Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant

A Memoir

By: Curtis Chin

Narrated by: Curtis Chin

This “vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt” memoir tells the story of Curtis Chin’s time growing up as a gay Chinese American kid in 1980’s Detroit (Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers).

Nineteen eighties Detroit was a volatile place to live, but above the fray stood a safe haven: Chung’s Cantonese Cuisine, where anyone—from the city’s first Black mayor to the local drag queens, from a big-time Hollywood star to elderly Jewish couples—could sit down for a warm, home-cooked meal. Here was where, beneath a bright-red awning and surrounded by his multigenerational family, filmmaker and activist Curtis Chin came of age; where he learned to embrace his identity as a gay ABC, or American-born Chinese; where he navigated the divided city’s spiraling misfortunes; and where—between helpings of almond boneless chicken, sweet-and-sour pork, and some of his own, less-savory culinary concoctions—he realized just how much he had to offer to the world, to his beloved family, and to himself.

Served up by the cofounder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and structured around the very menu that graced the tables of Chung’s, Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is both a memoir and an invitation: to step inside one boy’s childhood oasis, scoot into a vinyl booth, and grow up with him—and perhaps even share something off the secret menu.

Goodreads’s New and Upcoming Books to Discover This Pride Month

©2023 Curtis Chin (P)2023 Little, Brown & Company

Critic reviews

"Curtis Chin smoothly narrates this memoir of his life and his family's Chinese restaurant, where he worked while growing up. Don't listen to this audiobook when you're hungry--all the food sounds delicious!" (AudioFile)

"Vivid, moving, funny, and heartfelt, Curtis Chin’s memoir showcases his talents as an activist and a storyteller. This is one man’s story of growing up gay, Chinese American, and working class in 1980s Detroit, finding a place in a large and loving immigrant family and in a changing city—and in doing so, carving out a place in the world for himself."—Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers

"The work Curtis Chin has done as a writer and organizer made so much of this current moment possible—a memoir from him is a cause for celebration."—Alexander Chee, bestselling author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

“Coming out and coming of age are hard enough for the average teen, but when they’re in a Chinese American family, in a city in conflict with itself, it becomes an epic journey of self-discovery. As a kid who also ran around in the back of a Chinese restaurant, this book is literary comfort food, so delicious and good for the soul. Curtis Chin’s story of coming of age and coming out is endearing and unforgettable.”—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Daughters of Afong May

Fun and enlightening read.

A unique and enlightening perspective for someone coming of age in a multi-generational, cross-cultural, tumultuous time in American history.

a subtle story

I liked the book overall. In my opinion, the performance was good but not great. I feel like the areas the writer chose to emphasize and the ones they underplayed were interesting choices that, for me at least, took away from the meat of the story.

A wonderful comming of age story,

Growing up with a large family in downtown Detroit, Curtis Chin uses his family's restaurant a focus point to brach out and explore his family's history, the city in the 1970-1980's, and how he pieced together his identity.

Beautiful , honest storytelling

Enjoyable- I couldn’t put it down!!!hopefully there will be more to come from the author

The honest story telling

I liked the honest within the story and how the author includes details and connections of different phases of his life back to his family’s restaurant and their dishes. I really enjoyed the history woven into the book as well.

Battling for inclusion

A very honest and well conceived memoir of overcoming by faith in yourself, your family, and your friends,

A Successful recepie of our favorite American Chinese Restaurant Experience

A delightfully tasty well written book of the shared journey of how many of our favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurants came to be our go to spots for our favorite noodles, Chinese dishes , fortune cookies, and more importantly the families that brought us memories of great meals came to be

Engaging

Well written and engaging, for someone who grew up in Michigan around the same time, I could often times relate personally. Performance was excellent.

frankness and more real than most

done of the stories were edited to such a level that it left you looking for more