Dives That Dove

Oddly enough, shortly after writing about them, two of the dives reviewed on this blog have closed their doors for good.

Honestly, it's not my fault!

Thanks to a tip from an anonymous reader, I discovered that one of the hofbraus featured in my Hofbraus of the Bay Area series has closed. After calling them this morning to confirm if my anonymous reader was correct, I've learned that Jerrold Market Place closed 6 months ago and is now only available for catering.

Seeing as how JMP wasn't the best choice for fine dining (or diving), I can't imagine how their catering business will fare any better. If anything, the JMP was a great place for a stiff drink and fried eggs at 5 in the morning - or at least I imagine it was.

Jerrold Market Place: presente!

Also no more: the Bryant Wok Shop

Unfortunately, I could see this coming a year ago. This place could have easily survived in another location like Chinatown, where cheap, mediocre Chinese food thrives in all its greasy glory. However, the techies and web geeks who populate this area for lunch weren't having any of it. It's sad to see a small, established business go - but truth be told, I never gave it much business myself.

It just wasn't that good.

Now there's a new Malaysian restaurant where the Bryant Wok Shop used to be and it's already getting positive Yelp reviews. My personal theory is that Yelp reviews on a new restaurant aren't to be trusted, as they are all too often written by Me-Firsters. These poseurs stand in line the first day a restaurant is open and cheerlead it simply based on the criteria that it's new and they're the first to eat there. Maybe the food is really good – who knows? But I suspect what goes on in the mind of Me-Firsters is that the cuisine seems better than it really is because it's new and different, or (most likely) there's a bit deception going on in a sad and pathetic attempt to slide from the Early Majority class up to the Early Adopters.

Me? I’m a total Laggard.

If it was the case that the web identities of Yelpers were 98 percent anonymous, my theory wouldn't apply. But Yelpers are gathered in social networks, like Friendster, and have a bit of face to show and save when taking the 5 minutes to review the hip, hot, happenin' new thing.

I have no Yelp friends and it's easy to see why. I can be a bit of a negative asshole. However, you can trust my reviews.

Bryant Wok Shop: presente!

k.