2 replies to this topic

[weinoo]

I don't know how many others will think it's a sad day when 100 year-old Chinatown mainstay Sam Wo has had to close its doors forever, especially when the city's health inspectors decided to:

crack down on Sam Wo's managers now for failing to institute modern food safety techniques, when the restaurant's old-fashioned methods, such as chopping and preparing meat dishes on a wood table near the front door, was part of its charm.

All that aside, Sam Wo was where I first tasted Chow Fun noodles, and where I loved taking out of town guests on our jaunts to the city. I'm sure Edsel insulted my friends and me many times, as he served us our wonton soups brought up from the kitchen on that ancient dumbwaiter. And I'll never forget the look on friends' faces as he threw down the pencil and pad and implored us to write down our own orders.

RIP, Sam Wo. Edsel Ford Fung, too.

[Catherine Iino]

I'm sad to hear it. My father took me there when I was a teenager, and I remember that part of the shtick was that you might be asked to change tables--maybe even floors--in the middle of a meal. That was decades ago, but I would rather think that those pieces of local texture are still there.

[Shel_B]

How sad ... I loved the place, and Edsel was a great part of the charm. I first had chow fun there - tomato beef IIRC.