The tale of the viral fish sandwich, or how I got fed up with gatekeeping
If you’re in the Bay Area and even remotely pay attention to the food side of social media, you’ll likely recognize the “viral,” “TikTok-Famous” fried fish sandwich from San Leandro’s Chinese Bakery & Deli. The sandwich costs all of $3.50, and inspired diners to wait in two-hour lines for the delicacy.
In the comments of the video that sparked this feeding frenzy, is a refrain I’m also quite familiar with as a food writer. “Damn it I don’t want this place to blow up!” or “Mannnnnn, keep this on da low.” I’ve seen the comments where people argue about “gatekeeping,” the popular jargon of the Gen Z internet age — especially on videos where content creators tease dishes, yet say they’re not going to share what the name of the restaurant is.
By all accounts, Chinese Bakery & Deli was already known (and loved) by the locals, and perhaps they didn’t need this viral bump in business. But as someone who writes restaurant and bar closures on a weekly basis, and who consistently hears about the difficulties of running a restaurant in the Bay Area, I’m truly, honestly, tired of “gatekeeping.”
I suspect I hear about gatekeeping more than most. Even on a vacation in Hawaii, I innocently asked for some restaurant recommendations via Instagram, only to have someone go out of their way to tell me that they would never share the restaurants they go to so I don’t blow them up. In theory, I get it. No one wants to encounter two-hour lines to pick up a malasada or an inexpensive burger, when you’ve previously danced right in, no one in sight, and got served quickly.
But on the other side of that are a lot of restaurants that are consistently on the verge of closing. Those razor-sharp margins are no joke, and one terrible, disastrous month can be the difference between shutting down or continuing on. A burst pipe might derail months of planned pivoting. It’s much less a story about inconvenience than it is a story about survival. Most restaurants don’t get the lifeline of a social media-viral moment in the sun, and those crowds don’t always stay. As restaurant-goers, I think there’s a misconception that your place will persevere and always be there for whenever the urge hits for, say, drinks at an award-winning bar or ice cream scoops at a long-running business.
In my time tracking these openings and closings, that’s rarely ever the case. And while I recognize that restaurants are getting more expensive, trust me, chefs aren’t happy about it either. But as we all get choosier about going out to eat, there’s something to be said about writer Sara Deseren’s suggestion to pick a restaurant to support and become a regular. As chef Sung Park told her near the closing of his restaurant Kothai Republic, “No exaggeration, we have had a handful of guests who have come here over 100 consecutive weeks. Being lucky enough to have regular guests is not a right, however. It’s a blessing and a privilege.”
But I get it, you just want to complain. So I’ll put some rules in place that (I think) give you the right. Take this TikTok creator who described how his dad crashed outafter his very same, fried fish sandwich-viral bakery — which, mind you, he’s been going to for 20 years for dan tat, bolo bao, and char siu bao — got hit with long lines. If you’ve gone to the same restaurant weekly for enough years to earn a fine china set as an anniversary present, I’ll be happy to hear your complaints about the line. But until then, if you love a restaurant, shout it from the rooftops and go often. That place is counting on you. ✦
