HISTORY:
Chinese restaurants in the United States began during the California gold rush, which brought twenty to thirty thousand immigrants across from the Canton (Guangdong) region of China. They went to build the railroads, then developed the agricultural industry.
They mostly lived together in Chinatown. Here the immigrants started their own small businesses, including restaurants and laundry services.
By 1850, there were five restaurants in San Francisco. Soon after, significant amounts of food were being imported from China to America’s west coast. The trend spread eastward with the growth of the American railways, particularly to New York City.
The restaurants served food based on what their customers requested, anything ranging from pork chop sandwiches and apple pie, to beans and eggs.These restaurants were responsible for developing American Chinese cuisines, where the food was modified to suit a more American palate.
As of 2017, the United States had about 50,000 Chinese restaurants.
SOME RESTAURANTS:
- Panda Express
Panda Express is a fast casual restaurant chain which serves American Chinese cuisine. It is the largest Asian segment restaurant chain in the United States, where it was founded and is mainly located (in addition to other countries and territories in North America and Asia). Panda Express restaurants were traditionally located in shopping mall food courts, but the chain now operates units in many other environments and formats, including stand-alone restaurants, as well as universities, casinos, airports, military bases, amusement parks and other venues.
The chain offers a variety of Chinese-cuisine-inspired dishes (e.g., Orange Chicken; Firecracker Chicken Breast; Beijing Beef; Grilled Teriyaki Chicken; Kung Pao Chicken). “Combo meals” are served with customer’s choice of either fried rice, steamed rice, chow mein, or mixed vegetables.
- China Max
- Little Hong Kong
- King House
SOME DISHES:
General Tso Chicken （左宗鸡）
General Tso’s chicken is a sweet, deep-fried chicken dish that is served in North American Chinese restaurants. The dish is named after Zuo Zongtang (also romanized Tso Tsung-t’ang), a Qing dynasty statesman and military leader, although there is no recorded connection to him nor is the dish known in Hunan, Zuo’s home province. General Tso chicken is sweetened to match the expected preference of Americans.
Orange Chicken（橙皮鸡）
Orange Chicken is a Chinese dish of Hunan origin. The variety of orange chicken most commonly found at North American Chinese restaurants consists of chopped, battered, and fried chicken pieces coated in a sweet orange-flavored chili sauce, which thickens or caramelizes to a glaze.
Mongolian Beef（蒙古牛）
Mongolian beef is a dish served in American Chinese restaurants consisting of sliced beef, typically flank steak, and stir-fried with vegetables in a savory brown sauce, usually made with hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and chili peppers.
Fortune Cookie（幸运饼干）
A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a “fortune”, on which is an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation and/or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers; since relatively few distinct messages are printed, in the recorded case where winning numbers happened to be printed, the lottery had an unexpectedly high number of winners sharing a prize. However, fortune cookies have actually come from Japan, and cannot be found in China.