The first Chinese restaurant was said to be opened in 1849 in San Francisco. The owner was Norman Asing. Since then, the number of Chinese restaurants has increased rapidly. In Utah, there were 28 Chinese restaurants by 1971. Now the number increased to 263. It is estimated over 40,000 Chinese restaurants are now in America. Writes Nancy Shuts, "from hole-in-the-wall carry-outs to lavish banquet halls, from the Express in Kotzebue, Alaska, to Manhattan's Dim Sum Go Go, these eateries dish up what for many Americans remains their favorite ethnic food."
Chinese restaurant menu has changed since the early time. In the mid-1800s, Chinese restaurants were opened by immigrants after the California gold rush. They adapted their cuisine to the tastes of their new land. Chop suey was introduced. After 1965, when a new law expanded the number of immigration, spicier dishes like Sichuan and Human dishes entered the Chinese restaurants. (Source: Nancy Shute, U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 2005).