Photo by Stephanie Sarlos on Unsplash
In the summer of 1899, a reporter for the Boston Herald went looking for dinner in a basement on the east side of Chinatown. There was no sign that hung above the door.
What he ate that night ran that July under the headline “As Cooked in Syria.” The article was half review, half cooking lesson for readers who had never met the food. He stopped to describe the bread when the stuffed squash and the coffee arrived, served in cups the size of thimbles…