They Call Us Bruce - Episode 14: They Call Us #UglyDelicious

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. Each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

This week, we welcome comedian/writer Jenny Yang and Eater NY News Editor Serena Dai, who broke the story about the white chef that's been serving up sushi while speaking with a faux Japanese accent. We discuss food, its deep connection to culture, and things that make you say "Yo, I don't know about that."

Three arrested in racist assault on sushi restaurant owners

"Go back to your own country!"



Three drunken racists walk into a bar... Last week in Boston, two men and a woman were arrested on assault charges after beating up the Asian owners of a sushi restaurant while shouting racial slurs at them.

Cops: Quincy trio assaulted Asian restaurant owners while shouting racial slurs

40-year-old James Mulhern, 54-year-old Colleen McDonough and 50--year-old Timothy O'Sullivan were arrested after police responded to calls about a large fight outside Royal Hotspot Sushi & Bar in Quincy.

According to police, the three walked into the restaurant drunk and repeatedly asked what the special was. When they were told there was no special, they became irate, yelled racial slurs -- because they apparently needed an excuse to yell racial slurs -- and stormed out, slamming the door and damaging the restaurant wall.

One of the owners followed them out and told them she was calling the police, when McDonough punched her and swung a pocketbook, striking the owner in the face and yelling, "Go back to your own country!"

Man arrested for tossing giant snake into sushi restaurant

Angry customer set his 13-foot pet python loose in the restaurant after an altercation with management.



Okay, so this happened. Asians Behaving Badly... Snake Drop Edition! In Southern California, police arrested a man who got angry at the management of a sushi restaurant... and threw a giant snake at them.

Man Accused Of Throwing 13-Foot-Long Python At Sushi Bar Customers In Studio City

On Sunday night, 46-year-old Hiroshi Motohashi had dinner at Iroha Sushi of Tokyo in Studio City. After paying for his $200 meal, he pulled out a small snake -- an actual live reptile -- and showed it off to customers sitting down for dinner. The customers did not respond positively.

Restaurant managers confronted Motohashi and asked him to leave, presumably informing him that snakes are not allowed at Iroha. Motohashi got mad and left, but returned a few minutes later with a 13-foot-long python.

"[Expletive] you guys," Motohashi reportedly said. Then he threw the snake on the floor of the restaurant.

Restaurant robber thwarted by knife-wielding sushi chef

"Don't make me use this."



A warning to would-be thieves: do not try to mess with the folks at Kamakura Japanese Restaurant in Champaign, Illinois. You will face the sharp justice of a knife-wielding sushi chef and his badass staff. Last week, they thwarted an armed assailant who stupidly tried to rob the place. He is now in jail.

Knife-wielding sushi chef foils restaurant robbery

On Tuesday, when a wannabe robber entered the restaurant and pulled a revolver (it turned out to be a pellet gun) on the hostess, chef Tetsuji Miwa grabbed the first weapon within reach -- his sushi knife. The robber got spooked and made a run for it, but two other workers jumped in and tackled him before police arrived.

Do not mess with the crew at Kamakura. They do not play.

Yes! You can make music out of sushi, plants and McNuggets.

Spazzkid uses the Makey Makey to play "Lovers" on some really random objects.



Whoa. Did you know that you can make music out of sushi? Out of houseplants? Out of cats? Out of a plastic ass? Check out this dope video of our friend Mark Redito, aka Spazzkid, using a device called the Makey Makey to create a rendition of his track "Lovers" from some really random objects:

Restaurant owner thwarts iPhone thief with an asskicking

Badass restauranteur Jason Chan is a 19-year practitioner of Shidokan.

BOOM. Feel the fist of justice. In Chicago, a restaurant owner used his martial arts skills to knock out a thief who stole a customer's iPhone: Restaurant Owner Serves Knuckle Sandwich To Alleged iPhone Thief.

Restauranteur Jason Chan owns the Lincoln Park sushi joint Juno. He also happens to be a practitioner of the martial art Shidokan, a style of karate. But more on that in a bit.

Chan was suspicious of 37-year-old Justin Ballog when he entered the restaurant and placed his jacket on the bar. When Ballog suddenly snatched his coat back and ran out of the restaurant, a customer realized the man had grabbed his iPhone.

Oh helll no. Chan immediately took off in search of the thief, and remembering his distinct striped sweater, tracked him to a restaurant a few blocks down the street. That's where he confronted him, and that's where Chan's Shidokan skills came in handy when Ballog tried to get physical.

He knocked him him out with a kick to the face:

Sushi restaurant writes "An Open Letter to Bigot Diners"

To the people on Yelp who act like they know a damn thing.



I generally find Yelp to be a helpful resource when researching new places to eat or, say, finding a decent dry cleaner. But the user-generated reviews can also be unhelpful, irrelevant... and sometimes racist. And that's who this sushi restaurant was addressing when they wrote this blog post. The racists.

Mashiko, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in West Seattle, rates four stars in Yelp, which is perfectly respectable. But they've also apparently received reviews andcomments calling out a lack of Japanese staff (not true) at this Japanese restaurant, including, most notably, a white woman sushi chef. Her name is Mariah Kmitta. Chef/owner Hajime Sato is progressive like that.

Still, the unfounded criticism bugged them enough that Mashiko composed An Open Letter to Bigot Diners on the restaurant's blog. Take that, haters and fools. Here's an excerpt: