Shanghai Bistro 上海小馆

Demolition of Cass Cooridor’s Shanghai Cafe Further Obscures the Stories of Detroit’s Chinatown | Eater Detroit

"At 3143 Cass Avenue in Detroit stood Shanghai Cafe, the family-run Chinese restaurant that has been woven through my family’s identity since my grandfather worked there as a chef in the early 1930s. It was a staple dining spot for Detroit’s Chinese community—able to host large parties and prepare custom homestyle meals like ginger-rich Cantonese-style lobster, crispy Chinese fried shrimp, and chow mein with colorful vegetables—while also offering American Chinese items such as chop suey, egg foo yong, and Detroit’s almond boneless chicken, plus non-Chinese dishes like flame-broiled steaks, sandwiches, and homemade custard. I remember the red linen tablecloths and napkins and servers dressed in black slacks, white button-ups, and black bow ties; the restaurant stayed open late into the night (my grandmother often didn’t come home until 4 a.m.), and my mother and her siblings grew up working there from a young age. My grandfather eventually bought the restaurant in 1964 after years of cooking there, a purchase made bitter by his terminal cancer diagnosis but intended to secure my family’s future; my grandmother ran it until she closed it in 1981 when the family could no longer sustain it. The building’s demolition on July 29—carried out less than a week after City Council voted to delay demolition to research preservation—felt like an erasure of Chinese American and Detroit history to me, especially as a press conference meant to advocate for preservation was held in front of a heap of rubble while speakers were misted with dust-control water." - Carolyn Chin