My Favorite Restaurants
Cambodian
Chinese - All
Chinese - Beijing
Chinese - Cantonese
Chinese - Chiu Chow
Chinese - Hunan
Chinese - Mandarin
Chinese - Muslim
Chinese - Szechuan
Chinese - Shanghai
Chinese - Taiwanese
Hawaiian
Japanese
Japanese - Kaiseki Dinner
Japanese - Ramen
Japanese New Year Food
Korean
Malaysian
Thai
Vietnamese
BBQ
Buffets
Burgers
California
Deli
Diner
English
Seafood
Southern
Steakhouse
Brazilian
Cuban - Puerto Rican
Mexican
Peruvian
Salvadorean
French
German
Greek
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Ethiopian
Moroccan
Afghani
Indian
Middle Eastern
Pakistani
Chocolate
Tea
Bakeries
Food-related links

A NOTE TO VISITORS
Please keep in mind when reading these reviews that I can't possibly visit all of these restaurants on a monthly or even yearly basis.

Chefs come and go, owners change, and some places just vanish entirely.

They are merely my humble opinions based on my personal tastes, which definitely lean towards the unusual. I'd rather eat steamed pork belly with dried mustard greens than the best dry aged steak any day.

Anyway...I hope you enjoy my reviews and find them helpful.


Cities Covered

South Bay
San Jose
Santa Clara
Sunnyvale
Cupertino
Milpitas
Los Gatos
Willow Glen

Peninsula
San Mateo
Redwood City
Palo Alto
Woodside

East Bay
Fremont
Hayward

San Francisco
South of Market
Outer Sunset
Chinatown
Japantown
Noriega St.
Geary St.

Other
Sacramento
Long Beach

The Quest for Xiao Long Bao in the San Francisco Bay Area, Vancouver, and Beyond...

Xiao Long Bao (or "little steamer buns") are a Shanghai specialty. They are tiny, perhaps 1-1/4" across, and are typically filled with pork or crab. What makes them special is that they are fllled with broth, so when you pop one in your mouth and bite, a flood of tasty soup fills your mouth.

Below are my notes from my search for the best xiao long bao in the San Jose area, plus a few from my travels. Yes, I did actually go to Vancouver partly to try the xiao long bao at Shanghai Wind, which I've received notes about. Unfortunately, I didn't find them extraordinary, mostly because I think they use a method which relies on the juice from the fatty filling to create the soup.

The newest restaurant I've been to in the South Bay is Hu-Chiang Dumpling House (10877 N. Wolfe Rd, Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 873-4813) which still has the grand opening sign up front. I found out about it from a visitor to this site, and I am VERY grateful. Excellent dumplings, although they aren't really xiaolongbao from what we understood from the waitress, but hu-chiang style dumplings (I have no idea what that means). We ordered XLB, crab dumplings, chili oil wontons (the best I've ever had), and beef with dried chili. Total: $33, but well worth it.

NOTE: I don't even mention Cantonese restaurants in the table below because the xiao long bao there usually aren't worth it. No soup, thick skins, basically dough-wrapped meatballs with red vinegar. Don't bother.

Restaurant BEST!
Hu-Chiang Dupling House
Old Shanghai Restaurant Su Hong Restaurant
Shanghai Ding Sheng Restaurant Shang Hai Restaurant Happy Cafe* Shanghai Wind Shanghai East Restaurant Shanghai Dumpling Company Shanghai Gourmet
Rating ***** *** **** *** **** *** *** *** ** *
Location Cupertino San Francisco Palo Alto Milpitas Milpitas San Mateo Vancouver San Mateo Millbrae Milpitas

Skins

Thin Medium Super Thin Medium Medium Medium Medium Thin Thin Medium
Broth Juicy, not fatty Thin, not super juicy Juicy, not fatty Juicy, not fatty Juicy Very juicy Juicy & fatty Juicy Juicy Dry :-(
Filling Balanced & delicious Sweet, we just tried the pork & crab; not crabby Balanced Porky, but good Very soft texture, good flavor Balanced Tasty Balanced Good, but a bit strong Bland
What the dumplings
sit on in the steamer*
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(
Cabbage leaves :-) Cabbage leaves
:-)
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(
Parchment
Paper :-(

*This can sometimes determine whether the skins tear when you try to pick them up out of the steamer basket. Cabbage leaves are practically non-stick and add a subtle flavor, while those little circles of paper can adhere to the bottoms and sometimes tear the skins which lets all of the broth leak out.

**NOTE: Happy Cafe appears to have gone through a change of ownership. I need to stop by and see if the food is still as good.

More Regional Mexican & Vietnamese Food in 2006

10 Rules for Eating Well

1. Never eat at a chain restaurant if there are alternatives.

2. Don't eat at empty restaurants, especially if it's in a hotel.

3. If you're going for ethnic food, eat only where there are members of that ethnicity present. Or truckers.

4. Have a list of standby restaurants that are consistently good, then order something you've never had unless it's Peruvian "cow feet," which a) took forever to cook and b) arrived with little hairs sticking out of it.

5. Never go with someone who says they're favorite restaurant is Chili's or a restaurant that you hate

 

6. If you're eating at a Chinese restaurant, order off the Chinese-language menu. If you don't read Chinese, make Chinese friends.

7. If there's no lock on the door, it's a good sign (open 24/7), but order whatever you see everyone else ordering to avoid food poisoning.

8. If you're going to eat something exotic, understand what you're eating so you can at least appreciate the effort that went into it even if you hate it.

9. Don't order to impress anyone but yourself. If you feel like eating meatloaf, order the meatloaf.

10. Let you mood and the weather be your guide. Your body is far smarter than any Zagat guide will ever be. Sometimes what you need is as simple as a ham & cheese sandwich.

Some information on Super-Tasters vs. Tasters vs. Non-Tasters

A Rambling Discourse on the Main Course
People are often confounded when I say that I don't care for Japanese food. Most Japanese restaurant staples—beef teriyaki, shrimp tempura, sukiyaki—are what I ate at home every week of every year for eighteen years, and my father's versions were fresher, tastier, and in most ways superior.

Sushi is was what we ate instead of hotdogs at summer picnics, so it's about as special as Spam. And, I've seen what non-Asians do to sushi and sashimi. It's revolting and a huge waste of money.

What Everyone Else Eats
When I was ten, I remember visiting a friend's house on the north side of Chicago (near Granville station) and tasting Kraft macaroni and cheese for the first time. It was the first time I'd eaten food that originated from a cardboard box. The same went for Jello instant custard with nutmeg. To me both were as exotic as pastilla or boudin noir and seemed so easy to prepare.

Enter my 1960s-vintage feminist sister and her insistence that I learn how to cook for myself ("You should be independent! Don't rely on anyone!"). She taught me basic kitchen craft—how to fry an egg, how to boil pasta—and I took it from there. After a particularly bad clam chowder experience, my parents limited my kitchen privileges to breakfast foods, but that was fine with me.

I left fourth grade, I could make a decent breakfast of fluffy, French-style omelettes, waffles, sausages, and coffee and time everything so it hit the table at the same time.

The Lean Years
As dirt poor film student in LA, I pursued a what a kid from Sacramento might consider a Bohemian lifestyle: living in a roach-infested tenement and surviving on $15 a week in groceries, purchased mostly with Safeway double coupons. This translates into a mostly vegetarian Japanese diet, which I still revert to when I need to lose weight.

When I did have some spare cash, I learned to appreciate the mom and pop restaurants surrounding USC (juicy carne asada burritos at La Barca on Western) and the occasional splurge (buttery, blood-rare 2" thick aged prime New York steaks at The Pantry on Figueroa).

Now that I have the means to eat as I please, I've been able to try new meats, veggies, pastas, soups, and spicings. Indian food and Chinese (as opposed to Chinese-American) food have both been revelatory. And skilled preparations of foods Japanese people traditionally don't eat—chitterlings, organ meats, cheese—have opened up new possibilities in my own kitchen.

Over the past six years, my boss at Siebel has introduced me to a number of regional Chinese dishes. Chinese food is one of the few cuisines that keeps secrets. When you walk into a Chinese restaurant and they hand you an English-only menu, you are most likely seeing half of the actual menu, usually the bad half. If my parents (to whom I had to explain what "tendon" is) knew that my favorite dish is chitterlings, congealed pigs blood, preserved mustard greens, and tofu in a chili sauce...well, they wouldn't.

Likewise, the exuberant fragrance of a perfectly spiced curry is a far cry from the austerity/sterility of Japanese food. Rogan josh, murg makhini, and a juicy tandoori fish all eaten with garlicky nan are my favorites. The most interesting variation on this has been vegetarian foods. Masala dosa and vada fried in ghee are my new weekend snacks.

I hope that answers any questions you may have about why someone would spend so much effort on maintaining an amateur restaurant listing.

The following pages list some of my favorite and not-so-favorite restaurants. If you know of a restaurant that serves a dish you love, send me a note.
 

Copyright 2008 Wesley Kashiwagi. All rights reserved. Home | Play | Films | Restaurant Reviews | Links