Happy Family Gourmet [San Francisco, Parkside]

[Mr_Happy]

I had dinner tonight at Happy Family Gourmet in the Parkside neighborhood today. According to @hyperbowler ’s excellent Regional Chinese Roundup Happy Family Gourmet serves Shandong cuisine or has owners from Shandong.

The menu:

I wanted to try the E1 XI’AN HEMP SAUCE COLD SKIN (liang pi, which are from Shaangxi) but they were out - I got there about an hour before they closed.

Instead, I had the A8 拌拉皮 MIX PULL SKIN ($9.95), which were thick translucent mung bean (?) starch noodles that had a very pleasant chew. They were served cold, dressed with cucumber slivers, cilantro, and a vinegary and savory sauce. Delicious! It was a bit like the double skin from Great China in Berkeley noodle-wise and sauce-wise at least minus the mustard. Anyone know the background of this dish?

I also tried the D8 牛肉卷饼 BEEF ROLL CAKE which was a savory fried pancake roll similar to the one at House of Pancakes down the street. This was very good, with a nicely fried pancake, cucumbers, beef, and cilantro, with a savory sweet sauce, I believe hoisin. It was also quite a hefty portion - I took half home as leftovers.

And finally I also had the B10 西湖羊肉水饺 WEST LAKE MUTTON DUMPLINGS which were great! They had very nicely textured wrappers, and the filling was very juicy with just a hint of gaminess, I think the filling is lamb rather than mutton. I dipped them in some vinegar and soy sauce from the condiment tray, which also had some hot sauce.

This was a very enjoyable dinner at Happy Family Gourmet. Anyone have any pointers on what else to try next on the menu?

[jiaozi]

Thanks for the review! Indeed, the characters say “Shandong dumplings and hand pulled noodles.”

[Mr_Happy]

I went back for dinner a few days ago and tried some new things.

E1 西安麻酱凉皮 XI’AN HEMP SAUCE COLD SKIN ($10.45)
This is the liangpi that they had run out of on my first visit - hand stretched flat wheat noodles in a sauce that had sesame oil, chili oil, and vinegar, topped with cucumber slivers and cilantro. This was great! The noodles had a really nice texture - tender but still with bounce and chew. It was a bit unlike other liangpi renditions that I’ve had in that there weren’t any spongy pieces of wheat gluten. The sauce was savory, sour from the vinegar, and had some heat and chili flavor from the chili oil.

E7 炸酱面 SAUTEED NOODLES WITH MINCED MEAT ($12.95)
I also had the zhajiangmian - noodles with a fried sauce made with meat and tiangmianjiang / sweet bean sauce. This was very good. The toothsome hand pulled noodles were of a firmer texture than the liangpi ones. The sauce was a little soupier than I thought was typical of zhajiangmian, but was good, with chunks of onion and pork and green pepper.

B1 白菜猪肉水饺 CABBAGE PORK DUMPLINGS ($9.95)
I also had some dumplings with pork and napa cabbage. The wrappers were the same as the mutton dumplings I had before. These were also very good.