Shige's Saimin Stand

Yelp reviewers say that Shige’s Saimin Stand, a small family-owned restaurant in Wahiawa (pop. 17,400), serves the best cheeseburger in the U.S.

While Shige’s Saimin Stand is best known for its house-made saimin noodles, a popular Hawaii dish, the restaurant’s cheeseburger is among one of the eatery's most-ordered menu items, judging by social media posts highlighting it. The restaurant offers three versions of the classic, all priced under $10: a regular cheeseburger made with a juicy beef patty, ketchup, and mayonnaise; the deluxe served with added onions and tomato; or the double burger that comes with an extra beef patty.

Recently I've been going to the North Shore of Oahu quite often, playing tour guide to Mainlanders.

I bypass Wahiawa because it is off the main road to Haleiwa, the usual destination. It's time to visit Wahiawa again.

I'll check out Shige's the next time I'm in the area. Cheeseburgers and saimin are two of my favorite things in life.

Sam Wo Be Gone*

Sam Wo moved to 713 Clay (Chron)

*Possibly offensive, but I'm Asian American, so it's ok.

Over the years we've followed the up-and-down fortunes of Sam Wo. The hole-in-the-wall Chinatown restaurant had survived the 1906 earthquake and the Great Depression, but health-code and building-code violations forced its closure in 2012.

Sam Wo re-opened on Clay Street, a few blocks away from its old address, in 2015, and there was general celebration that a 20th-century San Francisco institution had been revived.

However, Sam Wo might soon join other victims of the pandemic.

At 112-year-old Chinatown legend Sam Wo Restaurant, longtime owner David Ho is doing everything these days.

2003: at 813 Washington (cars
going uphill are the giveaway)

He’s buying all the ingredients, lifting 50-pound bags of rice up the restaurant’s steep stairs. He’s cooking every item on Sam Wo’s menu, from the rice noodle rolls stuffed with pork to the jook studded with preserved egg. He’s washing dishes and scrubbing the floors.

But Ho, 62, is tired. His body is full of aches and pains. He’s scared of catching the coronavirus. Still, he doesn’t want to stop working, despite the pleas of his business partners. Even his daughter has expressed concerns he’s working too hard without a staff to back him up, according to co-owner Steven Lee, who helped resurrect Sam Wo, Chinatown’s oldest restaurant, after it temporarily closed in 2012...

During the pandemic, Sam Wo’s main income has been from feeding food-insecure individuals through HelpKitchen. The restaurant worked with two other nonprofits to feed people in need this summer, but those efforts have already run out of money. And now, HelpKitchen is slated to run out of funding at the end of the year, according to Lee. It’s possible more will come in January, but Lee said Sam Wo will be forced into hibernation if that program disappears, because its takeout business doesn’t add up to enough income.

David Ho sounds like an extraordinarily dedicated owner, the sort of person whom everyone would wish success upon. I've never had a chance to check out the "new" Sam Wo but plan to do so before year-end even though it is 25 miles away and will be take-out only.

BTW, Sam Wo has a four-star rating on Yelp.

It Was Tough Enough Keeping Her Business Going

Brenda Buenviaje (Chronicle photo)

Louisiana-born Brenda Buenviaje never claimed she was Black. The Filipino-Italian-French restauranteur owns Brenda’s French Soul Food, which some social media sites mistakenly listed as Black-owned. She was accused of race fraud.

The activist Chronicle food writer says this attempted cancellation was going too far:

race in no way limits culinary expertise. I know Black chefs cooking Italian food, and as is the case with Brenda, a multiracial Filipina chef cooking Creole food.

“I don’t know what to do here, because I’ve never at any time said I was Black,” Brenda told me last week when the dialogue around her race was reaching a peak. “I’ve talked about my identity before, and even on my YouTube page and on my website, you can see pictures of me. I wish I could clear this up.”

I imagine some of this anger was born out of disappointment, as Black folks who only knew Brenda’s food and not Buenviaje herself hoped her popular Creole spots were Black-owned. And, honestly, I can understand that desire. Eventually, the situation cooled off for Brenda online as people talked, and some clarity was gained about her background.

Brenda, like most business people, embraced the power of the Internet to showcase her cooking talent. Unfortunately, she was unwillingly sucked in to today's culture wars, which restricts careers, political, religious, and artistic expression, even speech and language, to members of approved groups.

Once Yelp created a category for Black-Owned Restaurants, controversies became inevitable. Thank goodness in this case there appears to be no lasting damage to Brenda and her restaurants. And if you don't have a friend in the media, God help you.

What to Eat on Thanksgiving Eve

Pho and accompaniments from Little Saigon  (Yelp photo)

Despite going to the local pho restaurant twice a month, this article revealed that I don't know much about the savory Vietnamese noodle dish:

The North/South distinction:

Northern pho is delicate and elegant, the broth more savory than sweet. It is not eaten with basil or bean sprouts or other herbs. Plainness is a virtue. The broth is the thing.

The south evolved its own style, one rooted in its very different cooking traditions....Southerners love their accoutrements: basil, bean sprouts, sawtooth herb, a squeeze of lime, a shot of hoisin, a splash of Sriracha.

American broth is superior to the broth in Vietnam

because meat is more widely available, and that meat is also of a higher quality. More and better meat in the broth....means a more substantial, fuller-bodied soup.

Onion and ginger yes, star anise no:

what [some enthusiasts] love most in a broth are the hits of star anise and cinnamon. According to the experts, they most likely have been weaned on bad pho....charring the onion and grilling the ginger gives the broth both flavor and fragrance.

"Never add a handful of beansprouts before tasting, the experts say."

The sprouts are cold, and the temperature of the soup will drop precipitously.

Blithely ignoring the experts, I slurped up a bowl of beef pho, with bean sprouts, on Wednesday night.

Tomorrow's meal would be heavier, but I doubt it would be tastier.

Agendas Barely Hidden

One of the Internet's beneficial developments is the review of products and services by users. Many people, including your humble observer, always try to check out what people are saying about a restaurant, contractor, appliance, etc. before making a purchase.

(Image from legalreputations.com)

Of course, if there are only a few ratings--and they are extremely positive or negative--we become suspicious about whether it originated from a friend, relative, owner, or rival.

Yale professor Judith Chevalier looked at hotel ratings [bold added]:

The researchers hypothesized that people who work in owner-operated hotels are more likely to write fake reviews than people who work in big hotel companies....fake reviews are easier to post on TripAdvisor (which lets anyone post) than on Expedia (which only allows reviews from people who’ve booked a room through the site).

They found that owner-operated hotels have more positive reviews on TripAdvisor, relative to Expedia, than company-owned hotels—and the competitors of owner-operated hotels have more negative reviews.

Takeaways:
1) Trust Expedia reviews more than TripAdvisor's.
2) Don't automatically switch your reservation from the Big Chain to the small bed-and-breakfast because of a cursory glance at the ratings. Dig deeper.
3) Revelation: you can't always trust what you read on the Internet.

More Work Than They Can Handle

The rust could have been worse.

After 50 years an elderly relative chose finally to replace the pipes by the water heater.

Having been burned by unscrupulous contractors, she asked her nephew, an architect, which plumber he would recommend. CN, but he's booked and may not want to take on a small project. It was difficult to get on CN's calendar, but after three months of scheduling changes, a half-day's work resulted in shiny new copper replacements for the corroded galvanized iron.

Copper pipes and a new ball valve.

We called CN to express how pleased we were with his work (we were also pleased with the cost, which was under $500). We offered to post a 4-5 star review on Yelp, but he "preferred to keep a low profile."

It's still a sputtering economy, but many of the talented and industrious have more work than they can handle.

Paul Martin's American Grill

Green salad

We were hesitant to go to Paul Martin's American Grill because of negative comments about the service and reported wait-times for a table even with a reservation (per Yelp and Open Table reviews). We are happy to report that you can't believe everything posted in social media---perhaps this restaurant reads and responds very quickly to negative feedback or maybe the problems go away when it's not too crowded.

When we arrived at 5:20 p.m. for our 5:30 reservation, we were seated immediately.

Prime rib with mashed potatoes

The only drink we ordered was Pellegrino sparkling water; when our waitress Maria asked if we wanted lemons or limes as an accompaniment and saw that we were uncertain, she brought both. That was just an example of her thoughtful service---it's a delicate balance between obtrusiveness and inattention, and she navigated it well without interrupting our conversations.

We both ordered the 3-course Sunday Prime Rib prix fixe special ($25), an excellent value. The green salad (arugula, spinach, lettuce, beet leaves) was very fresh. The 12-oz prime rib was tender and medium-rare (it wasn't aged--c'mon, whaddaya expect for $25 bucks?), accompanied by a generous scoop of mashed potatoes. Dessert consisted of three scoops of ice cream.

The decor in the bar and dining sections is fancy enough for business clientele. However, because the restaurant is located in a corner of Hillsdale Shopping Center, very casual dress (jeans, t-shirts, slippers, etc.) would not be out of place.

For our first and only experience at this 1½-year-old restaurant, service and food were great, and prices were reasonable. We'll be back. © 2014 Stephen Yuen

I Won't Pay You, But You Must Pay Me

It has been our experience that most people still do the ethical--and legal--thing by living up to their contractual obligations when dealing with struggling businesses. However, one need not be stupid about it; if the financially troubled business owes us and we owe them money, we "offset" receivables and payables and pay them the net amount, if any. (Landlords netting repairs and security deposit refunds are probably the offset example that is most familiar.)

But offset is not allowed when the other party is the government:

“Tax refunds will not be issued until normal government operations resume,” said the IRS. The IRS emphasized, however, that the underlying tax law remains in effect, and all taxpayers should continue to meet their tax obligations as normal.

The IRS won't pay you, but you must continue to pay it or be subject to jail and/or fines.

Those who advocate more government, as opposed to private-sector, provision of services are in for a rude shock when they discover that the devil they threw out is replaced by a devil that is far worse because it doesn't have to worry about losing you as a customer or your poor Yelp review. © 2013 Stephen Yuen

Say--or Yelp--It Ain't So

Trying to live up to the motto.

I'm a regular subscriber (and occasional contributor) to Yelp reviews. I've checked out restaurants, plumbers, doctors, and just about everyone I buy from. With Yelp having such influence over consumers like me, it's no surprise that vendors are trying to game the widely used review website.

Yelp uncovered what it dubbed a "review-swapping ring" composed of members of a Los Angeles-area business networking group. Yelp said it was a coordinated effort by members to boost their ratings by posting glowing reviews about one another's businesses. [snip]

Concerns are growing about the authenticity of online ratings. People making comments often don't give their full or real names; others don't disclose their relationship with the business they're reviewing. That can allow business owners to pad their scores with rosy testimonials from friends, family, even themselves. Some pay so-called review mills to churn out positive statements. Others have trashed rivals with negative comments.

As many as 4 out of 10 online reviews are phony or biased [bold added] in some way, said Bing Liu, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago who develops software to detect fake reviews. Liu said the challenge for Yelp and other review sites is in keeping pace with the latest tactics.

"It's going to be a problem forever because the incentive is too high," he said. [snip]

To fight back against cheats, Yelp has developed sophisticated algorithms to root out phony testimonials. And it employs a team of staffers whose job it is to detect fraudsters. The company also relies on tips from its users who flag reviews that appear to be bogus. Yelp's policy also bars members of networking groups from reviewing one another because of the conflict of interest.

It's a shame but not surprising that a high percentage of reviewers have motives other than giving an honest assessment to other consumers. It's in Yelp's interest to excise the fakers. I hope that it succeeds.