Meeting LEGENDS: Cecilia Chang

Listen, Hop Sings in San Ramon, was a far cry from the world of The Mandarine in San Francisco. The first time I remember going to the Mandarine was with my family to celebrate a birthday over to Ghirardelli square either 1980 or a year later. I remember the rain, I remember saying really loud, “this place is amazing, it looks like the Tiki place ate at before. The woman at hostess area smiled at use and said, “It does, but this place is more magical.” I think that was my first Cecilia Chang interaction, and I just remember her being very nice to my sister and I, and chatting with my Grandma a lot and my father. The next time I went was with my father for lunch. For some reason my parents would send me to work with my dad more than once a year. I thin k they truly never trusted me home alone. My dad and I went into SF one time while I was in 5th grade, for scout trip for the CA Thayer outing with my class. We were just down the street from Ghirardelli and we grabbed lunch at the Mandarin. I remember Cecilia Chiang saying hello again to us and they spoke at lenght at the table. I always got the sense, my dad had gone there several times during work hours, and confirmed that when I asked during lunch.

The Mandarine was a magical place, not just for the decor, but for cuisine. I will admit, I remember going to the bathroom to look at the artwork on the walls outside and the statues in the bathroom. I had a thing for bathrooms. No clue why! The last time I remember going to Ghirardelli Square for dinner at the Mandarine, was after my grammie took our family in 1987 to see Cats The Musical at the Golden Gate theater. It was a birthday present to me, because I couldn’t stop talking about the show. She also wanted to see it. I was riding high after performance and I remembered that dinner vividly. Not because Chang was absent that night, but it was one of the first dinners out with my grammie, after my grandpa’s passing. I do remember asking the hostess, what happened to nice lady to greeted us years before and she said “She was receiving a award tonight and could not be here.”

Fast forward almost 8 years and I was in college and working in the admissions office. One of the marketing team members came screaming out of her office that she had just booked Cecilia Chiang to come and do speaking engagement for the first time. She said, Ms. Chiang was rumored to be retiring from the business and looking to do something new with her time. Everyone was a buzz! I said I had met her once when we ate at The Mandarin. Everyone just froze and stared at me. The marketing person just simply asked “You’ve eaten at the Mandarin?”. And I think I replied, “Yah. at least twice!” Then it became a Q&A period for 10 minutes. Honestly, at the time I couldn’t remember a single dish we ordered, but today, I do remember the fried chicken drumsticks, but if I am totally honest, I also remember the fried drum sticks at Hop Sing’s in San Ramon.

Now to the story of how I really met Cecilia Chiang, formally. I was asked to be apart of greeting team for her visit. The weekend before her visit, my friend Shannon was loosing her mind about some book she needed for a class, she could not find in any of the books on Thayer street or in school library. I told her about bookstore a few blocks down from our dorm called The Bookstore on the Square, and she called over to see if they had it. They did and I tagged along for fun. While she was looking around for the book, refusing to ask for help. I was look at some of the used cookbooks they had in a case. Inside was a copy of Cecilia Chang’s The Mandarin Way, which she published in the 70’s. When I pulled it out, all I could think, I could get some serious brownie points asking her to sign an old copy of her cookbook. When I got the book home, I spent the next couple of days banging my head on a wall.

In my head was the question, is it tacky to ask an author to resign a book, she inscribed to someone else?” I did settle the argument in my head, after talking to my mother. As soon as I told her over the phone of my plan, she promptly replied, “yes it’s tacky don’t do it!” When I told Ms. Chiang the story of the cookbook, after telling her about my visits to the restaurant as a child. She just smiled at me, when I got to the part where I said my mother said it was tacky. And she simply replied, “Your mother is a wise woman, I am happy you have my book.” After Ms. Chiang arrived there was a small meet and greet with faculty and staff. I was later invited to go out to dinner with everyone involved with the event, including the university president. Ms. Chiang as I called her, asked me to sit with her at the dinner. We talked about my family history in San Francisco, and the adventures eating at some restaurants she was very familiar with. From eating at New Pisa in the booths in North Beach, to how my mother and her cousins used to be babysat by a family friend who was the Maitrade at Fior di Italia in the restaurant, while my grandparents, and her aunt’s and uncles caught a dinner show at Bimbo’s which was two blocks away.

Ms. Chiang loved it all. She also shared stories of her early years in SF and how she came to love the community she was surrounded by and the friends she had made after opening the restaurant. I told Ms. Chiang, my great grandmother was a fan of food as well, and how I watched in awe that first dinner at the Madarin, the two them were in deep conversation when she came by to the table. I never knew what the conversation was about. Later on, even my mother didn’t remember the conversation details. I did share how my grandma used to tell me about how she would go out to dinner very often with her boyfriend who was also a chef. When Ms. Chiang asked his name, I began by saying he had a restaurant at the world’s fair, as soon as I said Louie, she immediately said, “Carrillo?” Not only did she know Mr. Carrillo but she even remembered my grandmother, she replied back with “yes, she had a shop on Union street and had thick black hair and was a seamstress!” To which I repled, “Yes, Mary Cardoza. And she’s still alive.” Ms. Chiang was elated to hear that news, and asked me to say hello to her. She shared she met Mary in the early 60’s, and she did remember the dinner she came to the restaurant in the early 80’s. She shared that Mr. Carrillo was one her earliest frequent diners at the lower Russian Hill address off Van Ness.

The whole day was an experience and I was riding high like crazy after that amazing experience. No I didn’t get her to sign anything, but that was one of those moments where I just had to enjoy the opportunity and meet an amazing woman. Learning about her study of Northern Chinese cuisines early in her career, was fascinating. From that experience I cherished the memories of that dinner and conversations we had, and my new but old cookbook. I might actually paste this story into the book, so the kids can share it later. I would cross paths with Ms. Chiang one last time later in the mid-90’s when I was a bus boy at The Hayes Street Grill. The chef at the time, had heard from a critic friend, that Cecilia Chiang was coming into dinner with another critic. I shared with the chef my experience, and put me on the schedule for the night, but the manager took me off. Luck would have it, I was called in for the opening shift at the last minute. Ms. Chiang, as I called her, recognized me immediately as she walked up the entrance ramp, along the bar. She walked straight to me and gave me a hug. As the owner of the restaurant walked them to their table, she pulled my hand asked me how school was and why was I back in SF. We talked briefly throughout the meal, much to my boss’s chagrin.

Cecilia Chiang with other Great Women I’ve met and will write about later.

I never again saw Ceclia Chiang after that night at Hayes Street. I had heard from friends over the next few years about how she spent most of her time up in Marin. That night, I did get to meet one of her best friends who would cross my path again. More on that later. That night, Ms. Chiang asked how my grandma was doing. I questioned on what I should tell, but opted for the truth. I told her I never got a chance to tell my great-grandmother about our paths crossing and her saying hello. I was planning on telling her in person, when I went home for thanksgiving that year. A fews days after I met Ms. Chiang, my grandma passed away in her sleep. When I finished telling the news, she simply grabbed my hand and simply said. “What a beautiful life.” She continued to say, she knew my grandmothers story because she knew the story behind her relationship with Mr. Corillo. A carried on from my mother and grammie to my siblings and I throughout our lives. I walked her to her car that night as she left the restaurant, she again repeated “What a beautiful life” and drove away.. To this day, when someone shares the passing of a loved one. I borrow her phrase in saying “What a beautiful life.”

Today, there is a great tv docu-series on Cecilia Chiang’s life, written and directed by her grand-daughter, Siena Chiang for twitch.tv back in 2021. The 6 episode series titled The Kitchen Wisdom of Cecilia Chiang is availble now on Youtube. The series features so many great chefs and personalities that have crossed her path, mine as well. Big shout out to my former boss Patty who was interviewed for the series. (I even ran across a short movie bio of Patty on youtube, that really doesn’t do her justice. She truly is pilar of the restaurant world of SF, like Ms. Chiang. Working for her was a very fond memory. I was there in the early days of Vicolo and worked both restaurants sometimes. The series on Ms. Chiang has inspirired me to try my hand at her beggers chicken recipe. I haven’t baked something in clay since my early 20’s. Wish me luck!