Chinese cuisine evolves in US as a matter of taste

Make Chinese food 'fun'

To maintain quality, the company brought a dozen chefs from Beijing. They debated passionately about what dishes should be on the menu, spending hours analyzing if a dish would be liked by both Chinese and American diners.

"We decided that our rule was picking what Americans would like from our traditional Meizhou Dongpo dishes," Wang said. That way, they would not sacrifice authenticity in making dishes appealing to Americans.

Meizhou's opening created a buzz in the Chinese community. Chinese students and immigrants were excited to see a Chinese brand they could relate to coming to California. It also got the attention of American foodies.

"Popping fiery Szechuan dumplings on a sun-drenched patio at Westfield Century City is a new kind of mind blowing," Los Angeles magazine wrote.

Many were attracted by its authenticity.

"The times I've been by, at least half the patrons were Chinese, and I suspect they would not accept toned-down food," wrote a reviewer on Chow.com.

The Peking duck seemed to have gotten the most favorable reviews. "I have a new respect for duck meat design, as the chef displayed such patience as he skillfully assorted each piece of meat and crispy skin," wrote Ariel Zhu in LA Splash magazine.

"Americans like the duck the most," said Wang. "We are making it our signature."

"For the 18 years the chef worked here, he barely ate at other restaurants," Jonathan Ho said. Ho is the latest owner of a decades-old Manhattan Chinatown establishment, Shanghai Cuisine, and co-founder of a new fusion chain: Carma.

"For lots of Chinese chefs here in the US the problem is not their craft or experience, but their vision," said Ho. "Cooking is an art. A chef has to be aware of what other chefs are doing, while broadening his vision by listening to music, learning about art and more. Cooking is not a static action of turning the food in the wok."

Ho brought Shanghai Cuisine's chef to RedFarm, a modern Chinese restaurant owned by Ed Schoenfeld, a pioneer in the movement to bring authentic regional Chinese dishes to New York in the 1970s. Ho served the waiters himself to show them how fine-dining restaurants treat their customers.

"Now diners have very high standards for restaurants. Every detail in my restaurant represents my attitude toward food," he said.

"Two ways we can redefine Chinese cuisine: First, stick with the most traditional and authentic Chinese food and make it better; second, innovation, play with it," Ho said. His theory matched the findings of the National Restaurant Association of America after surveying 1,300 professional chefs and members of the American Culinary Federation.

On the 2015 Menu Trends to Watch list, "going global" stands with five others, like local sourcing and gourmet kids' dishes. And under the big umbrella of American restaurants going global, "micro-trending in this category is fusion cuisines, as well as authentic and regional, underscoring the breadth and depth of flavors being explored".

After taking over Shanghai Cuisine, Ho co-founded Carma Asian Tapas in New York's West Village and Carma East in East Village.

With Carma, Ho is aiming for "playful places".

Carma East focuses on dim sum grouped under creative categories on the menu including For Carnivores Walking in Dreams and Comfort Food to Go with Other Comfort Food. There are dozens kinds of soup dumplings, crispy pies and Chinese tacos. The back wall is decorated with glowing LED letters: Let the Lights Dim Sum.

On the Carma Asian Tapas' menu, there is the crispy wosun salad, made with lotus root and fresh shredded wosun - a thick-stemmed lettuce most Americans have never tasted.

The restaurant features a full bar and a beautiful courtyard looking like a small siheyuan, or historical Chinese quadrangle.

On a Friday evening, the courtyard is packed. At one table, six ladies are having a girls' night out. In a combination of Cantonese and English, they spoke highly of the beef noodles.