New York, NY – The 4th annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Awards Ceremony, co-presented by awarding-winning chef Martin Yan and Top Chef Lee Anne Wong, Executive Chef at the French Culinary Institute, will be held in New York City at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on Sunday, November 11th at Cultural Food New York, a two-day professional tradeshow showcasing Asian, Hispanic and Kosher food and beverages. The Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Award is a national event that strives to recognize, cultivate and preserve the best in Chinese cuisine standards and excellence.

The Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Awards ceremony will award the Top 100 restaurants in 10 categories. Recognition will be awarded for excellence in the categories of Overall Excellence, Regional Cuisine, Take-Out, Buffets, Best Value, Signature Dish, Rising Stars, Nutrition-Friendly Menus, Asian Fusion and Metro Favorites. The 2007 Top 100 competition, open to all Chinese restaurants in the U.S., includes more than 43,000 from all 50 states. Participating restaurants include newly established restaurants, seasoned restaurants, chain restaurants and past award-winners.

In addition to cuisine and restaurant recognition, this year’s competition has also added a Mystery Diner program, implemented by leading mystery shopping company AboutFace, to evaluate the qualifications of all candidate restaurants. The winners are chosen from AboutFace’s Mystery Diner progam, which makes anonymous visits and evaluations of each candidate restaurant, as well as from direct votes from diners and the public at large. In an effort to promote healthy dining in Chinese restaurants, the Nutrition-Friendly Menu category has also been added to the competition.

In conjunction with this event, Chinese Restaurant News and healthydiningfinder.com have teamed up to present, Healthy Dining Menu Trends and Opportunities for Asian and Hispanic Restaurants on Monday, November 12, 2007; 10:30 am – 12:00 pm at Cultural Food New York. The seminar will be moderated by Erica Bohm, VP and director of strategic partnerships for Healthy Dining, and includes a panel of restaurant representatives and dietitians.

About Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA
The Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA awards was established by Chinese Restaurant News (CRN) in 2004. Participating candidates must have fifty-percent of their menu relate to Chinese cuisine, be in business for a minimum of two years, and be a recipient of a minimum of one award, highlighted in the media ranking for dining excellence, or verified by more than 200 valid customer votes.