Yeah, that's probably not the most traditional way to eat it.
Damn, you scooping that fish like ice cream.
They did give me the spoon though.
What else am I supposed to do with a spoon?
Then scoop.
We really strive to impress our customers and
give them a nice experience with Chinese food.
China is a big place and often filled with contradictions.
On one hand, it's painted as traditional and ancient
and viewed with a stuck-in-time mysticism.
On the other hand, there's ultra-modern aspects
like magnetic bullet trains, mobile apps, and endless skyscrapers.
But what about a mix between East and West
that took place 100 years ago in the city of Shanghai?
The Hai Pai period took place between the 1920s and 1950s
and is a special era that's being brought back to life
in 2020 through restaurants.
Today, we're hitting up three different spots in NYC
that really represent new retro Chinese style
from the decor to the menus.
Could this be the future of Chinese restaurants in America?
And what's so attractive about this period in time
that has everybody wishing they had a time machine?
Let's find out.
All right, everybody, thanks for clicking on that video.
But real quick, I gotta tell you about the partner for this video,
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So thank you for watching and continue with this video.
Listen, it's not every day that you walk into a seven-year
Michelin star Chinese restaurant.
But does it live up to the hype?
And how'd they do it?
We're here at Cafe China.
We're with the owner, Xian.
Tell us about your spot.
We actually opened in 2011.
We are the only Chinese restaurant in town that doesn't serve American Chinese food.
In 2011?
Now it's more common.
In 2020.
And our chef actually thought we were suicidal because we didn't have that.
But actually we proved them wrong
because the next year we got a Michelin star.
Oh, nice.
How did you guys know that it was going to work?
We didn't.
But I think the point is that we wanted to do this
because we felt as customers, Chinese restaurant,
we want to take a friend to a Chinese restaurant that's respectable,
serve good food, has good service.
But unfortunately at the time, there was nothing around that we can take them to.
So we said, well, if we get a chance to do that ourselves,
we want to do something proper.
We want to do something that we would like to take our friends to.
As a Shanghainese, my wife, she designed everything.
She's also my partner.
And she wants to evoke a kind of cozy 1930s Shanghainese restaurant feel
without actually replicating it.
When she put everything together, it all made sense.
So a lot of people are a little bit confused.
Why do you have a Shanghainese restaurant?
With Chinese cuisine.
But we said, well, it doesn't really matter
because it's good authentic Chinese food
and in a very unique environment.
You know, you guys should just enjoy.
I think that at a time where people don't really have the confidence
in the Chinese culture
because they don't really know how people perceive it
or maybe the people who did it prior kind of like fumbled it.
You guys did it the right way.
And once you do it the right way,
that's a spark and build other people confidence
to continue down that lane.
Exactly.
So now you go around, you see a lot of restaurants
having no American Chinese food.
They have regional Chinese cuisine.
I don't want to take all the credit, but I think we helped.
You could serve the food you want.
You could give them a decor that's unique
and it could work and it could serve all types of people.
So congratulations on that
because now every spot gets to feel, be more authentic.
Man, I'm excited to try the food.
Kudos to you.
Like we said, Cafe China.
I gotta eat.
All right, cool.
All right, everybody.
We're starting off with our appetizers,
AKA our small plates.
And I think it's so interesting.
They serve it home style.
You know, they kind of give you that vibe
where it's almost like you're really eating at home.
This dish right here.
It looks like the Dim Sum Lao Mai Gai.
I've actually seen older people kind of cooking this
in like the Sichuan or like Yunnan like forest.
Yeah, this is such a simple dish.
It's a piece of beef rib
and it's wrapped up in sticky rice and it's steamed.
You can still see that it has the bone in on it.
I'm going to take a bite of the beef rib.
Honestly, it tastes like somebody's mom made this.
You really taste the flavor of the beef rib.
It's not overpowered by anything.
It's not spicy or it's really just savory.
I think it's official, David.
Anything steamed in a lotus leaf is delicious.
David, our next dish is the husband and wife dish.
The Fujifilm.
I didn't know the story.
Basically, it came from a butcher
and you know, his wife wanted to save money.
So she goes, you know what?
Let's make a dish out of like the discarded pieces of beef.
And this is what they came up with.
But then over time, it turns into something just like beloved.
That chili oil is so delicious.
It's flavored perfectly.
These pieces are cut super tender.
I know why.
This dish alone tells me why they won a Michelin star
for like six years straight.
That's super good.
I'm going in.
Up next, we have the dan dan mian.
And then I have the kou shui ji
which is mouthwatering chicken.
This is boneless.
So a lot of times kou shui ji has the bones in it
but they have pulled the chicken off the bone
making it easier to eat because it's true.
That dish got a lot of bones.
Let's try this dan dan mian, David, here.
I mean, this is probably one of the most popular
Chinese noodle dishes in the entire world.
Specifically from Sichuan.
That's really good.
Everything here has been really, really, really good.
Getting that ma la buzz.
That's nice.
And of course, Andrew, I've just got tendon noodles.
They've been sliced to look like noodles.
Then here I have the savory tofu with celery.
Tendon was flavorful, man.
Dude, it's crazy the level that they approach
these like simple dishes with.
Wow.
This savory tofu is a big sleeper
and it surprises you
because it has a very, very strong smoky flavor
which I did not expect.
So I gotta say, man,
this is one of the top appetizers I had.
How'd they make the dry tofu taste like smoked turkey?
All right, David, before we get into our entrees,
we have a quick cocktail break.
We have three cocktails
and they're all named after famous Chinese directors.
2046, Chungking Express.
And then here is the Ang Lee one.
Lust and Caution.
Are you double fisting?
I am double fisting.
Have you seen this before?
No.
All right.
Next, we got the sauteed lobster Sichuan style.
This looks so saucy.
Bro, look at this piece of the lobster tail right there, man.
This is gonna be really good.
I don't think they got that many lobsters in Chengdu.
Chengdu is very landlocked.
Sichuan, generally.
Well, this might be that, you know,
Northeast of America fusion right here.
Sauteed lobster.
Let me tell you this.
It's the right amount of spicy,
but it doesn't overpower the flavor of the lobster.
Wow.
Man, give this spot another Michelin star this year,
right now, after this video.
Bring it back.
They did a great job of balancing it here.
They were like, oh yeah, let me give you the ma la,
but I'm gonna reel it back.
Andrew, let me introduce the la ji ji,
chopped up chicken pieces,
diced with a lot of chili peppers.
David, one of your favorite dishes.
I am about popcorn chicken.
I am about fried chicken, you know, pieces.
Even though there's a good amount of crust on that,
I can still really taste the chicken.
And that's what I appreciate about that.
All right, you guys, we're at Cafe China.
We're talking about Michelin star for six years.
So much pressure, but they delivered.
You said this is kung fu shrimp?
It's called kung fu shrimp.
Hold on, get close for this crunch.
It's super hot.
Wow.
This is a Sichuan la jiao.
And you can eat the peppers too.
They just fall apart in your mouth.
Guys, these are cooked so well
that they're really brolic shrimp,
but you can eat the whole thing, shell and everything.
You know what?
I wasn't gonna eat another one,
but just for looking so butterflied and filleted.
David, in my hand, I have the fish blossom.
Now, this is a popular dish that you see
even at like a Sichuan or Shanghainese restaurant,
but it's done a little bit differently here.
Oftentimes, the fish is like kind of fried upward
with all the cuts in the side of it.
More of the Shanghainese style.
Right, but this one has no bones
and it's actually not that spicy.
I've had this dish before and I never order it.
It always has that really sweet red sauce on it.
It has way more like angles that it hits you at,
but I would say traditionally,
people call that fish blossom,
like sweet and sour fried fish.
That's like how some people refer to it.
All right, you guys, I am looking at a version
of Sui Zhu Yu, Chongqing style.
This is the red one.
It can come in white, it can come in green.
All three of them, Andrew, they're hot.
Tilapia fillet right here.
Oh, hold on, wait for me.
Oil braised fish.
Because they have tofu pieces,
which almost kind of give you that texture
of also fish as well.
I love it that they got the pork in there too,
because sometimes, you know,
this doesn't have any pork.
It's all a bunch of fish pieces,
but they threw some other stuff at you.
All right, I'll tell you this.
It looks like a 9.5 out of 10 on the spicy scale.
I'll say it's really probably only a seven.
It's not that bad.
That's what I personally love about Cafe China
is the fact that they give you that mala authentically,
but then they reel it back a little bit.
It's almost like three steps forward, two steps back.
And for me, that's my perfect zone of Sichuan food.
You buzzed two different ways, Dave,
from the alcohol and the mala,
because your face is a little bit lit up.
David, this was a tough round,
but what was your like favorite two, man?
Going with the lobster and the shrimp.
Man.
For me, I'm going with the Mr. Lobby and Mr. Shrimp.
I'm coming in for one last bite.
One last chili right here.
This is the crispiest chili I've ever had.
Oh my gosh.
No leftovers of this exist.
No, no way.
You guys, for the longest time,
Cafe China was the only Chinese restaurant
on the Michelin list.
And we're talking about the top tier list, the list list.
I can tell exactly why.
So shout out to Xi'an, shout out to Yiming.
This is it.
You cannot say you love Sichuan food
and not check this out in New York.
Okay, Cafe China lived up to the hype,
but were they just lucky?
If their second concept is just as good,
then what can we all learn from them?
We are at Xi'an and Yiming's other spot,
Birds of a Feather here in Brooklyn.
We're in Williamsburg.
Thank you for having us.
I mean, this place, honestly, it really has a vibe.
What do you think it is that helps you guys
do different designs and do something
with Chinese restaurants that no one has seen before?
This is Williamsburg.
So the design, I want to reflect the Brooklyn spirit.
I want it to be modern, to be hip.
We really strive to impress our customers
and give them a nice experience with Chinese food.
So this round, we are doing modernized Chinese food.
But, you know, the chefs are classically trained.
So they have a very strong grasp of the classic techniques.
And I think that's very essential
to do something creative on top of that.
That's a good point.
Tell us about the name, Birds of a Feather,
because you were saying that that's a more
kind of a loose translation of the Chinese meaning.
It's the Chinese motif for like a love relationship
or some brotherly relationship could be as well.
Is it similar to the Hong Kong milk tea, Yuanyang?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Oh, that's the same one?
Yes.
Oh, that's the same.
So it's half tea, half coffee.
That's what I love about Chinese culture.
I feel like it's got so many layers to it.
You just got to keep peeling them away.
This was already just fascinating, just talking to you.
And we didn't even get into any food.
So I can imagine how good it's going to be
once we get to the culinary aspect.
All right, you guys, we are here at Birds of a Feather.
They do some modernized versions of Sichuan Thai.
We got to start with the dishes that are most eye-catching.
Well, immediately, then I would go to this Pidan Tofu.
Wow.
Got a special green chili mala version.
Bro, that is by far the single most aesthetically,
I got to say, pretty dish or beautiful or cool.
Beautiful Pidan Tofu I've ever seen.
And then I got to try, this is the fried eggplant
in sweet and sour sauce, but this one's spiral cut
so that it kind of stretches out.
It's very interesting.
Let's go on.
That is so good.
What is this eggplant stuffing?
It's actually not stuffed with anything.
It's just cut in a spiral so that it kind of stretches out.
And so there's crispiness in between the slices of eggplant.
Okay.
Delicious, man.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
It does fall apart quickly.
So you got to eat it.
Hurry, hurry.
I've got to say that that's one of the best Pidan Tofus I ever had.
That's incredible, man.
Wow.
I'm really impressed that Yiming, obviously, as a designer,
she was able to make things aesthetic,
but then still bring the flavor.
David, you're a fan of matcha
and they have all types of beer and sake here.
And this is a beer from Kyoto.
This is a matcha IPA.
Oh, green.
All right, Andrew.
So they do have some Shanghainese touches here on the menu.
Makes sense.
Because the weird thing about Shanghainese food is, Andrew,
is I feel like Shanghainese is not embraced as an entire cuisine,
but certain dishes are almost ultra embraced.
Oh, there are certain dishes from the Shanghainese cuisine
that are everywhere.
And this, of course, the xiaolongbao is one of them.
I did not expect the xiaolongbao to be that good.
That broth has a lot of like ginger flavor in it.
That was a really good xiaolongbao.
Let's get through these appetizers real quick.
Give me some of this.
What is this?
This is a peanut tofu dish.
That's silky and buttery.
Wow.
A lot of people might think that a really soft tofu
with just chili oil and nuts is nothing special.
But I'm telling you, you haven't had this one before.
In these next two, one's a classic
and one's not really a classic.
Here we have the wontons and chili oil.
And then here we have the okra wrapped in pork belly.
That's different.
Oh my goodness.
I've never had that before.
That's an interesting cold dish right there.
Very sweet, actually.
This is a little bit elevated looking.
This is just not like some regular spicy wontons you got.
Oh, that mala kick hits you right away.
Wow.
I would say it's very authentic about those hongyou chaoshou,
those spicy wontons.
It's more ma than la.
Like we said, guys, earlier, Sichuan at its core
is supposed to be more ma than la.
Next, I have a Sichuan smoked duck.
Actually, you know, it's just a smoked duck.
It's seasoned heavily.
It's very flavorful.
So you don't even need any sauce.
This is just a wood ears.
I'm sure this is way more flavorful than it looks.
One of my favorite Chinese salads is the wood ear salad.
Wood ears is not really something that's eaten
in Western culture often.
But in Asia and other cultures, you know it's popular.
This is almost like the cool down.
Almost like that radish you get in Japanese food.
Dude, that is wiping clean all the mala from my mouth right now.
This tea smoked duck is actually something I do know
that they do eat in Sichuan, but maybe not visually in this form.
Tea smoked duck from Sichuan.
It's smoky.
It has this really deep tea flavor.
It's a little bit spicy.
But then this white bao, this bun right here
kind of adds that soft sweetness to it.
Almost tastes like it's been grilled on top of like some oak wood.
All right, in my hand, we are returning to the Shanghainese cuisine.
This is the Shanghai xiaomai.
We have here, Andrew, a Sichuan version of kou rou.
So this is slices of braised marinated pork belly
on top of preserved veggies, on top of house-made tofu.
All right, guys, let's try the Shanghai xiaomai.
I would not compare it really to the Cantonese siu mai
because it doesn't have the pork.
It doesn't have the shrimp.
It obviously, yeah, it doesn't have the really,
the meat has a little bit of pork inside.
But it really does taste more almost like a sticky rice dish
just in a dumpling form.
Andrew, look at this.
Look how aesthetic this is, Andrew.
I mean, how different does it look than like Chinatown?
Bro, this looks beautiful.
I'm not going to lie, man.
Wow, at some point, the pork belly fat is so tender.
It feels like the silken tofu.
Wow, man, it's crazy, man.
I'm going in for another piece of duck
and I'm going to go in for another piece of pork belly.
Let me just dab that.
We got to get some sparkling sake they have here.
Sparkling sake is fire.
Here we go, David.
Some of these Chinese names,
when translated to English, are hilarious.
Mmm, super deep, dark flavor, very beany.
Spicy, but not that spicy.
The tofu has the perfect consistency.
It's kind of plump, but not too firm.
Definitely not too soft.
Man, between this and the pita and tofu,
it might be like some of the best versions
of this dish I ever had, man.
And we didn't even get to the final dish.
We didn't even get to the final boss.
Just tell us, man, about King Koopa.
King Koopa is a huge, fatty tilapia fish.
Bone-in, as you know, keeping it authentic.
Lots of peppercorn, lots of chilies.
Oh my God, let's go.
Sichuan fish, tilapia.
They're able to really strike that difficult balance.
There's a lot of ma, just enough la,
but not too much.
And you scooping that fish like ice cream.
All right, let me-
I love steamed fish, man.
We just finished two spots
from a husband and wife designer,
restaurateur couple, ZN, Yiming.
Philosophers.
I'm gonna just throw that in there for him.
Talking to Yiming earlier and all her analogies
and how she's like,
oh, this spot is like a container of my dreams.
I was like, yo, the way she's talking about it, man,
I'm enjoying the food even more.
Listen guys, if you guys are into Chinese food at all,
especially anything spicy,
you need to check out Birds of a Feather.
Everything's done so intentionally.
This is just the future of Chinese food.
They're thinking about everything,
not just kind of doing it in the big picture.
Doing it in the big picture and the mid and the micro.
Micro, mid, macro.
Those are the three levels of perspective.
They got all of them.
What do you think the future is of Chinese food in America?
You're going to see a lot more diversity
in terms of regional cuisines.
I think the Chinese chefs are going to try to find new ideas
based on their cultural backgrounds
and that is going to feed into kind of mainstream American cuisine.
It's still a big world to develop.
I think people start to get to know Sichuan
and maybe some Shanghainese food.
But, you know, adventurous food is somehow still limited.
So I think there is a lot of potential there.
So maybe Xi'an and Yiming are the J and Beyonce
of romantic Sichuan food in New York City.
But up next, we meet a pair of young entrepreneurs
putting Hunan food on the map in their own way
and they just opened up.
All right, you guys, we made it all the way to midtown.
The 1920s, 1930s Shanghai aesthetic continues.
We are outside of a spot called Blue Willow.
It actually just recently opened up.
It has a similar aesthetic and it's super vibey inside.
They serve a lot of Hunan and Sichuan dishes.
But since we just had a lot of Sichuan food,
we're definitely going to focus on the Hunan dishes here.
All right, we're here with Vincent.
He's the owner of Blue Willow.
As far as the design,
you went for kind of like a 1930s type of Shanghai, Hong Kong vibe.
What made you want to take that approach?
Me and my girlfriend, Mandy,
we always think that like we probably, you know,
we grew up in a different time than what we would like to be.
We would like to be, you know, born in that period of time.
There were a lot of just very romantic times.
Why did you want to open up a spot like this?
The reason we opened it up
is because we want to change the approach for Chinese cuisine,
change a lot of stereotypes
and try to bring more exposure to Hunan concept,
just different sort of spices that specifically comes from Hunan.
What is people's reaction?
Their reaction is I think it's because
they haven't really tried many Hunan food.
So they'll probably associate that with Sichuan food.
But once we explain to them that these are the differences
between Sichuan food and Hunan food,
then they're like, oh, you know what, you're right.
This is more spicy.
This is less mala.
This is less sweet and sour, but it's delicious.
We have, yeah, a lot of Hunanese people come here.
Their reaction is just like,
we're glad that something like this opened up.
We are eating at a 1930s, 1920s Shanghai themed spot,
Blue Willow, but eating authentic Hunan food
cooked by a chef from Hunan.
We have a feast in front of us, David.
I think we have to start with particularly Hunan dishes.
We are looking at the preserved pork with preserved radish.
This is an incredibly Hunan dish right here.
Super smoky.
They cured this pork for a month.
I will say this about Hunan food.
It doesn't look as cool or colorful as Sichuan food,
but to me, the flavor is just as much there.
I love this dish because it kind of gives you that bacon vibe,
but it also gives you a lot of crunch from the veggies.
It's a really good balance.
Bro, that's like eating Chinese smoked bacon right there.
Dude, I think for Western palates,
Hunan food's got to be the most slept on Chinese province
in terms of like it's completely unexposed to Western taste buds,
but they'd like it.
This next dish is one of my favorite.
David, this is the century egg clay pot with eggplant and peppers,
and it's mashed up with this mortar and pestle.
Trust me, the flavor is there.
Whoa, this one's bamming.
I love this dish, man.
So good.
As you smash it up, it becomes really smooth,
especially with the duck egg yolk that's preserved there.
Moving on to the world famous Mao's Hong Shao Rou.
So Andrew, Mao Zedong, obviously, you know,
a man who needs no introduction,
but Mao actually really loved eating this.
I love how they put it on a bed of bok choy,
so you kind of get the vegetable balance in there.
This Hong Shao Rou is cut into smaller pieces.
I actually prefer that.
Yeah, some people like it in really big pieces.
Guys, Mao's Hong Shao Rou.
Usually this dish is very savory, a little bit more sweeter,
comes in like the big pot.
I actually really like this one.
It's extra spicy.
Chairman Mao knew how to pick a pork belly.
Immediately, Andrew, between the eggplant,
pi dan dou fu, and the Hong Shao Rou, crazy.
All right, our next two dishes.
Here we have chicken wings with fried Lao Gan Ma chili sauce on it.
I've seen chicken wings many different ways, Andrew.
This is my very first time seeing Hunan chicken wings.
And then here we have the salted egg yolk corn.
So this is called golden corn.
It's covered in salted egg yolk.
It's fried.
It's a great snack.
You eat it with your cocktails.
You want to grab a Hunan wing?
Do I?
Let's look on the other side.
Packing the flavor.
Even though this is a small wing, it's got big flavor.
I've got to tell you that that is a new one,
and that's a good one.
That's up there.
All right, guys, trying the golden corn.
It's a little crispy on the outside.
It's juicy on the inside.
It's got that sweet corn juice burst into my mouth
with the salted egg yolk flavoring.
I like that a lot.
I gotta say, man, the food here at Blue Willow is really, really good.
Two more pan Chinese dishes that are not particularly Hunan,
but served at a lot of spots, David.
Classic spicy wonton.
I mean, we had it at a bunch of spots,
but every spot kind of does it different.
This is a staple dish that I think everybody orders.
That's a hot one.
Whoa, David, if you think that's spicy,
let me cool it down with some salted egg yolk tofu.
This salted egg yolk tofu would definitely be the cool down dish.
It's got a calming effect.
All right, in my hand, I have the Hunan take on Arctic surf clams.
You know, like we said, Hunan food typically landlocked,
but they're like, you know what?
We're in America now.
We're in the Northeast.
We've got access to great Arctic surf clams.
Let's Hunan it out.
Oh, wasabi kick.
I don't know why wasabi just across the board just works well in seafood, man.
All right, we have the Hunan fried rice.
And what's very Hunan about it are these little preserved green beans.
I would say the Hunan food is really good,
but maybe one of the things holding it back
is that due to the use of preserved veggies and stuff,
aesthetically, it doesn't really hit with people.
You know what I mean?
With the bright contrasting.
I'm telling you this just from a flavor perspective.
It's crazy deep.
I have the Hunan brine beef rice noodles.
They eat rice noodles a lot in Hunan.
And look how much flavor this has.
David, you're holding up.
I have a Hunan braised fish right here.
This looks like the end scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,
where like the red leaves are falling.
All the chilies on top of that actually really let the fish shine.
And there's kind of this brightness to the chilies.
And that's what I love about Hunan food
is that the chilies are not always like cooked and dried
to the point where they're like pulverized.
I really like how it's still bright and fresh.
Yo, I'm not gonna lie, Andrew.
Coming here in a Blue Willow,
I did not really know what to expect,
but I honestly put it up there.
Food has been hitting, specifically the Hunan food.
Guys, this is the beef rice noodle.
Bro, tell them.
Bro!
Specifically the noodles themselves, man.
Whoa, I don't even need the beef.
Wow.
When noodles are that brown, you know they got the flavor.
If you love delicious food
and you guys happen to be in New York City around Central Park,
come to Blue Willow.
This is the fish filet chili pot.
This is a popular Sichuan dish.
They have fresh peppercorns on top.
I'm gonna pair that with this Sichuan cocktail
because they put a Sichuan chili
and some peppercorns in this mala drink.
This is insane.
Oh, wow.
Got a spicy kick on the cocktail.
Not bad, guys.
Fish filets are cut very thin.
The mala kick is not too crazy.
The numbing is not overpowering.
It's still very enjoyable.
Shout out to them.
They found a good balance.
I think what stands out to me too
is how thin the fish slices were
and they were deboned.
Yeah.
David, what was your top two dishes that you had here
that just surprised you, that shocked you?
Oh my goodness, man.
I love Hunan food
and it actually just reminded me
that I don't get to eat it enough,
maybe because it's not presented
in this modern, cool, elevated way.
But I would have to say eggplant century dish
and then I'm actually going to go
with the preserved pork dish.
Ooh, not bad.
This was a killer.
Yeah.
My favorite that surprised me,
I do have to say,
I think it's the beef rice noodles.
It's such a simple dish.
I didn't, to be honest, expect much from it,
but I enjoyed it so much.
And then I do have to say, man,
the century egg clay pot.
This is a winner right here.
If you guys ever get the chance to try this,
go to a Hunan restaurant and order this dish, please.
Because anybody who makes this dish
is probably going to do a good version of it.
We have tried so many different things on this crawl,
sort of understanding where the future of Chinese food is,
going specifically with the Shanghai 1920s, 1930s aesthetic.
I know it's such a popular design
sort of genre right now.
And this is the aesthetic nowadays.
This is where people want to eat food.
It just seems like kind of this era
that people really want to hold onto and remember.
And I look forward to seeing even maybe more spots
opening with this aesthetic.
For decades, Chinese restaurants in New York City
were in a funny position.
They were either a great value,
but had questionable service,
or you only wanted to eat there
with your elders or family,
or they were wildly overpriced
for those outside of the community.
But now you have respectable, cool, vibey spots
that won't make you go bankrupt.
And when it comes to changing the image of Chinese food,
it starts on an individual basis.
Every customer served is another customer
that has a wider range
of what they believe can be Chinese food.
So maybe we just want to expand what it means.
I mean, it can be $3, it could be $30,
or it could even be $300.
And maybe it's still worth it at all those levels.
Thank you so much for joining us
on this very special episode of Fun Grows Food.
Make sure you like, subscribe,
turn on your notifications.
And you guys, please let us know
in the comment section below
what you think of the whole 1920s, 1930s aesthetic.
And until next time, we're out.
Peace.
What do you think it takes to be as intentional
as you guys are as a couple running all your restaurants?
The two of us, we've been coming a long way to this point.
You know, enjoy the adventure of food.
I think people can travel through food.
That's really the biggest encouragement
for us to go further.