Bloomberg calls for boycott of Chinese Restraurant that charges higher prices to white people

[Ian David]

Take yer menu & shove it, Mike tells Chinatown joint

Mayor Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to boycott a Chinatown restaurant that is being investigated for allegedly charging non-Chinese customers more for their meals.

"If nobody goes to that restaurant, then they won't make any money and they'll go out of business," Bloomberg said when asked about the Daily News' exclusive Sunday story on the Canal Seafood Restaurant.

"It's unconscionable to use race on any of these things, in terms of what kind of service, or how you charge, or whatever," Bloomberg said.

"Go patronize a different {restaurant.} Let capitalism work."

The city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the restaurant for allegedly having two menus. The prices on a menu written in Chinese were an average of $1 cheaper per dish than the price on a menu written in English, officials said.

More:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/501726p-423014c.html



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Thursday, March 1, 2007
No Beef Chow Mein For You!

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is urging New Yorkers to boycott the Canal Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown while it’s being investigated for discrimination against non-Chinese diners. Last week, the Daily News reported that the city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the eatery, which some claim give a different menu with lower prices to Chinese customers. The prices on that menu, written in Chinese, are allegedly an average of $1 cheaper per dish—that's a nice discount.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/500668p-422094c.html

The Human Rights Commission could impose several different punishments depending on the outcome of the hearing: fining the restaurant, ordering special training (probably in how not to be racist) and requiring the owners to change the policy.

The restaurant denies the charges, and their lawyer chocks it up to a “miscommunication” (literally?). They claim the only discrimination they are guilty of is based on whether a diner eats-in or takes-out, for which there are two menus. Bloomberg wants people to eat elsewhere and “let capitalism work” ... like in its colorblind way.

More:
http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=70891995



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How mean for chow mein!
Restaurant hit over menu with higher charges for non-Chinese

<snip>

David Lopez, a visitor from Wisconsin, contacted the commission after eating at the restaurant with several friends last October.

He and his girlfriend knew something was wrong when a waiter told them that a serving of rice would cost them extra. They had noticed Asian customers munching on similar dishes served over a bed of rice.

"Being Hispanic, we both like rice," said 46-year-old Lopez. "We saw other customers getting a different menu. We were told we could order from it if we spoke Chinese."

The prices on that menu, written in Chinese, were an average of $1 cheaper per dish.

"It was very distressful to go to a place in one of the most diverse cities in the world and be discriminated against," Lopez said.

Representatives for the restaurant have denied the existence of two different in-store menus.

But Lopez, who has worked as a discrimination investigator in Wisconsin, took both menus with him. He took the menus and his concerns to the Human Rights Commission.

More:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/500668p-422094c.html




Canal Seafood Restaurant has been hit with bias rap after a diner sparked a probe into menus which allegedly listed lower prices in Chinese than in English.