Shun Lee Palace is a Chinese restaurant located at 155 East 55th Street, between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City.[1] It claims to be the birthplace of orange beef. It opened in 1971. One year later, Shun Lee Palace's master chef T.T. Wang and partner Michael Tong opened Hunan Restaurant at 845 Second Avenue,[2][3][4] the first Hunan restaurant in the country, paving the road for others.
| Shun Lee Palace | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1971 |
| Street address | 155 East 55th Street, between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan |
| City | New York City |
| State | New York |
| Postal/ZIP Code | 10022 |
General Tso's chicken, crisp sea bass Hunan style and crisp orange flavored beef are all attributed to chef Wang at Hunan Restaurant.
In a 2003 interview, proprietor Michael Tong estimated that 70% of his clientele is Jewish and that he goes out of his way to accommodate them – including being open on Christmas[5] and catering to kosher customers.
Staff at Shun Lee Palace are represented by UNITE HERE Local 100.[6]
Locations
editThey have a second location on the Upper West Side, across from Lincoln Center. Shun Lee (opened in 1981) is located at 43 West 65th Street, between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West. A smaller and less expensive annex to Shun Lee West is Shun Lee Café, specializing in Dim Sum.
The original Shun Lee Dynasty opened at 900 Second Avenue at 48th Street in 1965. The chef was Wang Ching-Ting, who was discovered by a Chinese ambassador and later came to the US as a cook at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC. The restaurant interior was designed by mid-century designer Russel Wright, who designed every element of the restaurant including the china, which was produced by Sterling China Company as their Polynesian pattern.
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Shun Lee Palace". Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- ^ Sheraton, Mimi (May 26, 1978). "East Side palace with mandarin tastes. Shun Lee Palace". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ^ Reichl, Ruth (August 25, 1995). "Restaurants". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ^ Tong, Michael (October 19, 2010). The Shun Lee Cookbook: Recipes from ... ISBN 9780062045911. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
- ^ Witchel, Alex (December 17, 2003). "For Some, It's a Very Moo Shu Christmas". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
- ^ "Eat Union". UNITE HERE Local 100. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
Further reading
edit- "The Story Behind Manhattan's Original Fine-Dining Chinese Restaurant". The New York Times. September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- "A Pioneer in Manhattan Merges Three Cuisines of China". The New York Times. January 11, 1995. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- New York Times review