ROUSES_JulyAug2019_Magazine

Critically acclaimed Red’s Chinese in the Bywater, know for serving up “Creole and Chinese fusion” dishes

If the past is indeed prologue, it may be that such evolution is key to the cuisine’s future in New Orleans at a moment when it seems to be entering its fourth generation of development.

While traditional Chinese fare might still be found today at places like Panda King in Gretna, Little Chinatown in Kenner, Royal China in Metairie or the North Shore’s Trey Yuen, and the long tradition of comforting takeout remains strong, the “Creole and Chinese fusion” dishes — like those being served at Red’s Chinese in the Bywater — are what seem to attract critical acclaim in our own era. If the past is indeed prologue, it may be that such evolution is key to the cuisine’s future in New Orleans at a moment when it seems to be entering its fourth generation of development.

eating only hot dogs and hamburgers in all of America.” Among Collin’s favorites was Ding’s on Houma Boulevard in Metairie, famous for its Peking Duck, which he described as “one of the greatest dishes in any cuisine.” This dish too often has become a parody of its former self, but at the time a Peking Duck meant advanced planning, a careful daylong preparation and a skilled tableside carving. Ding’s was also the first restaurant to bring Northern Chinese cooking to New Orleans. Looking at a photocopy of their hand- lettered menu today not only transports the reader back in time, but fires the imagina- tion with items like “Pork w. Pungent Sauce” and “Hun Chou Shrimp” listed in both English and Chinese characters. Likewise, Chef Andy Tsai of Dragon’s Garden, also in Metairie, introduced spicy Szechuan dishes to New Orleans in the early 1970s

— things like kung pao chicken, a staple on takeout menus everywhere today but virtually absent from the local scene at the time. Chinese dining flourished in the years before the 1980s oil bust decimated the local economy, hitting the restaurant scene on theWest Bank and Eastern NewOrleans particularly hard. Among the casualties was Peking in the now-defunct Kenilworth Mall in the East, whose fried dumplings and shrimp toast local radio personality Tom Fitzmorris recalls with great appreciation. Likewise, Jade East opened in 1976, when there was optimism that development in the area might support an upscale restaurant. Here appeared the first Hunan dishes in the city including Hunan lamb. Both places are long gone, and for people who have lived in New Orleans only 20 years, they are not even a memory.

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JULY•AUGUST 2019