Chicago’s Chinatown is an enclave for great food and cultural hub for the city

I used to hate Chinese food. I know. Such a blanket, silly statement about a complex cuisine with regional differences. But it took me decades to appreciate savory Chinese flavors. In Black neighborhoods, the takeout options are usually greasy and inauthentic. This has been my experience even outside of Chicago.

In the mid-2000s, I belatedly opened my palate (and mind) to local Chinese spots. And in recent years, Chinatown has become a family destination. I love the shrimp, pork and leek dumplings at Qing Xiang Yuan. The truffle and wagyu beef ones melt in your mouth. MCCB, another family favorite, is a Michelin-reviewed restaurant with delicious salt-and-pepper shrimp and fragrant hot pots that can easily feed three people.

Chicago’s Chinatown is a tightknit community, but it’s accessible through transportation and commerce. The pandemic brought an uptick in Asian hate crimes and racist tropes, but as other Chinatowns around the country shrink and face gentrification threats, ours is thriving and gaining political representation. Just look at who’s milling about the mini-town square and browsing the shops. Eating out is affordable for families. Little kids love Boba tea, not to mention the unique candy and snack stores. Teenagers crowd the beauty stores. It’s not just tourists who buy souvenirs and tchotchkes.

During my frequent jaunts to Chinatown, I observe how the enclave represents the best of our segregated city. I marvel at the age and racial diversity — especially during the summer when the streets teem with activity. Perhaps more importantly, young Black people freely walk the outdoor plaza and patronize restaurants. By all accounts, it seems like they feel as if they belong. Shop owners and passersby don’t look askance. That’s a big deal when local attractions like Water Tower Place and Navy Pier implement teen curfews.

‘Part of American cultural fabric’

I firmly believe creating welcoming spaces all over the city is good for the soul of the city. Food can foster community by bringing different people together. Food is more than sharing a meal. It’s a reflection of culture. My curiosity about Chinese foodways in this country led me to a new exhibit at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago. In Chinatown, of course.

“Cuisine in America: Stories, Struggles and Successes” ties immigration history to the popularization of Chinese food.

I visited on a weekday afternoon with exhibition curator Riley Ren and museum curator Leo Wang.

“What we’re really trying to show is that Chinese food is such an integral part of American cultural fabric,” Ren said. “We show the evolution of Chinese food from Gold Rush days to now ... what kind of struggle they had to face, their resilience and their entrepreneurial spirit.”

The evolution brought Chinese cuisine from rejection by the American mainstream around the time of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, to now being as American as apple pie, Ren said. The exhibit notes how the original Chinatown was downtown, while giving nods to stalwart local restaurateurs such as Spencer Ng of Triple Crown and Tony Hu of Lao Sze Chuan. Oral histories, vintage photography and weathered menus are included in the exhibit.

Then there’s the story behind chop suey and orange chicken, created in the U.S.

“Americans love sweet and deep-fried food. And that’s how the orange sauce became. Even kung pao chicken is nothing like the kung pao chicken in China,” Wang said.

I asked the curators if they had any insight about the history of Chinese takeout joints in Black neighborhoods. They didn’t, but the exhibit has a replica of a 1948 letter that a Fort Wayne, Indiana, Chinese restaurant owner sent to the local Urban League founder recounting prejudice his Black patrons faced. The inclusion of the letter, Wang said, is an example of Chinese business owners opening in Black neighborhoods instead of white neighborhoods, where as immigrants they may have experienced discrimination.

Back in Chicago, Wang said Chinatown is more and more welcoming — with karaoke places and as a go-to spot on the weekends.

“We really appreciate that because after COVID, it was a ghost town,” Wang said. “We’re really honored that Chinatown is like a cultural hub. But at the same time it is growing. It’s not only for the Chinese but for other races and others from all different communities.”

On the red, ornate gate on Cermak Road, a Chinese inscription says “The world is for all.” I like to think that it starts with Chicagoans.

“Cuisine in America: Stories, Struggles and Successes” at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 238 W. 23rd St., closes Sunday.

Gallery: All images are courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago.

View of Clark Street north from Harrison Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. A sign for a Chop Suey restaurant is visible. This image was taken as part of a Chicago Railways Company Trolley Trip. | Courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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Proprietors of Rainbow Restaurant, 63rd and Stony Island, 1944. Opened in 1931, Rainbow Restaurant was the first Chinese take-out restaurant in Chicago. | Courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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King Yen Lo restaurant on Clark Street and Van Buren Street in the Loop. 1918 | Courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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Golden Country Oriental Food Company started by Raymon Lee on the corner of 23rd and Wentworth. | Courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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Yokelund Wong and Chin Foin. | Courtesy of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago

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Natalie Y. Moore is the Race, Class & Communities editor at WBEZ.

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