Regional Chinese roundup 3.0 (SF Bay Area)- December 2018 - October 2019 archive

Regional Dining Discussions SF Bay Area, NorCal, Tahoe
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50 years ago my main off-campus choices were Top Dog, Kip’s Upstairs and La Val’s. :frowning:

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102

Ours too, but 44 years ago!

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  • Sungari Dumpling, the northeastern restaurant in SF’s Excelsior, has closed
  • Shanghai Gourmet (Walnut Creek) has closed
  • @shanghaikid pointed out elsewhere that Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle (San Leandro) is a franchise (I’ve edited a few posts back to say it’s part of Shi Miao Dao )

Also on the chain/franchise front:

  • Yin Ji Chang Fen the cheungfun chain from Guangzhou, has opened in Pleasanton
  • Red Hot Chili Pepper, the Desi-Chinese restaurant in San Carlos, is reported by a few Yelpers to be part of a chain from Kolkata. Nothing on they US site mentions it, but sure enough their Kolkata website lists the “San Francisco” location. I believe the owners of another Desi-chinese restaurant, Fremont’s Go Chaatzz, also told me they were a chain, but I couldn’t find corroboration anywhere.

Here are international chains I’ve noted in the Original Post. Am I missing any? (I’m excluding dessert/drink/pastry places, but will include bigger menu Cantonese places if you let me know what to put down).

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104

This list now has over 400 restaurants, even if you exclude Cantonese, Chinese Vegetarian, and diaspora cuisines like Desi-Chinese.

Openings and previously overlooked things:

Closures:

  • Jade Garden (SF) and shortly lived Good Fortune Chinese Restaurant (Newark) are closed
  • According to the Silicon Valley SF Happy Eaters Facebook Group, Taiwanese Grand Harbor (Fremont) is closing on May 26th.
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105
  • Dim Sum USA in Foster City, a “Beijing dim sum” takeout venture by a former Chili House chef, has closed. Phone disconnected.
  • Berkeleyside’s Sarah Han wrote about Jianbing pop-up Hu Tong Jian Bing .
106

I rarely use opentable, but opened it recently to plan for some friends’ visit. I stumbled upon Beijing 49’er, which I had not heard of before. It calls itself pop-up in the former Chinatown Restaurant location in SF Chinatown, though it’s open daily. The menu looks interesting with plenty of dumplings, noodles, and meat pies, and more. Very mixed reviews on yalp.

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107

Fascinating!

There are still the regular bout of bad reviews for Chinatown restaurant, so it appears the Beijing Chef is sharing the kitchen with the regular staff.

Chef Tong Gang Wang’s Foster City takeout business, Dim Sum USA, recently closed so I wonder if he or a disciple is the chef. Yelp photos look like his handiwork from his days at Chili House.

Edit: Opentable lists Tong Gang Wang as the executive chef!

  • While I’m writing, Yi Yuan in Millbrae appears to have closed and been replaced by Earl Spicy. There’s been an ownership change according to ABC records but the Yelp page mention of “Szechuan and Hunan” food and their website also listing Northern Delicacies makes me wonder if they’ve retained some of the kitchen staff. I hope whoever was pulling noodles is still around. Yi Yuan’s nearby sister restaurant, Yummy Szechuan, appears to still be open.
  • Taiwanese Chef Cho (Fremont) has closed
  • Zhong Shan restaurant (SF) has closed
  • Sungari Dumpling in SF Excelsior was replaced by “Wok Inn China Express”. Didn’t look open yet last weekend.
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108

I didn’t realize it had changed. Does it still have the big vertical sign identifying it as “Sun Hung Heung” in Chinese? It’s had that name since at least the mid-1930s, and was a favorite of the Beats

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109

No ownership change as per ABC records:
https://abc.ca.gov/datport/lqs.html?rpttype=12&license=480353

Yelp photos one and two confirm @tm.tm’s description of it as a pop-up as they retain their Chinatown Restaurant signage in marquis and poster form (it’s 100 years old it claims) in addition to having signs about the pop up being on the first floor. A month or so ago I apparently strolled by the new signage unaware, but did notice that the few year old poster of Sichuan dishes was still on the side of the building. And if I’m not mistaken, someone on a street corner was handing out Chinatown Restaurant fliers.

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The earliest reference I could find for Sun Hung Heung was the 1930 City Directory, so it’s at least 89 years old. It was founded by Grace Young’s uncle. I believe she writes about it in The Breath of a Wok.

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Actually, it appears that Chinatown Restaurants were not included in the SF City Directory until R. L. Polk took over publication with the 1930 Edition, so it may well be older.

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113
  • I’m adding Berkeley’s Da Lian to the list as Northeastern Chinese. John Birdsall pointed out specialties in his 2007 review, noting that the menu is mostly abundant with Cantonese/Chinese American dishes. It’s still not particularly easy to wade through, but they do now have a separate menu/section for homemade noodle dishes. The seven dishes include zha jiang mian and a version of Da Lu noodles that includes clams (not typical at other local restaurants). Their pickled cabbage noodle soup reminds me that a dish I used to get there a decade or so ago, the housemade pickled cabbage with lamb claypot, was the first time I’d ever seen lamb at a Chinese restaurant. Other things with a northern/northeast origin are the Sesame Bread with Green Onion (zhi ma dabing, large size), shrimp and chive dumplings, Farm Fresh Threesome Delight (potato, eggplant, pepper), Oyster with Pickled Chinese Cabbage Clay Pot. Also, a rare Xiao long bao made with lamb,
114

Two Shanghainese openings:

  • Family Taste (Fremont) is the Chinese name 普天和 idiomatic or is this a chain? That phrase is in a few restaurant names in Asia.
  • Old Town Shanghai (Sunnyvale) has seem down SJB.
115

A bunch of closures!

  • Ancient Szechuan (El Cerrito), a haven for China Village staff after a fire, and until they opened Sichuan Style (Albany), has closed. Was once called Happy Golden Bowl.
  • Xiang Xiang (El Sobrante), the Shanxi noodle place once with several locations, has closed, leaving only their Sunnyvale location. Huangcheng Noodle House (Oakland) was affiliated at one point, maybe still is.
  • Peruchi Truck, Chifa (Peruvian-Chinese) seems to have been closed for a while. On that note, I understand the other Chifa place, El Porteno is opening something at the old Baobab spot in the Mission.
  • Chennai Club (San Mateo) desi-chinese has closed
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  • Kung Fu Noodles (Milpitas) , sister restaurant to Chili Garden, has closed.
118

Anyone serve fermented Hairy Tofu (Anhui Province, Huizhou District) in the Bay Area?

119

China Village in Albany has changed owners. The previous one, who made the restaurant’s name for Sichuan cuisine (and getting it a Michelin Bib Gourmand every year), wanted to retire. I had lunch there today. The menu is the same, and the kitchen staff is staying on.

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120

not filmed in the SFBA but seemed to be an interesting entry to xian bing in a Southern California restaurant -

Beijing Pie House

235 W Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801

Phone (626) 782-7928