Forget about re-creating the NANKIN's most famous dish.
In the 20th century, generations of Minnesotans grew up on chow mein, a dish of crispy fried noodles topped with a celery-clogged brown gravy that was often fortified with pork or chicken. In that pre-fast-food world, exotic-sounding chow mein epitomized inexpensive, quick-service takeout.
The subgum chicken chow mein served at the Nankin was probably the most well-known iteration in the local Chow Mein Pantheon, and still fondly recalled 18 years after the downtown Minneapolis restaurant closed.
Among the metro area's remaining chow mein purveyors, there are undoubtedly a few that claim to serve the Nankin's original recipe, its details recalled, perhaps, by a former kitchen employee.
Home cooks have an equally sketchy path to Nankin chow mein greatness, although at first glance it would appear otherwise. That's because during the 30-plus years that a restaurant recipe request column was published in the Taste section, the Nankin's classic dishes amassed an enormous amount of newsprint. Only the former Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale generated more interest.
There's just one hitch, and it's illuminated in this typical exchange from the newspaper's archive, dated March 3, 1971.
"I would greatly appreciate seeing the recipe from the Nankin Cafe for the Cantonese-style chow mein," wrote Mrs. William T. Abe of Bloomington. "It long been one of our family's top favorite dishes."
(As a tangible measure of the restaurant's popularity, it was noted that Mrs. Abe's request for Nankin chow mein insights was one of 11 from that week alone.)
As for the Nankin's response, an unnamed spokesman's terse reply was simply, "We can't let any of our recipes go out." And the restaurant never did, at least not in Taste.
