Is the country's oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant located in Woodland?
WOODLAND - A UC Davis professor on a mission to prove Chicago Café, located on Main Street in Woodland, is the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the country.
Jack Chin gave us a little taste of history at Chicago Café in Woodland.
"It's a Chinese American restaurant of a type that used to be common," Chin said.
The UC Davis professor said he walked into the iconic restaurant 12 years ago when he moved to the area and soon found he was hungry for more than what was on the menu.
"We looked into the Chicago Café and its history to see if it's the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the United States," Chin said.
He showed us menus dating back to when the place opened in 1903.
"This is a mimeographed menu from the '40s," Chin said.
The menu is a window into what the world was like back then.
"The phone number at this place was 520 because not that many people had telephones," Chin said.
The Fong family has worked tirelessly for generations, serving food and serving a purpose.
"People were here 16-17 hours a day. They did what they had to do," Chin said. "During the days when there was a lot of employment discrimination. On the basis of race, it was one of the places where Chinese Americans and other Asian Americans could work."
Owner Paul Fong showed us the wooden refrigerator and reminisced about the customers
"Just like family, the foyer, they come six generations come here. They like a friend," Paul said.
His daughter was sitting inside one of the booths still in place inside.
"This whole restaurant was paneled with all these private booths," Amy said. "So all the way down on both sides. There was a curtain for each room for more privacy."
Chin said it's time to look back.
"It helps show Woodland had a Chinatown like a lot of other cities of its size in California. And it's mostly gone but it's not gone," Chin said.
So the Fong's can look forward. His hope is someone buys it and keeps it going.
"It's definitely a part of history and you can feel that when you come in here," Chin said.
Chin said the only other Chinese restaurant he could find that is similar in age was the Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte, Montana, dating back to 1909.