Link to Original Menuism Posts 2012 to 2021

You can link to the original Menuism posts as archived on the Wayback Machine at archive.org.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220924152111/www.menuism.com/blog/author/davidchan

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Why Are Chinese Restaurants So Similar? (Secrets of the Fujianese-American Restaurant Industry Go Public)

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Why Are Chinese Restaurants So Similar? - Menuism Dining Blog, February 18, 2019   This is my favorite of anything I have ever written.  As someone who has observed the Chinese restaurant industry for decades, I often why many mom and pop Chinese restaurants could seemingly serve identical dishes or offer uncannily similar menus. My first clue into the answer came from an unexpected place:  a story the financial press which I only stumbled upon while Googling something else.  My experience as an attorney and a CPA enabled me to follow the trail to find source documents that were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that provided a trove of information that had never been made public.  And it took a combination of these things, along with my eating at many Chinese restaurants for this article to come about! But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's start at the beginning. Fujianese domination of Chinese restaurants   Since the late 1...
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Tax Crime and Punishment in the Chinese Restaurant Business

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  One of the first articles I ever wrote for Menuism was entitled "Why Do Some Chinese Restaurants Change Their Names So Often" .  In that article, one of the reasons cited why Chinese restaurants seemingly changed their names for no reason at all was a sales tax dodging scheme.  In this scam, after not reporting all of your sales, you then dissolve the corporation operating the restaurant, then open up a similar or identical restaurant at the same location, but in a new corporation and operating under a new restaurant name.   Practically speaking, this reduces the period of time that the government has to catch up with you for sales tax evasion.    Who knows how many Chinese restaurants stiffed the local authorities of how much sales tax over the years?  No documented cases of this scheme exist, either because the restaurants got away with it, or there was no publicity involved if they were apprehended.  However a longtime Chinatown CPA...
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How An Old Time Chinese-American Dish Became a Trendy Hangover Cure in New Orleans

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One of my earliest articles for Menuism was about how unique Chinese dishes evolved in specific cities in the United States, such as cashew chicken in Springfield, MO, the St. Paul sandwich in St. Louis, and war shu gai in Detroit.  While in New Orleans last year, I posted a picture from a Chinese restaurant there on Instagram, and I received a couple of replies suggesting that I try a unique New Orleans dish called Yakamein.  Unfortunately I was only in New Orleans for a short period and didn't get a chance to search for the dish.   But Yakamein did sound intriguing since it seemed to be another unique regional Chinese American dish like the others I had written about in the original Menuism article.     Wikipedia  describes it as a stewed beef noodle soup, often served in Creole restaurants with creole spices and seasonings, half a hard boiled egg, green onions and chili seasoning.  More interestingly, Yakamein is more often served at non-...
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