Who can say? It's not binary; right/wrong, yes/no. For generations, Americanized Cantonese cuisine [Mexican too] has been the gateway for North American's acclimation to—not just Chinese food—but to other cuisine in general. With greater diversity of world cuisines available now, this has changed.

Histories of places & spaces are complex, and are richer by virtue of being socially layered. The restaurant is certainly a palimpsest. —A bridge between the past and the present. It also raises the issue of whose culture is at stake, since both taste cultures are valid—and have unique histories.

The contradictions contained within its walls make this archetypal and fascinating—like the first practical Chinese typewriter—the invention of which reconciled "...an irresolvable paradox. How do you fit 100,000 characters onto a keyboard?" bsky.app/profile/made...

...And which also asked is "the absolute unavoidable price of modernity...the abandonment of our culture, our language, this deep connection with the past"?