Traditional Chinese dish of Spice ‘N’ Steam.
By: Zhaoru Ye
Jiaxiang Li starts his day at 10 a.m. every morning by supervising the kitchen work. His first guest usually arrives at 11 a.m. After closing the door at 10 p.m., Jiaxiang still has to do some preparatory work for the next day until midnight. As the owner of a Cantonese restaurant in Eugene, Jiaxiang Li is satisfied with his currently busy and tiring lifestyle. His aim is to promote Cantonese food at the United States, and he is confident to build a bridge between Chinese culture and American culture.
Jiaxiang Li was originally an oversea student from China. He had planned to go back to China after obtaining his business degree. However, his life abroad soon met with difficulties. He was not accustomed to the American food at all. As a native-born Cantonese, he was always crazy about Cantonese food such as tea and all kinds of dim sums, but there was not an authentic Cantonese restaurant in Eugene. On one occasion, he went to San Francisco and found quite a number of Cantonese restaurants there. He realized that a lot of Americans also liked the Cantonese food very much, and he considered it as a great business opportunity in Eugene. After conducting some market surveys on the restaurant industry in Eugene and taking several internships at the Cantonese restaurants in China, Jiaxiang got the first-hand information about Cantonese food, and he decided to open a Cantonese restaurant in Eugene. “I seldom slept during the first several months. I knew well that I might meet with a series of difficulties if I choose to start my business here,” Jiaxiang said, “but I also couldn’t wait to taste the first Cantonese dish in my own restaurant.”
After graduation in 2014, Jiaxiang began to open his Cantonese restaurant in Eugene. His restaurant called Spice ‘n’ Steam located in 165 W 11th Ave, Eugene, Oregon. During the next two years, Jiaxiang spent all his time at his restaurant without a day off. He promised to offer the best food ingredients and he even invited two Cantonese chefs from China to guarantee the quality of the food. He was seriously in charge of all the working procedures in the restaurant in order to provide the best and most authentic Cantonese food for the customers. Jiaxiang’s Cantonese restaurant gradually attracted a great number of Chinese in Eugene. “I like the Cantonese food in this restaurant very much, and I come here almost every week with my friends. The desserts here remind me of my hometown and my grandma,” one Chinese customer said.
Talking about the future, Jiaxiang Li hopes to expand his restaurant in about two years. He also plans to open two new branches in other cities of Oregon in the next five years. “There are more and more Chinese coming to the United States, and Oregon is still a new market for Cantonese food, ” Jiaxiang said. In fact, after staying in Eugene for almost seven years, Jiaxiang Li hopes his restaurant could integrate into the local economy and make contributions to the local development.