The original really was funky. Food arrived from the kitchen via a dumb-waiter. Ask Blandina Farley about it. She'll know. 🙂
By Elena Kadvany, Staff Writer Sep 3, 2025 - San Francisco Chronicle
After what appeared to be the end of a chapter of San Francisco food history, Chinatown’s oldest restaurant, Sam Wo, will make a triumphant return this Friday, Sept. 5.
The city almost lost the 116-year-old landmark when its chef and owner, David Ho, decided to retire as the restaurant’s lease at 713 Clay St. expired. In January, Sam Wo went dark; while the intention was to find a new chef and operators, it was unclear whether that would happen.
Ultimately, a group of Chinatown natives and longtime Sam Wo customers banded together to keep the historic business alive. Steven Lee, an investor who helped the restaurant reopen in its current location in 2015, teamed up with Norris Song, who owns the Kitchen and Zhen in Millbrae and Asian Pearl in Richmond and Sacramento; and Song’s cousin, Ming Duong, who owns Begoni Bistro and Osmanthus Dim Sum Lounge in San Francisco. Both Song and Duong grew up eating at Sam Wo.
“I hope that this is something people come to Chinatown to see: the original Sam Wo,” Song said. “I hope this is a place where they can see the history, they can taste the history.”
Resurrecting Sam Wo was hardly inevitable. When Ho announced his retirement, the business’ shareholders debated whether it was time to close permanently, Lee said. The restaurant had struggled during the pandemic, and food and labor costs have soared since. Half of the shareholders disagreed: “They really wanted to keep Sam Wo going,” Lee said. The owners launched a national search for a new chef and operator. They didn’t want to sell the business to someone who didn’t appreciate its history and might do away with the traditional Chinese cooking methods that set Sam Wo apart. (Ho retired in part due to two torn tendons in his arm, the physical toll of decades of labor in the kitchen.)
A potential deal with a prominent New York City chef, whom Lee declined to identify, fell through. Then Lee approached Duong, who quickly convinced Song at a Chinese banquet to join the effort. None of them could imagine San Francisco’s Chinatown without Sam Wo.
S.F.’s oldest Chinese restaurant is finally reopening. Here’s when
Greg
Quick and Dirty
S.F.’s oldest Chinese restaurant is finally reopening. Here’s when
By Elena Kadvany, Staff WriterSep 3, 2025
Sam Wo Restaurant on Clay Street in San Francisco’s Chinatown neighborhood. The 116-year-old landmark is set to reopen on Friday, Sept. 5.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
After what appeared to be the end of a chapter of San Francisco food history, Chinatown’s oldest restaurant, Sam Wo, will make a triumphant return this Friday, Sept. 5.
The city almost lost the 116-year-old landmark when its chef and owner, David Ho, decided to retire as the restaurant’s lease at 713 Clay St. expired. In January, Sam Wo went dark; while the intention was to find a new chef and operators, it was unclear whether that would happen.
Ultimately, a group of Chinatown natives and longtime Sam Wo customers banded together to keep the historic business alive. Steven Lee, an investor who helped the restaurant reopen in its current location in 2015, teamed up with Norris Song, who owns the Kitchen and Zhen in Millbrae and Asian Pearl in Richmond and Sacramento; and Song’s cousin, Ming Duong, who owns Begoni Bistro and Osmanthus Dim Sum Lounge in San Francisco. Both Song and Duong grew up eating at Sam Wo.
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“I hope that this is something people come to Chinatown to see: the original Sam Wo,” Song said. “I hope this is a place where they can see the history, they can taste the history.”
Norris Song, left, and Steven Lee are the new operators of Sam Wo in Chinatown.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Resurrecting Sam Wo was hardly inevitable. When Ho announced his retirement, the business’ shareholders debated whether it was time to close permanently, Lee said. The restaurant had struggled during the pandemic, and food and labor costs have soared since. Half of the shareholders disagreed: “They really wanted to keep Sam Wo going,” Lee said. The owners launched a national search for a new chef and operator. They didn’t want to sell the business to someone who didn’t appreciate its history and might do away with the traditional Chinese cooking methods that set Sam Wo apart. (Ho retired in part due to two torn tendons in his arm, the physical toll of decades of labor in the kitchen.)
A potential deal with a prominent New York City chef, whom Lee declined to identify, fell through. Then Lee approached Duong, who quickly convinced Song at a Chinese banquet to join the effort. None of them could imagine San Francisco’s Chinatown without Sam Wo.
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“The new partners bring new resources and a base of support workers to Sam Wo,” Lee said. “This was the only way I have confidence we can try and save Sam Wo for the second time.”
A menu in the kitchen at Sam Wo, which is about to reopen in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Sam Wo is arguably Chinatown’s most famous restaurant. Open since 1908, its customers have included figures from Bruce Lee and Allen Ginsberg to Conan O’Brien and Martin Yan. It was known for its chewy rice noodle rolls, filled with barbecue pork or duck; and Edsel Ford Fung, “the world’s rudest waiter,” who denied patrons forks or translated menus, and whose shirt and bow tie were framed at the restaurant after his death.
Ho, a native of the Guangdong province, started working at Sam Wo in 1981. He took over from his grandfather, the previous owner and head chef, in 1986. For the next 40 years, he spent most of his waking hours in the kitchen. The original Sam Wo on Washington Street, which Herb Caen once called the “skinniest Chinese restaurant in town,” closed in 2012 due to health code violations. It returned on Clay Street three years later with new partners and financial backing.
A wok full of hot sauce is cooked at Sam Wo.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
When Sam Wo reopens this week, most of the menu will be the same, though prices for familiar items like congee and wonton soup will be higher given the increased cost of doing business. The kitchen will make some new dim sum dishes, such as lava buns, har gow and siu mai. New head chef Zhouxi Quan, who comes from the Kitchen in Millbrae, has been training with a meticulous Ho for two weeks, learning how to make Sam Wo’s famous rice rolls from scratch and other dishes. Ho said through a translator that he is “very happy” to pass the business to a new generation that will keep Sam Wo alive. Quan, who is also from Guandong, said through a translator that he “will try his best to help keep the cooking going.”
Passing on decades of ingrained cooking experience is not easy, the team said. On Tuesday, Ho, wearing a black apron over a long-sleeved green shirt, poured a bucket of soaked rice into a metal grinder, the same machine he’s used for decades. As the fresh batter poured out of a spout, Ho let the liquid stream through his fingertips, feeling imperceptibly for the just-right, smooth texture. (Many restaurants today use frozen or pre-made noodle rolls.)
Zhouxi Quan, the new head chef at Sam Wo, watches as David Ho demonstrates the process of milling rice for fresh noodle rolls.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
Ho ladled the batter onto thin, cylindrical pans, which cook in stacks inside a custom-made steaming apparatus: an enormous metal pot with small holes punctured in its sides, hanging over metal racks sitting in a large vat of boiling water. The pot drops down to cover the racks via pulley and weight. The rolls would take about five minutes to cook, Ho said, but he forgot to set the timer. He relies more on visual cues anyway — when the steam escaping from the pot’s holes turns from barely-there wisps to forceful jets, the noodles are ready. He filled the delicate rolls with char siu; thin slices of egg and cilantro; or shredded duck and bean sprouts charred quickly in a wok.
These rolls, with a dab of hot mustard, immediately transport Song to his childhood.
“You cannot go anywhere and taste the same flavor,” he said.
David Ho, former co-owner and chef of Chinese restaurant Sam Wo, slices a fresh-steamed rice noodle roll.
Stephen Lam/S.F. Chronicle
The new operators have agreed on a two-year lease extension. If it’s successful, they’ll continue — and may open even more Sam Wo locations in the Bay Area. (Under the new deal, Song and Duong got the rights to the brick-and-mortar Sam Wo, whose name has been trademarked.)
Sam Wo will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The food menu will also be available at Lion’s Den Bar, a nightclub Lee owns a block away. Sam Wo was long known as a late-night destination; the owners plan to experiment with later weekend hours. They hope that will draw people to Chinatown, a neighborhood that’s struggled to recover post-pandemic.
The goal, Lee said, is to “keep the legacy moving. We have to introduce this kind of food to the new generation.”
Sep 3, 2025