June Playlist at Baohaus

We are going to have bi-monthly playlists at Baohaus and Xiao Ye. I made this first one and it's on at baohaus this week. If you wanna get down, hit us with your playlist and we'll check it out! Its gonna be a hot mother fuckin summer. I'm glad that people dropped heat rocks the last week cause I've been upset hearin' that its the summer of Drake. BUT, lookin at his singles and what every one else came with, I think that kid is gonna disappoint. As funny as it is to say, I think Banks set it off a couple months ago with Bimmer, Benz, Bentley, then Joell had Nissan, Honda, Chevy... Fat Joe had HAHA, then Young Jeezy really laid it down with Lose My Mind. I'm at bonchon friday night and boom, T.I. drops a mixtape. COOKIES! But before I even finish listenin to that KAN-mofuckin-YEEZY comes with Power and shut it down. Throw in MIA's lil diss track and I'm ready to hotbox baohaus with Asa this weekend haha.

With the list its a lil old, a lil new, and somethin for kids haha. We're not really tryin to break records and shit so its not meant to have all the new shit... More like playlists for a house party. As you'll see, i like to hear songs back to back from same artist..

Baohaus June - Eddie's List

1) Black Keys - Strange Times

2) Black Moon - I Got Cha Opin

3) Black moon - Shit Iz Real

4) Consequence - The GOod, The Bad, The Ugly

5) Cool Kids - Gold and a Pager

6) Cool Kids - 88

7) Danger Doom - Sofa King

8) Danger Doom - Space Ho's

9) Danger Mouse ft. Jemini - Ghetto Pop Life

10) Gwen Stefani - Luxurious

11) Gucci Mane - Lemonade

12) Kanye - Power

13) Big Boi - Shutterbug

14) Chromeo - Destination Overdrive

15) Chromeo - You're So Gangsta

16) Diplo - Put That Pussy On Me

17) Birdman - Stuntin Like My Daddy

18) Diplomats - Dipset Anthem

19) Diplomats - This is What I Do

20) Gucci Mane ft. Cam'ron - Stupid Wild

21) Banks, Juelz, FABO - Bimmer, Benz or Bentley

22) Fabolous - Brooklyn

23) Fat Joe - Ha Ha

24) Fat Joe - Lean Back 

25) Ghostface - The Champ

26) Ghostface - Tony Sigel

27) Jay-Z - Hello Brooklyn

28) Jay-Z - Success

29) Black Keys - I Got Mine

30) MF Doom - Rhymes Like Dimes

31) Mobb Deep - Drink Away the Pain

32) Nas - Affirmative Action

33) Nas - Street Dreams

34) Joell Ortiz - Brooklyn Ghetto Child

35) Kanye - Diamonds 

26) Lupe - Hip Hop Saved My Life

27) Lupe - Paris, Tokyo

28) MIA ft. Wale - Boyz

29) Dipset - Get Em Girls

30) TI - Big Shit Poppin

31) TI - You Know What it is

32) Jeezy - Crazy World

33) Jeezy - Vacation

34) Jeezy - Lose My Mind

35) R. Kelly - Ignition (for the kids)

Employee of Last Month

POW! and we back a month late. Now i know what its like to miss a period. I forgot to do employee of the month last month, but i'm makin up for it now. Vic came to baohaus from our ad looking for people who were WEB Dubois meets Heavy D and the boys (thanks dice raw). Not since Kate did we get a cover letter like Vic's:

To My Future Employers:

  

  I am a City College student  studying film, who at this moment is slacking off from school "trying to find myself". I am a huge dork, but I have a mean right hook.  Not only do I wish that I could birth Questlove's babies (that man is GENIUS), I wish I had could have the Roots follow me around and just play live music for me all day. I'm Cuban and Jordanian, so all your food is the equivalent of a wet dream. I'm also a mean baker (Purple Rain Shortcakes, with chocolate sauce. Just think about it.) and I dug your take on Twinkies. I plan on hosting my own slacker cooking show. Even though I have mentioned the word 'slacker"  I am hard worker and  terribly reliable, and I'm always on time. Plus, I have experience in food service, so I can handle all the rowdy customers without catching a case. I split my time between Harlem and the Bronx, but i would definitely relocate, if I got this job.

 

Hope to hear from you soon!

 

-Victoria

BOSS! That is how you mother fucking write a cover letter. Victoria, you the employee of last month. Pour some Apple Sidra out fo yoself or we can go get bluies at Apollo.

Chillin out.....

Afghan goo-goo just aint gettin it done these days. I need to chill but the heat got me buggin... Some people go to Church, but I go to Shopsin's... Recently, I've just had a lot of difficulty not responding to people who leave anonymous comments whether its on my blog, on yelp, etc. I don't get it. If you're going to say something, put your name on it. I do!

Kenny gave me some good advice that went something like this: "Go for the pussy, stop messin with the tits." LOL. He's been around a lot longer than me and he always has good advice. I do feel like I got drawn into a lot of sideshow shit like being blocked by an choi, haters on yelp, chairman bao, etc. And, at least for the short term, I'm going to do my best to ignore this shit and focus on my food. For anyone else looking to open a restaurant, I would say just be ready for negative things that you yourself didn't even seek out. The shit just finds you, but its cool. I aint mad. I'm gonna chill out and just have fun cooking. The recipes for xiao ye are all done, gonna cook for my homies before game 1 of the finals tomorrow so I'll have some photos of that.

I think a lot of people have the wrong perception about us. We're all just kids and a lot of the times, we are immature. I wake up, play ball, eat and then head in to check the restaurant. After that, who knows what happens. We don't know how to handle everything that's been going on so we just say what we think and it hasn't always been good for us. I'm 28, Emery's 25, Evan's 22, there isn't a class or book or person who can tell you how to do this nor would we want that. We like to figure this out ourselves, but I think we forget that everything on the internet is there for people to see. We're really just being ourselves writing funny menus, doing goofy promotions, but people see it as some premeditated ploy. I wish people would get to know us and see that we're really just a random family. I mean, I'm an accident baby. The Huangs don't really plan shit. So... for the time being, i'm going to chill and if yall want to help, just remind me of this post haha.

That said... we're goin back to cali




Props to Raf aka The Prince of BK for planning this trip to Cali..... For the record, its not a throwdown. I'm just gonna cook. If you like pork, come see me.

Corporate Food Trucks

The SF Weekly had a great article last week. Somehow, I missed it but I just read it. I hope that people can see my beef with Mobi Munch is bigger than Baohaus or Chairman Bao or the Chairman Bao Truck. This blog isn't meant to promote baohaus, it was started as a resource to talk about starting a restaurant and now running one. So, with that in mind, I'm not going to bore you guys with what we plan to do concerning the violation of our chairman bao mark.

I do want to talk about the larger issue though concerning Corporate Street Food. I felt SF Weekly laid out both sides VERY well. These guys are applebees, PF Chang's, etc. "vets". Need I say more? They see a market to expose and they have a business model to efficiently pair people with trucks for their particular market. They are completely deteriorating the independent, creative, and spontaneous aspects of food trucks. The whole scheme is very pre-meditated and formulaic. Perhaps you just don't care and want pork buns in your neighborhood, but I still feel there needs to be some integrity and a personal touch.

As much as I hate "foodies", there has really been a "revolution" of sorts concerning food in America. From gastropubs (thanks spotted pig) to pork buns to stinky tofu, the last ten years have been great for American culinary history. Never in my life did I think I could sit back, hit my roor, and watch Andrew Zimmern eat Taiwanese food at Shilin. It's great. BUT, supporting these corporate food trucks and franchising the last 10 years of culinary creativity, plateaus our growth. This is what I mean.... There's PLENTY more work to do. New York could use some more food from Singapore or Peru or even tackling the challenge of evolving New York cuisine. What is it? I dunno, but it interests me. We're not done and we can still do better! Now is not the time to spend our dollars on watered down concepts. By supporting these things, our dollars are tied up in vanilla market offerings that don't progress food culture in America.

I mean, even in our family, we plan to do one more by the end of 2010. We got ideas! A whole new concept. Who knows, maybe after that, I'll work on expanding and taking the concepts to new locales, but if I did, I would tweak the menu to fit local flavors, tastes, and culinary history. Each spot would have something new. I don't think expansion is a bad thing, but you have to always push yourself to be genuine and original. At least that's how I feel. Its great to share your work with more people, I love that part of my job. But, I try to give people different looks. For instance, at hester st. fair, we served Kim Jong's ILL Noodles. The first day, we used Mama O's Kimchi made from cabbage. The second day, we used Skim Kim made of cucumbers. It was done intentionally so that I would stay entertained and people would have a reason to come back. You can do business several ways. One way is to target markets, see what the market needs and package it in the most efficient way possible. Which is what I think Mobi Truck is doing.

When efficiency and profits are the primary goals though, you sacrifice quality and I think craft. Food is art. I strongly believe that. Its just edible art. If you want a definition of art, read Tolstoy, but I'm not getting into it here. The point is, we need to respect our craft. That doesn't mean table cloths, garnish, or a star system, but I do think it has something to do with integrity, originality, and honesty. Mobi Truck... if you think your product has those three things, I'll shut the fuck up. But, from where I'm sitting, I can't see it. I would love to be proven wrong though.......

Lastly, thanks to Stuartvision for the truck!!! He made me a toy truck with baohaus and xiao ye stuff from the blog all over it! The bottom is the Chairman Bao Truck run over haha.

I hate Sex in the City

I hate Sex and the City..... But, I can't escape it. Posters are all over my block. People are posting about it on facebook. I hate these hos. So, I dug up my old Entertainment Law Final. A lot of readers have been curious about how the hell a goon like me actually graduated law school. Well, here is a sample LOL. I submitted this paper called Sex in Her Shitty as my law school final and had to watch pretty much every episode to write it. True story. The Professor is also now my attorney so that's cool. I cut out most of the boring shit. Hopefully it is entertaining... At the least, it's just fun to see what you can get away with in law school. I can't wait to write something like this to chairman bao truck haha.

The Trademark Dilution Revision Act's Implications of Pornody

BY: EDDIE HUANG 

      Pipedream specializes in the design, manufacture, and sale of adult entertainment products including the “Super Star Series.” Recently, they released the "Sarah Jessica Pork-Her: Sex in Her Sh$@@y" doll ("Pipedream Doll") parodying HBO's Sex in the City and Sarah Jessica Parker's character, Carrie Bradshaw. The Pipedream Doll utilizes the same font as the HBO mark, a look-a-like model, similar photographic style, and the words "Sex" and "in." Other parodies in the series include Jessica Simpson's Daisy character from Dukes of Hazard,Tori Spelling’s Beverly Hills 90210 character, and Paris Hilton as her fabulous self.


      The Super Star Series not only parodies the character, but also the lifestyle and culture the character represents. Sarah Jessica Pork-Her comments on the Manhattan single woman and her cosmo-twirling sexually liberal lifestyle, which is made obvious by the box cover image of the look-a-like holding a cosmopolitan in a brightly sequined dress and high heels. But, the question must be asked, does this product violate HBO’s Sex in the City trademark? Because the issue of consumer confusion seems to strongly favor Pipedream due to the red light district type product and outrageous packaging, I will instead address the more competitive issue concerning trademark dilution.

ISSUES

      Does Pipedream's "Sarah Jessica Pork-Her: Sex in Her Sh$@@y" doll tarnish or blur HBO's Sex in the City trademark? 

PIPEDREAM'S DOLL DOES NOT TARNISH

      As Hormel Foods points out, "Tarnishment can occur through a variety of uses. Some cases have found that a mark is tarnished when its likeness is placed in the context of sexual activity, obscenity, or illegal activity."²⁰ If a senior mark was associated with a junior mark that lives in a sexual setting, it would usually be a blow to defendant's claim against tarnish. But, this situation is unique because sex is a central theme to both the senior and junior marks. Sex in the City catalogs Carrie Bradshaw's numerous sexual escapades and there are many references to sex toys such as Season 1, Episode 9: "The Turtle and The Hare," Charlotte one of the main characters becomes addicted to a vibrator called "the rabbit."²¹ It is very difficult for HBO to claim tarnishment from the Pipedream Doll because Carrie, her co-horts, and the story line all indulge in like objects and raunchy sexual discourse. Taking these circumstances into account, Pipedream's parody of Sex in the City does not tarnish HBO's senior mark.

      Sex and the City has been critically acclaimed for exposing the New York Singles Scene and presenting sex from Carrie Bradshaw's raunchy female perspective that holds no punches. As Georgie Binks writes, "At first, I have to admit, the sex aspect intrigued me. It's not every day, after all, that you actually see naked people in compromising positions on a mainstream television show. It's rarer still to hear a woman swear as much as Samantha did during the course of a meal."²² When viewed in this light, Pipedream's product being sexual does not carry the circumstantial weight a sexual association usually would in tarnishment analysis. Carrie Bradshaw was the vehicle for exploring what its creator, Darren Star, saw as "real life," he said, "It's a lot about talking about sex, thinking about sex. Every third thought is a sexual thought, and I think that's what this show is about - what people are really thinking about is sex."²³ The show, the characters, the creator, and the viewers embrace the show for its raw take on sex and Carrie Bradshaw has become a cultural symbol representing women having sex like men.²⁴

      Judy Cox states:
            This is sex in a context where women are explicitly trying to turn the
      tables on men, 'to have sex just like men do', but by this they mean to have sex  
      without any emotional involvement, to have sex casually and then walk away.
      Thus it is seen as liberating to have an orgasm and then leave before the man you  
      are having sex with does. Thus it is seen as taboo breaking to discuss anal sex,
      but in the same conventional terms as women used to discuss losing their virginity
      in the 1950s and 1960s. Thus it is seen as a great breakthrough to 'reclaim' words
      which are the most offensive towards women and their bodies.²⁵


Parodying Carrie through the creation of a blow up doll seems to function in the same sphere as the show itself and the reputation of HBO's mark is not harmed. HBO may attempt to make a Deere type claim that the lack of prestige in Pipedream's Doll tranishes the mark's ability to serve as a "wholesome identifier,"²⁶ but it is clear that Sex in the City has never been a wholesome identifier. It's opening credits to each and every show clearly present its heroine making the "walk of shame" home.

      Shelton Hull states,
            Concepts such as restraint, decorum, reputation and (watch out!) feminine
      virtue are scarcely mentioned. The awkward exit that often caps an urban one
      night-stand is only alluded to in the show’s opening sequence, which shows
      Carrie hobbling on her heels, hailing a cab in last night’s finery. Because she’s
      an independent woman, with her own money and (we assume) goals, it does not
      matter what happens to her reputation in the most densely-populated place on  
      Earth."²⁷

      The symmetry of Sex in the City's character driven shenanigans and storylines blend seemlessly with Pipedream's Doll, which is what makes the parody so effective. There are several statements being made, one of which is commentary on what is and isn't appropriate while also identifying a social inconsistency. Carrie is a single New York woman with a seemingly insatiable sexual appetite. In HBO's episode guide, the synopsis for Season 3, Episode 36 appropriately titled "Are We Sluts?" says, "Carrie realizes that she's become used to skipping over romance and heading straight for sex, and that's why Aidan's slow and deliberate ways seems so strange. Finally though, when the moment is right, Aidan and Carrie consummate their lust."²⁸ HBO presented Carrie and her lifestyle in a raw manner captivating the national viewing audience and compiled 50 Emmy Award nominations, 7 Emmy Award Wins, 24 Golden Globe nominations and 8 wins. Throughout its run, Carrie and her friends have walked a fine line between sexual liberation and unbridled sexual manipulation. Pipedream takes a side in the discourse and presents Carrie as a sordid blow up doll offering "three fabulous love holes" at $20 a doll. On screen, the girl is an award magnet, as rubber she's a $20 "f@ck buddy.”²⁹

      There is judgment about Carrie's true nature, there is commentary on society's acceptance of Carrie, and there is Pipedream's exercise of First Amendment rights, which is a Tolstoy like comment itself on "what is art" and the boundaries of acceptable merchandising. By creating the raucous doll, Pipedream goes where HBO cannot, even though the product is in line with the content of its award winning show. The characters themselves ask whether they are "sluts" and Pipedream answers by literally "branding" Carrie and portraying her as a ready-to-love doll.

CONCLUSION

      This is the layer of parody that requires mimicry, but does not reach the level of association which blurs or tarnishes. Because Sex in the City is founded on exploring the sordid side of single life and sex, Pipedream's parody cannot tarnish what creators intended to be the ground floor or, better yet, basement in the pyramid of wholesomeness. If the show was Mother Teresa in the City, there'd be a problem with a Mother Teresa Blow Up Doll, but this is Carrie Bradshaw, this is Samantha Jones, this is Sex in the City: the birth mother of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Brittney Spears and any other post-Sex in the City  Manolo wearing, unbridled, freudian, female Id screaming down Madison Avenue with a hundred thousand wants and needs.


      Viewers have seen these girls in the raw, in the bathroom, in nightvision, in Paris, etc., it's about time people saw them as dolls molded from Prada-like synthetics stamped with the sexual culture they created. There is no tarnish or blurring. If anything, it's a Hormel like polish on their work through parody where the brunt of a joke becomes more famous. HBO doesn’t lose any distinctiveness and its mark was never a wholesome identifier to begin with. They’d have a better claim against a company that tried to take the “bad girl” out of the image. The Pipedream Doll is the equivalent of a wax museum piece, this parody memorializes Carrie and the show, while also commenting on the negative social impact many perceive it to have.

BK v. the island

Whadda ya know... I was just at Prime Meats last night and we celebrated their review. Then I saw this post on eater . Really interesting and something my friends and I are always talking about. I used to live in BK on south oxford and atlantic right by Harlem Cake Man. Even though I was shit out of luck, broke as hell, it was the best time I had in NY. I lived there when we opened baohaus and all my homies are still out there. I really didn't want to move but I had to since closing Baohaus at around 3am and commuting back on friday/saturday was killing me.

Obviously, you have more choices in Manhattan, but there's more of a scene, it's more industry, and the expectations are weird. For instance, people feel entitled to your food, they have a customer is always right attitude... In Brooklyn, you fuck around at cake man and you will definitely get snuffed. The vibe is just a BK thing and why does manhattan care? You got your high-rises, your hotels, your 5-star chefs, let BK run that independent fuck the establishment culture and put up a few banners for it. Why you gotta win everything Manhattan? I just never understood people like that. So what if you think Prime Meats got an extra half star? Does someone else doing well really upset your universe? Prime Meats is dope. Give em fuckin 3 stars.

Look, I got restaurants in Manhattan. But if someone wants to set up shop in BK with taiwanese food, I'll support that shit. There is more than enough stinky tofu to go around. Just don't jack my names and copy my concept like Chairman Bao Truck. Be original. I think there is a tendency to pull for your neighborhood, brooklyn, the underdog so to speak, the more mom and pop places and I think that's fair. Its a lot harder for independent owners like myself and I do like it when someone comes out of the blue and sets up shop with something dope. Food is emotional so why wouldn't the reviews be? The story is part of the experience. To try and separate the food from the experience destroys the art of restaurants. Its the service industry. Its THEATRE. Why else would we have an open kitchen? Photos on the wall, music, etc. Anyone who thinks its JUST about the food is wrong. Even eating at night markets or trucks, you may think that there's no theatre to it or ambience, but there's EVEN MORE! Its just different. I hate the term high-end or low-end or even the star system. There are plenty of restaurants with no stars I'd rather eat at.

Now, on the other side, I do see how going to Brooklyn has become chic-chic and a corny gimmick. Just like last week where I didn't like the commodification of food trucks in SF, I don't like people in Manhattan going to Willy-B as a gimmick. That's the one part I do agree with the comment in the eater article:

"And yes, I believe MOST Manhattan restaurants are put together by a bunch of idiot consultants trying to capture the market. Pulino's, Breslin are but a few examples. They're for the Sex in the City crowd, not serious foodies."

YES! There are too many restaurants being put together by idiot consultants. Its become gimmicky to go BK. Brooklyn is a breeding ground that I think is best left for innovation and the new cats comin up. If you're established, you can do manhattan, leave brooklyn to brooklyn. Other people do brooklyn cause they HAVE TO. There's less barrier to entry and a lot more freedom to innovate in BK. I won't even say "standard" of service because service in BK is just different. Its not better, its not worse, its fuckin brooklyn. But yes, it does seem gimmicky when someone who's killed it in manhattan wants to go all Willy-B and set up a super restaurant. Yet, on the other hand, I even want to go set up shop back in ft. greene cause I loved the neighborhood. Its a tough call. I think I've made the mistake MANY times before assuming I know people's intentions. I don't want to do it again here because I see both sides. I can see where it seems gimmicky, but if you live in BK, you know. Mother fuckers just fallin love with that bitch.... Ask Andy Roddick.

P.S. To the hater above.... not that these people even need me to speak up for them, but.... Leave the Breslin alone! I can see why you would hate the scene at the Ace Hotel, but there's nothing wrong with the restaurant. The Breslin/Spotted Pig crew was at Prime Meats last night too. Great people and geniuses to boot. When I travel, the #1 restaurant that I see being ripped off is the Spotted Pig. Hands down. Everyone thinks they are original now opening gastropubs out in Cali or any other urban sprawl hell hole and April's the one that blew it up. Don't front on that group. Even her story about how she wanted to be a cop and became a cook is cool.

New Shit

BOOM..... saturday/sunday at hester st fair.