CHINESE CHECKERS

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

This piece is NOT about the game “Chinese Checkers” but rather is about Chinese restaurants! I was just trying to come up with a catchy title! I’m certainly aware that Americans tend to eat too much and exercise too little- and that experts tell us we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. And, according to those medical weight charts, depending upon WHICH one you actually go by, I’m anywhere from 40 lbs. to 60 lbs. overweight.

There is, however, a whole spiritual component to the food thing. In ancient middle eastern cultures, when you BROKE BREAD with someone...when you ATE a meal with them, that’s when you really got close to them. We’ve made Holy Communion into a ritual where a person eats a small unleavened wafer and takes a sip of wine or grape juice. In the first-century church, Holy Communion was a MEAL. (That’s what I Corinthians chapter 11 is all about.) Remember that the Resurrected Christ made Himself known to those He’d met on the Emmaus road when they had stopped at an inn and He was suddenly made known to them as they began sharing a meal.

Well, that’s all just introductory stuff for those critics of mine who hate when I write secular posts (although when I started the blog in 2006, 90% of my postings were totally secular!).

I may be stepping on the toes of my friend Michelle McElroy in writing this because she writes a great blog about Framingham, particularly her restaurant reviews! (The link to that is in the column at the right!) For at least the past fifteen years, key people in Framingham have been wringing their hands about the need for downtown revitalization in Framingham. Certainly a big piece of downtown revitalization is good restaurants locating in and near downtown Framingham (or ANY downtown for that matter). When I came to Framingham in 1987 it wasn’t long before we began eating out at and taking out food from the Sampan Chinese restaurant on Concord St. in the heart of downtown. The Sampan now has the reputation of being “a real dive” but in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s it was a pretty nice place. In those days, the food quality was a solid “B”. I remember that I took a visiting missionary out to lunch there and he was impressed and surprised at how good the food was. In those days, the Sampan was only that back, small dark dining room that they have. They later bought an adjoining storefront area, and created that much brighter dining room and bar area. Sadly, around 6 or 7 years ago, the food quality started going downhill at the Sampan. Somewhere around that time, they also became a Keno parlor. It wasn’t long before rather than being a pretty good Chinese restaurant that happened to have a bar and a Keno parlor, they became the Keno parlor and bar that happened to serve Chinese food, also. Around 5 years ago, they stopped serving lunch and began opening for the day at 4 p.m. Well, that meant the end of those low priced luncheon specials! About a year ago, they experimented with opening at 1 p.m. but it didn’t work. I think they’re back to 4 and there’s a big “FOR SALE” sign on the place.

You’d think the Sampan would NOT want to be a model that other Chinese restaurants would want to imitate. Not so! I live right down the street from the Han Dynasty Chinese restaurant which is also located on Concord Street about a mile north of the Sampan. When I first came to town, that facility was an American family style restaurant called “Wallace’s”. By 1990. Wallace’s had closed and the Han Dynasty had opened. (I believe the Wallace family still owns the property and the Han’s owners lease it from them.) The Han Dynasty is a much larger facility than the Sampan...probably at least 4 times larger. In their first decade of existence their food was AWFUL...almost inedible. In those days, it was around a “D” level. In fact, the Han Dynasty’s food has gotten better. It’s not magnificent, but today I’d rate it around a “C plus” and I’d rate the current Sampan around a “C minus”. It wasn’t too many years ago that the Han Dynasty would not only be crowded for dinner but would have a respectable sized crowd for their luncheon buffet. Today, you can go in there for the luncheon buffet and NO ONE is in the dining room! In the lounge at the other end of the building, people are drinking and playing, you guessed it, Keno! A few days ago, a sign appeared on the Han Dynasty door stating that beginning on April 1, the lounge will open at 2 and the kitchen and dining room will open at 4.

If you’ve ever watched the Chef Gordon Ramsay show “Kitchen Nightmares” you know he “preaches” that one of the main reasons restaurants fail is that they either forget their mission or they don’t have a mission. I think the Sampan and Han Dynasty could both use a week with Chef Ramsay! I’m sure the owners of both places will say the economy is bad and you can’t make it serving luncheon buffets and luncheon specials anymore. I’ve observed, however, that the Cherry Blossom Chinese Restaurant on Rte. 135 is Ashland is doing a booming business with their luncheon buffet. That’s a place that had “A minus” food quality ten years ago, and now is down to “B minus” level. It was very crowed for the luncheon buffet in 2000 and it’s not QUITE as crowded in 2010 BUT still quite full and I think the price is about the same. They’re NOT a Keno parlor, either.

Another Chinese Restaurant in MetroWest that still has luncheon specials and has NOT gone the way of becoming a Keno parlor is Star House on Route 135 across from St. Tarcisius Church. It’s a very small facility, and both a take-out and eat-in place. They’re much too small to do a buffet, but they do have luncheon specials, and the food is OUTSTANDING. They do serve beer but there’s no bar.
They can comfortably seat around 20 people and pack in another 10 which WOULD make the place like a sardine can. They tend to be kind of short staffed, but if you can handle that, the food is great. Michelle of the This Is Framingham blog says she and her husband had a bad experience there one time in that their order was messed up and I guess the service could have been better. I hope she’ll try it again, ‘cause I don’t think that’s typical for them.

Yes, I just felt like writing about Chinese restaurants today. And it IS interesting that when a Chinese restaurant emphasizes and focuses on any product other than Chinese food, that seems to put them on a fatal course. So, I guess there’s a lesson in that, for whatever your calling and talents are in life: Find YOUR mission, focus on it, and do it well!