SAN FRANCISCO - A 100-year-old Chinese restaurant in San Francisco once known for having "the world's rudest waiter" is slinging its last insults and barbecued-pork noodle rolls.
Sam Wo, a Chinatown hole-in-the-wall, planned to serve its last customers early today.
David Ho, a descendant of one of the restaurant's original owners, decided to shut down after officials demanded extensive health and safety upgrades.
Heartbroken customers lined up down the block Friday to get a seat at one of the eight lunch tables and to mourn the loss of another San Francisco institution over bowls of wonton soup.
Customer Darlene Lee, 71, had been coming to the restaurant for 60 years and said its inexpensive fare was comfort food that reminded her of going home.
Sam Wo became a cultural mainstay in the 1970s through reports by the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen and the "Tales of the City" novels of Armistead Maupin.
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Both men immortalized the restaurant by writing about the antics of Edsel Ford Fung, the waiter who was known for verbally abusing patrons and slamming dishes on tables.
Fung died in 1984 at age 57, but for a long time a sign listing the restaurant's house rules maintained his gruff demeanor. Among its warnings: "No Booze … No Jive, No Coffee, Milk, Soft Drinks, Fortune Cookies."
Sam Begler, who has been dining at Sam Wo since 1976, recalled how Fung would refuse to serve people he didn't like the looks of and chastised customers who dared to complain when they were brought the wrong dishes. It was never quite clear whether his crustiness was genuine or an act, but it was always an experience.