
Culinary legacy of Detroit’s Chinatown lives on
The U.S. Midwestern city of Detroit once had a thriving Chinatown. But depopulation and urban decline have forced many Chinese American establishments in the city to close up shop. And while that historic neighborhood has disappeared, one culinary legacy is well remembered and remains a favorite among locals.
Chinese American Gary Mui opened his own restaurant in 2020 after working in kitchens most of his adult life.
During all that time, he’s been making a battered and fried chicken dish, topping it with soy sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock gravy, served with white rice over a bed of lettuce and almond slivers.
Gary Mui
Restaurateur
Put it all together, it becomes, like, a magical flavor, where the lettuce soaks up the grease from the chicken and the rice blends well with it together.
Native Detroiters call it almond boneless chicken, or ABC. It’s not quite as common in other areas of the U.S., and many who have moved away dream of it.
Member of public
I know very well the only place you can get it is back home.
But the origins of war su gai, as it’s also known, are up for debate. The dish appears on restaurant menus from Detroit’s historic Chinatown dating back to the 1960s.
Curtis Chin wrote a book about growing up in his family’s restaurant. He has his own theory of why the dish took hold in a city with a large Black population.
Curtis Chin
Author
It might have been the adaptation of a traditional Chinese dish called almond pressed duck, which was duck, you know, breaded and fried. But then changed to accommodate a more Black palate, or people from the South, which had fried chicken, because it really is just a fried chicken dish with an Asian gravy.
Detroit’s Chinatown faded away by the early 2000s, but the area may be due for a revival. The Peterboro restaurant opened in 2016 on a site that once housed a Chinese grocery. Almond boneless chicken is one of its bestsellers.
Martin Van Alm
Restaurateur
And I think it is absolutely a nod to the area, to Chinatown.
Chin thinks ABC is so good, it’s destined to move beyond its point of origin.
Curtis Chin
Author
I don’t see any reason why almond boneless chicken can’t be a national craze. I mean, it’s basically fried chicken with gravy. Who doesn’t love that?
A Detroit signature food that might no longer be kept under local wraps.
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2024-05-17