Beijing Boyce

Tim's Texas Roadhouse holds out in the Wild, Wild East

-

The Wall Street Journal has published a story about Tim’s Texas Roadhouse, the last place standing on the former Super Bar Street, where tenants were cleared with little notice and at times under threatening conditions. From the story, found on the WSJ Web site and in its Asia paper edition [my highlights]:

China’s capital might not seem like a natural spot for a taste of the Lone Star State. But for the two years that he ran Tim’s Texas Roadhouse on a dusty strip called Super Bar Street here, Tim Hilbert says he felt right at home.

No longer. For the last three months Mr. Hilbert has been making an Alamo-like stand against local government plans to renovate the area with a big new development. Today, the Roadhouse is all that remains of Super Bar Street, alone in an expanse of dirt and cement surrounded by a barbed wire-topped wall erected by the developer. The dozens of other restaurants, bars, and shops on the once-busy stretch have been demolished, in many cases after proprietors were forced out by gangs of club-wielding thugs.

The story reports on the short notice given to tenants, the efforts of Tim’s Texas Roadhouse owner Tim Hilbert to use the legal system given that he feels he has been offered too little compensation, and his hiring of a “half dozen Chinese guards, out-of-town toughs” to protect the place.

It also describes the intimidation used against some tenants on the street that included everything from Africa-themed bars to Japanese restaurants to hair shops:

On May 12, Seven Colors [the company that serves as landlord] posted notices throughout the neighborhood saying it would be demolished, and that tenants had until May 31 to get out. “It was really a shock,” says Bai Jie, who ran the Afro Arena bar, a hotspot for African residents of Beijing. “We had no preparation at all.”

Some owners pushed back. Helen Ma, a Hong Kong woman who ran a bar called Shamba, complained to local government officials on May 16. Two days later, dozens of burly men with short haircuts showed up at her place, dragged her and several employees out, and locked the door, she says. Ms. Ma says they punched her and yanked her hair, while police simply watched.

Several other tenants said in interviews that they witnessed or experienced physical violence, from gangs of men often carrying steel pipes or wooden clubs. It’s unclear who the men worked for.

Police didn’t respond to requests for comment. Mr. Zhang of Seven Colors said that reports of physical abuse are “just rumors.” No one from Purple Dragon [the demolition company to remove the establishment] could be reached, and Mr. Zhang declined to comment about that company’s role.

In a faxed statement, the government of Jiangtai Village – the Beijing sub-district where Super Bar Street is located – said the reclamation and demolition of the area, as well as compensation procedures for the tenants, have followed the law. It said police officials had received no complaints about “public order incidents” relate to the demolition.

See the Wall Street Journal article for full details.

And as for what will replace Super Bar Street, well, that seems to be a bit of a mystery: “Among the enigmas in the case: who is developing the land, and what will they be building. The development is called the “Run Shi Center,” and local officials have said it’s a “key project.” Mr. Zhang of Seven Colors said the government of Beijing’s Chaoyang district is behind it, but declined to elaborate. Chaoyang officials didn’t respond to questions.”

-

See also:

• Hilbert’s last stand: Tim’s Texas Roadhouse among two holdouts on Super Bar Street
• Super Re(Bar) Street: Cranes and concrete, trucks and toilets
• Live blogging: The Super Bar Street countdown…
• Photos: Super Bar Street countdown…
• Super Bar Street countdown: A night at Tim’s Texas Roadhouse
• End of an error: Super Bar Street to meet the wrecking ball?

Photos to come…

What restaurants and bars would I visit after leaving Turpan, a three-hour drive from Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi, early in the morning and arriving in Beijing early in the afternoon? A question I have asked myself since childhood thousands of time hundreds of times never. But I do have an answer. Here is my itinerary for winding down after spending nine days in Ningxia and Xinjiang, most of them in the latter spot, where I found myself unable to use the Internet or SMS.

Le Petit Gourmand (map): As much as I enjoyed putting away kilo after kilo of tomatoes and potatoes, melons and grapes, noodles and lambs on the trip, I needed an old favorite: the club sandwich. While the manager is new, the sandwich, with about a dozen layers as well as sides of fries and salad, continues to offer excellent value at RMB44. So does the “American” coffee, the first non-instant java I had in almost two weeks, at RMB15. Oh, and it appears that LPG has finally added to its five-CD collection. I won’t miss hearing that CD of “My Way” remakes over and over and over again. (Note: In other Tongli area news, Cheers (map) still has that “decorate” sign in its window, while Cosmos Lounge, just around the corner from Cosmos Hot Dogs (map) in the southern entrance, has its prices listed outside.)

Union Bar & Grille (map): Iced tea. Refreshing unsweetened iced tea (RMB20; refills free). I considered ordering my favorite dish, the eggs Benedict, but decided to save it for the weekend. Instead, I went to…

Danger Doyle’s (map): Through this month and next, Wednesday means free pizza from 3 PM to 10 PM. With its wood-fired oven, this place pops out better-than-average pies, and I washed down my pepperoni version with a pint of Stella. The only downside: the table of freeloaders who ordered pizza, but no drinks, and were abusive to the staff to boot. Perhaps not only a “drink purchase required” clause is needed but also, given this is a sports bar, red and yellow cards for boorish behavior.

Purple Haze Bistro (map): A substantial crowd on hand to catch the weekly live jazz. This week’s act was No Name Trio, an outfit that features two guitars and an accordion, plays what one member describes as “French gypsy jazz”, and even slipped in some Elvis Presley. Good music, good vibe…

Fans of the former Pacific Coffee outlet in The Place, regular contributors 8 Songs and Ba Songs visited its successor, Esquires Coffee, and left less than impressed. Writes 8 Songs [my highlights]:

Esquires Coffee has opened this morning [Sunday], where Pacific Coffee used to be, at The Place.

But the man in charge is no gentleman.

We came in about 10 a.m. for a spot of breakfast. The place is laid out a little differently to Pacific, and decorated much like any other coffee shop. The New Zealand woman training the staff told me that Esquires is a Canadian company, now franchising into several countries.

As usual for new Chinese shops, the place was festooned with flowers out front, while inside, the florists were still arranging more displays.

We went to order food and drink. A staff member joined us at the counter, and took half our order. She then went off to start collecting the items, oblivious to me trying to get her attention to take the rest of our order.

The other five or six staff members behind the counter were too busy doing nothing to take any notice of me. Finally the young NZ lady noticed my distress and had the coffee added to the order.

Meantime, Ba Songs was admiring the floral display inside the shop. She pulled out her camera to take a snap, whereupon the manager rushed over and in gruff Chinese ordered her to put the camera away. Ba Songs explained she was only taking photos of the flowers, but that wasn’t good enough for this man. He yelled at her that she was not allowed to take photos. She asked what was the big deal, but this guy upped the volume and lowered the tone, using Chinese expletives to make sure she understood she wasn’t allowed to take photos.

By this time, a small crowd was gathering. But the manager didn’t care and kept repeating his directive, while Ba Songs was demanding a tiny bit of customer focus.

With nine coffee shops in the immediate vicinity, plus more opening in the Prosper Centre, this guy has no shortage of competition. We will be voting with our feet.

Please warn your readers, if they go to Esquires at The Place, don’t take their cameras – or expect reasonable customer service.

Just before posting this, I received a second opinion of Esquires Coffee, this one from p3wong. She writes [my highlights]:

I went to Esquires today and had to wait 15 to 20 minutes to get a coffee. There were three or four people behind the counter, and I saw a blond woman heat up some milk for them, but there was only one guy making coffee – and he was slow. They ran out of large cup covers. Yesterday they had soy milk, today they did not. Today they put chocolate syrup on my mocha, yesterday they did not. Obviously, the staff are not trained well enough.

True, it is early days and the place might simply be going through growing pains, but first impressions can be lasting ones, and this is a chain and thus should have a system for getting service quickly up to speed. And there is no place, at any time, for rudeness from management. I will soon check out Esquires Coffee myself and report back here. (Note: According to this story, it looks like Esquires Coffee is a New Zealand chain, though 8 Songs says he was told it is Canadian. Update: According to this site – click “Canada”, then “about”, then “history” – the company started in 1993 in Vancouver.)

See also:
Grab a java II: Pacific Coffee

Attention China: Unless you are one of my foosball students I will absolutely destroy you on my foosball table. Resistance is futile. You may as well give up now. – Fred Gower

Fred Gower last appeared here in December 2007 ahead of the China Open Table Soccer Championship held in Beijing. He left the country more than a year ago, but will soon return, to Shanghai. And maybe it’s just me, but the above quote suggests he has has picked up a *wee* bit of attitude. Anyway,  he is giving notice to foosball players in China, including Beijingers who make the trip to our sister city in the south: “Anyone who is able to beat me gets a free meal including drinks. But be warned, total humiliation on the foosball table is not fun. Mwahahahahaaaa!”

If you want to try your game against Gower, contact him at fred_ gower@yahoo.ca.

Note: I have played foosball only a few dozen times in my life, but I scored against Gower in the one game we played. Just saying…

(Photo: transbuddha.com)