Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Were U Not Entertained?



People are funny...

"So, EXACTLY what his mom warned him about came to pass, because the fucking douche couldn't keep his stupid mouth shut. Get a brain, morans!" - Seyo on eater


"So Eddie pulls a publicity stunt, which backfires. Then when it's getting all the wrong sort of attention, he blames the cops for showing up too often and catching his staff serving alcohol to minors?? Seriously? Gimmicks don't last in the city. Proven once again. I'm Taiwanese myself, and would love to see a successful Taiwanese restaurant." - some stinky tofu lover on eater


"He is an over-ambitious kid that though he could through caution to the wind and do whatever he wanted and thought it would be a hit. There is a lot more to this business than trying to be a celebrity, especially when you are not. I heard it was not that good anyway." - classic restaurant lover on eater

"Huang apparently decided to sell the restaurant before he got into deeper shizzy with the S-L-izzy, and he’ll now lay low at Baohaus... Either way, maybe next time Huang will think twice about including an “abrasive vibe” in his business model … (Probably not!)" - Daniel Maurer aka the Agent Nelson Van Alden of the food game

Angry commenters make no sense right about now. It's as if they're the ones that lost the restaurant. Did I smudge your pumas? Did I take a drop in your drop? I'm sorry. As a restaurant owner, I had 3 goals. Make money, feed people, and entertain them. If they left realizing that all Asians do not sit at home on Saturday Night playing counterstrike, that was icing on the cake. Maybe you like the music and hate the food; like the photos, food, but hate the busboy who wears headphones in the dining room; or perhaps you like the restaurant and hate me. Fair enough. I've felt this way at plenty of restaurants but the only one that pissed me off enough to say something was P.F. Chang's. Was Xiao Ye as bad as PF Chang's? I would bet my Yao Ming bobblehead doll that we weren't.

Reasonable minds can disagree at any restaurant whether the food is good... But at the end of the day... can anyone really, honestly, truly say they were not entertained? People like to ask WWJD. I ask myself, WWYTBGL: What Would You Tell Baby General Loko?

Daddy got twisted on the Food Network and almost pissed his pants on the show.

Daddy wanted to open a 2nd restaurant and make enough money to buy a 24k abacus on a esco chain.

Daddy called this place Crackhaus... but the City said stop playin...

Daddy made potstickers named after pootie tang and they were dericious.

Daddy made dope bean paste noodles and some white guy at timeout thought it was dan dan mien.

Daddy didn't want to cook sweat shop food while wearing a white v-neck, shorts, and bootleg gators like the guys in Frushing so ABC's got their panties in a bunch.

Daddy played the Dipset Anthem in the dining room and some people put they two arms up... Touchdown.

Daddy got the NYT to run a photo in the dining section with someone who looks like Daddy hitting a squirt bottle bong in the background.

Daddy doesn't have money for your education, but he did throw the sickest, often imitated, but never duplicated Four Loko party of all time.

All I'm saying is this... If you'd rather read about molecular gastronomy and $20 million dining rooms, go ahead. If you'd rather eat in frushing, take the 7. But if you weren't entertained, you must be the real life Dustin Hoffman from Rainman.

Every one asks what my mom thinks... I called her yesterday and there was loud noise in the back and I asked her what it was. She says, "Your dad is reading your blog again and laughing like crazy person. He keeps calling you Kim Jong Huang cause he thinks you're crazy." Thanks dad. Means a lot...

XY closing: your loss, not mine... I'm going back to baohaus and you can go back to your regularly scheduled programming with Gordon Ramsay and shitty hotel restaurants not named the Breslin. Enjoy that. There are plenty of great restaurants in the city, but there will never be anything quite like Dericious...

Links I liked

New York Observer

Gothamist

Eater

P.S. I really did change after the Sifton review... I took it to heart and made some life changes. That was the best thing that happened to me from XY. Forced me to take a look at myself and take responsibility. People who ate at XY the last month know it was on point. The whole kitchen changed, had a new focus, and we kicked ass. That's what I'll take with me.

11 comments:

  1. Wish I had known you were gonna shut it down, kid. Woulda brought my whole crew. Dang.

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  2. One Love. The peoples just dont understand that this is going to only make you stronger, and better at what you do. Good lookin out son.

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  3. Good seeing you yesterday at the Haus! Like I told you and one of your cooks yesterday I really enjoyed the food. Very sorry to see XY go.

    Stay strong and stick to your guns. What's the point of making $ if you can't be proud of how you do it?

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  4. Aw man, sad to see you close. Came by XY a few weeks ago and LOVED it.

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  5. seyo is a bitch everyone knows that

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  6. Man, I had a fucking good time at XY couple weeks ago when I went for the first time. Food was great. Music was dope. Shawn the bartender was cool. Was supposed to go today with some friends. This is really disappointing. Damn.

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  7. First off, I heart you.

    What I don't get is what's with your vocal loyalty to Four Locos and if there was any partner/investor relations you had with them? I personally don't believe they were ever a sponsor or even supported XY. And they are not even a Taiwanese company, and you gave them tons of press which appears (from a non insider's perspective) to have cost you many hours of explanations and eventually contributed to the closing of the restaurant.... Just sayin.... you went a bit locos over some brand promotion that had nothing to do with why we love you and your food and your talent.
    Anyways, I'll still gladly take the $13 cab ride to Baohaus for my Taiwanese fixings.

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  8. haha, Ning, is that you? Anonymous... my friend Ning actually told me the same thing. Yes, I did go loko for four loko and it caused us hours of headache and drama.

    But, I hate backing down if I think I'm right, even if there are repercussions. I also got caught... I was just having fun with four loko and all of a sudden it became a huge media story and before I could go back, cops were in the joint all the time. I've bounced back from worse, but yes, personally, it was not the smartest move. I dunno... I need to find a balance between putting both hands on a hot stove, grabbing it, and picking it up, and maybe instead putting on Ali G ice cream gloves before touching the stove so no one gets hurt.

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  9. Well, damn. As a longtime reader waaaay out West, I am sad to hear this. I'd toyed with the idea of a trip back East just to go to XY.
    I promise, though, that there are lots of people that believe in you - not just in NYC either. Keep your chin up. You have more fans than you know.

    (PS - You know Four Loko ain't banned in Nevada. Just sayin'.)

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  10. Dericous is dead! Long live dericous! General loko forever! I'll never be as thoroughly entertained ever again. Send every chinkstronaut to white house to fix our problems. Much love from the third coast!

    I'm with LOKO, assholes!

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