Chinese food, but make it fine dining? US chefs push back against takeaway stereotypes
Forget fast food in boxes: chefs at upscale restaurants in the US are elevating Chinese cuisine to fine dining status, tasting menus and all
Taiwan-born chef George Chen, whose family immigrated to Los Angeles, in the US state of California, in 1967, remembers vividly how his classmates would look at his school lunch of braised pork and Chinese sauerkraut between two pieces of bread.
With all this, he hopes to one day revive his upstairs restaurant, Eight Tables, where course-by-course dinners ranged from US$88 to US$188. In addition, he and his wife, Cindy Wong-Chen, are preparing to launch a similar concept, Asia Live, in Santa Clara, also in California.
Upscale Chinese-American restaurants, from San Francisco to New York, have sprung up in recent years, garnering buzz with their refined tasting menus that soar far beyond Chinese takeaway-food staples.
The creative deconstruction of Chinese food is part of their culinary hallmark, as many chefs are hungry to showcase their own culture, but in an industry where diners rarely question the high prices of French haute cuisine or Japanese omakase, Chinese restaurateurs often contend with resistance in getting customers to pay fine dining prices.