Sun Sai Gai a Great Grand Rapids Restaurant Memory

A lot of businesses have come and gone in Grand Rapid, especially restaurants. And scanning the Facebook site If You Grew Up in Grand Rapids I found a great memory, the Sun Sai Gai restaurant.

When I first moved to Grand Rapids, so long ago let's not talk about it, one of the first restaurants I went to was the Sun Sai Gai, on Division. Oh, so yummy and delicious. The atmosphere, the food, perfect, and the service was always wonderful.

Growing up in Indiana, Chinese food was not exactly on my radar. Corn, chicken, potatoes, steak, corn again, brussels sprouts that my grandmother would force feed me, gag, bologna sandwiches, watermelon, and ice cream. now that was good eating!

But then I moved to the "big city" Grand Rapids, and my tastes grew exponentially. And of course, I found the Sun Sai Gai.

The restaurant was located at 19 Division, just off Fulton, and, my girl friend at the time introduced me to a new world, Chinese food. Oh, my, what a treat. The Egg Fu Yung was to die for, as was the Chop Suey, Egg Rolls, Pepper Steak and very special fried Chicken Wings, Roast Duck, I could go on but I'm drooling too much. It was all Cantonese style dishes. And, oh, they served the most wonderful dinner rolls with your meal. Nobody does than anymore.

Do you remember Mr. Chen? Wonderful man.

Downtown Grand Rapids was a wonderful place, full of activity and fun back then, as it was the hub of the Grand Rapids area. With urban spread, things began to change, people weren't eating downtown nearly as much, and many of the classics faded away, alas, so did Sun Sai Gai.

But, downtown Grand Rapids is back, and even without the massive retail sector, becoming better than ever. The food and entertainment scene downtown today? Fantastic.

It's funny to think that years from now the young people of today will be saying, "I remember when...."