A simple lunch at a Chinese restaurant leads Aaron into a world of hidden stories, unexpected connections, and a journey that was much more than just Chinese food.
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Story created & performed by: Aaron Calafato
Senior Audio Engineer: Ken Wendt
Additional vocals: Cori Birce
Art: Pete Whitehead
Original Music: thomas j. duke
Transcript
Aaron Calafato:
So, this story is about a Chinese restaurant called Baidu. I think it's still around, but I don't think it's the same ownership I'm going to be talking about. It’s in Northwest Ohio, right outside of Bowling Green.
I was there because I was a poor college kid having lunch, you know? Getting a deal on the lunch special—some General Tso's chicken, some Mongolian beef, Szechuan chicken with fried rice. And I'm eating this food, and it's not just your regular craving for Chinese food. This food had character and quality. I look over to the hostess stand, and there's this Chinese woman. She's working her tail off, really focused, really intentional, but very serious. Next to her was a "Help Wanted" sign.
So, I walk over to the desk because I needed some cash. I say, "Hey, help is here. Can I speak with the owner?" She goes, "You're speaking to the owner." I say, "Well, even better! I'm about to be the best hire you make at this restaurant." She laughs and says, "Really? Have you ever waited tables?"
I say, "I did once in high school at Bob Evans. It didn't go so well." She replies, "Well, why don't we give it a trial period? You can come in tomorrow." I say, "Great." I show up the next day, and I'm terrible. I have a hard time focusing. I'm really good one-on-one, like you and me right now, but when there are a lot of people in the same space trying to talk to you, my brain doesn't know where to put attention.
I'm good with one table in a restaurant, but I'm a disaster with four, five, six, or more. Even though this was a small dining hall—it wasn't upscale, but it wasn’t a hole in the wall either—it was right in the middle, like where you could wear a t-shirt and jeans, but it would be a nice pair of t-shirt and jeans.
When people came in, they were paying a little extra, and they wanted good service. Now, they got good entertainment because I'm just telling people stories, but then I'm missing drink orders, and the food's in the window, and the chef is dinging the bell, and I don't know they're dinging at me. I was just bad enough to be endearing and get pity tips.
The owner, she really liked me because I could entertain the customers, and that superseded getting their food on time, you know? So, she kept me around. Now, I mentioned the guy dinging the bell—that's the cook in the back, her husband. I never got his name, but he worked his tail off too. He was working in a way that showed he had a mission, but I could tell he was kind of sad. He had the eyes of someone who had seen more years than his body had experienced. I didn't know what it was, but for a few months, we were like a motley crew, and it really worked out.
I remember one day the owner comes up to me and says, "Do you think you can help me with my English?" I was like, "Well, listen, I don't speak English that well myself." She says, "No, no, listen. I just need someone to help me. Could you read to me? I could pay you 30 bucks a session, plus I'll let you eat with the kitchen staff." And I was like, "Okay, extra cash, free food, and hanging out and reading with some cool people? Let’s do it."
One day, my shift ends, and we're about to start our tutoring session. But before we do, the owner says, "Hey, let's eat." She takes me back into the kitchen, and her husband and the kitchen staff are cooking up a storm. Two guys carry this giant fish from an ice bucket, put it on top of a wok, and start steaming it and scalding it with water. They add scallions, chives, garlic, and soy sauce. It was magical. They had sautéed tofu with a savory sauce and ground pork. She says, "Hey, can you take these plates out? We're all going to eat together." So, I'm eating at a family-style dinner with the owner and the kitchen staff. None of them spoke English, except the owner. I don’t think her husband did either. But I got to be a part of this family dinner. It was pretty cool.
I'm setting the table, going back and forth. The fish is looking at me with its eye, and we sit down. They're eating this fish, and I don’t know if it was the style of the fish or whatever, but as they’re eating, there are bones in the flesh. It was like a normal thing for them—they’re able to navigate eating the bones and spitting them out like a gymnastic sport. It took me about 45 minutes to eat two bites, but it was absolutely delicious. And I realized at that moment, this wasn't the food they were serving the American guests. Look, the food we were getting was great, but this was the real deal.
After we ate, we sat down, had some tea, and of course, I brought in books of monologues because I was studying to be an actor. To read to her, I'm reading David Mamet plays and Clifford Odets, just doing these monologues. She loves it. I told her my dream was to be an actor or a storyteller, and she thought that was great.
As we're doing this, I look next to her and see this framed picture. In the picture is her, maybe a couple of years younger, what appears to be her mother, and what appears to be her daughter. I say, "That's a beautiful picture." She says, "Yeah, that's my mom and my daughter, and that's in China." I say, "Really?" She says, "This picture was taken the day we left." I say, "Man, that must be really hard to leave your mom. I never see your daughter around the restaurant." She says, "Well, that's because she's back with my mom."
I say, "Oh, she didn’t come with you?" She replies, "No, we couldn’t afford that. So, we’re working to make enough money to bring her here so she can become an American." I ask, "How old is she?" She says, "15." I say, "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm looking at this girl in the picture. She looks about five." She says, "Well, she was five." I say, "You haven't seen your daughter in 10 years?" She says, "Well, computer, phone, Skype, but not in person." And then she starts looking around the restaurant and says, "But soon, soon she'll be with us." She looks back at her husband, who is, as usual, working and cleaning up the kitchen. "Soon we'll have enough money for her to come here."
And then I start looking around the restaurant, and the restaurant changed in that moment. It wasn’t just some Chinese restaurant where you could get fried rice. That place had spirit and soul, and I could feel it. From that moment on, I took every English tutoring session we had very seriously, and I tried my best every time I came into work to be the best waiter that Baidu had ever seen.
