Howard Bryant and Peter Fang: A gastronomic love story

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

The year was 1991, the month, October.  Good Philly friends Scott and Barbara come visit me in my new home, San Franisco. Back then, I was an Outer Sunset guy: 1474 40th Avenue, at Judah. Scott has a guidebook with him and the most recommended restaurant was the House of Nanking, on Kearny and Columbus, where North Beach and Chinatown met.

I'll never forget that day. The waiter (who turned out to be the owner, Peter Fang) came over and took my order.

I ordered calamari.
He nodded his head disapprovingly and said, "No."

I ordered again.
He said nothing, but nodded his head negatively, offended.

I said, "Have you ever heard of the saying "The customer is always right?"

He said, "I will order for you."

Barbara and Scott, Scott in particular, laughed hilariously at the public leveling, telling me I'd been "denied on every front." Scott took special pleasure in my East Coast fury. I'd lived in San Francisco for slightly over a month and Scott enjoyed the comedy of my impatience.

My response was, "Why the hell is any of this on the menu, if you can't order it?"

When the waiter returned, he brought to the table to that date, the greatest meal I'd ever had: four season chicken, eggplant, chicken lettuce wraps, chinese style butternut squash.

From that day. I knelt at the altar of the House of Nanking.

Little did I know that Nanking had only been in business three years, but it was already a hit: Chinese restaurants flanked its left and right, but only Nanking boasted a line out the door, with the very cool West Coast feature of the restaurant selling Tsing Tao beer to the folks while they waited.  

Whenever guests came to visit, Nanking was a must-visit. As I settled, Nanking became less of a destination. It was a tourist spot, and when you live in a place, you don't wait in line to have dinner. I remained in San Francisco until 2001, with respect for Nanking even as it slipped off of the radar. When I would I would come into town, I would check into the Grand Hyatt Union Square and walk over to Nanking for takeout. We had lost each other, Nanking and I, until one fateful day in March 2010....