THECLEAVERQUARTERLY 15 MEIN ROADS Corbo Eng tours the South Coast of Massachusetts on the hunt for America’s most unusual sandwich t’s dreary outside. The sky is as wet as the 19th century. Although diminished in standing by ocean and the grayness reinforces Fall Riv- time and shifting trends, this chow mein is still a er’s image as a city whose textile industry mainstay of Chinese restaurant menus across the abandoned it long ago. In the South End, the nation. weather has pushed pedestrians out of sight. In Fall River, located on the South Coast of The sidewalks look sparse; the streets are lonely. Massachusetts, the Americanized version is the The buildings, built with undistinguished wood or only kind available. In fact, this city of roughly vinyl siding, are teary in the daylight. I don’t know 90,000 residents – where the Asian population what to expect as I approach Mee Sum in the is 2.5 percent – boasts its very own style of chow rain. It seems an unlikely place to find a regional mein. It has a characteristically thin, dark brown specialty. gravy and is defined by a flatter, rather than The interior of the restaurant is a time round, noodle that’s crisp instead of crunchy. Here, capsule lined with dark wood paneling and the current trend favoring authenticity and the booths covered in vinyl upholstery. The walls emergence of regional Chinese cuisines seems to host perfunctory Chinese artwork and a framed have never happened. Here, Fall River-style chow Boston Bruins jersey that must surely have a mein, humble and unpretentious, is served as a potent backstory. The gloomy pall of the day is cut sandwich if one wants it. by a few ceiling lights overhead. But Regina Mark, First, the bottom half of a hamburger bun who runs Mee Sum with her husband Kenny, is placed on a plate. Next, a generous helping of is happy. Her words are cheerful and bright, as fried noodles and a wok’s worth of vegetables and might be expected of a woman who has spent 42 meat is poured on top. Finally, the superfluous top years greeting customers and who finds sharing bun rests atop the entire mound. Being drenched rather than withdrawing more to her liking – even in gravy makes it something of an open-faced if I weren’t asking her about her favorite menu sandwich. It’s akin to the Kentucky Hot Brown item. “We specialize in chow mein,” Mark tells me of Louisville (with its single slice of bread, turkey, proudly. bacon, and Mornay sauce) and the Beef Manhat- Chow mein, a fixture of Chinese cuisine, tan sandwich of Indiana (a roast beef sandwich means different things to different people. In areas smothered with gravy and served with mashed that boast a sizable Chinese community, a Hong potatoes). But the chow mein sandwich stands Kong-style chow mein tends to predominate. A alone in inserting noodles between two slices of crispy bed of pan-fried egg noodles is topped with bread – an odd starch-on-starch pairing if there meats or seafood, garnished with gailan (Chinese ever were one. broccoli) and sauced with a light gravy. At dim Digging into my very first chow mein sum brunch, it’s common to see Chinese families sandwich, I find that the noodles, smothered in enjoying this noodle dish alongside shrimp dump- that thin, dark gravy but jaggedly protruding at lings, chicken feet, and egg tarts. random angles, dominate every bite. Some are Chinese-American chow mein, however, unmistakably crisp. Some, as the minutes pass, is built upon deep-fried inch-long noodles (the have softened under the warm gravy. But they are kind popularized by Chun King and La Choy, there as I negotiate each savory forkful. two longstanding manufacturers of canned and As she watches me eat, Regina Mark describes prepackaged Chinese food). The crunchy, wheat- the typical chow mein noodle – the Chun King based noodles are coated in light gravy and a mix and La Choy style – as “almost like pretzel sticks” of vegetables (typically celery, onions, and bean that stay crunchy. “Our noodles are different,” she sprouts) and topped with chicken, beef, pork, or says. “When you pour the gravy in, it turns back shrimp. Chow mein of this ilk has been a main- to pasta.” stay of Chinese-American restaurants ever since Digging in further, I understand. The noo- Toisanese immigrants from Guangdong Province dles, having absorbed the gravy, are now al dente. introduced Chinese food to this country in the late That’s apparently the desired effect. Fall Riverites, 16 AUTUMN • 2015 THECLEAVERQUARTERLY 17 many of whom are of Portuguese descent, enjoy the softer texture, which reminds them of how Here, the current trend noodles are rendered in their own cuisine. “How is it?” Mark asks me. favoring authenticity and “Very good,” I mutter with my mouth full. Given Mark’s long association with chow the emergence of regional mein, she’s undoubtedly heard that response many times. “Mee Sum opened in 1950,” she says. “You Chinese cuisines seems to see, Kenny’s father started the restaurant. Kenny and I, we got married in Hong Kong and moved have never happened over here.” She’s more matter of fact than nostalgic. But Marsha and Grace, two loyal customers who dine I wonder. Mark offers a resolute “yes.” at Mee Sum four times a week, now chime in. As To drive the point home, Mark tells me the a little girl, Marsha recalls, she used to buy a chow origin of the chow mein sandwich – a story that mein sandwich and a Coke in downtown Fall River involves a man in New Bedford, located 20 miles for 25 cents. to the southeast of Fall River. Mark goes back even further. “A chow mein “You see, one day, this person went into a sandwich used to be five cents. Today, when Chinese restaurant. He wanted a couple of slices you order a chow mein sandwich, you get it in a of bread to go with his chow mein. The owner was Styrofoam container. But back then … you’d get it too busy and gave him a hamburger bun instead. wrapped.” She gestures with her hands to show the So that customer invented it by accident.” shape of the bulky sandwich. “Some people prefer soft noodles,” she explains, “So they like it wrapped up. When they open it up, the gravy, it kind of gels the noodles together and all River’s distinctive chow mein noodles are makes it look like ‘joong.’ You know, with the green made by the Oriental Chow Mein Company, leaves used to wrap the sticky rice inside?” Flocated near downtown in an unassuming The “joong” that she’s referring to is something one-story brick building. They not only supply I’ve eaten since childhood – a tetrahedral mass of local Chinese restaurants but also ship boxes of glutinous rice that contains mung beans, salted chow mein noodles to area supermarkets to be egg yolks, and Chinese sausage, all wrapped up in sold under the “Hoo-Mee” brand. bamboo leaves and tied up with string. I wonder at When I arrive at the facility, I encounter a the comparison. clean, brightly lit space. Cardboard boxes are At that moment, a waitress walks out with a stacked five feet high on my left; there are many wrapped chow mein sandwich. I don’t know if one more beyond me past the front counter. Bags upon was prepared for my benefit or if a customer had bags of freshly fried chow mein noodles – one, two, actually ordered one, but there it is. It looks like a three, and five pounds each – lie out in the open. massive, lumpy Christmas present that someone, The factory’s newness belies the compa- not wanting to splurge on proper gift-wrap, envel- ny’s long history, dating back to the 1920s when oped with wax paper out of thrift and convenience. Frederick Wong, an immigrant from Guangdong I can make out the golden-brown top of the Province, started the business. Then again, this is hamburger bun and the dark gravy with noodles not the original interior. They had to gut the place pressing against the translucent sides. and rebuild after a devastating fire in 2009 that The gravy soaks those noodles. The ambient nearly burnt the building to the ground. But, as a heat and the wax paper compresses all of it into testament to the determination of the Wong fam- a solid mass. The result will surely be too big and ily and to the love affair that Fall River has with bulky to pick up. “I would eat that with my hands?” its chow mein, the Oriental Chow Mein Company The Sandwich South Coast Where you’ll find the lesser-spotted breaded chow mein CHINA KITCHEN Taunton, Massachusetts MEE SUM Fall River, Massachusetts CHINA GOURMET Portsmouth, Rhode Island 18 AUTUMN • 2015 THECLEAVERQUARTERLY 19 The Sandwich South Coast Where you’ll find the lesser-spotted breaded chow mein CHUCK’S CHINA INN New Bedford, Massachusetts emerged like a phoenix, stronger than ever. River-style chow mein on the map. I mention Mee “I’ve been working here my whole life basi- Sum. “They’re the only remaining place where you cally,” says Alfred Wong, the proprietor – and son can get a wrapped chow mein sandwich anymore,” of the original owner. “This is my life.” A stout he says approvingly. octogenarian, he stands behind the counter, as he Wong takes me back behind the front coun- does every day – knowing nothing about retire- ter into the main part of the building, where his ment.