The legacy of Cecilia Chiang, the 'Mother of Chinese food in America,' who died at 100

Cecilia Chiang, the famed restaurateur who helped introduce authentic Chinese food to America in the 1960s, died at 100 on Wednesday.

She gained acclaim as the owner of the Mandarin, a pioneering San Francisco restaurant she opened in 1961 that served many dishes that are now staples at Chinese restaurants across the country, like pot stickers, moo shu pork and sizzling rice soup, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported her death.

Her granddaughter, Siena, confirmed her death to the Chronicle, which named Chiang the "mother of Chinese food in America.".

Chiang met her husband Chiang Liang in Chongqing and moved with him to Shanghai and then Tokyo, where she opened a successful restaurant called the Forbidden City.

restaurant owner, as she put a $10,000 deposit on a store in San Francisco found by friends who backed out of the deal and left her on the hook for the non-refundable deposit.

She moved the restaurant to a larger space on San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square in 1968 and later opened a second Mandarin in Beverly Hills, California in 1975

"I think I changed what average people know about Chinese food," she told the Chronicle in 2007