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Sino San Jose, Calif.
Chris Yeo believes his new Sino Chinese restaurant in San Jose, Calif., is clonable, but stubbornly high labor costs tied to dim sum have him delaying expansion for now.
Besides Sino, which opened in September at retailresidential Santana Row, Yeo's Straits Restaurants LLC operates or manages for related partnerships Straits Cafe "Crossroads of Asia" restaurants in San Francisco and nearby Burlingame and San Jose. He had planned to open a second Sino at the San Francisco Centre retail complex in San Francisco this fall but says now that instead he will develop another Straits Cafe with that concept's signature blend of Malay, Indian and Chinese cuisines.
"I think we will open more Sino units," Yeo says, "but we're still trying to nail down the menu." He adds that he has only eight months to open the San Francisco restaurant.
Dim sum items, or assorted traditional Chinese teahouse foods, such as fried dumplings, steamed buns and pastries, are an important part of the Sino menu and a key draw at lunch and brunch. But Yeo says such foods "require a lot of manpower" to prepare because each plate contains two or more small tastes made on a piece-by-piece basis with the idea that diners will order several plates for sharing.
Sino offers a rotating menu of about...