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Cheng Heng restaurant in St. Paul. Great food, full of heart, truly a neighborhood place where you see all kinds of people eating side by side — and the owners are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. (They’re extremely proud of their son who works for NASA.) So good.
•Still• so good after all these years: I lived in the neighborhood in 2001 or thereabouts, ate there all the time. They’ve done a thing or two since then — expanded the seating, added a few items, no more banana leaf wrapping on the ho mok — but basically it’s the same place, just as lovely as ever. The owners still remember me when I come in! The whole place is a small miracle.
Our investment-driven economy rewards growth so heavily it’s just completely skewed our idea of what “success” looks like. I’m talking about the enshittification cycle (middle player capturing both sides of a market and then squeezing them dry), yes, but not only that. I’m talking all the variations on nothing counting as success except •growth• and •extraction•.
Sustainability? Just being a lovely restaurant for 20+ years? Bah! What about taking it to the next level? Where’s the ROI??
Since the election of Trump and the Covid pandemic — and maybe also just because I’m getting older — I’ve become keenly aware of how temporary everything is. I mean, I’ve always been a Sensitive Artistic Soul Attuned to the Transience of All Things, sure, but the fragility of every single part of our society is keen and immediate for me now in a way it never was before.
In that context, sustainability and longevity are vital, wherever we can find them, however long we can hold on to them. A lovely restaurant surviving through the decades isn’t just a happy neighborhood story. It’s a danged triumph.
The restaurant business is brutal. That sweet couple who own Cheng Heng? I’m far more impressed with them than any of these Forbes-magazine-cover wheeler-dealer con artists. They made something matter, and they made it •last•. That is my definition of success.
Not because I want to drive growth and help them expand to new markets, but just because I want them to keep thriving and you deserve a delicious meal:
If you’re in MSP, stop by.
@inthehands Just keeping the lights on so long takes so much adaptability, as staff changes, as the economy changes, as the clientele changes, as neighborhoods change. Yelp didn't even exist when they started!
@aubilenon I tried and failed to find an opening date for them. Memory says they’re approximately as old as Google. A staggering thought!