When I came across this Chinatown scene with Lightning Louie (Vic Perry) and Candy (Jean Peters) in the film noir thriller Pickup on South Street (1953), I felt the giddy excitement of an explorer who has come across a hidden treasure by dumb luck. That was more than a year ago.

Since picking up The Breath of a Wok by Grace Young, the current DCCC pick, I’ve been thinking about the scene again. How impressive (and extensively employed) Lightning Louie’s chopstick wielding skills are. How at home he is in his adopted milieu. And how focused on eating he is. Lightning Louie is not about to miss out wok hay to just to do business with Candy. For these reasons, Lightning Louie is my culinary hero.