Bruce Lee's Favorite Restaurant

I found a free self guided walking tour of Pioneer Square that we did today. It did involve some light running from hobos but was enjoyable.

We learned some history of the above lands that dovetailed nicely with our experiences in the Seattle Underground.

Tai Tung Restaurant in the International District had quite a reputation as Bruce Lee's favorite eatery and Seattle's oldest Chinese restaurant in continuous operation. Things started off well with a giant mural of Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the building's exterior.

It was opened in 1935.

As soon as we were seated we were given a pot of tea on the house. This small gesture gave me major nostalgia for a place called the Golden Dragon that I used to go to as a kid in Springfield that also would give you free tea. It's my first memory of drinking tea and I thought it was super cool and exotic. I realized that without me really noticing that Chinese-American actual sit down restaurants have sort of died out, and all that remains is take-out joints. I already like this place a lot and I haven't even tried the food.

The crab rangoon was exotic looking. They must be homemade.

Bruce has a regular table in the back of the restaurant, I guess because he didn't want anyone sitting behind him. Dramatic.

I guess depending on your definition of "soon" this fortune is for once not really true. We're grounded until his baby highness arrives.

Back at headquarters Lydia predicted baby Ernie's arrival date.

Culture so Popular

We came to the Museum of Pop Culture the first time with Linda and Doug, and we managed to parlay that purchase into a whole year educational discount membership.

There's so much fun stuff here to nerd out on. I'd like to spend the night here so I can read all the signs and watch all the videos without interruption.

"In 1900 American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W. W. Denslow published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Baum later wrote 13 more novels set in the world of Oz. Although the Oz series was both a critical and financial success, today it is best known for the 1939 movie, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy and comedian Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. Lahr's costume was made of real lion pelts, which made it difficult for him to perform under the hot lights of the MGM set."

"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"King Arthur sets out with his Knight of the Round Table on a quest for the Holy Grail in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Along the way he is twice thwarted by a rude, hectoring French soldier who flings ridiculous taunts as well as livestock at the company. Arthur never finds the Grail, and his quest abruptly ends when he is arrested for the murder of the film's narrator."

Seeing this prop was especially fun because it was worn by John Cleese, who we just saw perform live recently.

The Little Duck was one of those fun Chinese restaurants where you walk in, and it's packed, but you're the only whitey in the whole place.

Some Chop Suey on the North Side

Lydia wasn't feeling well, so I took her to urgent care. The earliest opening we could find was at a place in North County. North County is quite a bit different than the parts of town I usually play in, so why not eat someplace new?

I had been interested in the St. Louis chop suey tradition for some time. There was a story about it on NPR which only furthered my interest. According to the story (here), St. Louis had a Chinatown in the downtown area that was demolished in order to build Busch Stadium. This sent Chinese restaurateurs into black neighborhoods where "rent was low and demand was high".
Well we strolled into Yet Bun II Chop Suey and took a look at the menu. Many of the items seemed commonplace for a typical Chinese place but there were some exceptions. Tripe sandwich, cheese fries, and Jack sandwich were some unexpected additions. I couldn't even find chop suey on the menu, but I ordered it anyway. It consisted of chopped beef and vegetables with a dark sauce served over rice. It wasn't super exotic, but delicious. We also got a St. Paul sandwich.

The place even had the protective Plexiglas shield like in the NPR article. So authentic. After finishing our order the guy let me choose a free Vess soda. Peach sir, peach.

The St. Paul sammich is like a St. Louis delicacy, which brings to mind the horseshoe of Springfield, IL fame. Does every city have it's own sandwich? A St. Paul is basically a Chinese omelet on bread. It was an egg foo young patty with mayo, onions, and maybe some lettuce. It looked and sounded kind of gross but tasted pretty good.

As for the origin of the St. Paul sandwich's name, an NPR humorist theorized: "You know how this got its name? St. Louis fixed himself an egg foo young sandwich, and somebody asked him, "Who made that monstrosity?""