Huh, I wasn't sure, so I checked and it looks like the Chinese arrived around the same time? late 1800s. I'm not familiar with NYC though. I always heard American Chinese food really came from SF, but I could be wrong. I also checked and it looks like a lot of the immigrants to SF, at least, came from the southern provinces, which would explain why food just isn't as spicy up there, haha.
& yeah, I agree with you about SF's Chinese food. There's lot of delicious places, and the dim sum there is actually, imho, the best in Cali, yet a lot of other kinds of Asian food still retain the American fusion. Thank goodness I live so close to the 626 :p.
(But I dream about the egg yolk buns I got from this one place in SF that my friend took me to and I have no idea what the name was but oh my god it was so perfect and delicious and <333)