"Big Onion" revisited; General Chang's Chicken (1976)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Greetings from the NYPL in Lincoln Center.
   I'm working tomorrow, and then the NYPL is closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for the holiday.  Starting in September, because of the budget cuts, the library will be closed on Mondays.  And that's just for starters.

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BIG ONION

   A walking tour company in New York City (since 1991) is called the Big Onion.  They have a new guide book out.
   They explain that immigrants to New York had tears, and for them it was like seeing the many layers of a big onion.  Their web site (www.bigonion.com) states: "Long before it was dubbed the Big Apple, those who knew New York City called it the Big Onion."
   This stuff got on the web site of the New York Public Library, the same web site where you'll learn that "the Big Apple" comes from whores.  The NYPL states that New York City was "the Big Onion" about a hundred years before "the Big Apple."  The scholar cited is Robert Hendrickson.
   Years ago, I asked the Big Onion people for some cites.  Give me five.  O.K., four.  O.K., give me a single citation where anyone said this at any time.  They didn't do it.
   I just checked on NEW YORK TIMES full text.  I limited my search to before 1920 to avoid the hundreds of hits.  I got hits--TWO HITS.  One was a receipt list, and the other wasn't appropriate, either.
   So I checked again, adding twenty more years to the search.
   Again, no one called New York City "the Big Onion."
   It's a free country, I suppose, and you can say anything you want.   But this "Big Onion" thing isn't true!

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GENERAL CHANG'S CHICKEN

   Add "General Chang" to my info on "General Tso" and "General Gao."  There's General confusion here.
   CUE magazine recently became available at the NYPL, and it was helpful here.
   From CUE, 17 January 1976, pg. 41, col. 2:

   _Szechuan Palace_, 15 Soundview Shopping Center, Shore Road, Pt. Washington, is a friendly restaurant featuring Northern Chinese and Szechuan food.  Among the delights of the house are...General Chang's chicken, prepared in a sauce fired with peppers, and sweetened faintly with a touch of hoisin...