One of my all time favorite football games, and most likely my favorite not involving the UCLA/USC rivalry was the January 1, 1976 Rose Bowl between UCLA and Ohio State. Ohio State was the only unbeaten team in the country and had thrashed UCLA at the Coliseum earlier in the 1975 season. The score was 41-20, but the final score was misleading because Ohio State ran out to a 41-7 lead before coasting to victory. All Ohio State needed to win that season's national championship was to beat UCLA again, which everyone assumed they would do quite easily. Oddsmakers installed Ohio State as a 15 point favorite. Most of us thought that Ohio State would win by a bigger margin than that. Indeed I'm not sure why I even bothered to go to the game. And as the game approached things appeared to get worse. The UCLA team almost mutinied because Coach Dick Vermeil cracked the whip so hard during the practices leading up to January 1.
Ohio State took the opening kickoff and rolled down the field with little resistance, just as everybody suspected. But when they got inside the UCLA 30 yard line, Ohio State stalled (aided by some questionable play calling) and had to settle for a long field goal to go up 3-0. Meanwhile, whenever UCLA got the ball they couldn't do a thing. They didn't get their first first down until the end of the first half and only had about 40 yards total for the half. But after the initial drive, the UCLA defense stiffened and the half ended 3-0, in what seemed like an unbelievable moral victory.
But then more unbelievably, UCLA's offense caught fire in the third quarter. What didn't work in the first half, running and passing, started to work, even though UCLA's best offensive lineman, Randy Cross, was lost for the game at the end of the first half. UCLA took the opening kickoff, marched down the field, though having to settle for a tying field goal. Two subsequent Bruin touchdown drives and it was 16-3 UCLA in the third quarter, and UCLA was on its way to a 23-10 win with highlight plays by John Sciarra, Wally Henry and Wendell Tyler, and Coach Woody Hayes memorably trudging over to the UCLA sideline before the game ended.
But as the years went by my memory of the game started to grow dim, since it predated the introduction of home VHS machines in the United States in 1977. Consequently I wasn't able to re-watch this game like some of my other later favorites. I had resigned myself to never reliving that game until I met the star of the game, John Sciarra, sometime in the 1990s at a presentation he gave on pensions and retirement plans. He said that after a great deal of effort, he and other members of the team were able to obtain copies of the videotape of that game directly from NBC, which gave me hope that the game tape might some day be made available to the public. Sure enough, a few years later a collector friend came across a copy and made a duplicate for me. Unfortunately my copy was a third or fourth generation copy and wasn't conducive to watching on a recurring basis, though it was better than nothing. Then about 10 years ago ESPN Classics showed the game, and while I didn't get that cable channel, a relative did and taped it for me. But while it was a good quality picture, it was highly abridged, so I never watched it too often.
However it is now the age of YouTube, and ever since they got rid of their relatively small maximum file size limits, all kinds of older sporting events have been uploaded, including decent copies of both halves of the 1976 Rose Bowl game. Now I can finally watch the game in its entirety and relive the magic moments that I thought would someday fade away.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Reviving Crunchy Baked BBQ Pork Buns
When I was a kid, the only Chinese bbq pork buns in circulation were the steamed ones, much larger in size than the current buns served in orders of three buns, and referred to back then as "hom bao". Then somewhere along the line somebody invented the baked bbq pork bun, baked to a golden brown on top with a smooth top having a sweet glaze. I'm guessing these arrived first in Hong Kong, maybe in the 1980s, though frankly I can't tell you where I first encountered this item in the United States.
But the real gem in this collection is what might be referred to as the crunchy top bbq pork bun. It's most associated with Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong, the world's most inexpensive Michelin starred restaurant and seems to have been replicated only by a handful of Chinese restaurants in the United States, most notably Hong Kong Lounge and Lai Hong Lounge in San Francisco. (Strangely, a small bakery in San Francisco Chinatown, AA Bakery on Stockton St., produced them for a while, but seems to have stopped.) Also, Sea Harbour in Rosemead, CA has a similar item they call a French top bbq pork bun. The Tim Ho Wan version is the best, but the Lai Hong Lounge version is a good substitute. Indeed so good, we once ordered four orders of three buns at Lai Hong Lounge, one to eat at the restaurant and the others to take back to Los Angeles.
But the problem with taking these things home is that a dim sum item that starts off with a crunchy top soon turns into a soggy and soft bun that doesn't taste so good. Microwaving one of these cold buns only makes it hot--it's still soggy. However after experimenting I figured out how to revive these things at home. A double passing through a toaster oven cycle gets the top nice and crunchy again. Unfortunately, that's not enough to warm up the inside fully, and more time in the toaster oven will burn the top. But after the double toaster oven treatment, 20 to 25 seconds in the microwave, and voila!
Note that this treatment also works to revive pineapple top bbq pork and chicken buns, too.
But the real gem in this collection is what might be referred to as the crunchy top bbq pork bun. It's most associated with Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong, the world's most inexpensive Michelin starred restaurant and seems to have been replicated only by a handful of Chinese restaurants in the United States, most notably Hong Kong Lounge and Lai Hong Lounge in San Francisco. (Strangely, a small bakery in San Francisco Chinatown, AA Bakery on Stockton St., produced them for a while, but seems to have stopped.) Also, Sea Harbour in Rosemead, CA has a similar item they call a French top bbq pork bun. The Tim Ho Wan version is the best, but the Lai Hong Lounge version is a good substitute. Indeed so good, we once ordered four orders of three buns at Lai Hong Lounge, one to eat at the restaurant and the others to take back to Los Angeles.
But the problem with taking these things home is that a dim sum item that starts off with a crunchy top soon turns into a soggy and soft bun that doesn't taste so good. Microwaving one of these cold buns only makes it hot--it's still soggy. However after experimenting I figured out how to revive these things at home. A double passing through a toaster oven cycle gets the top nice and crunchy again. Unfortunately, that's not enough to warm up the inside fully, and more time in the toaster oven will burn the top. But after the double toaster oven treatment, 20 to 25 seconds in the microwave, and voila!
Note that this treatment also works to revive pineapple top bbq pork and chicken buns, too.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Upscale Chinese Dining in the East San Gabriel Valley
As Clarissa Wei recently highlighted a lot of the new developments in Chinese dining are concentrated in the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Valley, as opposed to the more established west San Gabriel Valley communities such as Monterey Park, Alhambra, and San Gabriel. For those looking for microtrends in this advancement of Chinese dining, I've noticed
in the Rowland Heights-Industry-Hacienda Heights area a disproportionate
number of recent openings of more upscale Chinese restaurants.
When I say upscale, I mean both in terms of restaurant decor and design, as well as a higher price point that what we're used to seeing. Immediately coming to mind are Zheng's Fusion, Southern Gourmet, Lobster Bay and Taste Guizhou, and I'm sure there are quite a few others. I guess with a newer and less pricey real estate stock, it's easier to spend a few extra dollars on the decor than in the denser west San Gabriel Valley and its older real estate inventory. And in these new restaurants, many, if not most of the dinner entrees run in the $20 and more category. Hardly pricey by typical foodie standards in the Los Angeles area, but quite a departure from the value pricing that most Chinese diners in the San Gabriel Valley have typically been looking for.
It's not like there's any overall loss of interest in reasonably priced Chinese food in the west San Gabriel Valley. Indeed, one now finds the best and more expensive west San Gabriel Valley Chinese restaurants like Sea Harbour, King Hua, Shi Hai and Elite only half full on Saturday nights, while restaurants like Mama's Lu Dumpling House (hardly anything on the menu over $10) and 5 Star Seafood (entrees nudge over $10, but you get an allegedly 3 pound lobster for $5.97 with a minimum $30 purchase) packed to the gills with long waits during the same Saturday night timeframe. So value certainly is still king in the west San Gabriel Valley.
It's clear that these new upscale east San Gabriel Valley eateries are being driven by the nouveau riche Chinese mainlanders descending on the San Gabriel Valley. One observer commented that these nouveau riche seen in restaurants in and around Rowland Heights are very conspicuous, particularly the women, by their obviously expensive designer clothing and accessories which are just as obviously mismatched. But why in the eastern area? Super rich Chinese mainlanders have typically been identified with the communities of Arcadia and San Marino, and not especially with Hacienda Heights and points east. Yet the new upscale restaurants don't seem to have made their mark around Arcadia and San Marino, except perhaps the spacious and pricey Spring Bamboo Seafood which took over space formerly occupied by a large piano store. And yes, there is Hai Di Lao in the Santa Anita Mall, but that IS a shopping mall. Perhaps the east San Gabriel Valley has its own share of rich mainlanders who are still operating under the radar, or maybe that's just where it's easier to build out a large and upscale restaurant venue. But at the moment it's a bit of a puzzle.
When I say upscale, I mean both in terms of restaurant decor and design, as well as a higher price point that what we're used to seeing. Immediately coming to mind are Zheng's Fusion, Southern Gourmet, Lobster Bay and Taste Guizhou, and I'm sure there are quite a few others. I guess with a newer and less pricey real estate stock, it's easier to spend a few extra dollars on the decor than in the denser west San Gabriel Valley and its older real estate inventory. And in these new restaurants, many, if not most of the dinner entrees run in the $20 and more category. Hardly pricey by typical foodie standards in the Los Angeles area, but quite a departure from the value pricing that most Chinese diners in the San Gabriel Valley have typically been looking for.
It's not like there's any overall loss of interest in reasonably priced Chinese food in the west San Gabriel Valley. Indeed, one now finds the best and more expensive west San Gabriel Valley Chinese restaurants like Sea Harbour, King Hua, Shi Hai and Elite only half full on Saturday nights, while restaurants like Mama's Lu Dumpling House (hardly anything on the menu over $10) and 5 Star Seafood (entrees nudge over $10, but you get an allegedly 3 pound lobster for $5.97 with a minimum $30 purchase) packed to the gills with long waits during the same Saturday night timeframe. So value certainly is still king in the west San Gabriel Valley.
It's clear that these new upscale east San Gabriel Valley eateries are being driven by the nouveau riche Chinese mainlanders descending on the San Gabriel Valley. One observer commented that these nouveau riche seen in restaurants in and around Rowland Heights are very conspicuous, particularly the women, by their obviously expensive designer clothing and accessories which are just as obviously mismatched. But why in the eastern area? Super rich Chinese mainlanders have typically been identified with the communities of Arcadia and San Marino, and not especially with Hacienda Heights and points east. Yet the new upscale restaurants don't seem to have made their mark around Arcadia and San Marino, except perhaps the spacious and pricey Spring Bamboo Seafood which took over space formerly occupied by a large piano store. And yes, there is Hai Di Lao in the Santa Anita Mall, but that IS a shopping mall. Perhaps the east San Gabriel Valley has its own share of rich mainlanders who are still operating under the radar, or maybe that's just where it's easier to build out a large and upscale restaurant venue. But at the moment it's a bit of a puzzle.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Almonds Almonds Everywhere But Not A Drop To Drink
However after a recent trip to San Francisco and back on Interstate 5, I came to the realization that in one respect everything has suddenly changed. There really is no wondering what's growing alongside the highway, now, as it's now mostly almond trees. Actually almond trees have been around at least a few years, and at one time I did wonder what kind of tree it was. Pistachio? Peach? Apricot? Then the only time we ever drove up north in late February, we witnessed all the trees in full bloom. Doing a quick internet search disclosed that the almond trees were in bloom, and we were fortunate enough to see them during the very short period each that the blossoms were out.
But while blooming almond trees were a marvelous sight, as everybody seems to know now, all those almonds along the highway have a nefarious side. Almond trees are water hogs compared to other crops, and as such they are proliferating as our water supply, both runoff and ground water, is greatly diminishing. In the old days we used to see (well, I'm guessing because the farmers didn't label their fields) growing corn, lettuce, tomatoes, grapes and citrus trees, among crops along the highway. While there are still some other crops growing, it's more and more almonds all the time.
The problem is that what we think of as normal rainfall for California for the past century and a half, dating back to the beginning of California's agriculture industry, may have been an aberrant rainy period, and today's drought could be the old normal coming back, at least in the opinion of some climatologists. If this is true, there just isn't going to be enough water around for everyone. For those who drive the Interstate 5 corridor, you've doubtless seen for many years the political billboards put up by farm organizations talking about how water for farms means jobs and food production. I used to feel sorry for the farmers as I passed those signs on the highway. After all, they are growing a majority of the produce consumed by the United States. But with almond trees, these products aren't being grown to meet an existing demand. Rather, the almond growers have created their own demand that didn't exist before, to the point that almonds account by themselves for 10 percent of all water consumption in California (or if you believe the almond growers, 9 percent). It's not that the water shortage has suddenly snuck up on us from behind. So those growers who rapidly expanded their almond production knowing about potential water issues are in no position to ask for sympathy.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
The Seeds of My Chinese Restaurant List and A Childhood Puzzle Solved After 50 Years
I don't think that anybody familiar with my Chinese restaurant list would be surprised to learn that I've been making lists since I was a kid. What may be surprising is that while I have only been keeping my restaurant list for a little over 25 years, I just discovered a connection to the first lists I remember making as a grade schooler in the late 1950s.
As a kid I was what might be described in today's parlance as an American geography and history geek. So much so that when I was in the third grade, they sent me up to a sixth grade class to talk and answer questions about US history and geography. And the first lists I kept were of the cities with the largest population, by state. Not only based on census data which came out every 10 years. But I also kept track of annual unofficial updates as reported by the Britannica Yearbook and other publications. So what does this have to do with visiting and recording trips to Chinese restaurants? Well in one way, quite a bit. Because of my fascination with American cities as a kid, when I finished school and started working and traveling on my own, I decided I wanted to visit as many of these cities and states as I could, and in large part regardless of whether there were any particular tourist attractions of note. For me, I was excited to visit Paducah, KY, just because it was Paducah, KY. And from the beginning, as I had explained in numerous interviews and presentations, my interest in things Chinese American which I picked up in college led me to dine in Chinese restaurants whenever I could. While I didn't actually eat Chinese food in Paducah, that first solo out of state trip did lead me to two Chinese restaurants in Memphis and one in Clarksdale, MS, and I was on my way. Indeed the very next year led to restaurant visits in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Sioux City, Hopkins, MN, Bloomington, Fargo, Houston, Washington DC and Philadelphia.
All this has come to my attention due to a happenstance event which reminded me of my old city population lists. Sometime in the early 1960s I came across a puzzling listing of the most populous cities in Arizona. Coming in fourth place after Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa with an estimated population of 10,000 was Amphitheater. I had never seen a reference to Amphitheater in any previous population listing, and in those pre-internet days, a search of library materials for Amphitheater, Arizona came up with absolutely nothing. I eventually gave up, assuming perhaps it was somebody's idea of a joke to list some stadium with 10,000 seats as the fourth largest city in Arizona when filled. And occasionally in years subsequent, I would think about Amphitheater, but eventually resigned myself to treating this as a mystery that would never be solved.
But then just the other Saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day and I worked a half day in my Century City office. I decided to take a slight detour from my usual path home over to Hollywood Blvd. just to gawk at the tourists taking in the sights on such a quintessential Southern California day. And as I drove by the Madame Toussaud museum, there it was on the message board. "Welcome Amphitheater High School." As soon as I got home I dashed for my computer and did the search. Amphitheater High School is in Tucson. A further search showed Amphitheater, obviously not a separate incorporated city, had been used to describe an area of north Tucson since the late 19th century because the natural layout of the area was like an amphitheater. Strange that in two visits to Tucson I never came across any reference to that community even though my visits to that city were well planned in advance. I guess it just shows how much more difficult it was to access information of all types back in those pre-internet days.
As a kid I was what might be described in today's parlance as an American geography and history geek. So much so that when I was in the third grade, they sent me up to a sixth grade class to talk and answer questions about US history and geography. And the first lists I kept were of the cities with the largest population, by state. Not only based on census data which came out every 10 years. But I also kept track of annual unofficial updates as reported by the Britannica Yearbook and other publications. So what does this have to do with visiting and recording trips to Chinese restaurants? Well in one way, quite a bit. Because of my fascination with American cities as a kid, when I finished school and started working and traveling on my own, I decided I wanted to visit as many of these cities and states as I could, and in large part regardless of whether there were any particular tourist attractions of note. For me, I was excited to visit Paducah, KY, just because it was Paducah, KY. And from the beginning, as I had explained in numerous interviews and presentations, my interest in things Chinese American which I picked up in college led me to dine in Chinese restaurants whenever I could. While I didn't actually eat Chinese food in Paducah, that first solo out of state trip did lead me to two Chinese restaurants in Memphis and one in Clarksdale, MS, and I was on my way. Indeed the very next year led to restaurant visits in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Sioux City, Hopkins, MN, Bloomington, Fargo, Houston, Washington DC and Philadelphia.
All this has come to my attention due to a happenstance event which reminded me of my old city population lists. Sometime in the early 1960s I came across a puzzling listing of the most populous cities in Arizona. Coming in fourth place after Phoenix, Tucson and Mesa with an estimated population of 10,000 was Amphitheater. I had never seen a reference to Amphitheater in any previous population listing, and in those pre-internet days, a search of library materials for Amphitheater, Arizona came up with absolutely nothing. I eventually gave up, assuming perhaps it was somebody's idea of a joke to list some stadium with 10,000 seats as the fourth largest city in Arizona when filled. And occasionally in years subsequent, I would think about Amphitheater, but eventually resigned myself to treating this as a mystery that would never be solved.
But then just the other Saturday, it was a beautiful sunny day and I worked a half day in my Century City office. I decided to take a slight detour from my usual path home over to Hollywood Blvd. just to gawk at the tourists taking in the sights on such a quintessential Southern California day. And as I drove by the Madame Toussaud museum, there it was on the message board. "Welcome Amphitheater High School." As soon as I got home I dashed for my computer and did the search. Amphitheater High School is in Tucson. A further search showed Amphitheater, obviously not a separate incorporated city, had been used to describe an area of north Tucson since the late 19th century because the natural layout of the area was like an amphitheater. Strange that in two visits to Tucson I never came across any reference to that community even though my visits to that city were well planned in advance. I guess it just shows how much more difficult it was to access information of all types back in those pre-internet days.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Kentucky's Final Four Loss As Explained By John Wooden
Like everybody else I was surprised by Kentucky's 71-64 loss in the NCAA basketball championship semi-final game. They were a perfect 38-0 this season, ranked #1 in the polls since the first week of the season, and had talent comparable to some NBA teams. But I wasn't as surprised as most people, as I told my friends all week that there was one factor that could stop Kentucky from going all the way--that 38 game winning streak.
Everybody knows legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden both as one of the greatest coaches ever, and also as one of the most insightful minds ever associated with athletics with sagacious observations both as to life and athletics. In my opinion the most insightful thing he said, and probably considered heretical by most people with associated sports is that under the proper circumstances, a loss may actually be a good thing for a competitor's experience. In particular, when a team is on a long winning streak, he noted that the quality of its performance begins to diminish. Wooden referred to winning streaks as becoming burdensome, which often leads up to an unexpected losing performance. It's not clear exactly why, but it's probably a combination of different factors. Maybe the team starts playing not to lose, rather than trying to win, with keeping the streak alive becoming a distraction, whether conscious or not. Maybe the team becomes overconfident. Maybe opponents dig down deeper. Maybe it's something totally subliminal. And even if the team with the winning streak continues to win, quite often it's clear that the team is laboring under the pressure of the streak. (Perhaps an explanation of Kentucky's close win over Notre Dame in its previous game.) But whatever the reason, it is not unusual for teams on long winning streaks to stub their toe against an opponent that seemingly doesn't match up.
Now if the loss is suffered in a relatively meaningless game, the loss can be beneficial, as in today's parlance it's like hitting a reset button and you can again return to your former level of excellence. But if that loss occurs in the sudden death NCAA tournament, it can't be remedied. To me it's clear that if Kentucky had suffered a loss, say during the SEC tournament, that there's no way that anyone would have come close to them during the NCAA tournament and they would have sailed to the championship.
Of course things are a little more complicated than saying teams are more susceptible to a loss when on a winning streak, as there have been some impressive winning streaks in sports history. One corollary rule is if you are vastly superior to your opponent, that opponent won't beat you no matter how badly you play. Given that the college basketball season ends with the sudden death NCAA tournament, entering the tournament on a long winning streak is not a good thing, as the team will be facing a string of high calibre opponents. No wonder why there hasn't been an undefeated NCAA basketball champion since 1976. (Remember that great unbeaten early 90s UNLV team?) Another corollary is that consecutive wins from a prior season probably shouldn't count because each year's team is a different entity. And of course, if two teams with long winning streaks meet, one of them will have to win.
Indeed one sees the effect of the winning streak phenomenon every year in college football. Around the eighth week of the season there are often several unbeaten teams, many of which project out as going unbeaten for the rest of the year based on the calibre of their remaining opponents. "Oh my gosh," pundits exclaim. "It will be chaotic if the regular season ends with so many unbeaten teams." But every year the season ends, and there's usually no more than one unbeaten team left, the others suffering upset losses at the hand of underdogs.
So yes, a loss can be therapeutic. In John Wooden's last season as UCLA coach in 1975, they suffered a humiliating 21 point loss to a mediocre Washington team near the end of the regular season. Now they weren't on a long winning streak at the time. But after that loss many observers concluded that the 1975 UCLA team wasn't that good and it wasn't going far in the NCAA tournament. But indeed that team did win it all with some great play in the NCAA tournament.
John Wooden was also remarkable because he really didn't care whether his teams won or not, just that they played to their potential, so different from the winning is everything mentality we see all over sports. And perhaps it is this mentality that obscures the truth that a loss might just do you good under the right circumstances, and help you win when it really counts.
Everybody knows legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden both as one of the greatest coaches ever, and also as one of the most insightful minds ever associated with athletics with sagacious observations both as to life and athletics. In my opinion the most insightful thing he said, and probably considered heretical by most people with associated sports is that under the proper circumstances, a loss may actually be a good thing for a competitor's experience. In particular, when a team is on a long winning streak, he noted that the quality of its performance begins to diminish. Wooden referred to winning streaks as becoming burdensome, which often leads up to an unexpected losing performance. It's not clear exactly why, but it's probably a combination of different factors. Maybe the team starts playing not to lose, rather than trying to win, with keeping the streak alive becoming a distraction, whether conscious or not. Maybe the team becomes overconfident. Maybe opponents dig down deeper. Maybe it's something totally subliminal. And even if the team with the winning streak continues to win, quite often it's clear that the team is laboring under the pressure of the streak. (Perhaps an explanation of Kentucky's close win over Notre Dame in its previous game.) But whatever the reason, it is not unusual for teams on long winning streaks to stub their toe against an opponent that seemingly doesn't match up.
Now if the loss is suffered in a relatively meaningless game, the loss can be beneficial, as in today's parlance it's like hitting a reset button and you can again return to your former level of excellence. But if that loss occurs in the sudden death NCAA tournament, it can't be remedied. To me it's clear that if Kentucky had suffered a loss, say during the SEC tournament, that there's no way that anyone would have come close to them during the NCAA tournament and they would have sailed to the championship.
Of course things are a little more complicated than saying teams are more susceptible to a loss when on a winning streak, as there have been some impressive winning streaks in sports history. One corollary rule is if you are vastly superior to your opponent, that opponent won't beat you no matter how badly you play. Given that the college basketball season ends with the sudden death NCAA tournament, entering the tournament on a long winning streak is not a good thing, as the team will be facing a string of high calibre opponents. No wonder why there hasn't been an undefeated NCAA basketball champion since 1976. (Remember that great unbeaten early 90s UNLV team?) Another corollary is that consecutive wins from a prior season probably shouldn't count because each year's team is a different entity. And of course, if two teams with long winning streaks meet, one of them will have to win.
Indeed one sees the effect of the winning streak phenomenon every year in college football. Around the eighth week of the season there are often several unbeaten teams, many of which project out as going unbeaten for the rest of the year based on the calibre of their remaining opponents. "Oh my gosh," pundits exclaim. "It will be chaotic if the regular season ends with so many unbeaten teams." But every year the season ends, and there's usually no more than one unbeaten team left, the others suffering upset losses at the hand of underdogs.
So yes, a loss can be therapeutic. In John Wooden's last season as UCLA coach in 1975, they suffered a humiliating 21 point loss to a mediocre Washington team near the end of the regular season. Now they weren't on a long winning streak at the time. But after that loss many observers concluded that the 1975 UCLA team wasn't that good and it wasn't going far in the NCAA tournament. But indeed that team did win it all with some great play in the NCAA tournament.
John Wooden was also remarkable because he really didn't care whether his teams won or not, just that they played to their potential, so different from the winning is everything mentality we see all over sports. And perhaps it is this mentality that obscures the truth that a loss might just do you good under the right circumstances, and help you win when it really counts.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Best Chinese Restaurant Names
Since Los Angeles Times Reporter Frank Shyong's Analysis of Chinese restaurant names in my Excel Chinese restaurant listing has just been republished, this is a good time for me to recount some of my favorite Chinese restaurant names. Despite the safety zone that Frank referred to in his article, there are also a number of Chinese restaurants with unusual, if not inexplicable names. Sometimes things get lost in translation. For example, in my interview in the food documentary The Search For General Tso, I mention the oddly named Strange Taste Restaurant which operated for a number of years at the intersection of Henry St. and Catherine St. in New York Chinatown. I presume they were using "strange taste" in a good manner, to distinguish themselves from run of the mill Chinese restaurants, not knowing that strange tasting food was never good. Along the same lines is Smelly Pot in Industry, in the San Gabriel Valley. The name describes the restaurant's signature dishes which are all infused with the Taiwanese favorite, fermented, a.k.a. stinky tofu. But to us native English speakers, somehow that just doesn't do it. And in a similar category are the departed Burrrp Cafe in Alhambra, Quantity and Quality Kitchen in Temple City (later shortened to Q&Q) and Fuzhou Manual Fish Ball in Rowland Heights (they meant hand made fish balls).
One recently closed restaurant I wonder about was Porkaroma, a food court based pork specialist in nearby Rowland Heights. My initial thought was that they were using the "rama" suffix (e.g., Futurama), but got mixed up. But would an immigrant restaurant owner be familiar with "rama", and perhaps might they really be enticed by the aroma of pork? I guess we'll never know.
Then there are those Chinese restaurants whose names would ordinarily imply anything but Chinese food. My favorites in this category are Bavarian Garden in Oakland, O'Toole's Roadhouse in Rowland Heights, and The Viking's Table in West Los Angeles, again all now closed. But these restaurant names are easy to explain. Whoever opened these restaurants merely kept the name of the previous restaurant at that location. This is not an unusual practice, motivated perhaps by the desire to minimize the costs of changing signage or printing new business cards. This may also explain why Hong Kong Palace in suburban Washington DC serves top notch authentic Sichuan style food despite the apparent incongruity in the name. Indeed, some Chinese restaurants take this a step further, by taking over an existing restaurant location, changing the name of the restaurant on legal records, menus etc., but NOT changing the exterior signage on the building. We've seen that occur with relative frequency, again most likely as a cost cutting measure, at least until the success of the restaurant has been ensured and it pays to have the correct name outside. But it sure makes it difficult for those of us searching for newly opened restaurants, as a simple drive-by isn't sufficient to indicate that a new restaurant has opened.
Of course, we've all seen Chinese restaurant menus mangle the English language, but you would expect that somebody would advise a restaurant to use real English words in the name. But that didn't stop Authletic Dumpling House from opening up in New York Chinatown or Noodl Cafe in San Gabriel. In one case they got the individual words right, but somehow when put together, Bake Are We Cafe in Artesia, CA doesn't work. They may have avoided a lawsuit from Toys R Us, but it probably wasn't worth the resulting head scratching. Of course, a nonexistent word can turn out to be clever, as was the case with Cuisineer Six in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino.
Then there are the names which are inexplicable, perhaps randomly chosen because an English language name is required for legal purposes. How would you explain the Shanghai style restaurant in Rowland Heights called Suit Ur Buds, the Taiwanese restaurant in San Gabriel, Why Thirsty, Auction Chinese Food in Colton, CA, or Go Believe in Manhattan Chinatown?
But my favorite Chinese restaurant name of all is the seemingly innocuous Rivera Cafe, which operated in San Gabriel. Yes, Rivera is a fairly commonplace name. But why would a Chinese restaurant call itself Rivera, which is a Hispanic surname? My best guess is that they didn't know how to spell Riviera. But there's always the possibility that they were big fans of Geraldo.
One recently closed restaurant I wonder about was Porkaroma, a food court based pork specialist in nearby Rowland Heights. My initial thought was that they were using the "rama" suffix (e.g., Futurama), but got mixed up. But would an immigrant restaurant owner be familiar with "rama", and perhaps might they really be enticed by the aroma of pork? I guess we'll never know.
Then there are those Chinese restaurants whose names would ordinarily imply anything but Chinese food. My favorites in this category are Bavarian Garden in Oakland, O'Toole's Roadhouse in Rowland Heights, and The Viking's Table in West Los Angeles, again all now closed. But these restaurant names are easy to explain. Whoever opened these restaurants merely kept the name of the previous restaurant at that location. This is not an unusual practice, motivated perhaps by the desire to minimize the costs of changing signage or printing new business cards. This may also explain why Hong Kong Palace in suburban Washington DC serves top notch authentic Sichuan style food despite the apparent incongruity in the name. Indeed, some Chinese restaurants take this a step further, by taking over an existing restaurant location, changing the name of the restaurant on legal records, menus etc., but NOT changing the exterior signage on the building. We've seen that occur with relative frequency, again most likely as a cost cutting measure, at least until the success of the restaurant has been ensured and it pays to have the correct name outside. But it sure makes it difficult for those of us searching for newly opened restaurants, as a simple drive-by isn't sufficient to indicate that a new restaurant has opened.
Of course, we've all seen Chinese restaurant menus mangle the English language, but you would expect that somebody would advise a restaurant to use real English words in the name. But that didn't stop Authletic Dumpling House from opening up in New York Chinatown or Noodl Cafe in San Gabriel. In one case they got the individual words right, but somehow when put together, Bake Are We Cafe in Artesia, CA doesn't work. They may have avoided a lawsuit from Toys R Us, but it probably wasn't worth the resulting head scratching. Of course, a nonexistent word can turn out to be clever, as was the case with Cuisineer Six in the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino.
Then there are the names which are inexplicable, perhaps randomly chosen because an English language name is required for legal purposes. How would you explain the Shanghai style restaurant in Rowland Heights called Suit Ur Buds, the Taiwanese restaurant in San Gabriel, Why Thirsty, Auction Chinese Food in Colton, CA, or Go Believe in Manhattan Chinatown?
But my favorite Chinese restaurant name of all is the seemingly innocuous Rivera Cafe, which operated in San Gabriel. Yes, Rivera is a fairly commonplace name. But why would a Chinese restaurant call itself Rivera, which is a Hispanic surname? My best guess is that they didn't know how to spell Riviera. But there's always the possibility that they were big fans of Geraldo.
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