At least two restaurants on Route 66 were featured in “The Search for General Tso,” a 2014 documentary about the rise of Chinese cuisine in America. The Route 66 town of Springfield, Missouri, also figures prominently.
A total of only 13 theaters screened the film upon its early 2015 release, so it barely made a blip in the popular culture despite an excellent 95 percent grade from Rotten Tomatoes.
High-quality streaming of the film is available from Amazon, but I found a version on YouTube that I could excerpt.
One segment features an interview with Tammy Fang of Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Tucumcari, New Mexico, which has operated along Route 66 for decades. In case embedding doesn’t work, the Tucumcari part begins at the 24:50 mark.
https://youtu.be/FF26VZSS4yg?t=24m50s
The image of the Golden Dragon’s sign also figures into a few graphics in the film. Fang briefly comments in two other spots in the movie.
The second restaurant on Route 66 featured is the Grand Canyon Cafe in Flagstaff, Arizona, which has served Chinese and American food since the late 1940s. Interviewed at the 22:09 mark is longtime co-owner Fred Wong, who recently retired.
https://youtu.be/FF26VZSS4yg?t=22m9s
The Grand Canyon Cafe now has new owners, but they kept the Chinese and American dishes.
Springfield, Missouri, became the hometown of cashew chicken, which originated at Leong’s restaurant. Leong’s was firebombed in that Ozarks city even before he opened, but his food — and his signature dish — eventually won over the locals and the nation. The Leong’s segment begins about the 30:17 mark.
https://youtu.be/FF26VZSS4yg?t=30m17s
The rise of Chinese restaurants in the United States can be linked directly to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Because of racial discrimination inherent in the law and a “driving out” of Chinese immigrants from many cities in the West, many Chinese families relocated in small and medium-sized towns across the U.S. They either opened laundry businesses or restaurants to stay afloat financially.
The fascinating film also manages to track down the creator of General Tso’s Chicken, one of the most popular dishes in almost all Chinese restaurants in the U.S.
(Image of the Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant sign in Tucumcari, New Mexico, by Stu Rapley via Flickr)
Springfield style Cashew Chicken was Mr. Leong’s way of getting Ozarkers to try Chinese Food. It was grandma’s Sunday fried chicken served with Chinese potatoes (fried rice) and Chinese gravy (brown sauce), topped with a smattering of chopped scallions and cashew nuts, which may or may not be toasted depending on the restaurant. It worked, and at one time there seemed to be a Chinese restaurant on every corner in Springfield. Mr. Leong is in his 90’s now, and holds court every day at his son’s restaurant, also called Leong’s, on West Republic Road (a good distance south of all of Springfield’s Route 66 alignments) here in Springfield. The original Leong’s restaurant was on Sunshine and has been demolished for quite awhile now. I am anxious to watch this video as the “Cashew Chicken Wars” are legendary here in Springfield.
If traveling thru Springfield and wanting to try Cashew Chicken – I would recommend the Hong Kong Inn on West Kearney, the Golden Dragon at Chestnut & College Streets, or China Wok at Chestnut and the West By-Pass. None of these places are fancy restaurants but they all serve decent Cashew Chicken for under $10.