The Restaurant

Life lesson: A decrepit Chinese joint with a reputation for long waits and communal seating doesn’t really scream romance.

ANTHONY: The days were so full back then, and things changed so quickly that my perception of MSF still hadn’t shifted from hobby to potential new career—we were just focused on making it through each week. Moving from the truck to the restaurant meant a lot less uncertainty in the hours leading up to service, but it also posed some daunting questions: how would we provide table service? What kind of menu would we offer? What would the ambiance be like? I suppose these are the questions facing most restaurateurs, and at least we weren’t faced with a mountain of debt. We did, however, have the added handicap of Lung Shan’s crummy flatware and swampy bathroom. We hoped to just attribute any false notes to cultural differences. The grubby carpet wouldn’t reflect on us, right?