Most of the ideas listed in the article seem quite unlikely to me. I very much doubt that the 53k people studying Mandarin have anything to do with it, for inst

Most of the ideas listed in the article seem quite unlikely to me. I very much doubt that the 53k people studying Mandarin have anything to do with it, for instance, or that it makes us "ready to engage mainland China" (lol, what?). It may be more interesting to compare with other ethnic cuisines. Foreign language names for restaurants have been very common for years, including for other Asian cuisines (e.g. Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean). When you look at it that way, the Chinese restaurant scene actually seems to be a late arrival to this trend. I think this represents a deliberate break in branding with the previous Chinese restaurant tradition. Maybe it's to signify a difference in cuisine (authentic Chinese vs. American Chinese?). Or an ethnic difference (like the article mentions, more Northern Chinese who speak Mandarin, vs. the old immigrants who spoke Cantonese or Taishanese). Or perhaps younger restaurateurs actually have a more "American" ear, and now feel that names like "Golden Dragon" sound kind of goofy. In the article, Mr. Huang actually says that he looked at names like "Sauce" or "Hearth" first, which are typical trendy names of the moment for an American restaurant. So, paradoxically, the use of Chinese names may actually be due to the owners being more Americanized.