Decoding Cecilia Chiang’s First Menu at the Mandarin

We have here an amazing photo of the first menu from the original Mandarin on Polk street, where Cecilia scratched off, rewrote, and repriced her menu. There is a lot of thought needed for menu editing and you can get a glimpse of how that person is as a food business owner, so this is what I am going to talk about in this episode.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:05 The beginning of the Mandarin
2:59 The menu
4:04 What was removed and added
6:18 Choosing your battle
Links:
- UC Berkeley verbal history interview with Cecilia Chiang: update.lib.berkeley.edu/2016/... and digitalassets.lib.berkeley.ed...
- Profile on Eater: www.eater.com/2018/7/20/17419...
- Six Lessons on Becoming a Cooking Legend from Cecilia Chiang by Siena Chiang: www.vice.com/en/article/8qp8j...
- Soul of the Banquet official website: www.soulofabanquetfilm.com/
Credits:
- Menu: www.cnn.com/travel/article/ce...
- Menu: www.si.edu/object/nmah_1419087
- Soul of the Banquet trailer: • SOUL OF A BANQUET - Of...
- Chinatown, San Francisco, 1968: • Chinatown, San Francis...

[@TrevorTrottier]

Your content seriously kicks ass and is telling some amazing stories that deserve attention. I think Canada might offer you some similar material to look at.

[@Ultradude604]

Wow. This lady was all about authenticity! No Chop Suey here. The menu is fit for chinese royalty.

[@AmericanChineseFoodShow]

She's a rockstar! I will keep using her an as example of someone who did not compromise but slowly and eventually learned the art of running a food business. Look at how distilled her later menu became!

[@MrElliotc02]

Love your channel...all the best

[@AmericanChineseFoodShow]

Thank you so much!

[@MrElliotc02]

I was lucky enough to meet Ms. Chiang at The Mandarin in the early 70s. She was an elegant lady and a wonderful ambassador for the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Thanks for your work. @@AmericanChineseFoodShow

[@seitch1]

I wish I'd had a chance to try her restaurant back in the day.

[@AmericanChineseFoodShow]

More the reason to support Chinese restaurants that are still in business now.

[@alanchan1772]

I have no respect for her.she took advantage of best Chinese chef's.made money off of them,sweep them under the bus.my father was 1of those chef's