Lighter Pockets, But They Still Have the Best Bun Xao in Town

Sarah and I were big fans of Saigon Grill, a Vietnamese restaurant which had a location only a few blocks from our condo in the Upper West Side.  The food was delicious and the prices were incredible given the quantity and quality of the food.  One of guilty culinary pleasures was to mosey down to 91st Street and feast on Cha Gio (spring rolls), La Sa Ga (coconut soup), and Bun Xao (stir fried noodles).

It looks like those bargain prices might have come at a cost.  A judge recently awarded Saigon Grill delivery workers, many who are illegal immigrants, $4.6 million in back pay and damages for being cheated out of their wages and subsequently fired.  Apparently, there was some funny business going on in terms of wages being forcibly kicked back to the owner and garnished with arbitrary fines.  I did find it interesting that the delivery workers were somehow picking up between $3500 to $4500 in tips per month, which tells me that either they cram an amazing number of deliveries in a month, or I'm a stingy tipper.  That's remarkably more than I figured your average bicycle delivery guy was making.

Insomuch that the usage of illegal immigrants was a major factor in the ability to keep prices low, it brings to light what we often hear as a fundamental question of economics in the immigration debate.  The theory goes that the owner of Saigon Grill is able to negotiate a lower wage with delivery workers because he is able to use a larger hiring pool (namely, illegal immigrants) who are not subject to artificial price floors (namely, minimum wage).  He gets to set a price point for his food lower because the lower cost of labor allows him to protect his margins.  Those wage savings are essentially passed along to the customer.  Do I like to see workers get exploited? Absolutely not, but I do like inexpensive Vietnamese food.  I'd predict that those bargain prices at Saigon Grill will slowly creep upward, if for no other reason, to start paying off that massive lawsuit.

Simon Nget, the owner of Saigon Grill, is actually a Cambodian refugee.  The long tradition of Asians running restaurants serving other Asian cuisine continues. As another example, Chinese and Koreans dominate the ownership of Japanese restaurants and there are many Filipinos who own Panda Express mall eateries.  Long live pan-Asianism!