From The Peopling of New York City
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Visiting a Chinese Restaurant
Staten Island is home to many grocery markets, ethnic restaurants, and religious institutions. Empire East is one example of a cultural institution that emphasizes Chinese culture. The restaurant is a Chinese and Pan Asian cuisine restaurant located at 2740 Hylan Boulevard in the Stop & Shop shopping center. This restaurant serves both take-out and dine-in cuisine. When dining in, Empire East operates through “number-order” and “seat yourself” services.
Empire East is a prime example of an institution that has been Americanized. The restaurant fits into the American culture in many ways. For example, American culture is seen in the utensils used, like spoons, forks, and knives, the drinks sold in plastic bottles or Styrofoam cups, such as Coca-Cola, water, iced tea, and others, and the menu, which is written in English. Even though Empire East is an “ethnic” institution, it is an “American” institution as well because of its style and American elements.
With its convenient location in a large shopping center on Hylan Boulevard, Empire East has become a profitable business. The shopping center surrounding the venue includes stores like Stop & Shop, a laundromat, a deli, and other stores used by people daily. The restaurant also has competition within the shopping center, including Friendly’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King. The institution has adapted to local conditions, which is noticeable in the workplace. The staff has adapted to using the English language and they have conformed to local health codes and the local cultural norms.
The Menu
At Empire East, a large variety of foods are served. The restaurant serves all different types and styles of Chinese soups, appetizers, dumplings, fried rice, chow fun/mei fun, moo shu, egg foo young, shrimp, chicken, beef, pork, and vegetables. Besides Chinese food, the cuisine also sells Asian-Pacific food, such as hibachi chicken and shrimp dishes, thai food, thai curry pots, and Pacific styled meat dishes, such as pork chops and Korean barbequed beef short ribs. Several of the foods can be found within everyday American culture, such as shrimp and chicken. Even foods such as eggplant, steak, and salmon were listed on the menu. Thus, the food served at Empire East fits into both the American restaurant culture and China’s food culture.
Steamed chicken dumplings is an example of a popular dish served in Empire East. According to Beijingservice.com, dumplings, also known as jiaozi, date back to ancient times around the Sung Dynasty (circa 960 – 1279 AD). Chinese dumplings are one of the most important foods in important Chinese holidays, such as the Chinese New Year. The dumplings are either round or crescent-shaped, and this relates to ancient Chinese gold and silver coins. The dumplings are meant to symbolize wealth (“Chinese Dumpling”). We ate our dumplings with chopsticks, which is one of the best objects in the restaurant to capture Chinese history. The use of chopsticks has been a long tradition in Chinese culture, and China is one of the few countries to use them. Different styled soups are also popular dishes served at Empire East. The soups are placed into Chinese styled bowls with floral designs on them, while rice is placed in paper cartons and dinners in plastic containers. Therefore, even though the institution is Americanized, one can still discern its ethnicity by the food served and the people serving it.
The Decor
Empire East is a Chinese restaurant; however, if one saw the dining area, he or she would not be able to discern what country it represents. The restaurant has no décor, statues, or religious sayings to emphasize the Chinese culture, unlike The Taste of China which has different Chinese portraits and sayings on its walls. Religious items, such as a statue or picture of the religious icon Buddha, or even Chinese proverbs written on the walls are just two things that customers would expect to see at a Chinese institution because it would more clearly emphasize the Chinese culture. However, relations to Chinese history and culture were included in the restaurant. The only pictures on the walls were of the restaurant's available meals, along with the name of each. In addition, when purchasing a meal at the restaurant, you are given chopsticks to use for eating. Also, a piece of paper showing Chinese animals and sayings is placed on the serving tray with your food. The staff at Empire East was ethnic itself, and it consisted of two American girls taking the orders and many Chinese workers cooking the food. While there was a wide array of people ordering at the restaurant, most looked American. The food, decor, style, and customers of the restaurant prove that Chinese culture and American culture have been meshed together.
Interesting Syncretisms
Empire East is not only a Chinese restaurant, but also serves Pan Asian cuisine. Besides serving many Chinese dishes such as steamed dumplings, chicken with broccoli, and shrimp fried rice, the restaurant also offers a variety of Japanese, Thai, and Indian food as well. These dishes include hibachi chicken and shrimp, Thai styled chicken and seafood, and various curry styled dishes. This exemplifies the restaurant's style because it is appealing to a wider variety of people rather than just simply those who enjoy Chinese food. Customers are able to choose meals from different cultures and try different tastes.
Location
2740 Hylan Blvd
Staten Island, NY 10306
(Stop & Shop Shopping Center)
(718) 987 1111
Business Hours
Mon - Thurs: 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Fri - Sat: 11:00 am - 11:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Resources
Beijing Service Team. “Chinese Dumpling.” Beijingservice.com. (2008). <http://www.beijingservice.com/beijinghighlights/dumpling.htm>
"Empire East - Home." EmpireEastNY.com. (2010). Photos. <http://www.empireeastny.com/http://macaulay.cuny.edu/seminars/lavender10/index.html>
GoogleMaps - Empire East. (2010) <http://www.googlemaps.com>
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