China Restaurant, Chicago Chinatown

Curious if anyone is familiar with a restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown district that was (or is) simply named "China Restaurant"?

I recently picked up a Fu Manchu style mug (OMC) that came from this restaurant. As you can see from the photos below, the back shows "Dr. Fong China" with the address directly below. At first I thought 'Dr. Fong' was part of the restaurant name, but after poking around I think it's probably the name of the drink that was served in this mug. The address gave me three hits:

China Restaurant
World International Video
World Treasure Emporium

Google's 'Street View' shows a "World Treasures Emporium" at that address. Any info/insights?

Thanks!

Nice find,concaved bottom? Looks mint.

if i am not mistaken here, that mug came from a restaurant owned by paul fong of chef shangri-la...home of the dr. fong which has been their house drink since they opened in the 70's.....i think their original place was in chinatown as the mug indicates....it most likely closed years ago...i frequent chinatown quite often and don't recall that place still being open...bamboolodge would know more about this than i would but i wouldn't be suprised if there was a connection...we're going to the chef on wednesday...i can bring suzy a picture of this mug and see if it looks familiar to her....

We bought the same mug a while back in a local antique mall and brought it to Suzy at Chef Shangri-La and this is what she had to say.....

China Restaurant was owned by Paul Fong's brother,and Suzy thinks it was in the same location of another famous Chinatown restaurand called Chiam. She also said she's pretty sure it closed in the late 70's or early 80's. Hope this helps!

On 2008-11-25 09:43, BambooLodge wrote:
We bought the same mug a while back in a local antique mall and brought it to Suzy at Chef Shangri-La and this is what she had to say.....

China Restaurant was owned by Paul Fong's brother,and Suzy thinks it was in the same location of another famous Chinatown restaurand called Chiam. She also said she's pretty sure it closed in the late 70's or early 80's. Hope this helps!

i actually have a few pineapple mugs from chiam....you can still find them from time to time in these parts...

On 2008-11-25 01:24, tikipaka wrote:
Nice find,concaved bottom? Looks mint.

The bottom isn't truly concave; rather, it's stepped like an inverted layer cake. The mug is very minty, it still has its OMC sticker on the bottom. The Fu Manchu design isn't my favorite, but I like this one because it has the restaurant's name - and as I've later found, the name of the drink - incorporated into the mold as opposed to painted or stamped. I've sent a photo to a friend of mine, originally from Hong Kong, to see if he can interpret the Chinese portion on the back.

Tipsy / BambooLodge

Thanks for the info, it's all very interesting. Particularly the fact that there is still an existing connection with the restaurant and its mug. I purchased it (actually a lot of 2) from a lady in Hickory Hills, which I believe is just outside Chicago; a suburb maybe?

Incidentally - between posts my friend got back to me with the translation, the Chinese on the back says "Doctor Fong". Guess that shouldn't be a surprise. :)

On 2008-11-25 13:40, LOL Tiki wrote:
Tipsy / BambooLodge

Thanks for the info, it's all very interesting. Particularly the fact that there is still an existing connection with the restaurant and its mug. I purchased it (actually a lot of 2) from a lady in Hickory Hills, which I believe is just outside Chicago; a suburb maybe?

Incidentally - between posts my friend got back to me with the translation, the Chinese on the back says "Doctor Fong". Guess that shouldn't be a surprise. :)

not suprising that you found it in the chicagoland area in close proximity to it's origins........good score!

Found this in a thrift store about a mile from the former restaurant location.

TT