Definitely a loss. I recall having had some dishes there that I’d not had at the SF Hakka restaurants. I think that had something to do with the chef or owner coming by way of Taiwan.
On another note, almost all restaurants on this list that opened during the first year of the pandemic still are open. I suspect that these restaurants had stronger concepts/funding or more time to plan than typical openings.
Growing up, I often frequented Hakka in San Mateo on 3rd Ave. Takeout and grab a daiquiri ice from BR 31 Flavors next door…Hakka has since gone a while ago and the location has changed hands a few times.
Serious Dumpling in San Jose has four types of Sheng Jian Bao (pork, pork & shrimp, beef and cheese, and vegetarian). I’ve eaten pork & shrimp SJB at the SF Mom Dumpling location, but can’t recall seeing beef & cheese or a vegetarian one elsewhere. XLB include a “pho XLB”.
Lots of action since August. Please add any additional intel- I’m certain I’ve spaced out on others y’all know about:
Noodle/dumpling centered menus
CA Noodle (Pleasanton) takes over the Cafe Taiwan spot. Speculation time-- some Shaanxi items make me suspect someone from former OK Noodles works/owns here. Amiright?
SF Chinatown’s Hon’s Won Ton House’s builds a second location in the old Washington Bakery space, and beyond their long respected Cantonese fare, a “Buns and Dumplings” section of the menu includes Xiao long bao, Sheng Jian bao, Sichuan won tons & dumplings, and jiao zi. IIRC the only other place in Chinatown that has pleat down SJB is China Live, and Hon’s looks akin to the (IMHO experience) better ones you can get at the Four Sisters, Dumpling Home, etc. restaurants.
Zhen Wei Guan (Millbrae) sister restaurant of Z Pot House, is primarily Cantonese. I recall seeing Mapo Doufu with Sea Cucumber elsewhere, anyone know the chef’s background?
Closures
I-Shanghai Delight closed their Sacramento location.
Light Meal Studio (San Jose) Sichuan in Westfield mall
Li Zhou Restaurant (Fremont) Muslim Chinese
Joy of Hunnan (San Bruno)
China Tofu (Hayward), a takeout seller, reportedly closed in Sept. on Yelp, but moved. Any recent info?
Excellent renditions of jjamppong, along with jajangmyeon, double fried chicken, and other Korean Chinese dishes. They also do special raw marinated crabs. Generous portions. Seems to have been open for ~8 months.
Since May 2021, I count 79 openings, and 76 closures. Because my tracking is limited to businesses with Yelp pages, that count of 79 openings misses a lot of things that proliferated during the pandemic such as pop-ups, food trucks, etc.
Continuing a trend started before the pandemic, dumpling/bao centered restaurants, including those with audiences beyond Chinese/Taiwanese/Chinese American communities, are proliferating and restaurants marketing a regional cuisine are becoming less common. For example, if you strictly look at restaurant names, 2021-2022, 57% of restaurants emphasize dumplings, bao, or noodles in the name and only 9% emphasize geographical region or spicy (i.e., usually an indication of Sichuan or Hunan). In comparison, for 2015 and 2019, 18% and 34%, respectively, emphasized dumplings/bao/noodles and 29-27% emphasized geographical region or spicy.
Seapot opens their fourth Bay Area location, which adds Daly City to the currently open Sunnyvale and San Mateo locations, and a closed San Jose location.