Favorite Chinese restaurant in SF proper?

[TheLibrarian]

After all the research you did!

[Oliverb]

China Live -

From my research, the dishes to go for seem to be:

• Dongbei Vegetarian Potstickers
• Verdict isn’t out yet on Sheng Jian Bao; too doughy?
• Peking Duck w/ Kumquat Glaze in Sesame Buns
• Char Siu Baked Buns
• Pork Belly Lotus Buns
• people on yelp seem to like the Crackling Fragrant Garlic Chicken…

To avoid:

• XLB
• Marco Polo Zhajianmian Noodles (bland?)

How am I doing so far and what’s missing other than a few mai tais?

What about deserts? What’s good?

[Souperman (Gary Soup)]

I too had a disastrous Dungeness crab experience at R&G. I didn’t get sick, but it was all but inedible. I generally recommend Great Eastern for Cantonese as being more consistently good across the menu and less expensive.

You are correct, Mr. Jiu’s is not open for lunch. For the record, it’s not as expensive as you might think if you order judiciously. My daughter and I ate quite well for $110 exclusive of drinks, T&T. Here’s my report from last Christmas:

Mister Jiu's Report (San Francisco)

I took my visiting daughter to Mr. Jiu’s for dinner last night. I found it enjoyable despite its being in a zone I’m not yet comfortable with (“elevated” ethnic cuisine), and not outrageously expensive, given its celebrity. Apologies for the darkness of the pictures; we were seated in an area so dark I had to use my camera’s flashlight to read the menu. We had: Mustard Green Salad Dutch Crunch BBQ Pork Buns Sourdough Scallion Pancake Crispy Scarlet Turnip Cakes Devil’s Gulch Pig Head Stea…

Glad you backed me up on Montreal Chinatown for my love of its perennial lobster “festival.” Back in the early 90s one restaurant featured two whole lobsters for $13.95 CDN. At the time, the rate of exchange was about 1.6, so that was less than $9 USD. We pigged out on that trip.

Take your BIL to Li Po for a Chinese Mai Tai. Nothing hipper.

[Souperman (Gary Soup)]

They had a decent Taiwanese-style beef noodle soup when I was first there (forgot what they called it on the menu). The shenjiangbao were sub-par (not enough grease, for one thing) but fun to watch being made, with the traditional huge cast-iron SJB pan and the wooden lid. A real bit of Shanghai nostalgia there.

[Souperman (Gary Soup)]

Couldn’t get this to upload last night, but here it is for your memory.

I knew that stretch of St.-Laurent pretty well because I often stayed at the Travelodge around the corner on Rene-Levesque. When I got in late (which was always, coming from SF) I would usually end up at Pho Bang NY or the Golden Fries place in the other direction, for a MIchigan or two. Wish I knew about the lobbster & beer place.

[hyperbowler]

Oh! The next time you visit your BIL in OC, you can school him in Sichuan food at Szechuan Impression in Tustin. I liked them way more than Z&Y.

Unless your brother is an SJB obsessive like many of us on the board, you should get them.

Whether as part of a dish or just as an aside, make sure to taste the house black vinegar from the table

In terms of cocktails, I’m the wrong person ask. I will point out that i’ve had their cocktail with Sichuan peppercorns Twice, and neither time have I tasted Sichuan peppercorns.

Many of their desserts rotate. Soft serve is always excellent. Below is the Sesame Soft Serve, Mango Shaved Ice from July.

[Oliverb]

Thanks on all counts!!

Are those tapioca balls or lychees in the sesame soft serve and is it super sweet?

[Mr_Happy]

Re: cocktails - China Live has a bar - Cold Drinks - above it that serves some inventive cocktails. I’ve only been once but remember my drink being good, but expensive. As you can see, it had a flower in it.