In the spring of 2023, Julie, who started working at Sam Wo when she was 9, survived a major heart attack. “I know we’ve talked about it before, but this time around, it’s legitimate,” insists Julie, who works as a nurse and is propelling her dad’s retirement. “You don’t know what life brings tomorrow.”

Down in the kitchen, Jew and Ho are communicating predominantly in chef-speak. Jew, who opened Mister Jiu’s in 2015 just a couple blocks away, grew up in the Richmond. A third-generation Chinese American, he doesn’t speak Mandarin. Growing up, he shopped in Chinatown with his grandmother, who lived on the edge of the neighborhood. As a teenager, he went there for (of course) illegal fireworks. 

Ho, who has lived in Chinatown for more than 40 years, doesn’t speak English. Nevertheless, over the kitchen’s audio mix — the thrum of the exhaust, the snip-snip of green beans being trimmed, the thwack of a cleaver to a cutting board — the two bond over the equipment like a couple of gearheads to Jew’s clear delight.