"a little about a lot"

So just what is American Food anyways?  New York City chef Tony Liu thinks he might be on to it:

"With family in mind, Liu teamed up with local partners Dudley Stewart and Mike Fuquay to open the Queensboro in a sprawling former furniture store. Jackson Heights has no shortage of Mexican, South American and South Asian food; the Queensboro, with its accessible food, thoughtful drinks program, and roaring brunch trade, speaks to a long-pent-up neighborhood demand for a full-service 'new American' joint that manages to cater to the neighborhood’s eclectic mix of families, singles, and old-timers, who famously speak a collective 167 languages.

'Jackson Heights is very culturally diverse, very similar to what I grew up with in Hawaii,' says Liu. 'I know a little about a lot of cuisines, rather than knowing a lot about one cuisine, so hopefully my cooking at the Queensboro connects with our guests.'”

Koreans tend to have some strange ideas about what Americans eat on a daily basis (cheeseburgers for breakfast and steaks for dinner, always?) so I'm looking forward to discussing this article with my adult students after winter break.  And of course, America has plenty of regional cuisines just like the rest of the world, but they tend to be overshadowed (killed off slowly?) by corporate restaurants.