“You hungry?” Lydia Lee asks me, beaming in her bright pink Hello Kitty apron. “You look skinny.” She stands in front of a steaming vat of fish stock, ready to scoop me a fresh bowl of udon.

It’s not even 11 a.m., but I can’t turn her down. At Yo Yo’s, which offers one of the most affordable lunches in all of San Francisco’s Financial District, an order of udon noodle soup is just $9, and a six-piece tray of sushi is just $3.25. 

Yo Yo’s at 318 Pacific Ave. in San Francisco in January 2020.

Udon noodle soup with seaweed, tempura flakes and bean curd at Yo Yo’s at 318 Pacific Ave. in San Francisco, shown in January 2020.

A Japanese woman named Kazuko Yuge opened Yo Yo’s in 1988, and Lydia, new to San Francisco from Indonesia, was her first employee. When Yuge retired in 1997, Lydia and her husband Joe Lee took over the tiny takeout-only shop. 

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Ever since, it’s been just the two of them running the hole-in-the-wall eatery, arriving at 6 a.m. to get the shop ready to feed hungry downtown office workers every Monday through Friday. Doing everything themselves is how they keep prices so low, Lydia explained. 

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“If I paid employees, I’d have to up the price,” Lydia said. “This way, I........

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