Red Dragon Chinese Restaurant

Address: 4051 Davis Dr, Morrisville, NC 27560

Phone: (919) 388-1836

County: Wake

Owner: *Mr. Steven

General Manager: *Mr. Demario

Interviewee: *Mr. Zhōng

Interviewer: Aaron Park

Translator: **Karen Huang

“How to Be a Chef in Two Lands”

~ A Chef from China Gives his Two Cents on American Cuisine

Located on a typical strip of stores consisting of a Taekwondo Martial Arts Center, J&J Tailors, GNC Supplements, VIP Nails, and La Rancherita, a Tex-Mex chain, is the Red Dragon. Located high above the restaurant’s front doors and written in a calligraphy-type font, the Red Dragon is hard to miss, even for a daydreaming resident of Morrisville, the restaurant’s locale. The surrounding neighborhood is quiet, clean, and has the aura of a upper-middle class establishment.

{The title of Red Dragon can be seen clearly in a calligraphy-styled font for any Morrisville resident craving Chinese food.}

The owner is Mr. Steven, a middle-aged Chinese man who speaks English with a minimal accent and is dressed in a smart and clean-cut suit. He tells me that the restaurant has been in Morrisville for the past fourteen years, which was originally started by a Chinese couple in 2004. It was not until this year, in January of 2018, that the couple decided to stop managing the restaurant and sold it off to him. Being too new to the industry and extremely busy with managing the restaurant’s money, Mr. Stephen kindly denied an interview and suggested that I meet with his manager, Mr. Demario.

{Mr. Stephen can be seen here seated at a booth like most days, taking calls and filling out various paperwork.}

Mr. Demario is tall, skinny, and also middle-aged. He explains to me that he grew up in Durham, wandered around the nation doing odd-jobs, spent quite some time in Las Vegas, and eventually, through Craigslist, found employment in the Red Dragon. Often, he stands alone at the front desk of the restaurant, spending most of his time looking and hiring waiters and waitresses. Earlier, before my arrival to the Red Dragon, Mr. Demario kindly arranged for me to conduct an interview with one of the restaurant’s chefs, leaving me wondering about what kind of individual the chef would be.

{From Left to Right: Mr. Demario and I after the interview. A chalkboard with the daily specials. The Front and Back of the Red Dragon’s Menu (newly created by Mr. Demario and Mr. Steven.}

I had the opportunity to interview Chef Zhōng with the help of my good friend, Karen Huang. Karen and I initially found Chef Zhōng resting after a hard morning of work. Another chef was found to be sleeping in the opposing direction. Eventually, when the three of us got seated at a table with replicas of ancient Chinese drawings, I could not help but to notice how Chef Zhōng appeared.

{Chef Zhōng can be pictured here taking a break during the mid-afternoon. Due to long work hours and work days, Chef Zhōng and his fellow cooks usually spend their breaks resting.}

Seated before me was a middle-aged Chinese man wearing a heavily stained Washington Senators T-Shirt, a dusty red Coca-Cola cap, and two black sweatbands on his right forearm. Initially, before Karen and I initiated the interview, he seemed at peace, and genuinely interested in the two young college kids seated before him. Without any hesitation, Chef Zhōng commenced a dialogue that would last for half an hour.

Humble Origins

In what seemed like a whir of conversation in Chinese, small talk anecdotes, and moments of rapid translation, Chef Zhōng explained his humble origins. Originally from Jilin province, China (a region close to the North Korean Border), Chef Zhōng did not come to the United States in the pursuit of money or economic prosperity. Instead, it was simple curiosity and knowledge of an “American Dream” that provided peoples of any race, religion, ethnicity, and background that could be granted equal opportunities to find new prospects and livelihoods in America. People from large cities and small towns would speak grandly about how America was a land of plenty, and in general, a great nation. Upon his arrival to the U.S, Chef Zhōng landed in Los Angeles, California, he was disappointed to find that the weather was scorching hot, the humidity to be unbearably tepid, and the overall environment to be shy of what his fellow Chinese described to be marvelous.

Chef Zhōng speaks of this journey to the U.S., family, and slight disappointment in his current occupation as a Chef at the Red Dragon in the clip below:

“Immigration”

Translated summary. Chef Zhōng resides wherever there is emplacement. In the present day, being a Chef at the Red Dragon provides a stable income, confining Chef Zhōng to Morrissville, North Carolina. Coming to the U.S alone, he works hard every day in the hopes of earning a decent wage to support his family who still lives in Jilin province.

Chinese and American Cuisine

“Sauce,” replies Chef Zhōng when asked about the underlying difference between American and Chinese foods. For what seemed to be a solid ten minutes, Chef Zhōng explained in great lengths about how Chinese cuisine is based on the fundamentals of the five tastes: sweet, sour, spicy, bitter, and pungent. Chef Zhōng speaks of what he believes to be the underlying differences between American and Chinese food in the clip below:

Translated summary. Americans enjoy the consumption of foods that are sweet, coated in sauce, and deep fried. In Chinese culinary culture, individuals generally avoid these sweet foods that Americans indulge in. There exists a careful balance of different flavors and sensory stimuli that is at the heart of every Chinese dish. It is only on special events and occasions that Chinese individuals will eat sweet foods, but nowhere to the levels of the American palate. Even in America, there are individuals who do not even like eating Chinese food.

Chef Zhōng continued to talk about how there exists an observable difference in the construction and execution of each plate of food. He speaks about it in the clip below:

Clip 3 (American Chinese Food)

Translated summary. With respect to the importance of sauce in American-Chinese cuisine, a lot of the foods commonly found in any Chinese Restaurant consists of a single sauce base that can be used to create a multitude of dishes. In actual Chinese food, the cook’s skill set and techniques (such as firing techniques and controlling heat throughout cooking) is what changes the flavors and presentation of Chinese cuisine.

Chinese and American Restaurants – A Larger Culinary Story

In a series of small-talk conversations, Chef Zhōng expressed how the Chinese Restaurant system allocates specific jobs to each member of the kitchen, yet ensures that each individual equally partakes in washing dishes, prepping food, and covering tasks that would normally be separated into different positions by the American system. Chinese cooks would only work for six to seven days a week for long and hard hours, but would receive ample rest.

Chef Zhōng has been cooking for 27 years back in China. Having to come to the U.S, he was forced to relearn how to cook dishes to match the American-Chinese palate. Back in his home country, Chef Zhōng took up cooking as a profession due to his poor academic performance. He claims that he was lucky to have been able to teach himself how to cook, instead of learning in a professional institution or becoming a chef’s pupil. By garnering a skill set in cooking, Chef Zhōng says that is was very convenient for him to find a job as a cook in a Korean restaurant.

Chef Zhōng speaks about how the way Chinese people eat differs from Americans in the clip below:

Translated summary. Chinese people are just friendly in general. Whenever they go out to eat, they fight over who should pay the bill. In a sense, this creates a form of strong kinship. Chinese people eat dishes together, and rarely buy separate meals unlike Americans. Furthermore, Chinese people, if employed together, will conduct small talk and enjoy each other’s company. Americans tend to be independent and lead individualistic lives.

Post-Interview

After the interview, Chef Zhōng cordially invited Karen and I to tour the kitchen in the Red Dragon. He was eager to show off his organizational skills, which sauces and condiments all neatly portioned into square plastic and steel containers. After eating a meal consisting of David’s Dumplings, Sesame Chicken, and Mongolian Beef, three of the Red Dragon’s most popular dishes, I noticed a sad look in Chef Zhōng’s eyes as he returned to his workplace. This final impression gave me a brief look into his thoughts, which consist of his desire to return home, become reunited with his family, gain freedom in an occupation that grants good pay and fair hours, and enjoy cooking the ethnic foods of Jinlin province.

{Karen, myself, and Chef Zhōng share a selfie in the kitchen.}

Concluding Remarks

Chinese restaurants are a integral and ubiquitous component of the American cuisine. Everyday, there are cooks, waiters/waitresses, owners, and managers who work long-hours and weekends to produce and sell the all-too-famous General Tso’s Chicken, Lo Mein Noodles, and Wonton Soup to the American consumer. Immigrants from China seek to find new jobs and economic opportunities in a nation that many claim to be abundant and liberating. The sad truth lies within the typical Chinese Restaurant where a cook like Chef Zhōng is without family, speaks minimal English, and is not full convinced that the American Dream is reality or fantasy. These stories shape the identity of not just Chinese immigrants who work in the restaurant industry, but also that of other foreigners, where the hopes for a new life are dissuaded by low-pay and high-hour working conditions.