Curtis Chin was still a child when he learned something special about a Chinese restaurant: It’s a place to bring people together.
The Detroit native spent countless hours at his family’s eatery in the 1970s and 80s — a difficult time for the city. Racial tensions, crime, the AIDS crisis, the crack cocaine era.
Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine was located in the Cass Corridor, a rough inner city neighborhood that attracted a wide range of clientele. From drug dealers to sex workers to drag queens, Chin’s parents treated everyone equally. Everybody was welcome at the Chinese restaurant.
After three generations of ownership — and 10 million egg rolls later — Chung’s closed in 2005. As the years went on, Chin started making notes about his recollections of his childhood at the restaurant. A new generation of Chins was growing up and he wanted to make sure that his nieces and nephews knew about his family’s past and what it was like growing up as an Asian-American in Detroit.
Eventually he realized that he was starting to write a book and in 2023, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant” was published. Chin will speak about his book at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 18 at Morenci’s Stair District Library.
Chin’s book has been described as a love letter to both his family and to Detroit. He doesn’t shy away from the bad parts of either, yet he readily expresses his satisfaction with his life experiences.
His mother told her six children to work hard, obey elders, and be quiet, but his father had a different take on life. He encouraged his children to engage with strangers in the restaurant and learn about their lives. It was a way to see the world outside of the restaurant, a teacher to show what was possible in life.
Sometimes touring Broadway actors and crew would stop in for a meal, and Detroit Mayor Coleman Young was a regular. One day the famous actor Yul Brynner ate at Chung’s when he was touring with “The King and I.” But ordinary people from the neighborhood also opened the eyes of the Chin children.
The book also serves as a coming-of-age story for Curtis Chin, a gay ABC (American-born Chinese) trying to find his way in life.
Chin’s father always greeted customers with the question, “Is this for here or to go?”
Eventually Chin realized for him it was “to go.” He studied creative writing at the University of Michigan and eventually moved to Los Angeles.
Like Detroit in the 1980s, we live in a divided world, Chin says, but the Chinese restaurant remains a place to bring people together.
Chin’s book was named a Michigan Notable Book for 2025 and is currently the 2025-26 selection for the Great Michigan Read presented by the Michigan Humanities Council. Additional support is provided by the Library of Michigan and MSU Federal Credit Union.
Former Tecumseh District Library director Gayle Hazelbaker will serve as the “conversation partner” during the program.