Regional Chinese roundup 3.0 (SF Bay Area)- December 2017 - December 2018 archive

Regional Dining Discussions SF Bay Area, NorCal, Tahoe
117

Then again I had similar thought years ago about Starbucks also.

118

Yes, but boba is an invasive species.

119
  • Shanghai Cuisine (Alameda) and Power Pot (Cupertino) have closed.

That makes seven closed Shanghainese/Jiangnan places since Jan. 2018. No need to worry about the Shanghai scene though---- since 2015, the number of Shanghainese restaurants has been stable— 16 opened, 15 closed. And that’s not including generally northern places that specialize in XLB, like Din Ding and Bing’s.

120

@chandavkl brought up the topic of mainland chains on a Foodtalkcentral conversation that has some history to it. In 2013, @chandavkl asked why there weren’t more Chinese restaurant chains. By 2016, he commented on the influx, and in 2018, several have opened, which matches a broader trend of chain Asian restaurants opening in the SFBA. Here’s a running list, which I’m now keeping in the original post. I’m generally leaving out pastry/dessert and tea shops, as they’re too numerous to keep track of. Lemme know if I’ve missed any.

US Chains

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121

I don’t know what Hakkasan is supposed to be. A lot of the dimsums and the ingredients used are not Cantonese standards. A mish mesh of influence from all provinces and fusion.

The service didn’t carry over though. You can get your nails done in China but here you just eat.

BTW, I guess you don’t count local chains. Otherwise the list would be much longer with for example our own homegrown dumpling chain- kingdom/ empire/ depot, etc. etc.

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122

A correction: the wife came from Sichuan. Unless he got a new wife recently. The chef didn’t mention an upbringing in Chongqing, though. Only mentioned he’s born in Kunming and started his cooking career there, and his mom still lives in Kunming.

As an aside, the guy even told me the specific Cathay Pacific/ Cathay Dragon flights from SFO that people can take to go to Kunming.

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123

Also didn’t count Panda Express, PF Chang’s, etc. Elitist!

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124

Rather than discuss them further (and rehashing Chris Ying’s decor comments :slight_smile: I’ll just ditch Hakkasan since the intent is chains from Asia and Hakkasan is based in London!

Since you brought up local chains, I have some data to share. At the end of 2016, I categorized non-Cantonese Chinese restaurants that opened since 2011 according to their ownership status. 164 had unknown ties or were known mom and pops, 61 had owners that owned at least another restaurant (including US-based chains), and 15 were international chains. I have no idea how those numbers compare to, say, Italian restaurants. My scripts stopped working so I’m not going to look into it any further, but I would suspect single-owned mom and pops are even rarer in 2018, especially in SF.

If we go by San Francisco’s formula retail definition that “chains” have at least eleven locations, I think the only locally originating “chain” is Tasty Pot, which originated in San Jose (according to Luke Tsai), and which has 13 or 14 locations in North America.

Places not meeting SF’s criteria of eleven:

  • Qinghe Li’s dumpling empire has eleven locations, but with different names. I haven’t heard anyone explain the exact way those businesses are connected.
  • Chef Yiwen “Truman” Du and Jenny Wu’s Chongqing restaurants have eight locations (and one that had closed)
  • At a quick glance, places on the regional list that have three or more current locations are limited to Xiang Xiang, San Tung (if you count SO), Henry Hunan (more Chinese American at this point). Allen Shi owns Yi Ping, Sichuan Fortune House, and China Lounge. I believe Z & Y / Chili House are about to open Z & Y Bistro. Spices would have counted years ago, but not after ownership and focus swaps. Foodie Hall in Milpitas was at one point owned by a “Chef Zhao” (which one, I don’t know, but if it’s the Sichuan one, that would be a triplet).

@souperman, I’m disappointed you didn’t mention Manchu Wok, which originated in Ontario! :slight_smile:

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125

Don’t forget Louis Kuang (multiple Man Kee outlets with different names in English, Washington Cafe/Hunan House, Grand Hotpot Lounge and who knows what else).

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126

Number%20of%20regional%20Chinese%20restaurants%20open%20in%202018%2C%20by%20the%20year%20they%20opened-2

  • Excluding the odds and ends, the list now contains over 400 restaurants, 80% of which opened since 2010. The bar for 2009 indicates restaurants opened in 2009 or before. Not shown, but I’ll note that about 25-30% of those restaurants opened since 2015 are categorized as hotpot or skewers.
  • Dangit, one of the two Lanzhou noodle specialists, Xin Yuan House (Fremont) is closed

A Hoodline article last year mentioned two things I neglected to note earlier.

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127

Looks like Crystal Jade is gone.

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128

Thanks!

While we’re active…

129

  • SF Richmond’s Wok This Way’s Chef Wang worked for 10 years at a Chongqing chain, Qiaotou Hot Pot. Interesting sounding dishes include Chongqing Xiao Mian, Chongqing hot & sour sweet potato noodles, Sichuan (Chongqing) Chili-fried fish, (Chongqing) boiled fish with bean sprouts in chili oil, (Chongqing) steamed chicken with chili sauce (mouth watering chicken). Szechuan rattan pepper chicken, Malatang, skewers, various drinks.

  • Underground Grill King (Outer Sunset) has reopened after two years. Karaoke and skewers.

  • Oyama BBQ (Pleasant Hill) skewers & dongbei

  • Sizzling Pot King opens up their third location in Fremont.

130

The new Bing & Boba on Haight bills itself as Taiwanese, and offers a “classic” jianbing (but who needs a peanut butter and nutella bing?)

131

Yelp categorizes them as “Taiwanese,” but the owners describe serving boba pearls warm “ like in Taiwan” and Jian bing as “ Chinese style “. The owners’ connection or previous experience making/eating Jianbing isn’t described in Hoodline’s article:

I’m curious what ingredients they use for the crepe. The owner of Tai Chi Jian Bing, who uses a mix of flours like mung bean powder, describe to me the difficulty of making a consistent product. See also the jian Bing thread which hasn’t been updated in a while, but is still accurate in describing most local Jian Bing as having long Chinese doughnuts (you Tiao) inside rather than crispy tofu skin or wontons.

132

Thank for the article, which I somehow missed.

Boba & Bing’s listed owner is Maison M LLC, described in B&B’s linkedin job offering as:

About us
Maison M, a family owned business established in 1948, is one of the leading quality driven food markets in Lebanon. It has earned its reputation by constantly providing a friendly environment to its customers and continuously raising its standards of quality.
Today Maison M operates a chain of super-food markets, a catering business, a food and beverage production company under the name of ‘Aradina’, a fine dining Cigar Lounge and a Lebanese Restaurant

Company details
Website

133

Lebanon and Taiwanese? Hmmph.

134

Closed

  • V Pot (Albany) single serving hot pot and Sichuan noodles
  • 168 Restaurant (Richmond)
  • Little Fresh in the Sunset

Open

Other
I updated a bunch of the restaurant descriptions. For Sichuan restaurants, I listed the secondary cuisines (e.g., Boiling Beijing is Beijing & Sichuan).

I also added some new comments about chefs throughout the Original Post. Someone on Yelp said that the owner of House of Pancakes is from ShiJiaZhuang, Hebei (geographically closer to Shanxi than Beijing). That’s also where the owner of Yi Yuan/Yummy Szechuan was trained. The owner of Jenny’s Kitchen is also from somewhere in Hebei. Is there anything about what these restaurant’s offer in terms of style, dishes, or ingredients that’s different from the spectrum of other local northern and Beijing restaurants? In 2013, I asked for Yi Yuan’s chef to make some Hebei dishes, and he made cumin lamb, an off-menu stir-fried chicken with cucumber and carrots, and a different version of mu-shu pork than they normally serve.

135

Closed

  • Foodie Hall (Milpitas), a malatang place once connected with (Sichuan) Chef Zhao
  • Noodle Shanghai (San Mateo)
  • Hot pot garden in Millbrae is being replaced with Hee Kee Seafood, a project from the Hong Kong crab specialist
136

In Oakland Chinatown scheduled to open on July 17 -

Huangcheng Noodle House
734 Webster St.

From Hoodline Oakland:

The new spot reportedly will specialize in “dry and wet-style noodles with a broth made from an old family recipe,” said Al. Smoked tea duck is also said to be a featured item, with lunch specials running $11.75 per dish.

During his visit, Al spoke to a someone affiliated with the new eatery inside, who said that the noodle house will be officially open July 17.

Info on Huangcheng starts about four paragraphs from the top of this article:

Below photo: ALBERTINO M./HOODLINE TIPLINE

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