April 25 • 2019 5
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H
appy You Chinese Restaurant
speaks for itself. It is whole,
sound and, like Clark’
s
Wallabees or Total Eclipse of the Heart,
cannot be improved upon. If it were a
product of this era, it would be hap-
pYou and it would
promise some indus-
try-disrupting life hack
that would end up just
being quinoa paste and
a Magic Eye poster.
Happily for me, Alex
and So Chu decided
to open a restaurant
in the waning days of
the last century, when happiness was
less about the instant gratification of
handheld technology (excepting the
length of one’
s Discman skip protec-
tion) and more about what David
Brooks described last week as “
defeat-
ing self-sufficiency for a state of mutual
dependence.
”
“By planting themselves in one
neighborhood, one organization or one
mission,
” Brooks argues, “
they earn
trust. They have the freedom to make
a lasting difference. It’
s the chains we
choose that set us free.
”
When Alexis shared her parents’
retirement news online last month, I
took solace in the continuity of cuisine
with Chef Paul as the new owner. But
at 20 plus years, Happy You may be my
longest adult relationship. I needed clo-
sure. Also lunch.
Born in Hong Kong in 1951, Alex
grew up swimming competitively and
developing pictures in his home dark-
room. In 1971, the Chu family emi-
grated; his older sister stayed behind,
ineligible to join them.
The addition of eight new residents
still left Holbrook, Ariz., with fewer
than 5,000 people. Holbrook — once
“
the town too tough for women and
churches,
” the seat of Navajo County
and beneficiary of Chinese rail labor-
ers — had one Chinese restaurant,
owned by Alex’
s uncle.
After two years in Holbrook,
Alex went into near-constant
motion until his journey culminated in
a Keego Harbor storefront. First, San
Francisco, home to extended family.
Then seven years on the road — work-
ing in Chinese restaurants and taking
stock of the variations in quality and
service — that led him to Michigan.
On his first trip back to Hong Kong,
he reconnected with old family friends,
including So.
They settled in Michigan and start-
ed a family, but Alex’
s drive kept him
moving. Birmingham Carrie Lee’
s.
Head chef at Carrie Lee’
s Lake Garden
in Waterford. Peking House in Royal
Oak. Then Manchu Wok, training and
district management for 20 locations as
far afield as Minnesota and Iowa.
The Tao of Alex, “Happy You,
” served
as pledge and promise to customers
and his family. He chose Keego Harbor
to be close to home and designed the
kitchen to be open — visible from
the tables and even the sidewalk — to
showcase his fresh, made-to-order fare.
Senior year of high school, Keego
Harbor was about as far as I could get
before my underdeveloped sense of
direction would betray me and make
me tarde for Señora Kulhavi’
s class. It
might have been a journey of 10,000
miles for Alex to develop his all-natural
General Tsao recipe, but it took only a
single step for me to surrender.
Happy You had everything, except a
serviceable water pitcher, so I picked up
a Brita during my semi-weekly sample
smorgasbord at Costco. (Pour one out
for Andover open lunch.) With her
smile radiating from behind the count-
er, So reciprocated with a free lunch
worth more than the gift.
It hardly seemed fair to limit the
happy we to those seniors who could
fit in my Saturn station wagon. Like
most of my ventures since, the Wassify
Weekly Friday Fried Rice delivery
service subscribed to the Vaudeville
school of business — we lost money on
every sale but made it up on volume.
The dividends were clear: lo mein
liberation for freshmen whose pantries
were suffering under the brutal Y2K
Atkins regime. Three of our carbed-
up customers went on to work at the
Happy You.
According to Waleed Brinjikji,
now a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic,
“Working there as busboy/waiter/fry
boy/dishwasher/janitor/chicken cleaner
in high school was a great experience
and taught me so much about hard
work … and … don’
t throw away the
chicken feet!”
Just as Alex has shared his good for-
tune with those around him, I feel I can
share my fortune, courtesy of cookie,
with him:
“You will continue to take chances
and be glad you did.
” ■
continued on page 8
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jewfro
The Pursuit of Happy You
letters
Ben Falik
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d in
serviceable water pitcher so I picked up
Alex and So Chu
Clarity on Torah Portion
The Torah portion in the Jewish
News is usually what I read first.
Last week’
s, on ritual purity, of all
things, Leviticus 14-16, was deep and
thought-provoking. The writer, Rabbi
Dan Horwitz, shows that the Torah’
s
unearthly Temple rite statutes often
work at cross-purposes with the moral
commandments. It’
s a Torah mitzvah,
a “
sacred connection opportunity,” as
he puts it, to help bury the dead, for
example, or be a mentsh — a good per-
son — to your spouse; but performing
mitzvahs like that make one ritually
“impure.” Ritual purity might not be
so positive, he teaches. Ritual impurity
might not be so negative.
Clarity! The temple service is truly
unearthly. We study it as a special
subject, he says, to “impart lessons and
values.” But then the rabbi hits us with
the two “
scapegoats” of Yom Kippur.
No, Rabbi Horwitz, with all respect:
God never commanded Jews to send a
goat “to the demon Azazel.”
“
Azazel,” my handy Torah commen-
tary says, means, roughly, “
out of here”
or “
gone.”
Rashi, the Midrash, the Talmud
and Maimonides say it’
s a just a place
name referring to “
a high peak” or a
mountainous area. Leviticus 17:7, in
the very next chapter, forbids paying
homage of any kind to demons. It’
s
mostly just the Biblical Documentary