Dinner Fight Simmers Down

North Beach restaurateur denies racist comment

By Julie D. Soo and Richard Lee

Asian American advocates said this week that an altercation in which a North Beach restaurateur was accused of making a racist remark to U.C. Berkeley students was on its way to being resolved.

"I am not a racist," said Figaro restaurant owner Luigi Dominici in response to the students' allegations that he selectively applied a minimum charge to them and later told student Tony Kam, a Chinese American, to "go back to fucking China."

Dominici vehemently denied uttering the phrase or even thinking anything like it, pointing out that he had recently bought a home in Chinatown. Moreover, the 42-year-old Italian immigrant employs a racially diverse group of 40 employees and until now, he says, he has had no problems during his 15 years in the business-though it has been suffering since AsianWeek first reported on the conflict Oct. 15. Last week, to illustrate his lack of bias, he showed reporters pictures of his Indonesian girlfriend of five years, his travels to Asian countries, and his Chinese sister-in-law and her family (he'll be an uncle in two months).

The altercation, he says, started when the five students took up a table for much of Friday night, and some declined to order dinners, only appetizers. That, Dominici says, is what prompted him and another waiter to mention that a $13 minimum would apply to each student if they sat at a dinner table rather than in the bar.

Dominici says he became angry only after the students agreed and later reneged on paying at least $13 apiece. For their part, the students told AsianWeek for the Oct. 15 article that they had intended to pay that amount until they found out that other patrons had not heard of the minimum. Dominici explained that the minimum is not mentioned when all patrons in a party order full dinners.

Dominici and the students agree that he told them to get out and not to come back. What they vehemently disagree on is Kam's allegation that the owner made the profane, racist remark.

Recalling the night last month, Kam conceded that he did not know the name of the server who made the remark; Dominici says he did not serve the group. One waiter who did serve the group was fired after the Oct. 15 article appeared. Said Dominici: "I fired him for talking over me that night [the students dined], after I told him that I would handle the situation." The owner added, "I would have fired him immediately if he had made those [racial] statements," although he says no such statement was made in front of him.

Kam, however, isn't so sure Dominici didn't make the remarks. "All I know is that the person in question was wearing a suit and tie, took us to our seats, and claimed to be the owner of the place." Kam also insists that the students placed their orders within 10 minutes after being seated, and that "each and every one of us ordered an entree," he said.

Victor Hwang, a staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus, said that words may have been said in the heat of argument, and that without being there, he couldn't judge who said what. However, the caucus' threatened boycott of Figaro seems much less likely, especially now that Dominici has replied to the group's inquiry. The owner's delayed response was because he was out of the city, both Hwang and Dominici say.

Both men have felt the fallout from the incident, also publicized widely via e-mails. The controversy touched a raw nerve among San Franciscans of Asian and non-Asian descent, raising allegations not only of bigotry but also of a smear campaign.

Those on both sides say the incident in some ways has been blown out of proportion. Dominici says he apologizes for any misunderstanding. He now plans to make a donation to the Chinese Historical Society-not out of guilt, he says, but as a gesture of goodwill.

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