About Chinatown
San Francisco's Chinatown is purportedly the nation's largest; it was leveled by the 1906 earthquake, and almost moved to hunter's point; however, the five companies persevered and carved their own space out in the middle of the city.
S.F's Chinatown speaks cantonese, and the majority of new arrivals come, it seems, from Hong Kong. The area is an autonomous zone, the rules are different here from the rest of San Francisco. Most spaces are grandfathered in, no one pays attention to the no plastic bag rule and cigarettes are $4 a pack. What this means for restaurants is that they operate in generally smaller spaces, with less city oversight, and buy their food from the chinatown market.
The Chinatown Market spans across Stockton Street and not only provides fresh vegetables, but also all the dried goods essential to this style of cooking; there is also, crucially, a large supply of living meat, with fresh pork and beef coming in every morning.
Also on Stockton street at barbecue stores, selling roast pork, duck etc; a lot of restaurants in the area use these bbq ingredients on their menus with a markup; that does not mean it's not great barbecue just something to think about before questing for "the finest roast duck' on Grant street.
About The Author
I'm a chef living in Chinatown for the past 2 years. I don't claim to have any special knowledge or insite into true Chinese cuisine, and I have no cultural ties to either San Francisco's Chinatown or mainland China. I am a white male, raised in the kitchens of Europe, and while I may be considered an expert on European cuisine, I am certainly not in Chinese. I start this endeavor as much to increase my knowledge on the unique type of food offered in Chinatown, as to offer advice. I'm coming from a place of white male entitlement, so, I'm not going to talk about 'authenticity'.
Chinatown is home to American-Chinese food, which I think of as fried balls of meat coated in a sweet, corn-starch thickened sauce. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but I generally won't risk $7 on something that has a 90% of being boring.
I'm coming
San Francisco's Chinatown is purportedly the nation's largest; it was leveled by the 1906 earthquake, and almost moved to hunter's point; however, the five companies persevered and carved their own space out in the middle of the city.
S.F's Chinatown speaks cantonese, and the majority of new arrivals come, it seems, from Hong Kong. The area is an autonomous zone, the rules are different here from the rest of San Francisco. Most spaces are grandfathered in, no one pays attention to the no plastic bag rule and cigarettes are $4 a pack. What this means for restaurants is that they operate in generally smaller spaces, with less city oversight, and buy their food from the chinatown market.
The Chinatown Market spans across Stockton Street and not only provides fresh vegetables, but also all the dried goods essential to this style of cooking; there is also, crucially, a large supply of living meat, with fresh pork and beef coming in every morning.
Also on Stockton street at barbecue stores, selling roast pork, duck etc; a lot of restaurants in the area use these bbq ingredients on their menus with a markup; that does not mean it's not great barbecue just something to think about before questing for "the finest roast duck' on Grant street.
About The Author
I'm a chef living in Chinatown for the past 2 years. I don't claim to have any special knowledge or insite into true Chinese cuisine, and I have no cultural ties to either San Francisco's Chinatown or mainland China. I am a white male, raised in the kitchens of Europe, and while I may be considered an expert on European cuisine, I am certainly not in Chinese. I start this endeavor as much to increase my knowledge on the unique type of food offered in Chinatown, as to offer advice. I'm coming from a place of white male entitlement, so, I'm not going to talk about 'authenticity'.
Chinatown is home to American-Chinese food, which I think of as fried balls of meat coated in a sweet, corn-starch thickened sauce. I'm sure there is more to it than that, but I generally won't risk $7 on something that has a 90% of being boring.
I'm coming
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