Another Venture Into Alpo-esque Territory....

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Kind of a cultural question.  Sorta.  

 

So... I like food.  And I have noticed that anytime I eat in an Italian restaurant, the staff, who may or may not be of Italian heritage, are usually polite, friendly, and whatever - but do not have Italian accents.  Sound just like anyone else from the neighborhood.

 

When I eat in a Mexican restuarant, the same - the wait staff (especially in these parts) are pretty much guaranteed to be Hispanic.  And they also usually have only an "accent-free" california accent.  

 

There's a Brazilian place in Fresno,  - same as above; not a trace of a Brazilian Portuguese accent.

 

I don't frequent French eateries, but when I have, the same.

 

But every time I go to a Chinese restuarant (I LOVE 'em!), every person working there is obviously of Chinese heritage - and ALL have strong accents.  EVERY time!  And this is an observation I've carried since the 1960's.  So... are these places only owned and staffed by people newly arrived from China?  Or do they go home and sound like Jennifer Aniston?   

Edited October 5 by Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I think that the Chinese have a very strong sense of family, and that they're all family working there.The accent, I don't know. They might do it because it's expected.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I used to go to a Chinese restaurant. Chinese, not Polynesian, not the type where the menu is laminated and starts with 4 pages of drinks, this restaurant only had eight person tables and most of the customers were Chinese families, it was the kind of restaurant where Chinese people go to eat.  In a largely Anglo area.

 

any of their staff were bussed up from Chinatown in Boston and some even given living quarters for the week.

 

the food reminded me of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

 

I was sad when it closed.

[Alpo]

Took my family to a Chinese restaurant one time. The hostess lead us to our table. As we were going down there I was trying to get the boy, who was maybe 10 at the time, to tell her shay shay (that is undoubtedly not how it is spelled but that is how it is pronounced) when we got to the table. He was shy and did not. After she left my father started teasing him. She came back while Grandpa was teasing him and asked what was going on. I told her that I had been trying to get him to tell her thank you in Mandarin for taking us to the table. She said, "I wouldn't have understood. I'm Korean".

 

My younger brother's wife is mainland Chinese. On a trip one time we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. My father decided that that she should order for all of us. When the waitress came over, the first thing my sister-in-law did was say, in English, "Do you speak Mandarin?" Receiving an affirmative answer, she then shifted from English to Mandarin and ordered that way.

 

There used to be a Tex-Mex place down at the end of the road. Taco Tex. But everyone working there was just normal American. Over the years it has changed hands and names, but still it was just normal Americans. It was closed for about 6 months, and when it opened it was called El Milagro. When I went in there for the first time I immediately noticed that it was no longer a Tex-Mex place staffed with regular Americans. It was a Mexican restaurant. Full of Mexicans. I was the only white guy in the place. That's an interesting experience.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I once said shayshay to a Vietnamese.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Ding boo wa

 

 

Imis

[Sedalia Dave]

Best burritos I have ever had came from the El Rio Drive In on 126 in Ventura Ca. The size of a 24 oz tumbler and full of meat, refried beans, fried rice, cheese, and an excellent sauce. 
 

 All cooked and served by orientals. Not a Hispanic employee in the place. 

[watab kid]

ive noticed the oposite here recently in both italian and mexican and now that you mention it in the chinese as well , love all the quinines and the people here that create them , 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

China Gate in Montclair, CA had an all-Chinese staff until just before we moved to Arizona.   Some spoke very little English, but most could get by.  The owner / manager and his two brothers got to be pretty good friends of some of the Grumpy Lunch Bunch,

 

About two months before we left California my wife and I and another couple went in and had a Mexican lady wait on us.  I asked the manager how come he hired her.  He sat down, as he often did if the place wasn't too crowded and looked me right in the eye and seriously, almost sadly, said "We ran out of relatives from China.  He asked if that was okay and I told him that as long as the food was excellent and the service was near-perfect I had no complaints.  A few years later I learned that the place had closed.

 

I don't miss much about California, but there were some amazing restaurants there.