Jimmy Chim

Tag: Restaurant

  • Secret Broth Ingredients

    There is a family-run Vietnamese restaurant not far from my house called Super Super Restaurant. I have been going there for years. The owner, his wife, and his kids work at the restaurant.

    Super Super’s menu has less than 20 items. Pho noodles, banh mi sandwiches, and rice plates are the classics. Their #1 noodle soup is my favorite. The pho broth is the best of all the Vietnamese restaurants in the area.

    When I went for lunch a few weeks ago, the owner took my orders with his usual big smile. As we chatted, I asked how long he had been in business.

    “Ohhhh…this location for over eight years. I started cooking in Vietnam in 1978, and I moved to America in 1982,” he said, “I have been cooking for over 40 years.”

    There it was—the secret to Super Super’s amazing broth: forty years of work and dedication.

  • What Makes a Great Restaurant?

    Is it the decor, the service, or the variety in the menu?

    Berkeley has a little takeout-only restaurant called Top Dog. It’s a hole-in-the-wall joint near the college campus. They sell hot dogs freshly made on a grill. You can choose a few varieties of sausages, like Frankfurter, Kielbasa. Service is not particularly friendly. You help yourself with sauerkraut and other condiments. There is no place to sit.

    This place is nothing fancy, but people–students and old-time residents–love it. There are lines at midnight on weekends. People savor the hot dogs, standing on the street, spilling ketchup and mustard on their shirts. Then they order seconds.

    Why do people go back? Consistency.

    When people know what to expect, and you meet that expectation, you create what people want. The quality has to be solid, but it doesn’t need to be fancy.

    But it has to be consistent.