Chinese Food

Chinese Food Priced Out of Fine Dining

RIP, 66.
RIP, 66. Photo: Getty Images

Where, asks The Wall Street Journal, are all the authentic, “hip” Chinese restaurants in Manhattan? Perhaps the answer to this evergreen question is that expensive, authentic Chinese food is simply a hard sell in New York. Upscale restaurants like Tse Yang and Shun Lee are great, but they are also warhorses catering to old-school tastes — Shun Lee, after all, brought General Tso’s chicken as we know it into being. Nationwide, the cuisine is so ubiquitous that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than there are McDonald’s. A high-end Chinese restaurant is something of a gamble and difficult to present as a new experience. Without the opportunity to charge high prices for fetishized ingredients like otoro or olive oil made by Sardinian shepherds, it’s hard to maximize profits. Alas, as even Jean-Georges found out at 66, a dumpling is usually just a dumpling.

Why Chinese Food Isn’t Hip [WSJ]

Chinese Food Priced Out of Fine Dining