On assignment for Van Mag last night I interviewed the good folks of Bao Bei again at their Chinatown construction site. While we were walking out of the space I spied this t-shirted character standing guard. They’ve taken to calling him “Wilson”, presumably after Tom Hanks’ volleyball in Castaway. I don’t know…he rather reminds me of Treebeard, the leader of Tolkien’s anthropomorphic tree creatures in the Two Towers (aka “Ents”). Either way, he keeps them company as they toil, is celebrated as their “first customer”, and is about as random as it gets. The restaurant, by the way, is coming along nicely. I’m particularly excited about Joel Watanabe’s menu (which sounds freakin’ awesome), and hope to sup from it before the New Year. Mmm, dumplings…