Always loved Su Hong.
Sounds like he'll get a much needed retirement.
Glad the takeout still keeps the same menu.
Thanks for the great food and memories.
All best

The extended Carey family will miss Su Hong greatly. Though I haven't been able to eat much of the food since learning of some food allergies I have earlier this decade, family members eat Su Hong food at least twice a month and maybe more often.

Su Hong catered one of our family weddings. We had my father-in-law's retirement party at Su Hong in the early 90s. Our kids grew up in the Menlo Park restaurant.

Thank you, Mr. King, for feeding us all so well for so many years. Here's to a much-deserved retirement. Stay healthy!

Su Hong's will be missed by our family. We have so many memories that are being taken away from us and this is now another.

We will be in need of a good family style restaurant that we can jump in the car and go without having to worry about reservations or spending more than we intend.

Thank you Mr.King for all the great memories our family had at Su Hong.
15 hour work days for 41 years, here's to a well deserved retirement! Enjoy quality time with your family and enjoy life. Thank you again!

I almost never went to Su Hong. But loved that so many
enjoyed the meals there. Just the pattern of Palo Alto.
All the Mom and Pop shops closing. Land being bought as well,
all to make way for large sun blocking buildings, Hotels,
and fast food or commercial food companies.
I built a 8ft high fence, improved my grilling and smoking of foods
area. Remodled the kitchen, and improved my TV entertainment system.
Palo Alto is not worth venturing out into anymore.
Don't get me started on the speeding and angry car drivers.
Getting old and losing the Palo Alto of past times.
III

Posted by III, a resident of Midtown,

>> Don't get me started on the speeding and angry car drivers. Getting old and losing the Palo Alto of past times.

I know the feeling. To me, the traffic is just noise pollution. But, some politicians apparently sense it as "vibrancy".

Denny's and the nearby Lyon's were I think the last 24-hr restaurants in the area. All I have left is Happy Donuts. Yeah, ancient history as with so much of the old days here. All the new 50-foot walls at sidewalk's edge will soon blot out the remaining sunlight. The old Cabana may be twice as tall, but it has a 370-foot setback from El Camino.

Musical�" L&L Hawaiian bbq in Palo Alto ( a couple of doers down from happy donuts) is also open 24 hours

^ Yes, I've been in L&L once in the wee hours. Subway downtown was also 24-hr for awhile. The options have waned. Midnight snacks beyond the vending machine are not available at my workplace (not familiar with Google or Facebook or Palantir cafeteria hours) and sometimes I merely need to escape the lab for fresh air while streets are blissfully traffic-free and parking is abundant. Don't want to exceed the parameters of a Foodist blog perhaps focused on finer dining -- the Su Hong location just reminded me of more youthful times, and as the article alludes, when help was easier to find.

Musical - the San Antonio road Safeway is open 24/7. I think the Menlo Park Safeway May also be open 24/7. Naturally the mini mart on middlefield in Palo Alto that passes as a Safeway is also open 24/7, but choices are limited.

You can always get a hot dog at 7/11. They're open 24/7.

It is as sad to see these beloved and famous Palo Alto restaurants closing one by one
throughout the years, but it is also sad to see the compromises they have had to make
in quality, service and to keep their doors open over the years as rents and costs have
gone up, as skills and professionalism have declined and so sad to know that most in
the city now and to come will never know how good food used to be in Palo Alto.

Open all night - Every Safeway I know of was open all night until one night I was
in the Santa Clara area over by what used to to be Agnews Hospital. I don't know
if that was temporary or permanent, but I have never seen a Safeway closed except
that one at that time.

Not sure if the one in Mountain View on Shoreline is open all night, but the ones I
know are Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Mateo, Sunnyvale.

The Palo Alto Middlefield Safeway is a pretty good market despite people's constant
slams. You should have lived here a long time ago when there was no demand for
high quality food and very little supply from large chains like Safeway, Lucky, Albertson's.
etc. Things are much better today ... not perfect but not everything is factory processed
junk food like it used to be.

A great place. We will miss you.

> but it is also sad to see the compromises they have had to make in quality, service and to keep their doors open over the years as rents and costs have gone up, as skills and professionalism have declined...


Sad to see Su Hong go as well. Have eaten at all three (including the take-out one in MP).

Speaking of skill, one thing has always perplexed me...Is sushi-making BS?
We have all heard these stories about how sushi chefs train for 7+ years in Japan and yet I see Mexicans & Koreans making sushi at various supermarkets. I suspect that most have not been trained in Japan. Is there some sort of sushi-making correspondence course? Someone once mentioned that there is one in LA (which would explain the proliferation of all these 'expert' sushi chefs).

One thing is for certain...if there is a certification course, most haven't taught these supermarket chefs how to properly season the rice. Always bland.

Getting back to Chinese restaurants in general...it's always better to go after 6:30 as some of the lunch stuff is often recycled (i.e. limp chicken salad). Leftover steamed rice is also recycled into fried rice as well. Not only at Su Hongs but at Tao Tao and others as well.

AAAAAAArgh!!!!!, There goes the best garlic eggplant with meat in the world(slight exaggeration?) , but it is for us. I have four different friends who agree, and I have been going with each of them to Su Hong, at least once a month for 40 years always being grateful to find they were just moving location not closing. I am so sad, but also wish him a long and happy, well earned retirement! Thank you for years of a guaranteed delicious meal.

Posted by CrescentParkAnon., a resident of Crescent Park,

>> It is as sad to see these beloved and famous Palo Alto restaurants closing one by one throughout the years, but it is also sad to see the compromises they have had to make in quality, service and to keep their doors open over the years as rents and costs have gone up

Everything from restaurants to dentists to veterinarians. Prices go up and service goes down as Palo Alto tries to become Wall Street West. Why?

Too bad. But running a restaurant is a tough life. Enjoy your retirement!

> Everything from restaurants to dentists to veterinarians. Prices go up and service goes down as Palo Alto tries to become Wall Street West. Why?

Simple answer...MONEY.

I've always enjoyed going to Su Hongs. For entertainment, my friends and I used to burn one prior to arriving and after ordering, count the number of customers eating with chopsticks vs those eating with forks. Sometimes we made a wager based on guessed percentages and the loser(s) paid the tab.

The fork-eaters always looked like such doofuses and watching them shovel food down like human backhoes always seemed a bit out of place. After all, this is Chinese food!

About as bad as eating sushi with a fork.

Cheers to well-deserved retirement. Thank you Su Hong for all the good memories.

@Bye Bye Su Hong: If that's what you do to feel superior to people, that is one sad commentary.

Thank you for the great meals over the years, great eat in, great take out. My family will genuinely miss you. We wish you a really relaxing and fun retirement. So sorry to see Su Hong close, though.

Su Hong holds special memories, as it was one of the first restaurants I took my daughters after I adopted them from Kazakhstan in search of something closer to food they were used to eating. At ages 5 and 7, the girls didn't know how to behave in a restaurant at all -- and made a mess you wouldn't believe. Yet the staff were all so kind and seemed to get a laugh out of it all. We have tried many Chinese restaurants in the area since -- but none ever were as delicious and fun as Su Hong. We still drive to the Palo Alto location when I have the energy to retrace my commute, because we love it so much. Thank you for the great food and memories!! Best wishes in your retirement.