a wake up call to improve our education system in this country.
The next time you see immigrant children doing homework in a restaurant be aware that these children may be the ones to find the cure for cancer.
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@M
other immigrants also have a "strong education ethic" but if they are Black the face much dire stereotypes and discrimination, starting with housing which does does allow them to access good schools such as these children of Asian immigrants were able to do. Check out the work of Jennifer Lee about the "stereotype promise."
God bless the immigrants. How fortunate The US is to have them.
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Thank you to all the immigrants that started these restaurants and the wonderful culture they brought to the U.S. Most of us in America appreciate what immigrants do for our country. This is what the American dream was all about for people. It was a great system and it works. Let's not blow it America. Come back to your senses. Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave!
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Immigrants provide richness to America through their differences.
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@JohnXLIX
Totally agree
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Where will we go for the traditional Jewish Christmas dinner ? Times they are a changing.
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@Edward Teller, Ph.D.
My local Chinese restaurant (Burlington VT) is closed every Wednesday so they can have a family day, which I think is great - the kids are pre-teen, yet they answer the phone and handle the register. I'll have to get take-out today and cool it till tomorrow evening. I'll never lose my appreciation for Cantonese food. Merry Christmas, all.
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@Edward Teller, Ph.D. The traditional dinner will be replaced by visiting an Indian-operated convenience store serving frankfurters that have been on the grill for several hours. Enjoy!
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Pride!
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After reading the article and seeing the photos of those prepared Chinese meals, I'm salavating; I'm really desiring Chinese food! To clarify, I retired to Montana from New York City some 13 years ago. At that time, there was a restaurant on 6th Ave. called 'Sammy's' (Noodle House), near 14th, and once a week for many years, I'd eat there, loving the fast pace,and even the noise of so many customers, as well as the foods. Here in Montana, well, don't ask. Honestly, I can make better Chinese in my own Wok which I brought with me from N.Y.C. than any so called Chinese Restaurant here. When I ordered Won-Ton-Noodle Soup (in Missoula), they brought it with a side of Saltine Crackers (!), and a tablespoon instead of a ladle-spoon. When my main course arrived, they served it and expected me to use the fork on the table. When I asked for Chop-Sticks, they had to search in back for some. I got some, and the people at the next table stared at me using them as though I was from Mars. OY! (Please don't close your restaurants!)
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When I was a little girl my mother would always take me on a monthly trip to this fantastic Chinese restaurant in Elmwood Park NJ (I forget the name, it was over 15 years ago). They've since closed down but I'll never forget how impeccable the service was and how delicious the food: they always greeted us with a smile and with the best Lo Mein I've had to this day, which makes me sad to read articles like this. American-Chinese cuisine is a fine art and it's a shame it's being lost. I understand why but just because you're second generation, college educated doesn't mean working some cold and empty desk job coding for Google is better than learning the secrets to this wonderful food craft. Google might certainly offer a better bank account than running a place like Engs but is Google more meaningful? I don't think so.
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Our local Chinatown has a couple of mainstay Chinese restaurants, but bubble tea and, Vietnamese and Korean restaurants have arrived. I don't think anyone even calls it Chinatown anymore.
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I love Chinese food from time spent in Taiwan where the food from all areas of China are served. I taught myself to cook the dishes but I do not do much lately. Instead I go to the Chinese buffets which seem to be all over. The buffets seem to be staffed with new immigrants who don't seem to stay at one place long. The food at these buffets are mostly kept at steam tables and are certainly not as good as at made-to-order places, which as the article points out, are becoming fewer. I try to go to the buffets for lunch when the dishes appear fresher than being held over for dinner.
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I lived in Taiwan as a preteen and learned to love their seafood-rich cuisine. Then I attended two California university campuses in cities full of wonderful Chinese restaurants from multiple traditions. My favorite dinner was chow fun from a noodle truck eaten out of the carton. I later worked in San Jose (yes, San Jose) where dim sum was an easy lunch option any day of the week.
Recently I moved to North Carolina which is a virtual Chinese food desert.
And now this!
I don't think I can take it.
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Visiting one of our boys in South Carolina earlier in the year, I can only concur about the desert in Asian cuisine in the Carolinas. Coming from Melbourne Australia, Victoria is the most progressive of states and the most multi cultural. While hamburgers abounded, the lack of Asian restaurants and even Mexican in the South was confounding - what passed for Japanese in one city was laughable and expensive. Melbourne is renowned for its coffee and the quality of its Greek, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Thai and Malaysian food - most of which was noticeably and disconcertingly missing in the South. Going out is expensive in Australia because there is an expectation that staff are paid decent wages. What we have in common is our hospitality and friendliness but the lack of diversity in food was surprising and unexpected.
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The reasoning seems incomplete. The share of Chinese restaurants could decrease even if the total has been increasing. What’s the growth rate of all the other types of restaurants?
The authors didn’t clearly show that inter-generational mobility is primary factor. How has the average economic status or education level of Chinese immigrants changed over time. Even with the silly assumption of no inter generational mobility among Chinese immigrants, the share of restaurants could go down if there is a demographic shift in Chinese immigrants towards highly educated or wealthy. Even with extraordinary mobility, demographic shifts in the composition of Chinese immigrants could still be the driving factor. For example if every second generation immigrant immediately leaps to upper middle class but there is not a steady flow of poor immigrants to replace the parents of the second generation.
I don’t have any reason to doubt the premise of this article, I just expected a more thorough reasoning.
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Agreed. If they had removed some of the chin-scratching graphs and made the article a simple story about the Sit family, it would have been more successful. The odd and sparse use of data made me question what is likely a very real pattern. Even still, thanks for writing this. American ‘foodies’ owe so much to Chinese-American cuisine. It’s so darn delicious - and I bet that’s something Republicans and Democrats can agree on all day long :) Gen. Tso 2020!
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The mom and pop Chinese takeout place in our small upstate town closed last year. They had two children who graduated from very respectable universities. I suspect it was time for them to take care of their extremely hard-working parents. They achieved their American dream. They earned it!
Alas, no one has taken over their restaurant. I miss Chinese food.
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@Froon Maybe Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican food next?
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this is a beautiful story, well written. we all (here I mean, new yorkers) have our favorite local chinese place -- it may not look like much, but it makes you feel good. mr sit's egg rolls -- just the way I like them! with a dish of mustard. if his place were here in midtown I would eat there at least three times a week.
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Yes, it's interesting to hear immigrants stories. But there is no mention of the actual food. Maybe a factor in less Chinese restaurants is that there are many more choices for Asian food now than in previous years, and a lot of it may be preferable to many people. While I love most Asian food, I eat Chinese food about 2 times per year.
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It’s surprising to read comments about “Asian food.” It’s doubtful anyone would make a comment about “European food,” conflating food from Croatia with food from Portugal.
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@David R The article notes that there hasn't been any decline in people wanting to eat Chinese food, just people willing to work in and operate Chinese restaurants.
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Traditional Ethnic Restaurants will continue to exist. Until Bezos/Musk/Zuckerberg come out an A.I. driven Chef/Cook Robot. Humans will continue to have the need to eat. Unless the fore-mentioned Three can solve that problem too. Technology and Social Change "feed" on each other (Pun Intended). As a teenager in the 60's, I was involved in Change also. My Father ran an Actual "Chinese Laundry" (Not the Fashion Brand). At College, my Dormitory Mates asked me: "Is it true your Father's worst enemy is Permanent Press?" Needless to say, I did not follow in the "family" business. But I am probably the only Attorney who knows how to wrap packages in Paper. Clean Laundry was wrapped in Plain Brown Paper, then tied w/Twine.
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@Uscdadnyc
I hope you are right; however, the masters of the universe are planning robot chefs as we speak.
I visited Guangzhou (Canton) in 1978 and found it to be just as Mr. Sit said it was.
There was no economy and opportunity was nonexistent. Hong Kong was vibrant as an alternative nearby.
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@Michael Kittle, you might want to revisit. You wouldn’t recognize Guangzhou, which is booming.
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I agree it is a good thing; however, there is nothing that I enjoy more than outstanding Chinese food. Unfortunately, we do not have a plethora of upscale Chinese restaurants with outstanding creative Chinese dishes, beautiful decor and higher prices. I would like to see enough of the younger generation of Chinese families remain in the business after they receive their advanced degrees and provide this badly needed addition in the restaurant business.
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I lament the decline of Chinese restaurants. Food is nutritious and service is excellent. I blame the fast food joints.
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@Confused Amen to that idea! So few of these really great up-scale Chinese restaurants do exist and if they do, they are packed with patrons. These can easily co-exist with the typical take-out joint that serves mostly Asian-American fare and thrive.
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@Confused
So you are saying that, in the interests of your appetite, you'd like to see sons and daughters and grandchildren of Chinese immigrants keep cooking whilst they could become lawyers or doctors or software engineers? The restaurant business is tough. You gotta be there 24/7 if you want to keep your nose above water.
I treated myself to take-out Chinese last night. It was excellent. I paid $17 for wonton soup, Hunan chicken and barbecued pork. I'm sure the business does well, but, egads. Between keeping the premises spotless, which they were, and scheduling help and staying one step ahead of DHS (the cooks I saw toiling at woks were all Asian, not that I'm drawing conclusions) it would seem much easier to get rich by being a surgeon or a lawyer.
Bon appetit.
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If the thousands of local coffee shops could be replaced with a popular standardized national chain, why has there been no viable chain of fast food Chinese restuarants.
I suspect the dedication, hard work and long hours of Mr. Sit, and others like him, could never be replaced with minimum wage hired help and still offer the same food at bargain prices.
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@Samm
I'm guessing you've never heard of Panda Express. It's a California based chain of Chinese restaurants which is runned by a Chinese-American couple and their family. They have locations throughout the United States.
Oh, and by the way they are billionaires.
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Have you heard of Panda Express?
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@Samm
Like Panda Express? Unfortunately for many consumers this is the future of Chinese food.
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Growing up in the NY metropolitan area in the 1950s and 60s, my exposure to China and the Chinese people was in restaurants like this one. I then experienced the influx of food from other parts of China - particularly Szechuan cuisine - in New York in the 70s and 80s. And in more recent years, I had the opportunity to teach English to private high school students from well-to-do families from Beijing and Shanghai here in the Hudson Valley. Many of these young people had no sense of the history of Chinese immigration, but I found a food connection in their almost obsessive interest in the various Chinese regional cuisines, and their traveling down to Flushing in order to dine out at every opportunity.
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Excellent article about the Chinese immigrant experience but I’m not sure what any of it has to do with the share of Chinese restaurants on Yelp. The central character in the story bought his restaurant from its previous owner and I expect he will sell it to someone else.
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