![]() “I’ve been asked the question, ‘What is the future of the Pekin?’” Tam said. A Cantonese-American style meal including chop suey, chow mein and egg rolls at Hop lee In New York City’s Chinatown. Today, the Butte city directory lists Pekin Noodle Parlor as the only chop suey restaurant left in business. Merchants were among those exempt from the Chinese Exclusion Act, paving the way for generations of Tam’s lineage to enter the country and help run the family noodle shop.įor decades, Chinatowns flourished as they became tourist destinations for Americans of different backgrounds, especially when they got a taste of culinary crazes like that of chop suey, a dish consisting of vegetables mixed with a gravy and served on top of chow mein noodles.īut as industrial production waned in the 1950s, mining towns such as Butte emptied out. Tiara Chiaramonte / NBC Newsīy 1914, more than 60 Chinese-owned businesses populated Butte’s thriving Chinatown. It’s the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the country. So the history of this place really holds true that this is a Chinese restaurant, from Chinese immigrants.” The city of Butte, Montana where the Pekin Noodle Parlor is located. “The noodles were fried and brought over on ships because they didn’t make fresh noodles. “They didn’t make soy sauce in America,” fourth-generation owner Jerry Tam said. When the noodle shop started operating upstairs two years later, everything it served came across the ocean from China. That’s where Pekin Noodle Parlor, the longest-running Chinese restaurant, stands as a remnant of the bustling mining city that attracted thousands of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.īuilt in 1909, the building that houses Pekin Noodle Parlor first opened as a tobacco shop and casino, fitting for an Old West-era town popular for its gambling, saloons and red light district. Though urban hubs such as San Francisco and New York City are known for their iconic Chinatowns, Roker kicked off his journey in a city few might expect: Butte, Montana. Chef Lucas Sin of Nice Day Chinese teaches Al Roker how to make his signature dish mapo macaroni and cheese. ![]() On the latest episode of “Family Style” on “TODAY All Day,” Al Roker explored the history of America’s Chinatowns and learned how Chinese cuisine became a staple on tables across the country. Still, those that remain say they are maintaining a sense of resilience. And in New York City’s Chinatown, 380 of its 1670 ground-floor storefronts currently stand empty, according to the city's Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation.
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