In the Early 70's our favorite restaurant in New York's China Town was Bo-Bo's on Pell Street. The menu was up on a board, and even if there was a 30 to 45 minute wait, it was so very worth it. New York city is one of the largest of metropolitan small worlds. I had graduated from Georgia State College, you can see in the lower right, I'm taking a self portrait, to my right is a friend from GSC who had come up to visit, and to my right a fraternity brother and a friend of his, who had just happened to come by and was pleasantly surprised to see me.
During that year I met a young lady who was in my physical anthropology class, and a fellow my age who knew an art major who I had photographed a couple of years earlier for the Rampway, the GSU yearbook, but this will be the subject of another posting.
A year ago I was at a cinema in South Beach and we had been watching some Wong Kar Wai films on DVD. I was Googling Chinese cinema, and it turns out that Ester Eng, who had the restaurant next to Bo-Bo's was one of the early directors in Chinese cinema. She was as I had learned was a partner in Bo-Bo's, is is only an understatement which explains why we always saw these beautiful film actresses who ran the restaurant. This but an understatement. They had a most definite presence.
I would say their Chow Gai Kew, was about the best I had ever tasted. My Brother Mel Stein, and his good friend from U. Mich, Paul Markham Khan were both actuaries and devotees of superb Chinese cuisine. They both were winners of the Society of Actuaries coveted "Triennial Prize" in sucession . Another pleasant memory of good company.
Surprisingly it's difficult to find a good recipe for Gai Kew. At Bo-Bo's they had wonderful delicious tender black mushrooms, baby corn, snow peas, and water chestnuts. Around the corner was our favorite place for steamed and baked bao, but that's for another posting as well.
Bo-Bo's sadly closed a number of years ago.
19 comments:
oh i remember bo bo's well, the heady rush of steam when you waited, finally inside, the honey cakes, and and extra and, the pressed duck. they called it wor shu up.
in alaska now, so everything food wise is a disappointment having grown up on bo bo's
I used to eat at Bobo's frequently in the 60s with my agent, Gus Schirmer, and his friend Sylvia Sidney, the actress. Often we would be joined by Peggy Cass and her husband Karl. It was a witty, funny group. Great days in NYC.
Fond memories of Bo bo very small restaurant very crowded but the best Chinese food in all of Chinatown
My dad used to bring the family there about once a year during the 1960s. I can still taste the lemon chicken. I was barely 10 and I still remember the lemon chicken better than anything my mom made.
The Bo Bo tearoom was about the only place where my family found the near perfect harmony I wondered other families took for granted. We drove in from Roslyn Heights many many Sundays,parking uptown , doing a.museum , then a walk all the way downtown to the restaurant , ok sometimes we drove or did the bus , then yes we would either wait outside in the hope of making it past the vestibule. They kept a.steam cabinet with nap which I usually had one if a wait, to finally a table. Wor wanton soup, if u came in early they would be making and folding the wantons on an adjacent table. Then my mother's favorite : a fried ring of giant prawns in sweet and sour sauce, my brothers delight was this minced spicy pork served with a cut head of iceberg lettuce,. Often a lobster Cantonese , mu shu pork, the rest will need more thought. We had tried every Chinese restaurant on Long island in order to simplify our lists but nothing came.close ...I moved to San Francisco years later and basically I am undeterred in my wild claim: no Chinese restaurant has matched the perfection of this restaurant's cuisine.
Iron steak with rice noodles and pressed duck were like nowhere else. Dined there with my family in the sixties.
At deep fried ice cream there in 1980.
BoBo's "The Home Of Chinese Actors" used to eat there with my parents and brother in the 1960s. If I remember, your meal was dependent on the number in your party. There was a menu for 2, for 3 for 4 etc.,
The best Cantonese Chinese food ever. It was so good my friends and I would drive 4 hours each way to dine there during our Summer waiting jobs near Oneonta. We had to be back at 7 am to serve Breakfast.
Divine wonton soup flavored by shitaki mushrooms. Enormous and delicious egg rolls filled with lobster. Butterfly shrimp coated in bacon with orange sauce on a bed of shredded lettuce. House special pressed boneless chicken fried with mixed Chinese vegetables in a divine brown sauce. Wor shu up duck (pressed duck) perfectly executed in a delicious sauce. Hong Kong steak, cubes of tender perfectly cooked beef in a great brown sauce. The best Sweet and Sour pork cooked in a sauce of honey and no food color. There are other delicious dishes I have forgotten. Also the Chinese actors had their own table in the back.
The place closed due to a family squabble. It was a tragedy. I found the eggroll in Philly’s Chinatown called Phoenix Roll and comparable Sweet and Sour Pork in Hong Kong. No other dishes to compare anywhere. The Special Chicken would be what I would order if I only had one last meal on Earth!!!
you all missed the best they made a lobster roll that was to die fr
That is the Bono’s I remember. No menus. Choice of soup. Everything else was fixed. 22 1/2 Pell Street. One
Half of a level below street level
The first time we went to Bobo’s we arrived to see a dark green Rolls Royce with a chauffeur
waiting. When we entered we espied the most
elegant couple I’d ever seen! It was Babe and Bill Paley! She was swathed in camel cashmere. I was transfixed!
Despite the distraction, we were also dazzled by the food . A night of dear memories!
My dad was a chef there, he passed away a couple of years ago. If anyone has any old pics or signs please publish. I would love to frame some pics. Thanks!!!
My grpas best friend would take us there many times in the late 60's. A hole in the wall with the best food ever! When we were with him there was never a wait. Lee marvin was there once in a drunken state and kept bothering my attractive mom.
Such wonderful memories from when my grandfather started taking my extended family there for events. I was eight and learned to use chopsticks there--favorite food--shrimp wrapped in bacon on lettuce bed, special chicken in amazing brown sauce, lobster roll, and the wonton soup.
While in HS and college in the 1980s, I worked in a store on Canal & Broadway. I’d often walk over to BoBo’s (20-1/2 Pell Street) for an order of roast pork fried rice; $1 and it was an incredible lunch.
BoBo’s was almost literally a hole in the wall and still the taste of their wonderful fried rice still lingers over 50 years later!
Hi! My husband, Dan and I (Judy) loved the food at Bobo’s Cafe. It was amazing. We have been trying to replicate the Sponge Cake dessert and wondered if you might have the recipe since your dad was a chef there. Also the Iron Steak recipe.
Reading all the wonderful comments about Bo Bo Restaurant brings tears into my eyes. Because I have such wonderful memories of, and love for, the two couples who owned the restaurant.
My name is Bessie Hahn.
In early 1960’s, while still in college (in South Dakota) I was invited to NYC for the summer. I was so fortunate to be offered a waitressing job at Bo Bo’s.. Several weeks after I started working there the ‘bosses’, upon learning I was sleeping on the floor of an apartment housing a group of college friends they offered to house me in one of the owners’ Chinatown apartment. On my off day every Thursday, the wife of the Chef, MUI Yee, 梅姨, took me to the Theatre District and treated me to lobster dinners. Finding out that I was sleeping on the floor in the apartment a group of us students rented, she invited me to stay at their Chinatown apartment.
Everyone called the chef Quon Sok, 坤叔
and I was amazed what a simple, good soul he was. After half a century, my heart is still full of gratitude and love for 坤叔 and 梅姨.
Has anyone been able to track down any recipes from this restaurant ? Trying to find for my father in law who visited many times when he was young.
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