How the Country's Oldest Family-Owned Chinese Restaurant Has Survived for 114 Years

[Celerity]

Last edited Mon Jun 19, 2023, 11:35 PM - Edit history (3)

Since opening in 1909, Butte, Montana’s Pekin Noodle Parlor has become a local favorite and national treasure.

https://www.thrillist.com/travel/pekin-noodle-parlors-family-legacy



On Mother’s Day, it felt like everyone in Butte, Montana got their mom the same gift: the Extra Special combination at Pekin Noodle Parlor. Though barbecue pork and fried wontons are less traditional than bouquets or breakfast in bed, the story behind the Pekin, the country’s oldest continuously operating family-owned Chinese restaurant, make their almond chicken and pork fried rice particularly appropriate for the holiday.



“I was basically born here,” says Jerry Tam of the restaurant that his great-great-grandfather opened in 1909. In more than a century, the Pekin survived two pandemics, both world wars, booms, and busts almost entirely on the strength of family ownership and fiercely loyal customers.



Running a family business means Tam knows that he always has support, if anything were to happen to him, and that the Pekin would carry on. But he also knows that if something were to happen to the Pekin on his watch, that loyal customer base might not let him carry on. “They would hunt me down,” he says. “They would just murder me.”



Tam keeps turning out the sweet-and-sour chicken and egg rolls from the weathered brick building on South Main for his own safety, but also for the sake of his family legacy: in the last few years, the restaurant has been featured in not only national newspapers and magazines, but on three morning news shows. This year, the James Beard Foundation honored it with an “America’s Classics” award. “It's crazy for a small kid from Butte, Montana,” he says. But only as crazy as the stories of his father and great-great-grandfather who ran the Pekin before him.

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[Enter stage left]

1. Wow, a reason to go back to Butte...

We've been there a number of times, have seen what we thought we wanted to see, but when we're in that area again we will most certainly stop in and have dinner there.

Wow again, 114 years!!! WOW

[Tanuki]

2. I wouldn't have guessed the location! Well done, Tam fam!

I would have probably guessed that the oldest would be in San Francisco.

🥡🥢🥟🥠☕️

[Celerity]

3. I am sure it was not the first one, just the longest still running under the same family one

[Dios Mio]

4. Hope to taste it for myself someday.

[James48]

5. That made me hungry!

That last one, to go please.

[Celerity]

6. I had to go back and edit this one, as I had the system double post, and I stupidly deleted the one

with some pics that I had added right after I posted it the first time. I think thsi one now has most of the pics from the more detailed post that I deleted.

[burrowowl]

7. The dishes look yummy!

[DFW]

8. I've never been to Montana

I guess now, I have a reason to go.

Although, to put it all into perspective, a friend here had his wedding reception in a restaurant that had been a continuous family business for the last 900 years. Even for Europe, that is pretty amazing.

[Hekate]

9. Yuuummmmm. And on a Wong Way street you have to know where you are going. ❤️