I want to believe the Zagats — I really do

Nina and Tim Zagat have an op-ed in today's New York Tmes about why Chinese food in the United States is substandard. I should sympathize with their argument: Twenty years ago, American perceptions of Asian food could be summed up in one word: ?Chinese.? Since then, we have developed appetites for Korean, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese fare. Yet while the quality of the restaurants that serve these cuisines, particularly Japanese, has soared in America, Chinese restaurants have stalled. For American diners, the Chinese restaurant experience is the same tired routine ? unimaginative dishes served amid dated, pseudo-imperial d?cor ? that we?ve known for years.... There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States. Without access to key ingredients from their homeland, Chinese immigrants working on the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s improvised dishes like chow mein and chop suey that nobody back in their native land would have recognized. To please the na?ve palates of 19th-century Americans, immigrant chefs used sweet, rich sauces to coat the food ? a radical departure from the spicy, chili-based dishes served back home. But today, getting ingredients is no longer an issue. Instead, the principal obstacle to improving Chinese fare here is the difficulty of getting visas for skilled workers since 9/11. Michael Tong, head of the Shun Lee restaurant group in New York, has said that opening a major Chinese restaurant in America is next to impossible because it can take years to get a team of chefs from China. Chinese restaurateur Alan Yau planned to open his first New York City restaurant last year but was derailed because he was unable to get visas for his chefs. If Henry Kissinger could practice ?Ping-Pong diplomacy,? perhaps Condoleezza Rice could try her hand at ?dumpling diplomacy?? China and the United States should work together on a culinary visa program that makes it easier for Chinese chefs to come here. Hmm.... reducing barriers to exchange, increasing globalization of cuisine... I should be on this proposal like white on rice. Except that the Zagats' policy solution does not explain their policy conundrum. Immigration barriers should have a roughly equal effect on all Pacific Rim cuisines, not just China's. Why would it be the case that Chinese cuisine in the U.S. is particularly disadvantaged by vsa restrictions? Three possibilities: 1) Because China has a larger internal market, there is more innovation and competition at home, leading to more frequent innovations. Without a reliable transmission mechanism (i.e., migrating chefs), Chinese cuisine in China will improve at a faster rate than in the U.S.A. 2) Law of averages. There are 41,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., but only 9,000 Japanese restaurants. If quality is a function of quantity, then the average Chinese restaurant will simply be of poorer quality than other cuisines. 3) Innovation in a different direction. As this Washington Post story from last year suggests, American restaurants tend to innovate by using new cooking styles to present more traditional foods. Indeed, as the Zagats observe, this tendency is strongest in cuisines that have been here for a while -- like Chinese. This roils devotees of "pure" national cuisine, but deights everyone else. I'm willing to endorse more culinary trade as a matter of principle, but I'd still like a good explanation for this conundrum. Take it away, Tyler Cowen!