 Sometimes the Chinese kick it a little bit. Hey, I got dibs on the Henny Kaladin. Talk to a Chino with that, that good as Spanish? I don't think I was Dominican with a Hilo. Open up this chain. The second one. The group, check it out. Got you out. I got you out, yeah. I don't know. I'm not the one with the damn name for you out here. You got a rope chain? You got a rope chain? Sounds up to me. It's up to you, Kate. Chino Latino, meaning Latin American people with Chinese origins. And as far as America goes, they're a heavy in New York City. And their unique cuisine is beloved by all types of people, too. For decades, people have served chashumafongo, chuletas and fried rice, chicharronas de pollo with lo mein. I mean, listen. We're all about bridging cultures here, so we're going to travel up and down New York City to not only explore the food, but also meet the people and hear the stories. We start off in Brooklyn at a classic, Caledad China, joined by a Chinese guy who is straight from the Dominican Republic, Weihau. Today we're going to be covering the Chinese diaspora in places like Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and all other Latin-speaking countries in that region. And you know we couldn't do a Chino Latino video without an authentic Chinese person who grew up in the Dominican Republic. We got Weihau. Hey, get a look at my hand. My name's Weihau Chen. I'm from the Dominican Republic. I moved here to New York five years ago. All right, so we're in East Williamsburg right now. This street is primarily Puerto Rican, but all types of Latin Spanish people. We're in front of Caledad China. What does it mean? Oh, Caledad China is a majority, so the food here is super low price. Hey, you guys, the diaspora led to a lot of different things, but one of the most notable is the fusion cuisines that emerged from it. Let's check it out. All right, you guys, we are at Caledad de China. And we're about to order right now. Look, they have everything from dim sum to mofongo. They have roast pork. They have fried pork chops. Guys, this is very much a 50-50 menu right now. What should we get? This mofongo, the A4, the A4, the fried green plantain, vinaigrette, or shrimp chicken. Yes. What's that? All right, guys, we're about to step into the kitchen of Caledad China restaurant. Let's go. Hey, everybody. Thanks for clicking on that video. And as you can tell, we love eating food, but if you eat this much food, you should probably work out a little bit. And for me, I've been working out more, but I don't always know where to start or how to track my progress. And that is why today's sponsor comes into play. I'm talking about Fitbot. It's a workout app on iOS and Android that helps design custom workouts for you based on your goals and available equipment. 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Pick up the pace on your fitness journey with Fitbot today, and your future self will thank you. Get 25% off your membership. Just go to fitbot.me-slash-fungroes or click in the description. That is 25% off at fitbot.me-slash-fungroes. There you go. All right, you guys, we are sitting in front of a gigantic feast here at Calidad Gina. We had plantain, platano, I think it's from the Art Republic. All right, this is chicken chicharrones with tostonas, AKA more of the toasted green plantains, right? Green plantain, yeah. Okay, here I had to order the siu long bao, AKA the xiao long bao, soup dumplings, just because there's really nothing Dominican about this. But this is just crazy to see on this spread right here. Man, you know I'm at a chino-latino spot because I got fried rice, pink sauce, and char siu. One, all right, Weihai, what are you going for first? I just had a piece of the pollo. I had two. That was really good. Yo, I haven't had like fried plantain for a long time. Yo, get it, man. Are you eating it? This is like my first time, like since five years ago. I haven't been to the art teams in two years ago. Yo, you guys, we got to get into each dish. I think for me, I'm curious about the chashu. I'm curious about the xiao long bao's, Puerto Rican xiao long bao. Yo! It's really good. Yo, this is so super good. Yo! I'm gonna try it with this. Yo, he's eating the xiao long bao with the Puerto Rican red sauce. All right, guys, I got to try the xiao shu and madoro. Look at these big slices right here. I'm about to eat them both at the same time. Chashu madoros. Hey, you know me. I'm the mixologist. I'm about to get the tomato on top of the madoros, on top of the chashu, on top of the tostones. This is a sandwich right here. What do you think it's gonna taste like? Do you think it's gonna taste like some her Chinese food, like the Latin food, or what do you expect? I think it's gonna have a lot of, like, different, like, taste buds. So I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, it sounds good. It's nice. Eat one, eat one. All right, you guys, what are we looking at right now? Weihao, this is like a madoro cup with, like, some sort of shrimp. Mofongo, yeah, mofongo with shrimp. Yeah. So this is a mofongo and shrimp. Guys, I saw him make this back there. The process was he cut up the plantains, he fried them part way, he mashed it up in a mortar and pestle, and then he shaped it into these bowls, and then he fried it again. So guys, this took a lot of work. This is one of their premier dishes here. Chino Latino fusion. Guys, I'm gonna be trying the lo mein, which has a mixture of different meats. I am looking at the mofongo with general sauce. Puerto Rican general sauce. All right, I'm gonna try the lo mein while you guys do that. All right, Weihao, I am holding one of the most popular dishes here at Caledad. Which one is it? Pepper steak. It's the most popular dish in Puerto Rico and for the first Chinese restaurant. All right, so this is pepper steak. You have pork shrimp fried rice. This is the house special fried rice. Black pepper steak. Black pepper steak. I have this Dominican friend named Ajenis man, and he's like, blood-wise is more Dominican, but you talk just like him, bro. Ayo, Ajeni. Ayo, I'm at Caledad China, a Dominican Chinese spot with a Dominican Chinese guy. Can you talk to him real quick? So now I'm calling our Dominican American friend, Marco, yo, Marco. Hey, hey, I want to introduce you to this Chinese Dominican guy. We know Weihao. All right, say what's up. It's not weird to see him speaking Spanish. No, I'm surprised because he's actually talking very well. Ajeni, she is Dominican. She speaks Spanish. Do you prefer the Dominican Chinese or the Puerto Rican Chinese? All right, you guys, that just wraps up the first leg. Weihao, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Honestly, it was amazing to see you communicate with so many people from Puerto Rico, from Dominican Republic, other Latin-speaking countries. I think that, you know, you just don't expect it. And I also think that the cool thing is about fusion spots like this is that it really is kind of bridging cultures. I know that's going to sound a little like cheesy, maybe a little OD here, but as you can see, all the people in there are very, very friendly, you know, because they're coming into a spot that they know is owned by Asians. So maybe they're also more open to Asians. Weihao, what'd you learn? That plantain's good, bro. But you guys, we are headed on to our next Chino-Latino spot. All right, you guys, continuing on our Chino-Latino crawl and we're in front of New Apollo. I heard this is a community institution here on Grand Street, not Manhattan Grand Street. They had a location on Delancey, but this is New Apollo because they closed the one down on Delancey. And interestingly enough, they're the owner, Chinese, from Venezuela. All what's going on, I'm here with Joe. Yo, Joe, can you, I asked you a question about like this Venezuelan, you know, Dominican Chinese food? Like what you think about the fusion? It's awesome, I love it, bro. When you go in there, isn't it weird to see Chinese people speaking Spanish? It used to be when I was a kid, but I grew up, I'm from Spanish Harlem. So I grew up going to Preciosa. They've been there ever since I was, that's a staple in the neighborhood. So I kind of got used to seeing them, you know, speaking Spanish to my mom and things of that nature. So now it's not, now at 40 some years old, it's not weird at all. All right, so we're here inside of New Apollo. Man, this guy's gonna help us order. Okay, what is the best dishes? Why are so many of the Chinese that immigrated to Latin American countries from Amping? We are looking at the Camarones. This is almost like Camarones Cantones. No, no, no, this is Camarones Diablo. This is the devil shrimp, devil sauce. Here I got nicely fried Maduro's here. You guys know the right plantains. And then here we have the pork fried rice. Very dark, I think it's kind of yellowish, kind of brown. And we have to check out the chuletas, these pork chops. Cooked a little bit more Spanish style, but I want to say definitely some Chinese influence, if nominal. I would say the pork fried rice looks a lot darker than it did at Caridad Chin. Shrimp Camarones Diablo, can't tell the style. But cooked in a wok. This was cooked in a wok. Chuleta, aka chupai. Okay, I heard that you guys are very famous for your bad tofu, vinegar, cocktail. Oh, what a bad tofu. So, what about blue Hawaii and suicide colada, make Hennessy colada. Oh, Hennessy colada. For the hood. For the hood. All right, definitely one blue Hawaiian. Okay. Put on Hawaii for lady. Okay. Hennessy colada for the man. Okay, I need an urn. Hey, you did pick up some of that Spanish joking. Hey, I got dibs on the Hennessy colada, David. You can get the blue Hawaiian. All right, they are famous, Andrew, in the streets of Brooklyn for their drinks. They said that a quarter of this will put you out. That's what someone asked us. All right, so here we have a Hennessy colada. We have a blue Hawaiian. We have a suicide. By name only, I have to assume that I cannot drink very much of that. So I might just take a sip. David, here at New Apollo, you sick, yeah, and then you get lit, yeah. All right, and it's similar to that. Yo, strong, the drinks is whole silent. Be honest, you didn't know this many Chinese people spoke Spanish in America. And by the way, the flavors of Cuban Dominican Puerto Rican food, they blend very well with Southern Chinese. I mean, it's all savory, a little sweet, saucy, lots of rice, and almost all of it's cooked in a wok. But before we head up and try what many consider the best Chino-Latino restaurant in all of New York, we had some questions. Why did some Chinese move to places like Cuba before America? And what was it like growing up as a Chinese kid out there? We're going to get some of our answers from Chinese Dominican New Yorker Tommy at Oro Latino Jewelry on Bowery in Chinatown, New York. And you know that we could not do a Chino-Latino food cultural exploration without an authentic Chino-Latino friend. You already know, you already know. Tommy Jules, man, we're here at Oro Latino Jewelry, right? What does that mean? Oro gold. Latino because I come from Latin America. I was born in D.R. and my father was in the jewelry business and that's pretty much a family business. I got stuck in here and here I am. All right, so everybody here at Oro Latino Jewelry is Chino-Latino. Hi, I'm Janet. I'm from Panama. Here you go. This is the type of chain that we got here. Eagle rope chain? Eagle rope chain? Samsung chain. Sub-sac. Talking about, you know, like the Chinese diaspora, the Cantonese diaspora, they weren't everywhere at all. You know, at the time it was easier to go to Latin America and then come to the U.S. So that's pretty much where my dad went to D.R., where grandfather went to D.R., then my dad went to D.R., then I was born in D.R., then I landed in and then came to the U.S. But you were saying it actually all started with Cuba originally, right? Well, Cuba was the first Chinatown. Cuba was the biggest Chinatown. All the Chinese was in Cuba. You know, with the relationship with China having Cuba, all the Chinese was in Cuba. It was easier to get to Cuba than to go anywhere else and then from there it pretty much expanded out to everywhere else. Because Fidel and Mao was homies. Yeah, they were homies. They were tight. Yeah, they were homies. Yeah, that's true. That's true. If you're going to flow in Maya, you should get the fried rice squid ink and then the baked chicken, the Sachi Papa is also good. Obviously, you know, typical food. The croquettes, you can try that too. And pretty much that's that's all right. And they got the smaller portions too, instead of the family size portion too. So it's good too for, you know, be one person. Florida Maya has been around for 47 years and sets the bar for the overall cuisine. Over the years though, they've added a lot more Peruvian dishes, which in itself is kind of an Asian South American fusion. So the Upper West Side was once home to several Chino-Latino restaurants, but now there's only a few left. But let's eat and talk to some second-generation owners to find out what the future of the cuisine might be. How you doing? My name is Dennis Chu. I am the son of the owner of Florida Maya Restaurant. We have two locations, one on Broadway and one on Amsterdam. The restaurant has been open for about 46, 47 years now. And the restaurant was opened by my father. His name's Phillip Chu and my grand-uncle. His name's William Cho. They open up both restaurants together. We specialize in Chino-Latino dishes, now more Peruvian also than other Chinese and Latin dishes that we have. The squid. The squid. Put in five right, Chinese style. Yeah, could I do that? Okay. So I do the planting with the half chicken and the lomo. Whatever you want. They come included. Yeah, I guess what do you think is more the yuca for lomo? Yeah. I have to eat them with the sweet plantain. All right, you guys. We're at Florida Maya. It originally started out as Chinese Cuban. Since then, they did add a Peruvian element. All right, you guys. We are looking at a Peruvian Chinese-influenced soup. Now, I know Camarones is in the name. You know, DC said it better than I did, but let me tell you this. This soup is incredible. You guys, we are looking at a black squid ink Chinese Peruvian fried rice. You've got the blackened ham. You've got shrimp, the Camarones, squids, Camarones, I believe. And just I've never seen a dish look like this ever before. I've had like forbidden treasure black Chinese rice, but this is taking it up to the next level with the black squid ink. Maybe some Japanese influence as well. That's good. This is good. That is good. David, you were talking crazy about the black squid ink fried rice. And you know me. I love some fried rice. This dish alone is why people come to Florida Maya, man. This is the dish that you have to get here. Tomo Sotado, I actually saw him make this fresh. He took the beef strips. He had a little bit of sauce that definitely has some soy sauce mixed into it. They freshly fried the fries. You know, the fries are not too thick. All right, guys, let's try their Tomo Sotado. It's definitely a lot saucier and a little bit more brown than other ones that I've had. But the steak looks good. I just cooked it like a tau ming. So this actually reminds me of this pork and potato dish that my mom used to make. David, if you remember, mom used to make this pork and potato stir-fry. And she would cut it up like this. It has a little bit of sourness. It's a little bit like vinegar. This actually kind of tastes like a... This is going to be crazy to say in this video, but a northeastern Chinese dish, a Dongbei dish, because it has a little bit of that vinegar vibe. There's nothing really Asian about this, except the way they cut it, but... The way they cut it makes it look a lot like Tzatziki. I don't know, guys. I'm smelling it. I feel like that's a little bit of five-spice right there. Can you see that, David? It looks like a little five-spice residue. Bro, I think for Ruvian roast chicken might be the best in the world. Got the pork chops with garlic. It does really look like Peter Luger's. And I think the little extra Asian flair is a lot of the fried chopped garlic. And that's what actually I've seen a lot, even at Caridad China. That's what they did a lot to really separate themselves. So it's very juicy. They cut it up Chinese style. This is the boiled garlic pork chop. I've got to tell you, Andrew, that is if our Cantonese father was to ask to make a pork chop. All right, here I have the Medoros and the yuka. And this has a little garlic sauce on top. So let me see how if this is like garlic oil or pickled garlic. That's chopped garlic. Oil, baby. Check it out with the Medoros. The ripe ones cooked to perfection. This would not be a Chino-Latino video without a nutcracker. This is a famous drink in New York City. A lot of rappers have talked about it. Loaded Lux made a whole song about it. He's a battle rapper. And, you know, even David, our server, had to tell us, yo, it's strong. It's strong. It's strong. You sure? So, yeah. Straight to the dome. Guys, I can't finish it all. I got to scoot her back, but this nutcracker is hitting. I don't know what's going on, but here on the Upper West Side, there are so many Chinese Latin spots. We are in front of La Dynistia. I believe that means the dynasty, obviously referring to Chinese dynastic past. Let's check it out. I heard this has been around for like 40, 50 years. We're here with Rich at La Dynistia. You know, what are we going to get today? You guys are going to get our signature dish, our Chicharon de Pollo Sin Hueso with the house-special fried rice. You're also going to get the Ropa Vieja with the rice and beans. Super good food. Guys, we are looking at the top two dishes here at La Dynistia, which means the dynasty. This is a Ropa Vieja. This is a very, very Cuban dish. I almost want to say only Cubans eat Ropa Vieja. It's like a shredded beef dish. So I'm going to pour some of this onto the white rice. You know, this is, Andrew, this is kind of fascinating to be in a Chinese Cuban spot right now, run by Chinese Peruvians. Okay, okay, okay. We got the Ropa Vieja. We got the white rice. We have the black beans, the Friolis de Negro. Okay, I'm going to get a little bit of everything all together. Mmm, Andrew, chicharons de pollo. This is probably the most popular thing I see people order at Chino Latino. Like literally, Andrew, this plate right here with the house-special fried rice and the pollo, the chicharons, that's the number one thing I've seen. All right, you guys, I'm going in, guys. This is the chicharón de pollo. I'm not saying you can call that a chicken tender, but if you could, that's the best damn chicken tender I ever had. Yeah, if you were to switch up Chino Latino, like a new Chino Latino. What if a new Chino Latino? I'm trying to keep heritage, you know, so I would like to keep it like OG. My father opened up this restaurant like about 35 years ago, back in 86. Back then, you know, the Upper West Side was flooded with Chino Latino restaurants. I'm talking about like almost one in every corner on Broadway. Like it was more common than an American Chinese spot. Like a Chino Latino spot was more common than that. Especially up here in the Upper West Side. So like now they're all almost gone. We're one of the like the last remaining few. What made you want to like keep it going versus like you could just be a real estate agent and accountant and lawyer or whatever? I did it for my family, you know, just trying to provide the food on a table at home. All right, finally we had to end it off at a very, very nice and well decorated modern restaurant, guys. We're here at Kayao Dao, okay, which is a little bit different than the other Cuban Chinese spots that we've been to because this is a chain, it's owned ultimately by a Italian musician that lived in Cuba and visited Knife Street, which is where the Barrio Chino, aka the Chinatown was in Cuba. Guys, I want to start off with the first dish. This, I mean it doesn't look like much, this looks like maduros and sauce, but this is the Mapo Maduros, aka your sweet fried plantains with Mapo Saucena. Yes, the spicy pork. So the plantains are going to take the place of the tofu. Let me try it. It kind of tastes like how you'd expect. It's a sweeter version of Mapo Tofu. The ravioli one tons here, so it's like a mixture. This might come from, you know, the mind of the Italian owner here, but look, you got a little bit of chili oils, you have your chopped scallions, of course. Let's see what's inside. I think this is a fish dumpling and this actually tastes pretty Chinese. I would say this right here probably tastes about 70% Chinese and 30% fusion. All right, last but not least, I got the Cuban egg rolls. These are made to kind of taste like a Cubano. So as you can see, it's got this nice line of mustard and the mustard is strong, I can tell you that because mustard is a big part of a Cubano, so I'm going to go eat it. That really does taste like a Cubano. I would say form factor obviously is the egg roll, but everything else is Cuban after that. Pretty cool though. Reason why we're ending off here at Caio Dao is because Cuba actually was the nexus. That's actually where a lot of Chinese immigrants started at and then they went to other Caribbean places after that. So even in the mid-1800s, a lot of Chinese went to Cuba and then in the 1950s, more Chinese came and from there, a lot of them went to, you know, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuban Chinese, Chino-Latino, this is it. All right, you guys, we have to talk to Queens native J-Shelves, Colombians, about the Chino-Latino food. What do you know? Because you grew up with it, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, Junction, once again. Queens always has the best freaking food. One of my favorite plates is the chuletas with pork fried rice, no vegetables. I get fries and I get maludel. You cannot get their homemade iced tea. What's your order if you go? I love the chicharrones de pollo with the fried rice, the maludels, and like I said, the homemade iced tea is delicious. You cannot get it. Yeah. Doesn't matter what you do. Even if you just walk by and just get a homemade iced tea, it's worth it. I think as Chinese Americans, we tend to forget that Chinese people moved everywhere in the world and a lot of them actually moved then to America. That's why sometimes I feel like you can't even say Chinese Americans are a monolith, let alone Asians as a general group. But it is refreshing to meet a Chinese person with some Latin flair to them. It's an experience that is ongoing because Asians continue to immigrate to South America and the Caribbean. Listen, the food is delicious and the history is interesting. So shout out to Chino Latinos and if you have any comments or if you want to rep where you're from, let us know in the comments down below because we just love New York City and what a diverse mosaic of people it really is.