- Margaret D.
- Wednesday, May 19, 2021
In 1947 a local man named Walter Kester opened a restaurant at 749 Saluda Avenue in Five Points. Kester's Bamboo House went on to serve Columbians Chinese food for over 25 years.
You might say that American diners first developed a taste for Chinese food in the 1930s, when Ruby Foo opened a branch of her Boston restaurant on Broadway in New York City. Ruby Foo’s served an Americanized version of Chinese food in the form of Chop Suey and Chow Mein to the hungry post-theater crowd. Word soon spread across the country.
While Chinese and other Asian immigrants first settled in San Francisco, Boston and later New York in the nineteenth century, very few Asian immigrants came to Columbia until the 1950s. Early Columbia residents had some exposure to Asian cultures through missionary work, travels, military service, and foreign business connections, but most local residents were largely ignorant about Asian food and culture. Columbia diners read about Ruby Foo’s Chop Suey in the local newspapers and some ventured to taste the meals on their travels out west or up north. In the 1940s La Choy launched its Asian grocery products in stores across America, introducing many more people to Asian-style cooking. These popularized versions of Chinese foods came to offer diners something different, and people developed a craving for these dishes.
The first evidence I have found of Chinese food being offered in a Columbia restaurant is on page 3 of the Ship A-Hoy menu, which is online in the Local History Digital Collections. A steak and seafood restaurant on Main Street from 1941 until 1960, Ship A-Hoy boasted a Chinese menu prepared by a Chinese chef from California. I have yet to discover the name of that chef, but the restaurant proved popular.
In 1947 a local man named Walter Kester opened a restaurant at 749 Saluda Avenue in Five Points. Kester, an entrepreneur, called the restaurant The Oriental Plaza. Kester was a veteran of World War II and his father happened to own an electrical supply company next door to the restaurant space, so young Kester took a chance. In 1951, Kester expanded the restaurant and renamed it Kester’s Bamboo House. He also hired Chinese chefs to prepare the meals.
Kester’s Bamboo House operated in Five Points until 1973. It was often the place for meetings, dates, celebrations, and other gatherings. There were at least three long-time chefs employed at Kester’s, Jack Kong, Chui Mok, and Jake Woo. Curious about these men, I was able to discover that Jake Woo was born in southern China in 1905 and died in West Columbia in 1978. He worked at Kester’s from 1954 until 1969 and lived for a time at 1805 Wheat Street. Jack Kong also lived at 1805 Wheat Street with Woo and worked at Kester’s from 1951 until at least 1962. Chui Mok was born in 1910 in China and died in 1969 at his home at 2616 Devine Street in Columbia. He was still working for Kester’s at the time of his death. His body was sent to New York City for burial, where he had family.
I wonder how these three men came to live in Columbia, and what they thought of our city? Perhaps they all came for work. None appeared to have married. Kester himself died in 1966 and the restaurant passed to John Kester, who kept it running for several more years. By that time Columbia had a larger Asian community and more Chinese restaurants had opened in town, like the Royal China on Harden, later followed by Japanese, Indian, Korean, Thai, and other cuisines in the following decades. Today, there are many Columbia residents with cultural roots from all across the world. It is nice to see a broader mix of people here, and to be able to enjoy cuisines from across the world here too!