'I look at the way Italian Americans have progressed from a demonized immigrant group to an unquestioned part of the country’s fabric, and I think, Damn, I want that too.'
Nobody is immune to the charms ofin San Francisco. Even if you’ve never been, you know the type. Big plush booths with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on every table. A dining room that’s perennially lit like Christmas is next week. A menu with dishes from the north, south, and center of Italy. Also Cobb salad, shrimp cocktail, calf’s liver and onions, a roast beef dip, a burger, and half a chicken. Your choice of spaghetti, ravioli, mashed potatoes, or fries accompanies most entrées.
But when I eat at a restaurant like Original Joe’s, I feel hopeful. The story of Italian food in America is one I yearn to see replicated by Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican, Thai, Turkish, and numerous other cuisines. Italian food has, for the most part, shed the crippling exoticism that continues to plague—I apologize for this—“ethnic” restaurants and torment their chefs.
In 2007 a fire ended Original Joe’s 70-year run, and it remained closed until 2012, when it reopened in a new location in North Beach, one of the country’s iconic Italian American neighborhoods. In 2012, Original Joe's reopened in North Beach, one of the country's iconic Italian American neighborhoods.help but make me think of Chinese food. For much of its early American life, it was reviled, lampooned, and caricatured. Today there are somewhere along the lines of 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States. I like to think that Chinese food—and Chinese Americans—are simply at a different place on the same arc as Italian food.
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