China Sails

China Sails was a Chinese restaurant created and owned by Dave Wong in Salem, Massachusetts, and was located on 516 Loring Ave (where there is now a different Chinese restaurant called Fantasy Island, which still uses the original China Sails sign, although the sign now says “Fantasy Island”).  It was first opened in 1949 in Salem, and was eventually expanded to Revere, Chestnut Hill, the North Shore Shopping Center, and the Liberty Tree Mall.  Dave Wong, who had served in World War II, owned the restaurant from 1949 until his retirement in 1985.  The menu is extensive and includes a variety of sections such as appetizers, soups, chicken, meat, and seafood options, as well as rice, chow mein, chop suey, etc.  It also includes a section for American foods, as well as a section entitled “Dave Recommends” which contains the restaurant’s specialties.  I believe that this menu is from around 1965, because according to a study I found (http://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/historical-look-at-the-cost-of-a-cup-of-coffee.html/?a=viewall),  a cup of coffee at a restaurant cost about $0.15, the same price as the China Sails menu.  This was the only time that a cup of coffee cost $0.15 in the decades that China Sails was in business.  In addition, the menu boasts that the restaurant is “air conditioned for your comfort”, which was another clue to the date of the menu, because air conditioning was becoming more common in restaurants but it was not required. I was able to find a great deal of information about China Sails online, as it seems to have been very popular and regarded as a staple of Boston-area cuisine before it closed.   

In my research, I found a website (http://www.suncapinc.com/chinaindex.htm) run by Dave Wong’s son, Doug, that was created to reconnect former employees and customers of China Sails. According to this website, “After WWII, he had a vision to settle down, start a family and open a world class Chinese restaurant outside of Boston.  Dave felt it was time to bring his style of Polynesian/Chinese cuisine to his customers and break away from the traditional norm of being grouped with other Chinese restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown.  Dave found an opportunity in Salem, Massachusetts, a traditional working class community, to purchase an existing Chinese restaurant, called Red Sails.” The website includes emails from many people in the Boston area sharing their experiences and memories of China Sails.  One woman states that going China Sails as a child was her first experience with Asian cuisine and that now she always chooses it over any other type of food.  Another man, Rick Mintz, recalls that they came to consider Dave Wong a family friend and invited him to his bar mitzvah.  There were also several comments from people whose parents had gone on their first date at China Sails, as well as sharing many other childhood memories associated with the restaurant.  These comments all had a common theme: China Sails held an important place among the people and community of the North Shore.

The China Sails menu obviously makes use of words which are not in English (in Mandarin Chinese instead) despite it being a menu directed at a mainly English speaking audience, based on all the fact that none of the people who had commented on the website were Chinese.  In fact, many of the dishes whose names are listed in Mandarin on the menu are not described at all, instead assuming that the customers are already familiar with the food.  This is interesting because today restaurants that serve non “traditional” American food usually describe exactly what is in all of their dishes, in order to be able to reach a larger audience and accommodate those who have allergies or other dietary needs, which were less commonly thought of in 1965.