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| Pines, Rocks and Atlantic, Monhegan Island, watercolor, Lucey Bowen, 1981 |
For "Old China Hands," like Henry McNulty, "the pull of that country was like a gigantic magnet." Upon the re-opening of diplomatic relations with China, he had to get back. In the June 1981, Gourmet his "Going Home to China" tells us that McNulty was born in Suzhou in 1913. His father ran a missionary school. McNulty recalled fleeing school Nanjing ahead Chaing Kaishek's troops in 1927. Graduating from Princeton University in 1936, McNulty had a career as a war correspondent, journalist and publicist for French Champagne. His was a voyage of rediscovery. He shared his special perspective. He provided the reader with a bridge between the end of Dynastic Imperial China and the end of Mao's China. In 1981, much of China was still closed to foreigners. He calls his a nostalgia trip, I found it full of insight. He had grown up speaking a local dialect; Mandarin was now being taught as the standard. The word for a rickshaw pulled by a running human had disappeared with the introduction of humans on cycles pulling the same cargo. For the benefit of travelers wanting to retrace his journey, McNulty included information about restaurants and hotels in Nanjing, Suzhow and Shanghai.
As Deng Xioping proposed economic reform in China, he could look to Singapore for inspiration. Singapore was home to a majority population of overseas Chinese. The former British colony had leaped out of the starvation times of the 1940s and 1950s and by the early 1970s had established itself as a manufacturing center for American companies like Texas Instruments. Trotta's article made a useful guide for Americans traveling there on business or pleasure. She makes it clear that visits to the old colonial haunts, like Raffles hotel are of historic interest. Yet this is no playground for "Old Colonials," it is the vibrancy and ambition of the mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European that makes the place unique. Her essay, combining ancient and modern history, sociology, anthropology, anecdote and food is Gourmet at its best.
Meanwhile, Asian immigrants were flocking to California and livening up the scene. Carolyn Bates described Tien Fu, a restaurant for authoritative Szechuan dishes. She remarks that now in San Francisco, Chinese restaurants are to be found in neighborhoods far from Chinatown, like Noriega Street at Nineteenth Avenue, in the Sunset district. Once again, the piece explains certain basics, such as the cold dishes that are the Chinese equivalent of appetizers. In August, Ms. Bates reviewed Fuku-Sushi, which was located in San Francisco's Japantown. The intracacies of sushi are explained. In December she reviewed The Peacock, an Indian restaurant at 2800 VanNess. The owner, Pupla Goswami, accurately predicted that Indian cooking was going to be the next craze. The same might have been said of Vietnamese food at the Golden Turtle in Richmond, restaurant which had opened in 1977.
I confess. My 1981 vacation was pure Gourmet, specifically the June issue's feature "Coastal Maine." the June issue of Gourmet. From Worcester, Massachusetts, I drove up the Maine coast. The Laura B ferried me to Monhegan Island, all pinewoods, rocks and splashing Atlantic. The Wyeths, Andrew and Jamie painted it over many years. I spent a week and I painted, hardly speaking a word to anyone, and eating the very plain food you'd expect at an old hotel on an island in Maine. When I returned to the mainland, I ate. I ate fabulously at Aubergine, in Camden, and at Le Domaine in Hancock. It was good living.
Tien Fu
The Peacock, at 2800 VanNess is now a real estate agency.
Fuku Sushi
Golden Turtle
Henry McNulty died in 2001.
Geri Trotta, Barnard graduate, world traveller, writer and editor, died in 2005 at age 90.
The chef owner of Aubergine, David Grant, still lives in Camden, and hasn't lost his cooking and eating chops.
The family who founded Le Domaine it sold it almost a decade ago, it is still providing fine French food to summer people from June thru October.
Meanwhile, Asian immigrants were flocking to California and livening up the scene. Carolyn Bates described Tien Fu, a restaurant for authoritative Szechuan dishes. She remarks that now in San Francisco, Chinese restaurants are to be found in neighborhoods far from Chinatown, like Noriega Street at Nineteenth Avenue, in the Sunset district. Once again, the piece explains certain basics, such as the cold dishes that are the Chinese equivalent of appetizers. In August, Ms. Bates reviewed Fuku-Sushi, which was located in San Francisco's Japantown. The intracacies of sushi are explained. In December she reviewed The Peacock, an Indian restaurant at 2800 VanNess. The owner, Pupla Goswami, accurately predicted that Indian cooking was going to be the next craze. The same might have been said of Vietnamese food at the Golden Turtle in Richmond, restaurant which had opened in 1977.
I confess. My 1981 vacation was pure Gourmet, specifically the June issue's feature "Coastal Maine." the June issue of Gourmet. From Worcester, Massachusetts, I drove up the Maine coast. The Laura B ferried me to Monhegan Island, all pinewoods, rocks and splashing Atlantic. The Wyeths, Andrew and Jamie painted it over many years. I spent a week and I painted, hardly speaking a word to anyone, and eating the very plain food you'd expect at an old hotel on an island in Maine. When I returned to the mainland, I ate. I ate fabulously at Aubergine, in Camden, and at Le Domaine in Hancock. It was good living.
Tien Fu
The Peacock, at 2800 VanNess is now a real estate agency.
Golden Turtle
Henry McNulty died in 2001.
Geri Trotta, Barnard graduate, world traveller, writer and editor, died in 2005 at age 90.
The chef owner of Aubergine, David Grant, still lives in Camden, and hasn't lost his cooking and eating chops.
The family who founded Le Domaine it sold it almost a decade ago, it is still providing fine French food to summer people from June thru October.
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