SAN FRANCISCO, California: In dining rooms from San Francisco's Chinatown to New York's Hell's Kitchen, Chinese American chefs are asking why their cuisine is still expected to be cheap, even as they craft elaborate tasting menus rivaling French or Japanese fine dining.

For Taiwan-born chef George Chen, the question is personal. Growing up in Los Angeles after his family immigrated in 1967, he remembers classmates recoiling at his lunch of braised pork and Chinese sauerkraut between slices of bread.

"‘Oh, God, what are you eating? That's gross," Chen recalled at his San Francisco restaurant China Live. "And now everybody wants the braised pork and Chinese sauerkraut. Hopefully, perception of Chinese (food) has now come a long way."

Chen built a reputation for Chinese fine dining in the Bay Area. At China Live, diners can watch dumplings being made, Peking ducks roasted, and noodles pulled. He hopes to revive his upstairs tasting-menu restaurant, Eight Tables, where dinners ranged from US$88 to $188, and plans to open Asia Live in Santa Clara.

He is not alone. Nearby are Empress by Boon, Mister Jiu's, and Four Kings. In New York, restaurants like Yingtao offer $150 tasting menus, reframing Chinese cuisine as contemporary and refined.

"We are trying to break this bias, this boundary of people who only think about like Sichuan food, Cantonese food, the takeout box," said Bolun Yao, who opened Yingtao with his wife Linette Yao in 2023.

After studying food at NYU, Yao said he wanted "to build a bridge between traditional Chinese and the fine dining scene that New York people are familiar with."

Emily Yuen, Yingtao's executive chef, shares that mission. "I want to go back to like, who I am, and kind of explore that," she said. She is experimenting with dishes like the Cantonese custard egg tart, or "dan tat," reimagined with caviar and quail eggs. "Egg on egg on egg," Yuen said.

Still, restaurateurs face skepticism over high prices. "Why shouldn't I?" Chen said. "Just because we're in Chinatown? Or just because people's perception of Chinese food is that it's only good if it's cheap? It's not true."

The resistance reflects a longer history. Food scholar Krishnendu Ray notes that Chinese cuisine's prestige declined in the West after the 19th-century Opium Wars, when China was increasingly viewed as poor. Stereotypes persisted as Chinese immigrants faced segregation in the United States.

Ray found that mentions of Chinese regional cuisine in Michelin's New York City guides rose from three percent to seven percent between 2006 and 2024. "I think it's wonderful that there are these restaurants now," said Luke Tsai of KQED. "It's fine also if you don't think it is worth it. But at the same time, I'm really glad that these restaurants exist."

Chefs also resist the label "fusion." "What we're trying to do is just Chinese," Yuen said.

At Empress by Boon, chef Ho Chee Boon keeps traditional wok stations running with woks shipped from Hong Kong. "We want to keep the traditional, but we can look in a modern way," he said.

For Chen, showcasing regional techniques in an open kitchen is key. "You actually look at the greater culinary disciplines of China and because you have the space, you can showcase the cuisine," he said. "I think that's really served us well."