Tag: Chinese

Boundary-Pushing Asian Food at Two Newcomers: Taiwanese-Inspired Piglet & Co. & Chinese-Venezuelan Cantoo

This week, I share experiences at two newcomers playing with the boundaries of Asian cuisine. One is a pop-up turned hip, new Mission district restaurant hidden behind a graffitied wall, Bruce Lee films on two TVs above the bar, striking paintings of birds. The other is a fluorescent-lit, Tenderloin spot, half underground, roomy but utilitarian in design. The former just opened early January 2023, the other two days before Christmas 2022. They are dissimilar in most ways but for their surprising interplay of Asian cuisines. Read more →

September Eats Checklist: 6 Standouts of the Month

Though I’ve eaten everywhere this month from Adriano Paganini/Back of the House group’s latest, Rad Radish, to the new Arepas Latin Cuisine and Fiddle Fig Cafe in North Beach, these six newcomers (or new menus) stood out in September, covering the gamut, from Brittany-style French crêpes to NY slice pizza. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews, I share what’s worth tasting at each, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited and/or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →

Upscale Chinese with a View in SF Chinatown: Empress by Boon

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America, a dense, rich Chinese community since the 1850s. In these charming, narrow streets, legendary Empress of China began restoration in 2019 and after a long wait and pandemic delays, opened June 2021 as Empress by Boon, a gorgeous Atelier LLYS-designed, 7,500-square-foot space with killer views over Chinatown, North Beach, Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill and the Bay… Read more →

Sichuan/Szechuan on the Table

In addition to my regular dining column in Bob Cut magazine (details and my philosophy here; last month’s column here)… In late 2020, my article, The Taste of Home: Sichuan on the Table, was published in print, with PDF below. RUYI Gastronomy dinner from my travels in Chengdu, China, studying Sichuan cuisine — here, a peppercorn and ingredients display; more on my China travels below:… Read more →