So Long, Chop Suey

Now that Irfan Rafi is serving Pakistani cuisine in a former all-American greasy spoon (see review), it’s once again time to note how lucky Kansas City is to have such a wide array of ethnic restaurants spread throughout the metro. We have Caribbean, Creole, Greek, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Indian, Thai, Malaysian and Vietnamese — in addition to cuisines that used to be considered ethnic, such as Italian and Mexican, but have become as familiar as peach cobbler à la mode.

And, of course, Chinese, which, during the first part of the last century wasn’t even particularly ethnic because dishes such as chop suey and chow mein were created strictly for American tastes.

Regular readers will recognize the name of the legendary King Joy Lo, which I’ve written about before. The 1909 city directory places its first location at 12th Street and Grand, but it later moved closer to downtown’s movie palaces at 12th Street and Main. Last spring, I wrote that King Joy Lo “served the bland Cantonese fare and Chinese-American innovations that Kansas City loved. Chop suey, chow mein, egg foo young. But they did it right, outlasting all of their 1909 rivals and offering egg drop soup up into the 1950s” (“Global Grub,” May 24).

Recently, I discovered that my friend Tom has a postcard showing that restaurant’s dining room, dated 1909. The room has tile floors, shiny woodwork and a gas-burning brass chandelier. It looks pretty snazzy, even by today’s standards.

But maybe it wasn’t. Whoever mailed the card to his pal in Webb City wrote on the back: “Took dinner in this dump last night with friends — some dope!”

Tom doesn’t know whether the dope reference means the author was a dope for eating at King Joy Lo or had scored some opium. I suspect it was the former.

You can still find chop suey and chow mein on some of the more dumpy Chinese buffets in town — I’m not naming names — but not on many upscale Chinese menus.

“Most customers don’t even remember those dishes,” says Richard Ng of the Bo Lings empire.

I not only remember them; I used to like them — some dope!