Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
savory garnish appeals to you, be it duck, quail egg, pork, abalone, or any num-
ber of other authentic toppings. That costs about $4, and it also buys a cruller-
like bread for sopping up whatever flavor is left over. Or just get a traditional
rice-and-meat dish. Everything is cheap, including the decor, but people have a
good time here. Another fave: the kung pau calamari ($5). Lots of dishes are
$2.50 or under, but servings are generous and although the fowl in the window
prove that Middle Americans are perhaps not the target clientele, non-Chinese
patrons are not made to feel unwelcome.
$-$$
Most Chinatown restaurants don't actually serve the spicy variety of cui-
sine known as Hunan—they serve the blander Cantonese to suit the many immi-
grants from Hong Kong. Hunan cuisine, richly colored and powerfully flavored,
is what distinguishes
Brandy Ho's Hunan Food
5
(217 Columbus Ave., at Pacific;
%
415/788
-
7527; www.brandyhos.com; Sun-Thurs 11:30am-11pm, Fri-Sat
11:30am-midnight; AE, DC, MC, V)
from the pack. Its location on North Beach's
fringe, away from the main Chinatown hubbub, also separates it. The interior is
bland, but the dishes aren't, and the chef is only too happy to pep up every dish
with spice. The cook is also generous with ingredients—you never get the sense
of corners being cut, despite the low prices ($8 for most entrees)—and the owner
greets most guests at the door when they enter. The lunch special (soup, onion
cake, spicy vegetables, and a main for $7) is a true value. There is a second loca-
tion in the
Castro (4068 18th St., near Castro;
%
415/252
-
8000).
$-$$
Normally I'm wary of any restaurant that needs to hire salesmen to drum
up business, as
Hang Ah Tea Room
(1 Pagoda Place, off Sacramento btw. Grant
and Stockholm;
%
415/982
-
5685; Sun-Thurs 10am-9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm;
MC, V)
does on Grant Avenue, but there's a good reason for it. It's kind of tricky
to find, as it's located in a little alley shooting north off Sacramento (it's beside the
A Word on Dim Sum
by Pauline Frommer
The classic Chinatown meal is the dim-sum brunch or lunch. Dim sum, for
those who've never tried it, is a meal made up of many small dishes, pri-
marily different sorts of dumplings and buns, a tradition that started in the
teahouses that lined China's Silk Road many centuries ago (scholars believe
the custom began shortly after
A
.
D
. 300, when the long-held notion that
tea should not be accompanied by food fell out of favor). In China, as well
as in Asian communities across the world, it remains a social occasion, a
chance for family and friends to gather and talk. That may be why the
words
dim sum
don't actually refer to food; they can be roughly translated
as “a little bit of heart.” Today, when you go for a dim-sum brunch, it's
likely that you'll be seated at a large round table with other diners, so don't
be shy; use that seating as an opportunity to meet the locals.
