I haven’t been, but noticed they were advertising tastings of some of their specialty products on Sunday. Maybe it will become a regular thing?
I secured a reservation via Yelp on Father’s Day. It was bustling, but still had plenty of space for walkins. The meal was mixed, but the extreme highs made up for one lackluster noodle dish.
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Char siu baked buns were stellar, perfect ratio of crispy topping, dark baked bottom, and intense roast pork. Each crispy bit of crust was tethered to the yielding insides, with not a bit of wasted fluff. 3/$9.
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buckwheat noodles, a Father’s Day special, bland and uninteresting, absent of acidity.
- Dongbei Vegetarian Long Pot Stickers - very good, filling, lots of crunchy veggies.
- Spring Celtuse, Toasted Bait Shrimp, Extra Virgin Tea Oil – Misguided or refined depending on your perspective. It’s a showcase for the briny shrimp with a nutty, crunchy vegetable backdrop. Very tasty, but a waste of celtuse, which most of their patrons have probably never eaten and whose flavor gets buried. I found myself sucking off the dressing so I could enjoy strips of celtuse on their own.
- Lemongrass and Blueberry Zong with Egg Cream – glutinous rice, blueberries, and lemongrass is a killer combination. The egg cream brought this to an 11. There are some crispy rice bits, which taste like cracker jacks, which are good on their own but I felt distracted from the composition.
I still haven’t figured out how to navigate the menu best, but I plan to change the venue of a future family meal from MY China to here – – walking around Chinatown is more fun, and parking on the roof of the nearby Vallejo Street garage gives one of the best views of the northeastern part of San Francisco
You think most of the patrons on Father’s Day have never eaten celtuce? Was it mostly a Caucasian crowd?
What was in the noodle dish, and why did you expect acidity, when most hand-made noodles are alkaline?
Yes, the crowd as of before noon was predominately, but not exclusively, non-Asian, possibly tourist spillover from the nearby North Beach festival.
The sauce on the buckwheat noodles was minimal and lacking acidity in the form of vinegar, etc. (Btw, the server, who seemed like he was learning the ropes, said they source all their noodles. Is that accurate? Michael Bauer said that the Marco Polo noodles are made by Tony of Tony’s pizza napoletana)
I’m sure none of their noodles are hand-pulled Lanzhou style, or the process would be on full display, a la M.Y. China. It’s possible they are sourced from someplace like Xinfeng Liu’s North American Noodle Company. It would be a nice neighborly touch (globally as well a locally) if Tony G were making the noodles for the “Marco Polo” noodles.
I once overheard a conversation on Columbus Ave. that went something like"
“Ever notice how many cities have Little Italy and Chinatown next to each other?”
“Yeah, now that you mention it. it must have something to do with Marco Polo.”
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I stopped by briefly to try it out late afternoon and was seated at the bar by the bun station.
It looks like they have one large cast iron pan of shenjian bao and one of the (extremely large) Dongbei vegetarian potstickers.
I am always in search of an amazing shenjian bao (for me the ideal is soupy, not too bready, but leavened, and browned well–check out the detailed reports of true Shanghai versions here: http://www.smartshanghai.com/articles/activities/the-shanghai-shengjian-bao-informative-graph)
These were not it
3/4 were juicy, and the meatball inside was tasty and a good texture–not too bouncy or loose, but the bun part wasn’t great. The non-griddled portions were quite thin, not very leavened, and could make for a good version if there hadn’t been huge knots at the bottom, which browned nicely, but since there was so much dough tucked into the interior, just provided a huge gummy mess, overwhelming the crispy bottom, and making it impossible to combine the nicely browned region with the juicy pork insides in a bite.
If they had just made them as a foldover dumpling, like those from Happy Dumplings at a street festival they wouldn’t have had these issues–they wouldn’t be called shenjian bao, but they would taste better.
I liked the celtuce/dried shrimp/tea oil dish even less. Though I read hyperbowler’s criticism I wanted a vegetable, and to me celtuce’s appeal is mostly about texture–it’s lettuce-like taste can use some embellishment. Though the texture and knifework were excellent, the somewhat nutty, somewhat bitter tea oil didn’t go well with the green vegetable, and the dried shrimp didn’t add much. I’ve really enjoyed preparations with brighter flavors, like vinegar, chilies, and garlic, or even rich chicken stock, but the bitter oil and the shrimp drowned out any fresh springiness other than texture.
The elements meant to “elevate” the place didn’t really work for me. Service was awkward, and the drink I ordered was disappointingly sweet, small, and lacking in the herbal flavors advertised.
I think there is a lot of promise: both dishes contained great elements but the final execution flopped. I decided to sate my remaining hunger at DIP down the street.
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The St. Cavish article is a pretty good, if biased, rundown lof shengjian bao, but he missed another important stylistic variation: whether they are browned on the bottom (Shanghai style) or on the pleated side (Suzhou style).
Here are a few more of Shanghai’s finest:
Sichuan Pickled Snake Beans Trumpet mushrooms, pressed bean threads with mala spices. A deceptively named dish – –The iota of pickled beans were delicious, but too scarce to elevate this dish beyond a similar Hodo Soy product available at grocery stores.
Scallion bread. Pretty good, more doughnut like then the standard green onion pancake
Super beefy, And I felt they had a sweet spot in terms of noodle quantity. I was sharing With someone not keen on tendon, so Flesh to tendon ratio was perfect, but if I was eating this by myself I would probably ask for more tendon
Taro water dumplings. These are served 1/4 submerged in water, which the server told me was to help distribute the chili oil on the top and is a traditional presentation in Shandong. Is that true? I found the skin soft inspots, and overly dtense in other spots. Filling was great.
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How were the pork hocks? I imagine that gan doufu dish was an accompaniment, and vinegary to cut the fat of the tipang
Good to see George Chen is keeping the faith, not just stacking the menu with gateway and “iconic” fare. I’ll probably return when my daughter is in town for Xmas.
Pork hocks？ oh, that’s the scallion bread, but looking at the picture, I understand the confusion!
i walked in the other day, noted the barrel aged fish sauce at $39.00 a bottle, and left. i was going to try it for lunch on another day, but friends who went (friends whose taste i trust) said the food was mediocre. didn’t get any more specifics than that, just that they weren’t excited about it and wouldn’t go back. i was curious to try the xiao long bao myself.
they also sell sriracha in the market - didn’t catch a price tag, but i can’t imagine that for an item i can get at my local meximart for like $2.00, it’s not highly overpriced. It’s a pretty place, but stands out like a pretty, gentrifying, sore thumb on that block.
LOL, that’s the oddest looking scallion bread I’ve ever seen.
And there are beans hiding under all that tofu?
I guess I should have read all your captions first.
They sell Sosu sriracha which is way better than the $2 stuff. The jar I have I got at Bi-rite.
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i think they also sell the plain old Rooster stuff, if i’m not mistaken…
It’s listed as 蔥花捲 (green onion flower roll, if I’m translating right), which is “flash-fried” according to the server. I’m not sure I’ve seen a flower bun deep fried before.
Now I can picture the naked product. Looks so much different deep fried.
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so i went in yesterday. they do sell the regular old rooster sriracha, small bottles, but there was no price tag on any of them. wasn’t worried enough about it to inquire.
i had the xiao long bao, and though i know i’m far from an expert, these were lovely. the tops may have been a little thick, but the rest of the skin was thin and droopy, yet with a good bite. the broth was super rich, almost thick, with flavor. the pork itself was a tender pink nugget. really good, and the serving of 6 for $9.99 was perfect for me for lunch. the server recommended the Sichuan “Working Hands” Dumplings for my next visit.
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Did you have a chance to taste the house vinegar? Very good stuff-- I just bought a bottle and can’t wait to use it!
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if it’s what they served with the XLB, then yes, it was delicious!
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Has anyone tried?
