Chinese menu help?

Dear Roadfoodies,

A nearby friend of a friend is collecting Chinese restaurant menus from throughout the U.S. [& the world?], so I was wondering if any of you had spare menus that you might contribute to her collection - you know, maybe you have a stack of 'em that you were about to recycle because they're redundant (or you used up the coupons, or they're too old, or the restaurants have closed down, or...)? If so, please send them to her:

Ms. Indigo Som
P. O. Box 5053
Berkeley CA 94705

Thank you for your time, attention, and efforts on this.
Sincerely,
Richard
Berkeley/SF, CA

P.S. To read more about her project, try this:

http://www.well.com/user/indigo/crpmenus.html

Will do. She'll have a menu from every one in Round Rock, TX. Sounds like fun.

How much would she pay for Chinese menus from China? I live in China and can get her any menu she wants, plus maybe some fast food menus if she wants. I am an American living in hina now.

E-Mail me at chinaglenn@hotmail.com.

SENOR

Do you mean paper take-out circulars or only proper menus?

Proper menus, circulars, whatever you want. With pictures if you like. Chinese food from the People's Republic of China.

I live in Zhejiang Province in the city of hangzhou which is south of Shanghai. I can also get Chinese menus from KFC and McDonalds if you like OR cans of Coca-Cola "¿É¿Ú¿ÉÀÖ" (apologies if it does not work) if you like.I teach English here and start a collectors service. I look at this website merely to torture myself.

www.chinaglenn@hotmail.com or chinaglenn3367@yahoo.com.

Hi Richard,

Ok for me!!

I put two circulars from Chinese take out places in Paris in the outbox at work today.

There is this really disturbing trend here where all the Chinese (Asian) places seem to feel obliged to put sushi on the menu even though they are not the ones who do it well.

Such is life, I can only assure you that my circulars are the real thing from Paris 19ème direct from my mailbox to you.

Kind regards,

Emily

quote:

Originally posted by Emilyparis

Hi Richard,

Ok for me!!

I put two circulars from Chinese take out places in Paris in the outbox at work today.

There is this really disturbing trend here where all the Chinese (Asian) places seem to feel obliged to put sushi on the menu even though they are not the ones who do it well.

Such is life, I can only assure you that my circulars are the real thing from Paris 19ème direct from my mailbox to you.

Kind regards,

Emily

Thanks for reviving this, I meant to do this some time ago, I sent two today myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Emilyparis

Hi Richard,

Ok for me!!

I put two circulars from Chinese take out places in Paris in the outbox at work today.

There is this really disturbing trend here where all the Chinese (Asian) places seem to feel obliged to put sushi on the menu even though they are not the ones who do it well.

Such is life, I can only assure you that my circulars are the real thing from Paris 19ème direct from my mailbox to you.

Kind regards,

Emily

Dear all,

Thanks for all your efforts, everyone! Keep on sending what you can spare. Part of what Indigo was curious about was the pattern of variation throught the country. I knew she wasn't exactly going to be chronicling the migratory evidence of the Chinese diaspora in the US, but there are very interesting things showing up in her research. (For example, she found that "Crab Rangoon" showed up on a number of menus. What's with THAT? A dish named for a Burmese city - AND made with cream cheese in it - on a Chinese restaurant's menu? Very curious indeed....) I think that Eurocentrism and/or ignorance has the effect of having everything Asian[or 'Oriental' in the more retro places, whether intended or not] just sort all mixed up - if it's on the same continent, why ain't it on the same menu?

Here in the Bay Area, there are a number of Asian restaurants whose primary specialty is SE Asian [Vietnamese, Lao, Thai, Burmese, etc.], but also have Chinese sections on their menus - both because the market supports/requires it (in its particular price level) AND because the owners are often ethnic Chinese. For example, they may be immigrants from Thailand - but be Chinese-Thai. While the market is still very keen to Thai food, they'll prepare Thai food that they have had to learn to prepare because of what diners ask for. [And, at a practical level, any place that has access to good fresh seafood could serve decent sushi - but what's the likelihood that someone would ask for it in a Mexican restaurant? Or an Italian one? But because some people are too confused by the distinctions between Chinese, Japanese, and/or Korean, there are places here that serve sushi because people keep asking for it (and the profit margins may be a little better, too).]

Latino food around here is similar - diners keep asking for Mexican dishes, so Central American places will prepare Mexican food for their gringo diners (at least, the ones that haven't discovered the delights to be found on the opposite side of the menu).

And it's nothing exclusive to foreign food here - local barbecue places have a similar dilemma: to stay in business, they have to serve pork AND beef. Local consumers don't necessarily care about BBQ orthodoxy in Texas [beef country], the Carolinas [pork country], or anywhere else. Does this cause the purists to blanch? Yup....
Buen provecho,
Richard
Berkeley/SF, CA

Oh, crab rangoons are a.k.a. "cheese-filled wontons". My daughter loves them. They're basically crabmeat mixed with sour cream (and sometimes chives or something) folded into a wonton and deep fried. Can you hear that sound? That's your arteries slamming shut. lol

There's a restaurant in Towson, Maryland called San Sushi Too. Right next door is Thai One On. They're connected by a doorway inside, and are really the same business. Each menu is slanted towards the one or the other, but you can get sushi in the Thai half and Thai food in the sushi half. It's the same kitchen, after all.