Where's Sam Wo?

The story about the San Francisco health department closing a Chinatown fixture was interesting to me. Seems the Sam Wo restaurant’s owner couldn’t afford to bring the place up to code, so they served their last egg roll last week.

You’re probably wondering, so what? And, pretty much, so do I; I’ve never been there, although it’s purportedly been around since just after the 1906 earthquake. And I certainly wouldn’t have gone there to be insulted by “The World’s Rudest Waiter”.

It would have to be exemplary food indeed to prompt me to pay for the privilege of being the butt of the help’s rudeness. Frankly—I can get that sort of abuse from my employer, who actually pays me. (Not much, but still…)

I also don’t find it inviting to eat at a place where the health department finds “rodent activity” anywhere on the premises, much less in the kitchen. I’m not all that squeamish, but I do have some standards.

What I’m kind of wondering is why it took so long to cite the place, and why the owner doesn’t seem to have the money to make the improvements, since it’s apparently never short of customers?

But what this joint reminds me of is other institutional dives—restaurants that have been around for donkeys’ years, with large helpings of attitude as a major part of the cachet. The one that immediately comes to mind is The Original Pantry Café, in downtown LA.

It’s another place with a rep, and waitstaff that came over on the Lusitania. You don’t dare ask for any kind of special cooking or substitution, unless you like a huge helping of dissing with your pork chops. (And it’s not just one rude waiter; they all trained with Don Rickles. But you only get stick if you step out of the clearly demarcated menu lines.)

I’m thinking that TOPC stays ahead of the health department. Although now I'm going to wonder.