Tonight, we went to Hao Noodle and Tea by Madam Zhu’s Kitchen for dinner. Madam Zhu’s is a Sichuanese-influenced Chinese restaurant that started in mainland China and has locations in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou, and they’ve expanded to the U.S. with this New York City location. I knew that it would be a more upscale representation of Chinese food, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how modern not only the decor but the dishes would be in terms of the spin they’ve taken with the flavors and presentation. Not only that, another thing that was interesting was that the staff was very diverse; it was not all Chinese hosts and servers and bus boys, but a variety of colors. In fact, I think that only one of the wait staff who helped us was actually ethnically Chinese. It’s exciting to see this, as it means that more people are becoming open-minded to Chinese food and how incredible it can be. It’s not just the stereotypical Americanized corn-starch goop and sweet and sour pork that is so often generically on menus. This is real, beautiful, and tasty food.