Bakeries will be its own post as I still need to hit up at least one more and I hope to do that one by end of this year. You better start working out now!
If you have been following me for a while you will know that Hilda & Jesse is one of my go tos for a nicer brunch. Their pancakes without boundaries are the best pancakes in town hands down. Hilariously I run into Brandon Jew (Mister Jiu's) often at the farmer's market on Saturdays and we do a drive by catch up as we shop. Since Mrs. Jiu loves pancakes I sent them to Hilda & Jesse's. He confirmed that these pancakes are dope. And if you have been paying attention, I always recommend their chef's adventure as that is the best value tasting menu you can get in town for that price point. You can even ask them to finish your adventure with pancakes without boundaries (which they will know I sent you).
People ask me all the time if there are places I keep to myself: Yes. I used to have a lot more than now as since pandemic and businesses are struggling I tend to gatekeep less nowadays. This was top of my gatekeeping list: Shanghai House. It used to be cash only (you may want to check to see if it may still be). Many people claim that San Tung have the best chicken wings in town and I will have you know that they are all WRONG; it is actually Shanghai House. San Tung uses far too much sugar in their cooking in general. If you like American Chinese food then that may be ok, but it certainly is not for authentic Chinese food. My friend was craving chicken wings and suggested San Tung, so I brought him to Shanghai House instead. The wings blew his mind and he is a convert. In fact, I have taken many top chefs in SF to Shanghai House and they are all now obsessed. The XLBs (xiao long bao) are excellent and their sheng jian baos are even better. They also have a hand cut beef noodle soup flavored to perfection. Be sure to check them out.
A little over 10 years ago I sent The Selby to shoot Peko Peko (now Rintaro) for Edible Selby for The NY Times. Now 10+ years later and Rintaro is still in the top restaurants of San Francisco list, and definitely one of the top izakayas in America. A little fun fact for you, the bento that Sylvan made for The NY Times piece ended up being my lunch that week. If you haven't been to Rintaro and you love Japanese food, you need to go. This is on my top request list for all VIPs coming to town. While it is a little out of the way, I promise you that you will love this. Naturally, The Selby and I just happened to have had dinner here the week it make it in The NY Times top restaurant in San Francisco list. Talk about full circle.
I have been a kitchen regular at Mister Jiu's since before they even opened. I was invited to their first walk through in the space before the renovation when Brandon took the building over and got the keys. I have also shot a music video for Dr. Octagon upstairs at Moongate Lounge before it was Moongate Lounge. When The Selby was doing his latest book launch for The Selby Comes Home, I knew that we would have to do it at Moongate Lounge.
Then we had a feast after the book launch in the dining room at Mister Jiu's and Brandon fed us well. Thank you always for feeding me and my guests! I have had this meal well over 20 times and it's consistently great. While it is a splurge, there is a reason why this is one of the best and most important Chinese restaurants in America. If you are not in the mood for their tasting menu, you can do a la carte walk in at their bar instead.
Last, but not least, the restaurant that I had to go to 4 times before I put this post up: Four Kings. Four Kings was already the toughest reservation in town BEFORE they made the top 50 restaurants in America in NY Times. I was lucky enough to have gone before that accolade and went 3 more times after to have most of the menu before I write about this. As one would expect from 2 chefs that were at Mister Jiu's up the street, this is super creative Canto pop cuisine. I am from Hong Kong so I completely understand the vibe they are going for there. While not traditional Chinese by any means, this is one of the most creative Cantonese cooking I have had the pleasure of eating. If you are looking for traditional Chinese cuisine, this is definitely not it. I have seen and read many reviews where the eater struggled with this meal as they are coming at it from a traditional Chinese food POV. If you are more adventurous and is into creative cuisine, you will be extremely pleased like I was. My must haves are the string beans, eggplants, fried squab, mapo spaghetti, and Hokkien fried rice. Best of luck getting a reservation. While reservations are near impossible, you can try to walk in and put your name down before/when they open and walk around North Beach & Chinatown to kill time.
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