The Oldest Chinese Restaurant In The US Isn't Located In California Or New York

Delicious American Chinese food is a storied culinary genre, tracing back over 150 years to the mid-19th century. A style of cooking founded primarily by immigrants from China's Southern Canton province, the cuisine's earliest restaurants appeared throughout the Bay Area. A few decades later, Chinese food also achieved prominence in New York City, with hundreds of restaurants opening during the first decades of the 20th century. Yet the oldest still-operating eatery from this formative period doesn't reside in a coastal hub, but rather Butte, Montana.

Sounds a bit afield, right? Well, the 1911-opened Pekin Noodle Parlor isn't a random one-off Chinese eatery, but rather a relic of a prior prominent period. Like the San Francisco area, the mountain town attracted thousands of Chinese immigrants due to a Gold Rush, which started in the 1860s. Pekin Noodle Parlor founder Tam Kwong Yee – great-great-grandfather of the current owner — also arrived in the area from Guangzhou, China, after some time in San Francisco.

By the 1910s, the town already featured a bustling Chinatown area. Pekin Noodle Parlor's building was part of the action, first functioning as a gambling hall, and later as a medicinal shop, with the restaurant later expanded on the second floor. Right upon opening, Pekin Noodle Parlor served now iconic foods like chop suey and chow mein, noodles and more, accompanied by booze for hard-working miners. As the oldest surviving American Chinese restaurant, Pekin Noodle Parlor remains a foundational outlet of the tasty cuisine.

Pekin Noodle Parlor's over century-long preservation is remarkable, especially given Butte, Montana's often-turbulent economy. Inside, relics like illicit slot machines, Prohibition-era candy, and even a functioning 1914 refrigerator still remain, displaying the many layers of history that occurred inside restaurant walls. Yet the eatery is no museum, but rather a cherished part of the Butte community. Many members of the local community work there in some way, and when the economy was bad in the '80s and '90s, the owners never called the police on those who tried to dine-and-ditch. Instead, the owner gave them the chance to settle their bills or do dishes.

Over more than a century, the menu has absorbed a few tweaks, but still largely serves the same dishes. The institution continues as a terrific place to sample American Chinese classics like egg foo young, sweet and sour pork, or chicken chop suey, one of many retro dishes that restaurants don't make anymore. The employed techniques and ingredients have been handed down through the generations, with dishes scratch-made similarly to a century prior. Such a dedication to highlighting American Chinese cuisine even earned the eatery the James Beard America's Classics Award in 2023. So while Butte's Chinatown now barely exists –- and many surrounding businesses have shuttered altogether –  the Pekin Noodle Parlor continues to operate in the same 1909 building. Arguably Montana's best hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the eatery offers a delicious taste of times past.