Cincinnati Chinese Food: A Sweet & Sour History - Paperback

by Dann Woellert (Author), Bonnie Wong Greenwood (Foreword by)

Savor the unexpected and altogether delectable history of Chinese food in the Queen City

While a smattering of chop suey houses were sprinkled around Cincinnati around the turn of the twentieth century, Wong Yie was the first to present the cuisine to non-Chinese Cincinnatians as a new, exotic, and upscale dining experience with his Gold Dragon in 1911. Despite challenges from the Chinese Exclusion Act, which exacerbated the already massive difficulties faced by Chinese immigrants, Yie's restaurant spawned more than eighty Chinese restaurants in the city, famed spots such as the Canton, the Wah Mee, and the Fortune Kookie. Proprietors like Mike Wong of Oriental Wok and Johnny Chu of KungFood Chu's AmerAsia keep our local Chinese food culture alive and evolving.

Author and food etymologist Dann Woellert delves into the fascinating and mouthwatering history of Chinese food in Cincinnati.

Author Biography

Dann Woellert is a food etymologist and blogger who explores the origins of food and the amazing stories behind them. He was born in the Year of the Pig, and wears this mantel heartily. He learned to use chopsticks as a pre-teen at the Oriental Garden in Colerain Township in Cincinnati and could live on moo shoo pork and xiaolongbao soup dumplings. He has explored the amazing Chinatowns of New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C, and San Francsico, but would take Yat Ka Mein's goetta eggroll over any other. He longs for the day when Nashville Hot war su gai is a standard offering.