Even though I never lived in The City, I was lucky enough to have eaten in the original place when Edsel was working. Never had the raw fish salad, but their rice noodle rolls were amazing!
Sam Wo comes up in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums (his best book, IMO). Kerouac's friend and fellow poet "Japhy Ryder" (actully Gary Snyrder) loved the restaurant and ordered authentic Chinese dishes for everyone. To my shame, I've never eaten at Sam Wo's. Great segment, as always, Christy!
Awesome! No relationship, I assume, to the Sam Wu restaurants (Cantonese roast meat focus) in Southern California. There's a tea shop of Hong Kong immigrants in my California town that has a reputation for "rude" staff. When I started going there 12 years ago, all the Yelp reviews were angry people saying how rude the staff was. They hang up signs in the cafe with the house "rules," like how you can't use the electrical outlets to charge cell phones. Quite reasonably, they require a minimum purchase by each customer to be there. Since they have an outdoor patio, many in town would try to hang out without buying anything, and the staff chase them away or demand purchase. If they don't like "the cut of your jib," for any reason, they order you to leave. So, friends of mine just got in the habit of making the smallest purchase--a bottle of water--as soon as they arrive. Some people are "banned." The older staff speak English poorly, so they have no patience for any extra words from customers. Basically, just say the name of the drink and the size, and do it quickly! After a dozen years there as regulars, we all learned that they are sweet people, just having stereotypical HK brusqueness. The seeming "rudeness" has been a good "filter" to scare away "Starbucks" type customers and make it a special place for the regular customers to have a space for meeting that doesn't feel "corporate." We even made our own t-shirts in tribute!
It would be fun to pull all the worst Chinese restaurants on Yelp and really find out what's happening there. Someone once said the best Chinese restaurants are 3 stars, filled with 5 stars "food is great" and 1 star "service is awful" reviews, haha. I want to see the t-shirts!
There was also a Sam Wo in Toronto Chinatown since at least 1972, specializing in Chinese BBQ meats, congee, wonton noodles, and stir-fried noodles etc. It later opened a few more upscale restaurants in the newer Chinese area in NE Toronto, now mostly closed. It seemed to be related to the Sam Wo in LA. Any relations to the one in SF?
For restaurants still operating in SF Chinatown, I have Henry's Hunan, Hang Ah, maybe Kam Lok, and Mister Jiu's if I ever make it that far haha. I definitely can look into Lun Ting too. Any other requests?
Hi Christy, sorry I’m adding my comment to this video that doesn’t have anything to do with this video. I came across another video from ABC 10. It’s about a law professor that has found the oldest continency Chinese restaurant in America, it is called Chicago Café in Inglewood Illinois. The restaurant first opened in 1903 and it is still run by the Fong family, currently the owners are Pamela and, so sorry I don’t remember the husband‘s name. But unfortunately, the Fong do not have any children so the mantle cannot be passed on to the next generation. Just thought you should know . Cheers, Janice
Chicago Cafe is in Woodland, California. They have not confirmed it's the longest continually operating restaurant, however. They only speculate; I have not seen their "proof" anywhere. However, news headlines that began with "What could be the oldest..." have been transformed by subsequent posters as "The oldest..." :)
Haha, you are definitely not the first person who told me about this. Gabriel Chin is the law professor from UC Davis leading this research. You can read more information from the school here: www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/news/chicago-cafe-is-oldest-chinese-restaurant-in-california. Pekin Noodle Parlor started in 1909, Chicago Café likely in 1910. Gabriel Chin's work is amazing. I read his "The War Against Chinese Restaurants" numerous times ( scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol67/iss4/1/ ). This is his latest on Finding the Oldest Chinese Restaurants: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4493301. Long standing Chinese restaurants are closing everywhere in the country. I've been thinking about it a lot.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow Yeah, I'm a historian so I have a sensitive nose for articles that seem to project claims without really providing the evidence. I'm not sure how Gabriel Chin's project got twisted in media as in that UC Davis article. I suppose people just love the idea of "the oldest," when, regardless of oldest or not, there is still a lot more of greater interest there. There's a media outlet, Goldthread (video arm of South China Morning Post). I noticed years ago that all of their food-related videos started out with some impressive-sounding claim of something being very old or "the biggest" or whatever. I would like to visit Chicago Café, but I don't have high hopes for the food, haha. Otherwise, it looks like an awesome community meeting spot.
Excellent story!
Thank you so much! Would love some tips on making this type of videos if you have any.
I went there in 2022. It was so good! Got a little bit of everything 😋
Even though I never lived in The City, I was lucky enough to have eaten in the original place when Edsel was working. Never had the raw fish salad, but their rice noodle rolls were amazing!
It's crazy how many people have memories of Edsel.
Sam Wo comes up in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums (his best book, IMO). Kerouac's friend and fellow poet "Japhy Ryder" (actully Gary Snyrder) loved the restaurant and ordered authentic Chinese dishes for everyone.
To my shame, I've never eaten at Sam Wo's.
Great segment, as always, Christy!
You still can eat at Sam Wo's NOW. The owner said he's retiring next year. I confirmed with him. :(
What an interesting slice of history
Awesome! No relationship, I assume, to the Sam Wu restaurants (Cantonese roast meat focus) in Southern California.
There's a tea shop of Hong Kong immigrants in my California town that has a reputation for "rude" staff. When I started going there 12 years ago, all the Yelp reviews were angry people saying how rude the staff was. They hang up signs in the cafe with the house "rules," like how you can't use the electrical outlets to charge cell phones. Quite reasonably, they require a minimum purchase by each customer to be there. Since they have an outdoor patio, many in town would try to hang out without buying anything, and the staff chase them away or demand purchase. If they don't like "the cut of your jib," for any reason, they order you to leave. So, friends of mine just got in the habit of making the smallest purchase--a bottle of water--as soon as they arrive. Some people are "banned." The older staff speak English poorly, so they have no patience for any extra words from customers. Basically, just say the name of the drink and the size, and do it quickly!
After a dozen years there as regulars, we all learned that they are sweet people, just having stereotypical HK brusqueness. The seeming "rudeness" has been a good "filter" to scare away "Starbucks" type customers and make it a special place for the regular customers to have a space for meeting that doesn't feel "corporate." We even made our own t-shirts in tribute!
It would be fun to pull all the worst Chinese restaurants on Yelp and really find out what's happening there. Someone once said the best Chinese restaurants are 3 stars, filled with 5 stars "food is great" and 1 star "service is awful" reviews, haha.
I want to see the t-shirts!
Great video - love learning about the History of Chinese food and this was a wonderful insight. Thank you for sharing.
There was also a Sam Wo in Toronto Chinatown since at least 1972, specializing in Chinese BBQ meats, congee, wonton noodles, and stir-fried noodles etc. It later opened a few more upscale restaurants in the newer Chinese area in NE Toronto, now mostly closed. It seemed to be related to the Sam Wo in LA. Any relations to the one in SF?
Would like to see you cover Lang Ting, SF
For restaurants still operating in SF Chinatown, I have Henry's Hunan, Hang Ah, maybe Kam Lok, and Mister Jiu's if I ever make it that far haha. I definitely can look into Lun Ting too. Any other requests?
Soong yeu (big head) is one of the invasive Asian carps, it should not be served raw as fresh water fish may be infested with tapeworms.
Hi Christy, sorry I’m adding my comment to this video that doesn’t have anything to do with this video.
I came across another video from ABC 10. It’s about a law professor that has found the oldest continency Chinese restaurant in America, it is called Chicago Café in Inglewood Illinois.
The restaurant first opened in 1903 and it is still run by the Fong family, currently the owners are Pamela and, so sorry I don’t remember the husband‘s name. But unfortunately, the Fong do not have any children so the mantle cannot be passed on to the next generation. Just thought you should know .
Cheers, Janice
Chicago Cafe is in Woodland, California.
They have not confirmed it's the longest continually operating restaurant, however. They only speculate; I have not seen their "proof" anywhere. However, news headlines that began with "What could be the oldest..." have been transformed by subsequent posters as "The oldest..." :)
Haha, you are definitely not the first person who told me about this. Gabriel Chin is the law professor from UC Davis leading this research. You can read more information from the school here: www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/news/chicago-cafe-is-oldest-chinese-restaurant-in-california. Pekin Noodle Parlor started in 1909, Chicago Café likely in 1910.
Gabriel Chin's work is amazing. I read his "The War Against Chinese Restaurants" numerous times ( scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol67/iss4/1/ ). This is his latest on Finding the Oldest Chinese Restaurants: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4493301.
Long standing Chinese restaurants are closing everywhere in the country. I've been thinking about it a lot.
@@AmericanChineseFoodShow Yeah, I'm a historian so I have a sensitive nose for articles that seem to project claims without really providing the evidence. I'm not sure how Gabriel Chin's project got twisted in media as in that UC Davis article. I suppose people just love the idea of "the oldest," when, regardless of oldest or not, there is still a lot more of greater interest there.
There's a media outlet, Goldthread (video arm of South China Morning Post). I noticed years ago that all of their food-related videos started out with some impressive-sounding claim of something being very old or "the biggest" or whatever.
I would like to visit Chicago Café, but I don't have high hopes for the food, haha. Otherwise, it looks like an awesome community meeting spot.
So... Some folks have reminded me that I ALSO have videos that made such claims (Tong Fong Low). Lesson learned!
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Aww, thank you!
Very cool video! Really happy this popped up in my recommendations!
Yay, thank you!