HUNGRY GERALD

Nom  Wah, the dim sum restaurant on Doyers Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, used to be the only dim sum restaurant in Manhattan–now there scores in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. HG began eating there about 73 years ago alone and with friends. When alone,HG had a bottle of I.W. Harper Bourbon Whisky on the table and drank copiously (Ah, those were the days when HG could do that and remain erect,mobile and relatively sober). An aged waitress brought individual portions of dim sum on small colored plates–the colors indicated the price of the items. The waitress examined the empty plates and gave HG a bill (A cash transaction since this preceded credit cards). HG would remove 10 plates (HG ate a lot of dim sum as HG read the Times and sipped booze) and hide them on HG’s lap. When the waitress came around to count the empty plates and write the bill, she was startled and shocked. Why so few plates? Finally, HG revealed the plates and there was much laughter. When son Jeremy and daughter came around to enrich HG/BSK’s life, Nom Wah had gone down hill and HG/BSK discovered other tasty venues for weekend dim sum lunches  (From their earliest days, Jeremy and Lesley were big time dim sum fans—as was BSK). Alas, the bourbon disappeared from the table (BSK’s request) and was replaced by tea and beer.  In retrospect, this was a good move. When living in New York (Brooklyn) Jeremy and wife, Maiko Sakamoto, introduced HG/BSK to Dim Sum a Go Go in Chinatown. So good that HG/BSK had HG/BSK’s 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration party there. Very appropriate since HG’s first date with BSK (A bit more than 61 years ao) included dinner at  the long closed BoBo restaurant in Chinatown. Recently, Nom Wah was refurbished and renewed. HG/BSK (In a nostalgic mood) ate there. Too bad. Insipid. The old magic has gone.