Food & Cooking
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Taipei Asian Cuisine to open in Pensacola on North Davis this summer

Bertie A. Kinser

There are a surplus of Chinese takeout restaurants in Pensacola and quite a few more Chinese buffets, but coming up at the end of June, a slightly elevated, sit-down Chinese restaurant will become an option for foodies, courtesy of a well-established local chef and business owner. 

Chuck Nippon, the owner of Nippon Sushi at Cordova Mall, will hit on another one of his entrepreneurial goals when he opens Taipei Asian Cuisine this summer on North Davis Highway. 

“There’s really no nice Chinese dining restaurants here,” Nippon explained Thursday morning. “I wanted to have a really nice, clean and classic Asian restaurant for local people. So when they want to have some really nice Chinese food, some original food, they have some place to go.” 

Taipei Asian Cuisine at 5912 North Davis Highway in Pensacola will open this summer.

There will be a fusion element to the new restaurant, which will seat more than 150 people when factoring in Taipei’s outdoor seating space. Nippon’s

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Food & Cooking
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How (American) Chinese cuisine gave birth to the Minnesota-invented pizza roll

Bertie A. Kinser

You’ve probably eaten Totino’s pizza rolls, those bite-sized nuggets of fried dough, filled with tomato sauce, gooey cheese and a variety of savory fillings. You’ve even watched the Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Vanessa Bayer. But did you know that Totino’s did not invent the pizza roll? It was another Italian-American Minnesotan building on the work of other food innovators.

Chop suey and American Chinese food

The story of the pizza roll really begins with Chinese restaurants in the United States. According to Jennifer 8. Lee, in her book “The Fortune Cookie Chronicles,” Chinese food joints, which first opened on the west coast, had spread to New York City by 1900. Lee observed, “Diners were being drawn by something dazzling! Something sophisticated! Something exotic! Something that had taken the country by storm. Something called … chop suey.”

Lee describes chop suey succinctly: “Thin squiggly white bean

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Food & Cooking
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These AAPI chefs are reclaiming the narrative of what Asian cuisine means

Bertie A. Kinser

For chefs, food is often a personal journey — maybe even the journey of their ancestors — and a function of social, economic and political events. It’s nearly impossible to make any one chef or restaurant a representative for an entire culture. Every region has their own unique influences, history, ingredients and techniques. “It would take me multiple lifetimes to master Sri Lankan cuisine,” said chef Samantha Fore, “because there are that many regional nuances.” And when you add in that layer of diaspora, it’s even harder to define what authenticity even means.

When it comes to Asian cuisines, the story has often been simplified and told by people who aren’t part of the culture. Dishes that were once ridiculed only start being revered once they are promoted by white food personalities. But now, more than ever, chefs from different Asian cultures are seizing the moment to cook

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Food & Cooking
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Twelve Restaurants Where You Can Taste True Asian Cuisine in Denver

Bertie A. Kinser

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I’m a fan of all flavors of Asian cuisine, and Denver has a great variety of eateries where you can celebrate the rest of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, then add to your regular rotation of restaurants to visit again after May is over. Each Asian community has its unique flavors and styles of cuisine. Sure, Japanese ramen, Thai and Chinese beef noodle soups and pho are all savory soups served in a bowl, but they’re supremely satisfying in different ways, from porky to beefy. And while soy sauce might be the most common ingredient, five spice shines in some Chinese broths, and curry, of course, rules in Indian cuisine. There are also various ways to enjoy your meal, from slurping that soup to grilling your own Korean

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