The Mandarin menu
date: label: date made
content: 1968
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: The menu has a red cover with the title “The Mandarin” in gold and black lettering. On the red cover, an image of a woman in Chinese clothing is outlined in gold. On the cover is written “sample menu’ in black marker. Inside the menu, revision marks have been made with black marker to cross out specific dishes or rename. The first page has Mandarin Tidbits, which the marker crossed out and put in “appetizer.” The second page lists “Mongolian Fire Pit Luncheon,” “Mandarin Buffet,” and “Mandarin Dein Shin Plate.” The third page has “Mandarin Luncheon” and lists several dishes. The fourth page feature “Mandarin Noodles” and “Desserts.” The back cover is longer than the red cover and menu sheets – the back is red and the front has three Chinese calligraphy circles.
label: Description
content: The menu itself is a fairly recent phenomenon in the modern restaurant. While some early Chinese restaurants wrote their dishes on a chalkboard or the server would tell them about the options, menus began to come into circulation in the early 20th century in Chinese restaurants. The earliest menu from a Chinese restaurant is from 1900. In the first half of the 20th century, a typical Chinese restaurant menu would consist of chop suey and egg foo young, main Cantonese staple dishes. However, in the second half of the 20th century, Cecilia Chang’s menu ushered in new popular staples of northern Chinese cuisine to the United States. From her menu, dishes such as dumplings and hot and sour soup would appear on other menus nationwide. Moreover, Cecilia Chang's menu also features an English and a Chinese section, ushering in a new era of bilingual menus.
label: Description
content: There are several dine-in menus of The Mandarin Restaurant in the Smithsonian collection. One dine-in menu is from the original restaurant at the Polk address, another from the Ghirardelli address, another at a Beverly Hills address, and a later one when she asked her son to redesign the menu. When she first began her restaurant, Cecilia Chiang had listed 200 dishes on her menu because she did not know what Americans liked to eat. Over the years, Chiang refined her menu to both present her style of cuisine as well as appeal to the popular tastebuds of her customers. We can see the process of changing the menu through a look at the menu from the Polk address which has Chiang's written remarks where she crossed out and renamed certain parts and items.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Asian Pacific American Business
label: See more items in
content: Food
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift from Cecilia Chang
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0127.01
label: accession number
content: 2013.0127
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0127.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: menu
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/16 in x 10 1/8 in; 25.55875 cm x 25.7175 cm