Lines that bind

For this group, Friday dinner is a tradition that starts on the sea and ends in Chinatown.

Ron Lee and his crew, who have shared more than 500 dinners at Chinatown’s Capital Restaurant, bring new meaning to the term “regulars.” Thirteen years ago, they began a tradition of bringing their morning catch from the boats to the restaurant for a fish feast every Friday.

The group, now in their 60s and 70s, are mostly second and third-generation ABCs (American-born Chinese), born and raised within a few blocks of the restaurant. Among the core group are a retired U.S. ambassador, a retired deputy sheriff and a dentist who reconnected through fishing and a common upbringing. Lee is the ringleader and “social secretary” of the group.

Lee, once an employee of the state’s Fish and Game department and now a bails bondsman, has been fishing since his teenage years. “I started fishing in Isleton, California, in the Sacramento Delta. I would get sent there in the summer to stay out of trouble,” he says. “My uncle who ran a gas station there is the one who taught me how to fish. I started out with a stick and a fishing line — just like Huck Finn.”

Lee met fellow group member Wyman Tong on the water. “We were the only Asians on the fishing boat,” he says. “We realized that we both grew up in Chinatown, and our uncles were gangsters that ran illegal gambling houses together. It’s ironic because Wyman and I both became sheriffs.”

Capital is one of just a few Chinese restaurants they know with a bring-your-own-catch policy. Owner Samantha Lo prepares their fish in a variety of ways — turning it into soup, deep-frying it, steaming it. Lo mentions larger restaurants probably wouldn’t be as accommodating. For this group, she doesn’t mind. “It’s because we know them like our friends,” she says. Group member Harvey Fong says it goes even deeper. “Yes, we meet for dinner,” Fong says. “But on a more serious note, these people are my family. We’ve helped each other through some hard times, and I know that all I have to do is give them a call.”

Capital Restaurant: 839 Clay Street, between Stockton and Grant, San Francisco. (415) 397-6269 or www.capitalsf.com

Photos by Andria Lo / Special to The Chronicle

Capital Restaurant, left, specializes in Cantonese food. It hass been operating for over 30 years and the interior still feels vaguely ‘70s, with Formica tabletops and counter seating. Owner Samantha Lo, below, was a server who took over in 2007.

The ordering process involves everyone just chiming in with their favorite dishes. Chef Jia Ming Fang (left) prepares lingcod fish soup — an off-the-menu broth made with bones and fish heads. The fish meat is served separately (above).