I was saddened to have heard about Lucky's passing on 10 News on Thursday. Lucky Wong, the namesake of Lucky's Breakfast, which will always remain Lucky's Golden Phenix to me passed away on December 30th.
I wish I had one last chance to drop by and tell him how much I appreciated his kindness, sense of humor, and generosity. In fact, when I mentioned "During the middle of last month I headed up to North Park to grab a late breakfast from a place I hadn't been to in a year or so. Sadly, the place was closed….I'm not sure what's going on but will do an update once I get all the info." in my post on Rising Sun, it was Lucky's I was referring to. And then, in the middle of last month, I took this photo of Lucky's when having our Happy Hour at Finca.
About 30 minutes later, Lucky walked up to check the mail and was entering the building. The Missus told me that I should walk on over and see how things were with him. I told Her that I didn't want to bother him. Ah yes, regrets……
I've done only five posts on Lucky's over the years, starting from that first visit in 2008, though I've visited a couple of more times.
"CC" sent me a text yesterday about Lucky's passing. She had actually dropped by to pay her respects. Over the years, she's done a couple of posts (these days you'll find her on Instagram) on Lucky's, the last being in 2019.
Mary of This Tasty Life (who is also now on Instagram) has also done a couple of posts on Lucky's as well. As has Dennis, who has made his blog private.
That is the "Lucky effect"!
Not only were his breakfasts inexpensive, check out the prices at the end of 2023, when I last visited.
Remember, this is North Park, right? I once asked him why he kept his prices so low and he told me "everyone needs to eat breakfasts, young people, students, even old people like you!" I loved his sense of humor.
He loved to give health tips as only a Chinese Grandfather could. I once asked him for no butter on my toast. His response? "Are you a health nut? You gonna be old and look like me one day, do you want to stay that way forever?"
And then there's the line that Lucky would use on older women ordering coffee: "You too young for coffee, it will stunt your growth!"
When a gentleman insisted on decaf Lucky exclaimed: "why you decaf, it's full of chemicals, you're already looking like you have too much chemicals!"
Ah yes, Lucky's words of wisdom: "you need to butter your toast, it's good for your complexion!" I should wrote a book!
Reminiscing on my visits, I decided to drive on over so JJ and I could pay our respects.
As several folks had already done.
Lucky would often give out "gifts" especially during Christmas and New Year.
On one of my non-post visits one of the customers forgot his wallet and was told to come back next time and pay. Lucky would also often "round down" the amounts on checks.
He was a humble man and I still recall on one evening in 2012, the Missus and I were walking past Lucky's. We looked into Lucky's and saw him watching a portable television in the back of his restaurant.
You would always get Fortune Cookies with your check. Something that was probably left over from the days when Lucky's served Chinese food. This was my fortune on that day.
Lucky….we'll miss you! We were the "lucky ones" to have gotten to meet you.
The bowl was delivered nice and hot. The tamago was now provided on the side. The yolk was adequately soft, the marinade a bit weak….but of course…my pet peeve, these were ice cold….sigh.
The broth seemed more full-bodies then on my previous visits and while still a bit on the saltier side, I found the added richness more enjoyable . It's still seems fairly straight forward in flavor, but I think that might be a good thing in this case.
Unevenly coated, not crisp or crunchy enough for my taste, on the blander side. The flesh was fairly juicy and tender though. Not a big fan of the sesame like dressing provided either.
