The first San Francisco Restaurants to Serve These 8 Foreign Cuisines?

I came across this interesting mental_floss article “The First U.S. Restaurants to Serve 8 Foreign Cuisines” to wit: French, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Ethiopian.

Interesting that Denver gets credit for the first Thai restaurant in the U. S. and Long Beach for Ethiopian.

Other than Macao and Woosung, which is sometimes disputed (the restaurant, not the City) as the first Chinese restaurant in town, what are the firsts for the other cuisines?

Note that Fior d’Italia claims to be the oldest (not the first) Italian restaurant in the US. Was it the first in San Francisco?

Was Cordon Bleu the first Vietnamese restaurant in SF? The Poodle Dog the first French?

What was the first Japanese, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek?

I find it interesting to look back to 1962 when I first hit town and realize there were no Thai or Vietnamese restaurants in town but a host of Filipino restaurants and cafes, including 8 or ten on Kearny St.

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Are you asking about SF in particular, or the Bay Area as a whole? If the latter, Nan Yang was the first Burmese.

Khan Toke Thai House has been around since 1976. I don’t believe it was the first, but is it the longest surviving Thai restaurant in SF?

As my post title suggests, I’m talking about San Francisco. Burmese is not in the list. In any event, Nan Yang beat Mandalay by only a year.

Cordon Bleu would appear to be the first Vietnamese in town, since it dates to 1968, even though the An family claims the honor for Thanh Long (ca. 1975). I suppose there could be an argument about the robustness of their respective menus with regard to Vietnamese cuisine content.