Fulin’s Asian Cuisine and Steam Boys, two of the most successful Chinese restaurant chains in Tennessee and Alabama, couldn’t be more different.
Fulin’s will trigger a nostalgic rush for anyone who ate westernized Chinese food in the Cold War era. Once diners are seated at tables with red paper lanterns strung overhead, they’re greeted with bowls of crispy fried wontons and Kool-Aid red, sweet-and-sour dipping sauce. The menu–a hardbound book, of course–includes beef and broccoli, cashew chicken, and egg drop soup. Like the servers, the guests are older, but no matter how long they’ve lived, they eagerly crack open fortune cookies for assurance that they’ll flourish until their next Fulin visit.
