![]() Wo Hop - Isolated in its little corner of Chinatown on lower Mott amidst other fossilized establishments like Wing On Wo & Co. Here are 10 places that keep the old wok-flame alive. Nowadays, Chinese-American fare is an endangered species, even though some of its vegetable-heavy creations are aligned with modern notions of what's good for you. Health concerns also killed it in the last decades of the 20th century "low salt" and "fat-free" became watchwords. What killed it? The incursion of other types of fast food, and the appearance of other forms of Asian food - specifically, recently arrived fare from other Chinese regions, less tailored to meat-and-potato American tastes and hence more interesting to a city with diversifying culinary interests. It also betokened a kind of cultural exoticism in a country that was rapidly becoming less homogenous, and one with returning GIs who had been become familiar with Asian cuisines during World War II and the Korean War.īy the 70s and 80s though, appreciation for salty, bland, and sometimes greasy Chinese-American food, now over a century old, had begun to wane. They saw their heyday in the 40s and 50s, when a legion of housewives found employment outside the home and carryout Chinese became a necessity for feeding a family with two working parents. But it probably wasn't until the 1930s that neighborhood Chinese restaurants started to appear around the five boroughs. ![]() Meanwhile, beleaguered sailors started New York's first Chinatown around the time of the Civil War by 1885, according to William Grimes in Appetite City, our city could boast six Chinese restaurants.īy 1924, Chinese restaurants had become synonymous with floor shows and musical entertainment, and there were 14 in the vicinity of Times Square. Such recipes as chow mein, egg rolls, pepper steak, lo mein, egg foo young, shrimp toast, sweet-and-sour pork, and wonton soup gradually followed, making up a roster that came to include dozens of dishes that partly catered to American tastes. This flexible recipe featured meat and vegetables stir-fried into something already partly familiar to Americans as "hash" - canned ingredients like bean sprouts, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots notwithstanding. By all accounts, their first invention was chop suey. Proceeds will go directly back to Wo Hop and Wo Hop Next Door.The new Gold Rush restaurateurs and railroad chefs collaborated in creating Chinese-American cuisine, with help from a few cooks in the gradually growing Chinatowns around the country. These walls serve as a living tribute to the restaurant's community, which grows as more visitors leave their mark (literally). Wo Hop's downstairs location comes to life in the mug's design, influenced by the walls decorated with the dollar bills signed by visitors. As a result, chop suey and the design became hallmarks of Chinatown. The front of the sweatshirt uses the same design as the Wo Hop uniforms, while the back sports the iconic logo that is set in the notorious "Chinese font." The font, an attempt to emulate the strokes of Chinese calligraphy, became popular in the 19th century when Chinese immigrants began to open Chinese restaurants - one of their only viable economic opportunities at the time. Wo Hop was established in 1938 and is the second oldest restaurant in Chinatown, and Wo Hop Next Door opened in 1976. Wo Hop means "harmony," so Jasco used elements from both Wo Hop locations in the collection. ![]() ![]() ![]() Craving meals from Wo Hop and Wo Hop Next Door? Check out Jasco Chan's design inspiration behind the Made in Chinatown mug and sweatshirt! ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |