Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Chinese Food, the Early Years

This isn’t going to be a piece about the early history of food in China. No, I’m writing about a subject of much more universal interest−my own early Chinese restaurant experiences, in Brooklyn, in the 1960s.

Growing up Jewish in Brooklyn, Chinese food is a birthright, and I was weaned on chicken chow mein, the quintessential Chinese-American dish of my youth. Of course, chow mein as it was served in the Americanized Cantonese restaurants of yore bore little relation to true chow mein, freshly pan-fried wheat noodles. Somewhere along the line, I guess in the U.S., the dry, crispy noodle, or chow mein noodle (which I guess translates as “fried noodle noodle”) was invented, and this replaced freshly fried noodles in chow mein. So the chow mein of my youth was basically chicken, or some other meat, with vegetables (mostly celery, if I remember correctly), in a mucus-like sauce that made prodigious use of cornstarch, with dry, crispy noodles thrown on top.

Most of my early Chinese restaurant experiences took place at two restaurants in Midwood. One of them was New Toy Sun, which was across the street from my grammar school, P.S. 217. When I was a kid I loved the idea of a restaurant named after a toy sun. However, it was really an Americanization of Toisan (Taishan in Pinyin), an area of Guangdong province that many early Chinese immigrants came from. It was your basic “one from column A, one from column B” type of place. Spare ribs, egg rolls and fried rice usually figured in a meal. On a splurge we might get shrimp with lobster sauce, which was shrimp in a mucus and egg sauce. Occasionally somebody would go wild and order something “exotic,” like wor shew opp (fried pressed duck). This was the kind of Chinese food that had been served in North America for over fifty years, almost exclusively. Restaurants of this ilk were sometimes referred to as “chop suey joints,” after that other ubiquitous Chinese-American dish that, except for the absence of noodles, was pretty similar to chow mein. These restaurants always had a section called “American Dishes,” usually at the lower right-hand corner of the menu, including things like sandwiches, steak and roast chicken. I never saw anybody order from that section.

The restaurant we mostly patronized was Joy Fong, on Avenue J, a now-defunct place that retains an almost holy status in the memories of Brooklyn Jews of a certain age. I wouldn’t be surprised if people visit the site of the former restaurant and wail against the wall. All issues of authenticity aside, I too retain some fond Joy Fong memories. Their spare ribs were meaty and delicious, among the best Chinese-style ribs I’ve had to this day. The place was extremely popular, and I believe Sunday was the biggest family night out, when you could go deaf from the clatter of competing yentas.

Of course, there was also the occasional trip to Chinatown. Back in the ’60s little Cantonese rice shops, like Hong Fat, Lin’s Garden and Wo Hop dominated the Chinatown landscape. Their fare was more authentically Chinese, but it much of it was heavy and greasy, quite different from the more upscale Hong Kong seafood places that would arrive somewhat later. It was at restaurants like this that I became familiar with chow fun, which was never available at the Chinese-American neighborhood joints.

Things changed drastically in the early-70s, when regional Chinese cuisines other than Cantonese arrived in New York (and California), eventually transforming the menus at Chinese restaurants all over America.


This is the first installment in a three-part series, a personal history of Chinese food in New York from the '60s through the '80s.

27 Comments:

Blogger Richard said...

I think my family used to go to different places but I recall only the New China Inn, on Flatbush Ave. at Flatlands Ave. I actually passed the site of the restaurant today on my way to a funeral, and it's a huge florist shop.

There is a very old joke, which I heard from the famous tap dancer Steve Condos, regarding Jews and Chinese food. I can't recall anything other than the punch line in which the Chinese waiter tells the diners, "Nem chicken."

Nem means "take" or "have" in Yiddish and the point of the joke was that the Chinese waiter had understood what the diners were saying about the restaurant in their language.

2:53 PM  
Blogger Peter Cherches said...

I remember New China Inn as well as Honam, which I think was nearby. Richard Yee, also in that area, and still in business, served more elaborate fake Chinese food.

5:36 PM  
Blogger GSS said...

Yoy Fong was also our very favorite chinese restaurant. I grew up going there. We renew our memories with a takeout menu from Joy Fong hanging on our kitchen wall. After leaving NY, whenever we visited our families we always made a trip to Joy Fong or the trip wasn't worth it.

8:51 PM  
Blogger Jodilovesbooks said...

My grandfather told us this joke when we were children:

A man is in a Chinese restaurant and asks the waiter if there are any Chinese Jews. The waiter replies...no we have pineapple jews, apple jews and tomato jews.

5:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also recall Joy Fong. My father's company waxed their floors on the weekends. So, I had the unique experience of both visiting the restaurant to eat, when it was mobbed, and also occasionally seeing it at 5 AM, quite empty. I agree that the food there was great.

12:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anyone remember Young's on 50th St. and New Utrecht Ave. across from the Boro Park movie theater?

5:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank You for letting me know about Joy Fong in Brooklyn. I would take my family there every Sunday and like you said, the food there was great. I have not found a better menu anywhere than theirs.

10:51 AM  
Blogger Web Guy said...

I'll always miss Lums in Flushing. A permanent childhood memory.

12:49 PM  
Blogger Granny said...

It was THE BEST Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn. I'm in Northern Nevada now and I sure miss East Coast Chinese restaurants.

7:41 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you to all who remember Joy Fong. I'm the remaining descendant of the man who started this restaurant. I grew up playing and living next door to the restaurant. Your comments brought back many fond memories of times past. Thank you.

Joseph Ying Lee

11:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Back in the glory days of Midwood,Brooklyn,Joy-Fong and Win-Fong (Ave J/between CI Ave and East 15th Street) were mainstays. The Salick, Goodman, Penn, and Lipes families would gather and "essen" on the copious amounts of Glatt Kosher food........LOL :-) The roast pork was off the hook! As was (the long gone) tomato egg drop soup! How did Jews live without the Sunday Chinese gastronomy??:-)

10:16 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Wow. You must have had a fun childhood. Time does fly quite fast, doesn’t it? Gone were the days when you had to look very far to find restaurants that serve authentic Chinese cuisine. Now, they seem to be everywhere. There are even some restaurants that try to pass off serving authentic Chinese cuisine, but there really are good ones if you try looking harder.
Robert Hung

8:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great blog. It is a great guidance for me to hire best party venue nyc for my upcoming party that I am planning for my beastie. I forgot to mention that she is a food freak.

5:58 AM  
Blogger sacredma said...

wow, thank you for writing about Joy Fung. We loved going there when we were kids in Brooklyn in the 60's. it was our favorite Chinese Restaurant, a step up from the local joint we used to go to in Brighton Beach, I think it was called jade gardens. anyway, recently i waa eating Chinese food at a local restaurant in Kingston, NY with a friend and we both discovered that we used to eat at Joy Fung and both loved the lobster cantonese and shrimp with lobster sauce. no one makes it like that around here. Good times!

10:33 PM  
Blogger mikecutlet said...

joy king on church ave and e 19,across from kenmore,great food,friendly,

1:39 PM  
Blogger maddalen101 said...

wow. I remember Honam and New China Inn - loved them both. There was another place on Flatbush ... China Night? I'm not recalling. And there was a little place on Eastern Parkway called Tung Sang, where we used to get takeout on Sunday nights. Lovely memories.

3:25 PM  
Blogger Brad said...

I loved going to Joy Fong. I remember the list for the combination platter, column A and column B. There was also New China Inn on Flatbush Ave, near the corner of Flatlands, as well as a little take out place on Coney Island Avenue between J & K that we went to all the time. Sunday night was traditionally Chinese food night. Thanks for the article!

9:52 PM  
Blogger AndyP said...

For my cohort a traditional birthday party was lunch at Joy Fong and a movie at the Midwood. Good memories.

9:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember Hong Fat and Lin’s Garden. Been going to Wo Hop for 50 years.

1:34 AM  
Blogger Kathy said...

This looks too good! Thanks for great post!
Chinese food near me

4:36 AM  
Blogger Reatonsr said...

Growing up I lived next to China town in Los Angeles I'm 68 now. Eating dim sum before most people knew what it was. I have been looking for a Cantonese chow mien with old school pan fried noodle. not the skinny Hong Kong noodle deep fried. I like the old school recipes.

7:49 AM  
Blogger David Greensteinn OD said...

I'm 84 now, grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. I'm living in the Boston area and
for years have been trying to find Cantonese chicken chow mein similar to what was so very
popular when I grew up. All the local restaurants were similar. One in particular that I remember was Tang Fond on Bay Parkway. Won Ton soup, Egg drip soup, and spare ribs even today
are good representations of what I remember but present Chow Mein is very much lacking and present egg rolls are not even close.
Even Nathan's in Coney Island sold a chow mein sandwich using a poor imitation of the chow mein of the Chinses Restaurants was better than the chow mein of today.
David Greenstein
davegre2000@yahoo.com

8:44 AM  
Anonymous Justin said...

We were from Borough Park and went to Young’s Chinese Restaurant on New Utrecht Avenue, diagonally across the street from the Boro Park move theater. We would go to Joy Fong as a “change of pace.” It was fabulous! I loved the spareribs. They chopped the ribs into 2 inch pieces. No other restaurants that I went to did that. Made it more exotic to a little kid. Combined with their duck sauce…delicious! P.S. I’ve been looking for pictures of Young’s Restaurant for the longest time. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.

1:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Bridgep
ort-Mike-1971-640x372.jpg

12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I remember Jay Wongs on corner of Coney Island ave and ave j

8:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

still do

5:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

How about chow mein delight restaurant on 69st and 13 ave bklyn

7:44 PM  

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