Chu, Carl - Chinese Food Finder: The Bay Area and San Francisco

[oyceter]

rachelmanija gave this to me for my birthday, and it is awesome!

I am generally leery of English-language write-ups of Chinese food; in my experience, they tend to portray Chinese food as something exotic and foreign at worst and as something non-normative at best. More importantly, the Chinese food that they talk about is not my Chinese food, which is normal, everyday and comfortingly familiar. Also, either I can't figure out what the books are talking about because the names are funny transliterated English (ex. "Dragon Phoenix Soup") that make sense in Chinese but not really in English or because they're talking about stuff that I don't eat very often (ex. banquet food from the seventies).

I don't think I'm an expert on Chinese food; if pressed, I'd find it hard to talk about what makes Shanghainese Shanghainese or Cantonese Cantonese. But given that I lived eight years in Taiwan and that my parents and their social circle are all foodies and enjoy all kinds of Chinese food, I figure I know what I like.

Anyway. The best part about this book is that it didn't need the massive introduction up top, because as far as I can tell, it is written by someone who knows a ton about all sorts of Chinese food and by someone who knows a ton about the Bay Area. I just said all the stuff up there so you will all understand why I am so excited about a Chinese food guide!

Seriously! I have been looking and looking for something like this! I love restaurant reviews and talk of food, and I especially love knowing where to eat locally, but a lot of the Chinese food I eat here (even here! Bay Area!) pales in comparison to Taiwan. Also, the high-rating restaurants on things like Yelp often end up having excellent sweet and sour, which is usually not what I'm looking for.

So. This book is awesome! It confirms my suspicions that most good Chinese food is not actually in SF Chinatown, but in suburban strip malls in Milpitas, Cupertino and Millbrae, and that I am not making things up when I say my eyes glaze over looking at most Chinese restaurant menus ("Same old, same old...").

And! Chu introduces various regional Chinese cuisines, from Szechuan to Cantonese to Hong Kong cafes! Alas and alack, he only mentions Taiwanese food briefly (not that I eat much of it here or at home, aside from street food-y things). But! He really seems to know what he's talking about! He gives a brief introduction to each region's cuisine and describes it, and then he gives a list of fairly typical dishes that the region is known for (with Chinese characters as well as the English! So I know what he's talking about!).

I disagree with him on quite a few points; he's rather snobby and thinks Szechuan is the epitome of Chinese cuisine because of its complexity and looks down on the simplicity of Cantonese and Hakka food. Also, he insults my beloved you tiao/oil sticks and other such "peasant" food. On the other hand -- he talks about Hong Kong cafes and "Western" Chinese food (curry, spaghetti with an egg on top, steak with an egg on top, pretty much anything with dairy in it) and Asian bakeries and the wheat/rice split and Islamic Chinese food and almost everything he says sounds familiar, even though I didn't know I knew them! And I forgive him because he recognizes the superiority of the Cantonese way of preparing seafood. And he has a section on noodles and dumplings, beloved cornerstones of my fooding experiences.

And! Best yet! Almost all of my favorite restaurants are in there! This means I can trust his recommendations! And he tells you exactly what to get at each restaurant, so you are not accidentally stuck with the English menu with generic stuff like General Tso's chicken and chow mein. And he doesn't just rec fancy places, he recs hole-in-wall places as well. He doesn't have all my favorite restaurants in there (he misses some of my favorite street-food-esque places), but he's got a good 90%, which is pretty damn impressive.

And! I was telling my mom about some of it, and she seemed to think it sounded fairly accurate as well! I feel the book cannot get a higher rec than that.

Even though I am grumpy with his snobbery, I am still overjoyed to find a book on my food, on the food I eat, in a language I can easily read. My food! I cannot emphasize this enough! I rarely eat Chinese any more because I hate bad Chinese so much, and it's gotten to the point when I don't realize I miss it, but once I have it... oh. It is like going home.

Chu's written a similar food finder for LA (Asian food heaven) and NY, and it looks like he has a general-purpose guide to regional Chinese cuisine coming out later this year. I am planning on flipping through it; if it's even a little more detailed than this book, I am buying it.

Just... OMG! I FOUND A BOOK ABOUT CHINESE FOOD THAT DOESN'T SUCK!

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

AMAZON GOES KACHING!!!!

[oyceter]

Bwahaha! Awesome!

It's a pretty small book, and some of it is clearly aimed for a non-Chinese audience, but still. He really knows what he's talking about! The only really big problem I have with it is that it does not come out yearly!

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

Not just the book, but the fact that you live somewhere that invites such a book, makes me rather insanely jealous. *_* Wow.

[oyceter]

^_____^

The funny thing is, I am intensely jealous of people who live in LA, because the Asian food there is SO MUCH BETTER.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

...now you're making me hungry for squab and sesame mwaji and that sweet sliced rice cake thing with bits of chestnut (?) we had in Taiwan that I think is traditional for New Year.

Wasn't it Hakka food that I failed to find in Taiwan? I keep reading about it but I've never had any.

[oyceter]

Yes! We did not get Hakka food =(. There isn't even much of it in Taiwan. Also, we did not get traditional Taiwanese non-street food; there is a place with awesome mwaji, but I think we were a little overbooked on the food end of things!

ZOMG I went to the squab/fish/mwaji place last week with my mom and friends and had more squab and fish and they ran out of mwaji! I was devastated. Except the waitress suggested another dessert which sounded gross: a baozi type thing, only with sweet runny egg yolk in the middle. We ended up getting it, partly out of curiosity, and it was delicious -- the egg yolk wasn't raw, I don't think, but it was slightly grainy and mixed with sugar and other stuff so it tasted a little like melted custard.

OH! And the cheap congee place I took you too? We went there too with a lot of friends and they have this manga-grapefruit-tapioca soup that is the BEST THING EVER. Next time you are up here, I am dragging you there, because I am already craving it and I just had it last week.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Oh, man. I love Cantonese food. He really disses it? Ok, it doesn't have a bazillion chilis, but it's some serious good eats.

I can't get good and fresh Chinese food in Baltimore, and this has me jonesing. Is there a similar guide for other areas of the country you think?

[oyceter]

He says it is plain and simple and not complex =(. I mean, it is partly true, but I prefer to think of it as "subtle" and "bringing out the natural flavors of the ingredients." Though he and I agree that it is the best way to cook seafood ever (um, no, I'm not biased at all, really...).

I have no idea if the new book will have country-wide recs. The way I usually find new places is to just ask my Chinese friends, particularly the ones from Taiwan, though I suspect that would be awkward with complete strangers. I also usually look for neighborhoods with a lot of Chinese people and see what's around. But, um, I have also had really poor luck finding Chinese food in non-NY/LA/Bay Area places, even in NJ, with its large Chinese population.

[chisotahn]

You don't really know me - I comment on telophase's LJ, which is where I idly wandered over here, but dude!

I live in the SF Bay Area and I love Chinese food, so this post got me all excited. :D Have you any recommendations based either on the above your own own experience? I'd love to hear some, as I think I've gotten in a bit of a food rut lately. Mmmmm.

[oyceter]

Hi fellow Bay Area person!

Oooo. My favorite places so far are all in Millbrae/San Bruno, Milpitas and Cupertino!

Cupertino: Fatima is a Muslim-Chinese restaurant, so a lot of beef and lamb. I particularly love their knife-cut noodles (the noodles are shaved off with a knife, so they're thick-and-thin!) and they are famous for their giant pancake bread things. Sort of like Chinese scallion pancakes, but bigger (my fav is the big pancake with sesame and scallion).

I also like A&J in Cupertino Village and Fantasia still has my fav. pearl milk tea, and the Joy Luck Place (I think) at Cupertino Village, both the big fancy one and the little homey one are good.

Milpitas: Go to the Ranch 99 off of McCarthy. Chinese food galore! I go to Mayflower most often; it's HK dim sum and seafood. ABC Cafe right down the street is also good. I haven't tried everything around those two strip malls, but they feel Chinese. Also, one of the places around Mayflower has waffles and egg cakes, which makes me love them forever.

Millbrae/San Bruno: Flower Lounge is good, I love Fook Yuen though it's more fancy than plain (it's the tasty squab and mwaji place mentioned above to Rachel). Fat Wong's Kitchen in San Bruno has great Canto-style home cooking, including tons of congee, the mango-grapefruit soup mentioned above to Rachel). I've also heard Zhu Jiang (dunno the English name, sorry!) is good, though I haven't been, and Broadway Bistro is a HK-style cafe with really tasty chicken wings! I have heard that pretty much all the places down El Camino in Millbrae around the BART station are good though.

[(Anonymous)]

Note that Chinese restaurants sometimes do odd things in translating into English. Like the Minneapolis one whose menu included "Funny Tasting Duck."

And I remember a Korean restaurant in LA whose menu included approximately:
#33 Beef with Vegetables
# 34 Like #33, but different kind of beef

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Oops -- this was me, not logged in.

[jennifergearing.livejournal.com]

OMG that sounds completely awesome. One thing that's bugging me about moving to a new city is that I have no idea where the good Chinese food is. It took me long enough to find (some of) the good Chinese food in Brisbane, and I had my mother & grandmother to find the good food in Sydney. Dammit, I want a book like that for here. It does indeed sound awesome, though. If/when I travel to the states, and I'm in the areas he's written for, I believe I may have to check it out. :)

[oyceter]

I know! I hate finding new tasty food places! Particularly Chinese, because my judgment tends to differ from most people's.

[deevalish.livejournal.com]

I'm curious to know what some of your favorite places to eat are.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Oh it sounds so gooooooood. Now I really want to eat Cantonese food. It sounds like something I would love. Also, I have never heard of Hakka. I like foodie type food, but what I really love is peasant food. One of my favorite places here has this great noodle soup that has, well, it's sort of like the pork ribs in flavor but it's labelled Chinese style beef pot roast on the menu. It's sooooooo good. The restaurant is Chinese but they don't specify a region. I love to get it in winter.

I had so much fun eating with you in the Bay area! I tried to find some some of the food that we had over here in Missouri but was thwarted. Darnit. (I'm still craving those duck with waffles and maple syrup.) *Is now feeling wisftul*

[oyceter]

It is so tasty!!

Sometimes I don't like Hakka or Szechuan or Shanghainese as much because they are more flavor-heavy, and I'm used to fairly light Chinese food. But ohhhhh yes, if you ever come here again, we will definitely go fooding.

I want more duck and waffles too now.

[raucousraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, this person should not be hating on the you tiao, crispy bastion of my Taiwan breakfast memories. But I'll forgive him if his LA food guide includes the outlying areas of LA, because that's where I'll be in a few weeks, all aloooooone and with no guidance for fooding!

[oyceter]

I know! There shall be no hating of you tiao!

Ooh, I think his LA guide does include outlying areas... at least, the title is "LA and the San Gabriel Valley" which I think is some of the outlying areas?

[heresluck]

YOU ARE MAKING ME JEALOUS. I live very far away from decent (let alone good) Chinese food, and my cooking skills are not yet up to making some of the things I love (although I do a few things pretty well). The next time I am in your neck of the woods, I will take you out for lunch if you pick somewhere yummy for us to go and help me order!

...it looks like he has a general-purpose guide to regional Chinese cuisine coming out later this year.

WANT. Even though it will make me frustrated. *g*

[oyceter]

Muhahahaha!

I will definitely pick yummy places and help order, if not entirely take over the ordering!

Now I want a Chinese cookbook like this.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

After I get a paycheck or two under my belt, if you want to go fooding, please let me know!

[oyceter]

Yes! Will email.

[arbolera.livejournal.com]

That is extremely excellent. Finding food that reminds one of home--as well as being able to talk the same food language about foods that remind one of home--is a precious thing.

[oyceter]

Yes! I am still so excited!

[keilexandra]

He insults you2 tiao2?! Grr.

[keilexandra]

But still a good find, I suppose. ^^ Too bad I live on the other side of the US. Delaware Chinese food=the suck.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I kinda want to take you to my favorite places, and I kinda don't. :)

[oyceter]

I want to go! Also, I never really get to each Chinese by myself b/c eating Chinese food is no fun as one person -- I can only order one thing =(.