Dig in With Graver: Sharing Meals and Memories at the Chinatown Inn

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Jeet jet?

Even if your belly is full, you’ll be craving a meal from the Chinatown Inn after reading “Have You Eaten Yet?,” a new cookbook by actor Ming-Na Wen, whose family has owned the Downtown restaurant since 1943.

Born in Macau, she later moved to Hong Kong and, at the age of 6, came to the United States. She spent much of her childhood in Mt. Lebanon before landing roles in “As the World Turns,” “The Joy Luck Club,” “Mulan,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “ER,” a ‘90s precursor to “The Pitt.”

Her book, which goes on sale Oct. 6, includes dozens of mouth-watering recipes, from restaurant classics to the modern favorites she whips up in her own kitchen.

PHOTO BY DENNIS KWAN

Filled with personal stories and family photographs, the tome is a tribute to her heritage and the enterprising Yee family, who’ve run the Third Street eatery for generations. It’s the last surviving business in the Steel City’s once-bustling Chinatown and one of only six eateries represented in the Kamin Science Center’s Miniature Railroad & Village — which is kind of a big deal.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KAMIN SCIENCE CENTER

On Thursday, Oct. 8, Wen will stop in Pittsburgh on her book tour. Organized by Riverstone Books, the ticketed event will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Third Presbyterian Church in Shadyside. It will include an audience Q&A session and a conversation moderated by Jim Rooney, author of “A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule.”

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Wen received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2023. As a fan of her work and her food, I think she’d make a great addition to the Strip District’s Pittsburgh Walk of Fame.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MING-NA WEN

In the late-’90s, when I was a college student and my dad worked Downtown, I’d regularly catch a bus from the University of Pittsburgh campus and meet him for lunch at the Chinatown Inn. Each trip to the “big city” was an adventure for this suburban girl.

Now, all of those meals live in my head as one delicious core memory.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Dad and I visited the restaurant again last week, reminiscing as we shared everything from egg rolls, shrimp fried rice and wonton soup to Moo Shu pork, Szechuan chicken and numerous cups of tea. My fortune cookie informed me that love and compassion would fill my heart that night.

Thanks to the Yee family, it was full before I even placed my order.