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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Restaurant Week has arrived — the annual signal for gourmands, bargain hunters and prix-fixe menu connoisseurs to descend upon the Town’s finest restaurants in search of a good deal (or, conversely, for crowd-averse diners to consider staying home).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/events/annual-events/restaurant-week/?skip=0&sort=qualityScore\">March 12–22 promotion\u003c/a>, sponsored by the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/\">tourism bureau\u003c/a>, features no fewer than 135 participating restaurants, each of them offering a range of prix-fixe deals and special, this-week-only dishes. It’s a lot of information to sort through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a public service, then, I’ve taken the time to scour the dozens of menus (or, at least, the ones that have been posted publicly so far) and picked nine of the best deals — the ones offering the steepest savings and/or the most intriguing special items. Luckily, Oakland Restaurant Week offers a little something for everyone, no matter your taste, mood or budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The $15 lunch bargain\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With all due respect to the classy joints serving up elegant $65 prix-fixe dinners this week, that simply isn’t an option right now for a lot of folks. So one of the nice features of Oakland Restaurant Week is that there are also plenty of $15 lunch deals. Among these, one of the best bargains is the lunch set at Chinatown’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/alice-st-bakery-cafe-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8602/\">Alice Street Bakery Cafe\u003c/a>, featuring the restaurant’s popular shrimp tempura burger (nearly a $15 value all by itself) — plus spring rolls, crab rangoons, gyoza and tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Colombian arepa fest\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a slightly heartier — and fancier — mid-day meal, I like \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/parche-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8524/\">Parché’s\u003c/a> upscale Colombian prix fixe ($35), which, based on my back-of-the-envelope math, provides at least a $48 value if you pick the priciest options: crispy Brussels sprouts, a cheese-filled arepa de choclo or a steak sandwich, and one of Parché’s nonalcoholic tropical cocktails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13973344\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13973344\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken.jpg\" alt=\"Jerk chicken, plantains and rice in a takeout container.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A jerk chicken plate from Cocobreeze. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Afro-Caribbean oxtail feast\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By my reckoning, no participating restaurant has a more \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DVZteyNAYj6/\">dizzyingly large variety\u003c/a> of Restaurant Week deals than \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/cocobreeze-caribbean-restaurant-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8281/\">Cocobreeze\u003c/a>, the popular \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/9/8/21427415/cocobreeze-trinidadian-restaurant-roti-wraps-oakland-enchanted-eats-opening\">Trinidian spot\u003c/a> on High Street, which boasts $25, $35, $45 \u003ci>and\u003c/i> $65 prix-fixe options, plus specials tied to specific days of the week — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13987415/late-night-nigerian-oakland-oxtails-jollof-9jagrills\">oxtail\u003c/a> Saturdays, for instance, on March 14 and 21. But if you’re feeding a crowd (or two very hungry people), that \u003ca href=\"https://www.order.store/store/cocobreeze-caribbean-restaurant/znK_fuIXRJSn-6Kk4hoODg?diningMode=DELIVERY&mod=quickView&modctx=%257B%2522storeUuid%2522%253A%2522ce72bf7e-e217-4494-a7fb-a2a4e21a0e0e%2522%252C%2522sectionUuid%2522%253A%25229d34aa6f-df0e-5e31-b650-63ddeb1c6c5c%2522%252C%2522subsectionUuid%2522%253A%25229d160164-2060-5ac6-b2ce-ea9fde80b0bd%2522%252C%2522itemUuid%2522%253A%25223e9df38a-7320-5e98-a4f8-2561b48fbbe1%2522%252C%2522showSeeDetailsCTA%2522%253Atrue%257D&pl=JTdCJTIyYWRkcmVzcyUyMiUzQSUyMjY1MyUyMDIybmQlMjBTdCUyMiUyQyUyMnJlZmVyZW5jZSUyMiUzQSUyMmhlcmUlM0FhZiUzQXN0cmVldHNlY3Rpb24lM0FZblZmUnVOMTFPTnNpMGl2YVNWcXFBJTNBQ2djSUJDQ1c1dklSRUFFYUF6WTFNdyUyMiUyQyUyMnJlZmVyZW5jZVR5cGUlMjIlM0ElMjJoZXJlX3BsYWNlcyUyMiUyQyUyMmxhdGl0dWRlJTIyJTNBMzcuOTQxODElMkMlMjJsb25naXR1ZGUlMjIlM0EtMTIyLjM0ODY1JTdE&ps=1\">$65 deal\u003c/a> looks tough to beat: two appetizers (say, the jerk chicken wings and an order of pholourie), two entrees (maybe the oxtails and the deep-fried snapper), two housemade tropical drinks and two desserts. Worth noting: Ample vegan options are available, including plant-based “oxtails.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The best pizza deal\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the best bargains comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/pizzeria-violetta-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8469/\">Violetta Pizzeria\u003c/a>, which has been slinging New York–style slices out of West Oakland’s Prescott Marketplace for about a year. For its $35 dinner deal — i.e., slightly less than what one of Violetta’s 18-inch specialty pizzas normally costs — you get a whole pie, an entree-size salad and four chocolate chip sea salt cookies. By my calculations, that’s a $63 value.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The casual chef’s counter\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mostly known for its hefty portions of fried rice, another Prescott Marketplace kiosk, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/woo-can-cook-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8594/\">Woo Can Cook\u003c/a>, is making an intriguing pivot for Restaurant Week. Instead of highlighting its regular menu, the restaurant will offer something more akin to an intimate chef’s counter experience — right in the middle of the bustling food hall. The $\u003cdel>45\u003c/del>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DVzkPhylJgA/?img_index=1\">30\u003c/a> prix fixe will include West Lake soup, braised Lion’s Head Meatballs and deep-fried sesame balls. Tickets need to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oakland-restaurant-week-with-woo-can-cook-tickets-1868314261249?keep_tld=true\">pre-purchased\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The whimsical bar bite\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I love a bar with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13966030/tallboy-martinis-hot-dogs-oakland-cocktail-bar-late-night\">fun gimmick\u003c/a>, so I appreciate how \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/gold-palm-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8586/\">Gold Palm\u003c/a> is using Restaurant Week as an opportunity to make the combination of poutine and a martini — or, as they put it, a “poutini” — a thing. The poutine, like the rest of the food at this Uptown spot, is Pakistani-inflected, with spice-dusted fries, cheese curds and a shiitake mushroom gravy. And there’s a decent savings too, especially if you go for the $30 (two-person, two-martini) deal: Since one martini costs $14 by itself, you’re practically getting the poutine for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987563\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987563\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2.jpg\" alt=\"Interior of a stylish, fluorescent-lit bar decorated for Lunar New Year.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viridian is one of Oakland’s most stylish bars. \u003ccite>(BayDish, courtesy of Visit Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The treat for cocktail lovers\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13962759,arts_13984330']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/viridian-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8575/\">Viridian\u003c/a> is one of the Town’s best (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962759/viridian-asian-american-cocktail-bar-late-night-food-oakland\">most stylish\u003c/a>) cocktail spots, and the bar’s $35 Restaurant Week prix fixe introduces diners to some of its greatest hits. You get their signature tomato beef cocktail (one of my favorites — like the essence of a perfect summer tomato), an array of appetizers (umami tots, chili cucumbers, Sichuan wings) and dessert. If you ordered all of that a la carte, it would set you back at least $64. Even assuming smaller-than-full-size portions, this still makes for an excellent, cost-effective way for newcomers to experience the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Mexican seafood feast\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This year’s Restaurant Week lineup has no shortage of Mexican restaurants represented, but I’m especially drawn to \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/las-guerreras-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8601/\">Las Guerreras’\u003c/a> $45 seafood feast, which is about a $55 value based on regular menu prices, starting with the Dungeness crab tostadita and finishing with an Acapulco-style butterflied grilled branzino (or, if you prefer red meat, steamed red chile adobo short ribs).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Hong Kong cafe date\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/shooting-star-cafe-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8531/\">Shooting Star Cafe\u003c/a>’s $22 four-course prix fixe features classic Hong Kong-style cha chaan teng fare, and it’s a solid deal — about a $32 value, if you pick the most expensive entree options, like the baked pork chop rice or the beef chow fun. And while you certainly don’t \u003ci>need\u003c/i> to bring a dining partner (romantic or otherwise), splitting a red bean ice and a mango pudding at this bustling Chinatown cafe would definitely make for a fun, casual date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to these picks, this year’s promotion features at least 126 other options, including several that caught my eye — \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/popoca-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8621/\">Popoca\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/burdell-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8578/\">Burdell\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/mr-liu-noodle-house-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8563/\">Mr. Liu Noodle House\u003c/a> and newcomer \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/cenaduria-elvira-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8491/\">Cenaduria Elvira\u003c/a> — but either haven’t posted their Restaurant Week menus or prices yet. Check with the restaurants directly before making the trip out.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/events/annual-events/restaurant-week/?skip=0&sort=qualityScore\">\u003ci>Oakland Restaurant Week\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> runs from March 12–22. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> Restaurant Week has arrived — the annual signal for gourmands, bargain hunters and prix-fixe menu connoisseurs to descend upon the Town’s finest restaurants in search of a good deal (or, conversely, for crowd-averse diners to consider staying home).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/events/annual-events/restaurant-week/?skip=0&sort=qualityScore\">March 12–22 promotion\u003c/a>, sponsored by the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/\">tourism bureau\u003c/a>, features no fewer than 135 participating restaurants, each of them offering a range of prix-fixe deals and special, this-week-only dishes. It’s a lot of information to sort through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a public service, then, I’ve taken the time to scour the dozens of menus (or, at least, the ones that have been posted publicly so far) and picked nine of the best deals — the ones offering the steepest savings and/or the most intriguing special items. Luckily, Oakland Restaurant Week offers a little something for everyone, no matter your taste, mood or budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The $15 lunch bargain\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With all due respect to the classy joints serving up elegant $65 prix-fixe dinners this week, that simply isn’t an option right now for a lot of folks. So one of the nice features of Oakland Restaurant Week is that there are also plenty of $15 lunch deals. Among these, one of the best bargains is the lunch set at Chinatown’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/alice-st-bakery-cafe-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8602/\">Alice Street Bakery Cafe\u003c/a>, featuring the restaurant’s popular shrimp tempura burger (nearly a $15 value all by itself) — plus spring rolls, crab rangoons, gyoza and tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Colombian arepa fest\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For a slightly heartier — and fancier — mid-day meal, I like \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/parche-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8524/\">Parché’s\u003c/a> upscale Colombian prix fixe ($35), which, based on my back-of-the-envelope math, provides at least a $48 value if you pick the priciest options: crispy Brussels sprouts, a cheese-filled arepa de choclo or a steak sandwich, and one of Parché’s nonalcoholic tropical cocktails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13973344\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13973344\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken.jpg\" alt=\"Jerk chicken, plantains and rice in a takeout container.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/cocobreeze-chicken-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A jerk chicken plate from Cocobreeze. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Afro-Caribbean oxtail feast\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>By my reckoning, no participating restaurant has a more \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DVZteyNAYj6/\">dizzyingly large variety\u003c/a> of Restaurant Week deals than \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/cocobreeze-caribbean-restaurant-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8281/\">Cocobreeze\u003c/a>, the popular \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/9/8/21427415/cocobreeze-trinidadian-restaurant-roti-wraps-oakland-enchanted-eats-opening\">Trinidian spot\u003c/a> on High Street, which boasts $25, $35, $45 \u003ci>and\u003c/i> $65 prix-fixe options, plus specials tied to specific days of the week — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13987415/late-night-nigerian-oakland-oxtails-jollof-9jagrills\">oxtail\u003c/a> Saturdays, for instance, on March 14 and 21. But if you’re feeding a crowd (or two very hungry people), that \u003ca href=\"https://www.order.store/store/cocobreeze-caribbean-restaurant/znK_fuIXRJSn-6Kk4hoODg?diningMode=DELIVERY&mod=quickView&modctx=%257B%2522storeUuid%2522%253A%2522ce72bf7e-e217-4494-a7fb-a2a4e21a0e0e%2522%252C%2522sectionUuid%2522%253A%25229d34aa6f-df0e-5e31-b650-63ddeb1c6c5c%2522%252C%2522subsectionUuid%2522%253A%25229d160164-2060-5ac6-b2ce-ea9fde80b0bd%2522%252C%2522itemUuid%2522%253A%25223e9df38a-7320-5e98-a4f8-2561b48fbbe1%2522%252C%2522showSeeDetailsCTA%2522%253Atrue%257D&pl=JTdCJTIyYWRkcmVzcyUyMiUzQSUyMjY1MyUyMDIybmQlMjBTdCUyMiUyQyUyMnJlZmVyZW5jZSUyMiUzQSUyMmhlcmUlM0FhZiUzQXN0cmVldHNlY3Rpb24lM0FZblZmUnVOMTFPTnNpMGl2YVNWcXFBJTNBQ2djSUJDQ1c1dklSRUFFYUF6WTFNdyUyMiUyQyUyMnJlZmVyZW5jZVR5cGUlMjIlM0ElMjJoZXJlX3BsYWNlcyUyMiUyQyUyMmxhdGl0dWRlJTIyJTNBMzcuOTQxODElMkMlMjJsb25naXR1ZGUlMjIlM0EtMTIyLjM0ODY1JTdE&ps=1\">$65 deal\u003c/a> looks tough to beat: two appetizers (say, the jerk chicken wings and an order of pholourie), two entrees (maybe the oxtails and the deep-fried snapper), two housemade tropical drinks and two desserts. Worth noting: Ample vegan options are available, including plant-based “oxtails.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The best pizza deal\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the best bargains comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/pizzeria-violetta-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8469/\">Violetta Pizzeria\u003c/a>, which has been slinging New York–style slices out of West Oakland’s Prescott Marketplace for about a year. For its $35 dinner deal — i.e., slightly less than what one of Violetta’s 18-inch specialty pizzas normally costs — you get a whole pie, an entree-size salad and four chocolate chip sea salt cookies. By my calculations, that’s a $63 value.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The casual chef’s counter\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mostly known for its hefty portions of fried rice, another Prescott Marketplace kiosk, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/woo-can-cook-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8594/\">Woo Can Cook\u003c/a>, is making an intriguing pivot for Restaurant Week. Instead of highlighting its regular menu, the restaurant will offer something more akin to an intimate chef’s counter experience — right in the middle of the bustling food hall. The $\u003cdel>45\u003c/del>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DVzkPhylJgA/?img_index=1\">30\u003c/a> prix fixe will include West Lake soup, braised Lion’s Head Meatballs and deep-fried sesame balls. Tickets need to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oakland-restaurant-week-with-woo-can-cook-tickets-1868314261249?keep_tld=true\">pre-purchased\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The whimsical bar bite\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I love a bar with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13966030/tallboy-martinis-hot-dogs-oakland-cocktail-bar-late-night\">fun gimmick\u003c/a>, so I appreciate how \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/gold-palm-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8586/\">Gold Palm\u003c/a> is using Restaurant Week as an opportunity to make the combination of poutine and a martini — or, as they put it, a “poutini” — a thing. The poutine, like the rest of the food at this Uptown spot, is Pakistani-inflected, with spice-dusted fries, cheese curds and a shiitake mushroom gravy. And there’s a decent savings too, especially if you go for the $30 (two-person, two-martini) deal: Since one martini costs $14 by itself, you’re practically getting the poutine for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987563\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987563\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2.jpg\" alt=\"Interior of a stylish, fluorescent-lit bar decorated for Lunar New Year.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Viridian-Bar-Courtesy-of-Visit-Oakland-by-BayDish-2-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Viridian is one of Oakland’s most stylish bars. \u003ccite>(BayDish, courtesy of Visit Oakland)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The treat for cocktail lovers\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/viridian-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8575/\">Viridian\u003c/a> is one of the Town’s best (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962759/viridian-asian-american-cocktail-bar-late-night-food-oakland\">most stylish\u003c/a>) cocktail spots, and the bar’s $35 Restaurant Week prix fixe introduces diners to some of its greatest hits. You get their signature tomato beef cocktail (one of my favorites — like the essence of a perfect summer tomato), an array of appetizers (umami tots, chili cucumbers, Sichuan wings) and dessert. If you ordered all of that a la carte, it would set you back at least $64. Even assuming smaller-than-full-size portions, this still makes for an excellent, cost-effective way for newcomers to experience the bar.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Mexican seafood feast\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>This year’s Restaurant Week lineup has no shortage of Mexican restaurants represented, but I’m especially drawn to \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/las-guerreras-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8601/\">Las Guerreras’\u003c/a> $45 seafood feast, which is about a $55 value based on regular menu prices, starting with the Dungeness crab tostadita and finishing with an Acapulco-style butterflied grilled branzino (or, if you prefer red meat, steamed red chile adobo short ribs).\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Hong Kong cafe date\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/shooting-star-cafe-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8531/\">Shooting Star Cafe\u003c/a>’s $22 four-course prix fixe features classic Hong Kong-style cha chaan teng fare, and it’s a solid deal — about a $32 value, if you pick the most expensive entree options, like the baked pork chop rice or the beef chow fun. And while you certainly don’t \u003ci>need\u003c/i> to bring a dining partner (romantic or otherwise), splitting a red bean ice and a mango pudding at this bustling Chinatown cafe would definitely make for a fun, casual date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to these picks, this year’s promotion features at least 126 other options, including several that caught my eye — \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/popoca-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8621/\">Popoca\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/burdell-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8578/\">Burdell\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/mr-liu-noodle-house-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8563/\">Mr. Liu Noodle House\u003c/a> and newcomer \u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/listing/cenaduria-elvira-%7c-orw26-special-offer/8491/\">Cenaduria Elvira\u003c/a> — but either haven’t posted their Restaurant Week menus or prices yet. Check with the restaurants directly before making the trip out.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.visitoakland.com/events/annual-events/restaurant-week/?skip=0&sort=qualityScore\">\u003ci>Oakland Restaurant Week\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> runs from March 12–22. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987423\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men devouring oxtails and a whole fried fish.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The patio at Oakland’s 9jaGrills is like a permanent backyard party — one with delicious Nigerian oxtails and jollof rice. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/9jagrills/\">9jaGrills\u003c/a>, a newish Nigerian spot near \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Jack London waterfront, the main dining room follows the standard blueprint for today’s shiny, Instagram-optimized restaurants: the lush faux greenery wall, the neon-lit catchphrase (“Food 🔥, Drinks & Vibes”) in glowing pink cursive. The space is tidy, bright and perfectly pleasant — but, at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, it was also totally empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, a couple dozen people had crowded out on the small tented patio in back, which was a distinct ecosystem unto itself: a haze of hookah smoke, disco lights, cheap furniture and mystery drinks in red plastic cups. On the big-screen TV, two \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wannixhandi/?hl=en\">identical twin DJs\u003c/a> from Nigeria spun Afrobeats on stage in Lagos. Everyone else on the patio appeared to be West African, and apart from one table of middle-aged gentlemen dipping fufu into a big bowl of stew, no one else seemed to have come for the food at this hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was more of a backyard party vibe. A kick back with a couple of cold \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/trophylagernigeria/?hl=en\">Trophy Lagers\u003c/a> vibe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that we were going to let that deter us from our mission. We had made the trip because we had a wicked craving for oxtails, and we’d heard on good authority that this food-truck-turned-brick-and-mortar-lounge was \u003ci>the \u003c/i>spot in Oakland for Nigerian-style oxtails and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13960580/jollof-festival-oakland-west-african-food-competition-nigerian-sierra-leone\">jollof rice\u003c/a> — and maybe the only spot where you can reliably score those dishes until midnight on the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Open since July of last year, 9jaGrills has one of the broader menus I’ve seen among the East Bay’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13896069/jolly-jolly-nigerian-restaurant-west-oakland-jollof-rice-indomie\">Nigerian restaurants\u003c/a>, running the gamut from classics like pepper soup and suya meat skewers to lesser-known (at least in the U.S.) favorites like stir-fried Indomie instant noodles and a whole stewed goat’s head. The menu is divided up into grilled dishes, jollof rice plates, whole fried fish, and soups and stews meant to be scooped up with “swallows” (i.e. assorted starchy, dough-like rounds). Factor in the large variety of swallows and optional side sauces on offer, and just figuring out what to order might be a little bit intimidating to newcomers to West African cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987424\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987424\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills.jpg\" alt='Illustration: exterior of a Nigerian restaurant at nighttime. The awning reads, \"www.9jagrills.com\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located near the Jack London waterfront, 9jaGrills is open until midnight on weekends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What I can tell you for certain is that the plate of oxtails and jollof rice is a crowd pleaser. The rice alone was amazing: tomato-tinted and steaming hot, with a luxurious oiliness and a smoky, savory depth of flavor I couldn’t get enough of. It’s jollof so good you’d make a special trip just to eat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the oxtails were slow-cooked in a dark, well-spiced gravy until they’d achieved just the right level of tenderness. When we sucked on each bone, all of the gelatinous skin and fat came clean off, and the prickle of chili heat in the sauce was incredibly addicting. These are oxtails so tasty that if you don’t watch your dining partner like a hawk, he’ll polish off the last several bones before you have a chance to protest. As a self-proclaimed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936332/tchaka-haitian-restaurant-oakland\">scholar of oxtails\u003c/a>, I couldn’t find a single flaw. On the side were some of the best fried plantains I’ve encountered in a long time — crisp and slightly charred on the outside, with an oozy sweetness that helped balance out all of the other heavier, more intense flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13986949,arts_13982096,arts_13983249']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The oxtail dish by itself satisfied our hunger, but of course we didn’t stop there. We also ordered the whole fried pompano — a flat fish, vaguely flounder-like in appearance, with delicate flesh and a rich, earthy taste. It was incredibly satisfying picking that fish clean — dunking strips of it into the bright, searingly hot housemade pepper sauce, and dipping the eye sockets (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it) into a tub of suya spice mix. The plate came with a heaping portion of the same excellent jollof and fried plantains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, we dug into the fragrant, spicy, palm oil–based stew known as ayamase, which 9jaGrills’ friendly owner had tried to steer us away from, warning us that it came with a kind of “local” Nigerian rice that Americans don’t tend to like, and asking, with some concern, whether we’d eaten Nigerian food before. With that kind of introduction, of course we had to order it, and it may have been the most memorable dish of the night. Ayamase consists mostly of beef offal: the liver, the intestines and especially the skin, cooked until it’s so tender and slippery that it practically melts in your mouth. The stew was studded with flat, toothsome locust beans and a hard-boiled egg — all delicious when mashed into the sauce, then ladled over the nutty whole-grain ofada rice, which was perfect for soaking up the stew’s oily richness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crouched over our feast in the semi-darkness of 9jaGrills’ backyard patio, we shoveled rice into our mouths like we hadn’t eaten for days, and held the oxtail bones in our hands, inspecting each one to make sure we’d picked it clean. Then, utterly stuffed and hyped up on Naija beats, we stumbled back into the bright lights of the restaurant proper, like we’d just woken up from the most beautiful dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/9jagrills/\">\u003ci>9jaGrills\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–midnight, and Sunday 2–10 p.m. at 303 Broadway in Oakland.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987423\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987423\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men devouring oxtails and a whole fried fish.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The patio at Oakland’s 9jaGrills is like a permanent backyard party — one with delicious Nigerian oxtails and jollof rice. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/9jagrills/\">9jaGrills\u003c/a>, a newish Nigerian spot near \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Jack London waterfront, the main dining room follows the standard blueprint for today’s shiny, Instagram-optimized restaurants: the lush faux greenery wall, the neon-lit catchphrase (“Food 🔥, Drinks & Vibes”) in glowing pink cursive. The space is tidy, bright and perfectly pleasant — but, at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, it was also totally empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, a couple dozen people had crowded out on the small tented patio in back, which was a distinct ecosystem unto itself: a haze of hookah smoke, disco lights, cheap furniture and mystery drinks in red plastic cups. On the big-screen TV, two \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wannixhandi/?hl=en\">identical twin DJs\u003c/a> from Nigeria spun Afrobeats on stage in Lagos. Everyone else on the patio appeared to be West African, and apart from one table of middle-aged gentlemen dipping fufu into a big bowl of stew, no one else seemed to have come for the food at this hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was more of a backyard party vibe. A kick back with a couple of cold \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/trophylagernigeria/?hl=en\">Trophy Lagers\u003c/a> vibe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that we were going to let that deter us from our mission. We had made the trip because we had a wicked craving for oxtails, and we’d heard on good authority that this food-truck-turned-brick-and-mortar-lounge was \u003ci>the \u003c/i>spot in Oakland for Nigerian-style oxtails and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13960580/jollof-festival-oakland-west-african-food-competition-nigerian-sierra-leone\">jollof rice\u003c/a> — and maybe the only spot where you can reliably score those dishes until midnight on the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Open since July of last year, 9jaGrills has one of the broader menus I’ve seen among the East Bay’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13896069/jolly-jolly-nigerian-restaurant-west-oakland-jollof-rice-indomie\">Nigerian restaurants\u003c/a>, running the gamut from classics like pepper soup and suya meat skewers to lesser-known (at least in the U.S.) favorites like stir-fried Indomie instant noodles and a whole stewed goat’s head. The menu is divided up into grilled dishes, jollof rice plates, whole fried fish, and soups and stews meant to be scooped up with “swallows” (i.e. assorted starchy, dough-like rounds). Factor in the large variety of swallows and optional side sauces on offer, and just figuring out what to order might be a little bit intimidating to newcomers to West African cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987424\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987424\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills.jpg\" alt='Illustration: exterior of a Nigerian restaurant at nighttime. The awning reads, \"www.9jagrills.com\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/9jagrills-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located near the Jack London waterfront, 9jaGrills is open until midnight on weekends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What I can tell you for certain is that the plate of oxtails and jollof rice is a crowd pleaser. The rice alone was amazing: tomato-tinted and steaming hot, with a luxurious oiliness and a smoky, savory depth of flavor I couldn’t get enough of. It’s jollof so good you’d make a special trip just to eat it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the oxtails were slow-cooked in a dark, well-spiced gravy until they’d achieved just the right level of tenderness. When we sucked on each bone, all of the gelatinous skin and fat came clean off, and the prickle of chili heat in the sauce was incredibly addicting. These are oxtails so tasty that if you don’t watch your dining partner like a hawk, he’ll polish off the last several bones before you have a chance to protest. As a self-proclaimed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936332/tchaka-haitian-restaurant-oakland\">scholar of oxtails\u003c/a>, I couldn’t find a single flaw. On the side were some of the best fried plantains I’ve encountered in a long time — crisp and slightly charred on the outside, with an oozy sweetness that helped balance out all of the other heavier, more intense flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The oxtail dish by itself satisfied our hunger, but of course we didn’t stop there. We also ordered the whole fried pompano — a flat fish, vaguely flounder-like in appearance, with delicate flesh and a rich, earthy taste. It was incredibly satisfying picking that fish clean — dunking strips of it into the bright, searingly hot housemade pepper sauce, and dipping the eye sockets (don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it) into a tub of suya spice mix. The plate came with a heaping portion of the same excellent jollof and fried plantains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finally, we dug into the fragrant, spicy, palm oil–based stew known as ayamase, which 9jaGrills’ friendly owner had tried to steer us away from, warning us that it came with a kind of “local” Nigerian rice that Americans don’t tend to like, and asking, with some concern, whether we’d eaten Nigerian food before. With that kind of introduction, of course we had to order it, and it may have been the most memorable dish of the night. Ayamase consists mostly of beef offal: the liver, the intestines and especially the skin, cooked until it’s so tender and slippery that it practically melts in your mouth. The stew was studded with flat, toothsome locust beans and a hard-boiled egg — all delicious when mashed into the sauce, then ladled over the nutty whole-grain ofada rice, which was perfect for soaking up the stew’s oily richness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crouched over our feast in the semi-darkness of 9jaGrills’ backyard patio, we shoveled rice into our mouths like we hadn’t eaten for days, and held the oxtail bones in our hands, inspecting each one to make sure we’d picked it clean. Then, utterly stuffed and hyped up on Naija beats, we stumbled back into the bright lights of the restaurant proper, like we’d just woken up from the most beautiful dream.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/9jagrills/\">\u003ci>9jaGrills\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–midnight, and Sunday 2–10 p.m. at 303 Broadway in Oakland.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "suhoor-fest-bay-area-ramadan-halal-food-festival-late-night-newark-2026",
"title": "Suhoor Fest Shows Off the Bay’s Massive Variety of Halal Cuisines — Until 4 a.m.",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the Bay Area’s first Suhoor Fest in 2021, organizers gathered a few food trucks in a Newark mall parking lot late on a Saturday night. It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/ramadan\">Ramadan\u003c/a>, and the modest hope was to create a small social gathering for the local Muslim community, which had spent much of the past year isolated in pandemic lockdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elhalalamigos/?hl=en\">El Halal Amigos\u003c/a> chef-owner Hisham Abdelfattah recalls, tens of thousands of halal food lovers came out. “I kid you not, we had enough people to fill up Levi’s Stadium,” he says. “We overdid it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the annual overnight event, centered on the Ramadan tradition of suhoor (the pre-dawn meal eaten ahead of a day of fasting), has cemented its status as the Bay Area’s largest halal food festival. It has expanded to include dozens of food vendors and bazaar stalls, and even earned an affectionate nickname: “Muslim Coachella.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on Saturday, March 7, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., Suhoor Fest will return to its roots in the NewPark Mall parking lot after a couple of years at a different site in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Suhoor Fest simply outgrew its old location, drawing such big crowds that parking became a huge challenge and the freeway was completely backed up with traffic. “NewPark is pretty central for people who live in Fremont and also Dublin, Pleasanton and also San José,” says Irfan Rydhan, founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/halalfest/?hl=en\">HalalFest\u003c/a>, which organizes the event. “And obviously there’s much more space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest.jpg\" alt=\"A crowded food festival at night.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the crowd at Suhoor Fest 2023. The festival routinely draws tens of thousands of visitors from across Northern California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Halal Fest)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s festival will feature 25 food and beverage vendors in all, plus an additional 25 bazaar vendors selling clothing, art, perfume and more. The food lineup, in particular, is a showcase for the tremendous diversity of halal food in the Bay Area. First-time vendors will include a Texas-style barbecue truck, a pop-up that specializes in Hyderabadi biriyani, and another that sells Uyghur Chinese noodles and kebabs. Walk down one aisle and you’ll spy stands selling Dubai chocolate cups and Yemeni coffee. Around the corner, you might find yourself drawn in by the irresistible smell of Nigerian jollof rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that way, Suhoor Fest shows off all the ways in which the Bay Area is “the ‘Mecca’ of where melting pot and diversity and culture come together,” says Abdelfattah, whose stand will be selling his San José restaurant’s signature nachos and street tacos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abdelfattah says he remembers how when he was growing up, the practice of eating halal was only ever viewed as a serious thing — sometimes too serious, in his opinion. “If you want to get people interested, you’ve got to see the beautiful side of it. There’s nothing wrong with making halal fun, and understanding religion through that lens,” he says. “Muslims can have fun too!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987342\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987342\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich.jpg\" alt=\"A large fried chicken sandwich.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-160x132.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-768x632.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-1536x1264.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chicken Zinger is Zareen’s Pakistani fusion take on a fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Zareen's)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Sahlik Khan, who helps his mother, Zareen Khan, run her popular Pakistani restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13961613/zareens-pakistani-indian-palo-alto-late-night\">Zareen’s\u003c/a>, Suhoor Fest’s fun, vibrant, carnival-like atmosphere is a big part of why he loves the event. “And it isn’t just for Muslims,” he says. “I always bring my non-Muslim friends to hang out and socialize.” (Zareen’s, for its part, will be selling its pani puri and “Zinger” fried chicken sandwiches at this year’s festival.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='news_12073604,arts_13961613,arts_13972955']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Which isn’t to say there isn’t a serious, spiritual side to Suhoor Fest. Every year, the event ends with a call for everyone to gather together in prayer right before dawn — a beautiful thing to see, Abdelfattah says. He also recognizes that this year’s festival is once again happening against a backdrop of tragedy in the greater Muslim world, including Israel’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/27/israeli-attacks-on-police-sites-kill-five-in-southern-central-gaza\">ongoing attacks\u003c/a> on Gaza and the recent U.S.-Israeli \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075011/hundreds-rally-in-san-francisco-against-u-s-israel-strikes-on-iran\">military strikes against Iran\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much uncertainty right now, and it’s just sad the division that we’re all feeling in this country on the ground level,” Abdelfattah says. “What we want to do [at Suhoor Fest] is just bring people back together during this holy month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Suhoor Fest will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 11 p.m.–4 a.m., in the parking lot of the NewPark Mall in Newark (2086 Newpark Mall Rd.). Admission is free. For additional details, visit \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/halalfest/\">\u003ci>HalalFest’s Instagram page\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the Bay Area’s first Suhoor Fest in 2021, organizers gathered a few food trucks in a Newark mall parking lot late on a Saturday night. It was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/ramadan\">Ramadan\u003c/a>, and the modest hope was to create a small social gathering for the local Muslim community, which had spent much of the past year isolated in pandemic lockdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elhalalamigos/?hl=en\">El Halal Amigos\u003c/a> chef-owner Hisham Abdelfattah recalls, tens of thousands of halal food lovers came out. “I kid you not, we had enough people to fill up Levi’s Stadium,” he says. “We overdid it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, the annual overnight event, centered on the Ramadan tradition of suhoor (the pre-dawn meal eaten ahead of a day of fasting), has cemented its status as the Bay Area’s largest halal food festival. It has expanded to include dozens of food vendors and bazaar stalls, and even earned an affectionate nickname: “Muslim Coachella.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And on Saturday, March 7, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., Suhoor Fest will return to its roots in the NewPark Mall parking lot after a couple of years at a different site in San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, Suhoor Fest simply outgrew its old location, drawing such big crowds that parking became a huge challenge and the freeway was completely backed up with traffic. “NewPark is pretty central for people who live in Fremont and also Dublin, Pleasanton and also San José,” says Irfan Rydhan, founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/halalfest/?hl=en\">HalalFest\u003c/a>, which organizes the event. “And obviously there’s much more space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest.jpg\" alt=\"A crowded food festival at night.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/Suhoor-Fest-2023-crowd-HalalFest-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the crowd at Suhoor Fest 2023. The festival routinely draws tens of thousands of visitors from across Northern California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Halal Fest)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s festival will feature 25 food and beverage vendors in all, plus an additional 25 bazaar vendors selling clothing, art, perfume and more. The food lineup, in particular, is a showcase for the tremendous diversity of halal food in the Bay Area. First-time vendors will include a Texas-style barbecue truck, a pop-up that specializes in Hyderabadi biriyani, and another that sells Uyghur Chinese noodles and kebabs. Walk down one aisle and you’ll spy stands selling Dubai chocolate cups and Yemeni coffee. Around the corner, you might find yourself drawn in by the irresistible smell of Nigerian jollof rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that way, Suhoor Fest shows off all the ways in which the Bay Area is “the ‘Mecca’ of where melting pot and diversity and culture come together,” says Abdelfattah, whose stand will be selling his San José restaurant’s signature nachos and street tacos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abdelfattah says he remembers how when he was growing up, the practice of eating halal was only ever viewed as a serious thing — sometimes too serious, in his opinion. “If you want to get people interested, you’ve got to see the beautiful side of it. There’s nothing wrong with making halal fun, and understanding religion through that lens,” he says. “Muslims can have fun too!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987342\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987342\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich.jpg\" alt=\"A large fried chicken sandwich.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-160x132.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-768x632.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/03/zareens-fried-chicken-sandwich-1536x1264.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Chicken Zinger is Zareen’s Pakistani fusion take on a fried chicken sandwich. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Zareen's)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Sahlik Khan, who helps his mother, Zareen Khan, run her popular Pakistani restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13961613/zareens-pakistani-indian-palo-alto-late-night\">Zareen’s\u003c/a>, Suhoor Fest’s fun, vibrant, carnival-like atmosphere is a big part of why he loves the event. “And it isn’t just for Muslims,” he says. “I always bring my non-Muslim friends to hang out and socialize.” (Zareen’s, for its part, will be selling its pani puri and “Zinger” fried chicken sandwiches at this year’s festival.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Which isn’t to say there isn’t a serious, spiritual side to Suhoor Fest. Every year, the event ends with a call for everyone to gather together in prayer right before dawn — a beautiful thing to see, Abdelfattah says. He also recognizes that this year’s festival is once again happening against a backdrop of tragedy in the greater Muslim world, including Israel’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/27/israeli-attacks-on-police-sites-kill-five-in-southern-central-gaza\">ongoing attacks\u003c/a> on Gaza and the recent U.S.-Israeli \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075011/hundreds-rally-in-san-francisco-against-u-s-israel-strikes-on-iran\">military strikes against Iran\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much uncertainty right now, and it’s just sad the division that we’re all feeling in this country on the ground level,” Abdelfattah says. “What we want to do [at Suhoor Fest] is just bring people back together during this holy month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Suhoor Fest will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 11 p.m.–4 a.m., in the parking lot of the NewPark Mall in Newark (2086 Newpark Mall Rd.). Admission is free. For additional details, visit \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/halalfest/\">\u003ci>HalalFest’s Instagram page\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Lantern Festival Celebration Brings Night Market Vibes to Oakland Chinatown",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Sunday, March 1, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Pacific Renaissance Plaza will be festooned with red paper lanterns, lucky New Year’s scrolls and what event organizer Diana Wu describes as “spring blooms vibes.” The sound of taiko drums will echo through the streets of Chinatown. Hungry guests will feast on shrimp dumplings and hand-pulled noodles. Eventually, the whole plaza will erupt into an all-out dance party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all part of the fourth annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lantern-festival-2026-in-oakland-chinatown-tickets-1982206763790\">Oakland Chinatown Lantern Festival\u003c/a>, which traditionally marks the end of each year’s Lunar New Year festivities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu — the executive director of the kitchen incubator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oaklandbloom/?hl=en\">Oakland Bloom\u003c/a>, which co-organizes the event along with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://stickyriceclub.org/\">Sticky Rice Club\u003c/a> — explains that when the festival began in 2023, the idea was to bring Chinatown to life with the atmosphere of an Asian-style night market. At the time, the community was reeling in the aftermath of the pandemic shutdowns and a spate of anti-Asian violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987223\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987223\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025.jpg\" alt=\"A customer buying food from a festival vendor at night.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A customer ordering from one of the food tents at last year’s festival. \u003ccite>(Amber Wang, courtesy of Oakland Bloom)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And so that’s something we’ve continued — inviting the community out in the afternoon and evening, and then also inviting local businesses to stay open with us and really bring that vibrancy back to the neighborhood,” Wu says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952739/lantern-festival-oakland-chinatown-oakland-bloom\">past years\u003c/a>, the Lantern Festival celebration will be a multicultural, intergenerational affair. A variety of all-ages activities will include a scavenger hunt where participants are given photo hints for landmarks located all around the Pacific Renaissance Plaza. (Prizes will include vouchers for a mango piggy dessert from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/peonyseafoodrestaurant/?hl=en\">Peony\u003c/a>, the plaza’s dim sum standard bearer.) There will be mahjong tables, storytelling tents and even acupuncture booths. Meanwhile, a host of artists and makers will have tables set up to sell their wares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987224\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a bowl of beef noodle soup.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lil Devil’s beef noodle soup, one of the dishes featured at this year’s Lantern Festival. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lil Devil Noodle Company)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13974383,arts_13986806']Foodwise, Oakland Bloom’s curatorial role means the offerings will be a mix of both Asian and non-Asian cuisines, with many of the vendors pulled from the stable of chefs who rotate through \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/otk_eats/\">Open Test Kitchen\u003c/a>, the nonprofit’s affiliated restaurant. Highlights include \u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/biang-biang-goes-the-noodles/\">biang biang\u003c/a>–inspired hand-pulled noodles and Taiwanese beef noodle soup from newcomer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lil_devil_noodles/?hl=en\">Lil Devil Noodle Co.\u003c/a>, Michoacán-style tacos from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tsiripurepecha/?hl=en\">Tsiri\u003c/a>, sweets from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goddessnoircakes/\">Goddess Noir Cakes\u003c/a> (which comes out of Black American baking traditions) and heart-shaped empanadas from the Palestinian-Cuban pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/palestiniancubanfusion/?hl=en\">Asúkar\u003c/a>. (Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is also a romantic holiday, Wu explains.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu says that as the festival has formed deeper connections in Oakland Chinatown over the years, more businesses in the neighborhood are now playing an active role in the event. In fact, two of the 10 food vendors are the brick-and-mortar restaurants \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ying_kee__restaurant/\">Ying Kee\u003c/a> and Nature Vegetarian, both longtime Chinatown staples. For the Lantern Festival, they’ll serve a selection of classics: from Ying Kee, shrimp wonton soup and shrimp dumpling soup (both lucky dishes for ringing in the New Year), and from Nature Vegetarian, plant-based salt-and-pepper chicken, Chinese broccoli chow fun and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987225\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of wonton soup.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ying Kee’s wonton soup. The restaurant is one of the Chinatown brick-and-mortar businesses participating in this year’s festival. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ying Kee)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And what better way for the whole evening to culminate than with a big dance party? “We just love inviting the neighbors to just come dance together in the plaza,” Wu says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lantern-festival-2026-in-oakland-chinatown-tickets-1982206763790\">\u003ci>Oakland Chinatown Lantern Festival\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place in and around the Pacific Renaissance Plaza (388 9th St., Oakland) on Sunday, March 1, 3–8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with food available for purchase on an a la carte basis. Guests are asked to wear masks when not eating and drinking.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Sunday, March 1, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Pacific Renaissance Plaza will be festooned with red paper lanterns, lucky New Year’s scrolls and what event organizer Diana Wu describes as “spring blooms vibes.” The sound of taiko drums will echo through the streets of Chinatown. Hungry guests will feast on shrimp dumplings and hand-pulled noodles. Eventually, the whole plaza will erupt into an all-out dance party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s all part of the fourth annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lantern-festival-2026-in-oakland-chinatown-tickets-1982206763790\">Oakland Chinatown Lantern Festival\u003c/a>, which traditionally marks the end of each year’s Lunar New Year festivities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu — the executive director of the kitchen incubator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oaklandbloom/?hl=en\">Oakland Bloom\u003c/a>, which co-organizes the event along with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://stickyriceclub.org/\">Sticky Rice Club\u003c/a> — explains that when the festival began in 2023, the idea was to bring Chinatown to life with the atmosphere of an Asian-style night market. At the time, the community was reeling in the aftermath of the pandemic shutdowns and a spate of anti-Asian violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987223\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987223\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025.jpg\" alt=\"A customer buying food from a festival vendor at night.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/amber-wang-2025-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A customer ordering from one of the food tents at last year’s festival. \u003ccite>(Amber Wang, courtesy of Oakland Bloom)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“And so that’s something we’ve continued — inviting the community out in the afternoon and evening, and then also inviting local businesses to stay open with us and really bring that vibrancy back to the neighborhood,” Wu says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952739/lantern-festival-oakland-chinatown-oakland-bloom\">past years\u003c/a>, the Lantern Festival celebration will be a multicultural, intergenerational affair. A variety of all-ages activities will include a scavenger hunt where participants are given photo hints for landmarks located all around the Pacific Renaissance Plaza. (Prizes will include vouchers for a mango piggy dessert from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/peonyseafoodrestaurant/?hl=en\">Peony\u003c/a>, the plaza’s dim sum standard bearer.) There will be mahjong tables, storytelling tents and even acupuncture booths. Meanwhile, a host of artists and makers will have tables set up to sell their wares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987224\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a bowl of beef noodle soup.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Lil-Devil-Beef-Noodle-Soup-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lil Devil’s beef noodle soup, one of the dishes featured at this year’s Lantern Festival. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Lil Devil Noodle Company)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Foodwise, Oakland Bloom’s curatorial role means the offerings will be a mix of both Asian and non-Asian cuisines, with many of the vendors pulled from the stable of chefs who rotate through \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/otk_eats/\">Open Test Kitchen\u003c/a>, the nonprofit’s affiliated restaurant. Highlights include \u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/biang-biang-goes-the-noodles/\">biang biang\u003c/a>–inspired hand-pulled noodles and Taiwanese beef noodle soup from newcomer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lil_devil_noodles/?hl=en\">Lil Devil Noodle Co.\u003c/a>, Michoacán-style tacos from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tsiripurepecha/?hl=en\">Tsiri\u003c/a>, sweets from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goddessnoircakes/\">Goddess Noir Cakes\u003c/a> (which comes out of Black American baking traditions) and heart-shaped empanadas from the Palestinian-Cuban pop-up \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/palestiniancubanfusion/?hl=en\">Asúkar\u003c/a>. (Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is also a romantic holiday, Wu explains.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wu says that as the festival has formed deeper connections in Oakland Chinatown over the years, more businesses in the neighborhood are now playing an active role in the event. In fact, two of the 10 food vendors are the brick-and-mortar restaurants \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ying_kee__restaurant/\">Ying Kee\u003c/a> and Nature Vegetarian, both longtime Chinatown staples. For the Lantern Festival, they’ll serve a selection of classics: from Ying Kee, shrimp wonton soup and shrimp dumpling soup (both lucky dishes for ringing in the New Year), and from Nature Vegetarian, plant-based salt-and-pepper chicken, Chinese broccoli chow fun and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987225\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987225\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of wonton soup.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/ying-kee-wontons-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ying Kee’s wonton soup. The restaurant is one of the Chinatown brick-and-mortar businesses participating in this year’s festival. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Ying Kee)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And what better way for the whole evening to culminate than with a big dance party? “We just love inviting the neighbors to just come dance together in the plaza,” Wu says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lantern-festival-2026-in-oakland-chinatown-tickets-1982206763790\">\u003ci>Oakland Chinatown Lantern Festival\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place in and around the Pacific Renaissance Plaza (388 9th St., Oakland) on Sunday, March 1, 3–8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with food available for purchase on an a la carte basis. Guests are asked to wear masks when not eating and drinking.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Oakland Celebrates 100 Years of Black History With a Night of Culture and Creativity — and Free Food",
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"content": "\u003cp>On Thursday, Feb. 26, the city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> will celebrate 100 years of Black history with a night of music, art, wine tastings and spoken word poetry at the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/01/20/oakland-henry-j-kaiser-center-for-the-arts-reopening/\">newly reopened Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, no celebration of Black culture would be complete without a spread of delicious food. So event organizers have tapped some of the Town’s most prominent Black chefs to dish out plates of jerk chicken and barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s going to be an all-out party, then. The best part? Everything will be entirely free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to build a sense of joy and spiritualism in Oakland,” says chef Nigel Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/calabasheats/?hl=en\">Calabash\u003c/a>, one of the participating restaurants. “That’s the energy we want to bring for 2026.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13859578\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13859578\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3.jpg\" alt=\"A sculptural niche on the north side of the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1081\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-1200x676.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sculptural niche on the north side of the newly reopened Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, circa 2019. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The theme of Oakland’s centennial event — “Black History in Motion: Culture, Community & the Future We Build (1926–2026)” — alludes to the historian Carter G. Woodson’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/carter-woodson-black-history-month/\">first Negro History Week\u003c/a> in 1926. That weeklong celebration eventually evolved into what we now know as Black History Month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13986966,arts_13926878']Hosted by Oakland City Council President Kevin Jenkins, along with fellow Councilmembers Carroll Fife, Ken Houston and Rowena Brown, Thursday night’s event is meant to be a showcase of the depth and breadth of Black creativity in Oakland. Former \u003ci>America’s Got Talent \u003c/i>contestant Dee Dee Simon will perform, as will the MC and spoken word poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13976567/ryannicole-gets-real-about-the-world-on-new-album-yourstruly\">RyanNicole\u003c/a>. Dr. Chris Wachira of the Kenyan American winery Wachira Wines will be on hand to pour free tastes. And a Black Authors’ Corner will feature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985813/a-new-art-installation-celebrates-oscar-grants-40th-birthday\">Wanda Johnson\u003c/a>, Oscar Grant’s mother, who wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://wandajohnsonspeaks.com/product/from-tragedy-to-triumph/\">memoir\u003c/a> about her son’s heartbreaking death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, featured chefs dishing out tastes will include Jones (of Calabash and Kingston 11), caterer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juslaeats/?hl=en\">Jusala\u003c/a>, Dottie Moore and the team from longtime barbecue staple Everett & Jones. Jones, for his part, will serve what has been his signature dish since his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926878/kingston-11-jamaican-restaurant-closing-oakland-black-owned-business\">Kingston 11 days\u003c/a>: slow-roasted jerk chicken, served with a side of rice and peas and sweet plantains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the food will be free, passed out on a first come, first served basis. (Good reason, perhaps, to show up early.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987176\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1408px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987176\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of a chef in a baseball cap posing in his restaurant.\" width=\"1408\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones.jpg 1408w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-160x227.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-768x1091.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-1081x1536.jpg 1081w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1408px) 100vw, 1408px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Calabash chef-owner Nigel Jones says he’s optimistic about the future of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nigel Jones)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jones notes that while it has been a challenging few years for all restaurants in Oakland, Black-owned food businesses have had a particularly difficult time. By and large, they’re scrappy, independent operations, often without any financial cushion. And the COVID shutdowns were brutal for restaurants like Calabash that depend on downtown foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the struggles, Jones says he’s hopeful for the future of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland doesn’t have tech. We don’t have oil. We don’t have any anchor stores to drive people downtown. But what we do have is culture,” Jones says, noting how inspired he was by the thousands of people who came out to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13986966/black-joy-parade-oakland-2026\">Black Joy Parade\u003c/a> this past weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The culture that we have in Oakland — that’s the thing that we need to invest in. That’s what we need to support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DU_OJ2-oDnE/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Oakland’s Black History Month centennial celebration\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is on Feb. 26, 6–9 p.m., at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts (10 10th St., Oakland). The event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to attend in “African swag or business attire.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Thursday, Feb. 26, the city of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> will celebrate 100 years of Black history with a night of music, art, wine tastings and spoken word poetry at the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/01/20/oakland-henry-j-kaiser-center-for-the-arts-reopening/\">newly reopened Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, no celebration of Black culture would be complete without a spread of delicious food. So event organizers have tapped some of the Town’s most prominent Black chefs to dish out plates of jerk chicken and barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s going to be an all-out party, then. The best part? Everything will be entirely free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to build a sense of joy and spiritualism in Oakland,” says chef Nigel Jones of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/calabasheats/?hl=en\">Calabash\u003c/a>, one of the participating restaurants. “That’s the energy we want to bring for 2026.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13859578\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13859578\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3.jpg\" alt=\"A sculptural niche on the north side of the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1081\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/06/Kaiser-Auditorium-Sculptural-niche-3-1200x676.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sculptural niche on the north side of the newly reopened Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, circa 2019. \u003ccite>(Sam Lefebvre/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The theme of Oakland’s centennial event — “Black History in Motion: Culture, Community & the Future We Build (1926–2026)” — alludes to the historian Carter G. Woodson’s creation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/carter-woodson-black-history-month/\">first Negro History Week\u003c/a> in 1926. That weeklong celebration eventually evolved into what we now know as Black History Month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hosted by Oakland City Council President Kevin Jenkins, along with fellow Councilmembers Carroll Fife, Ken Houston and Rowena Brown, Thursday night’s event is meant to be a showcase of the depth and breadth of Black creativity in Oakland. Former \u003ci>America’s Got Talent \u003c/i>contestant Dee Dee Simon will perform, as will the MC and spoken word poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13976567/ryannicole-gets-real-about-the-world-on-new-album-yourstruly\">RyanNicole\u003c/a>. Dr. Chris Wachira of the Kenyan American winery Wachira Wines will be on hand to pour free tastes. And a Black Authors’ Corner will feature \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985813/a-new-art-installation-celebrates-oscar-grants-40th-birthday\">Wanda Johnson\u003c/a>, Oscar Grant’s mother, who wrote a \u003ca href=\"https://wandajohnsonspeaks.com/product/from-tragedy-to-triumph/\">memoir\u003c/a> about her son’s heartbreaking death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, featured chefs dishing out tastes will include Jones (of Calabash and Kingston 11), caterer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juslaeats/?hl=en\">Jusala\u003c/a>, Dottie Moore and the team from longtime barbecue staple Everett & Jones. Jones, for his part, will serve what has been his signature dish since his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926878/kingston-11-jamaican-restaurant-closing-oakland-black-owned-business\">Kingston 11 days\u003c/a>: slow-roasted jerk chicken, served with a side of rice and peas and sweet plantains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the food will be free, passed out on a first come, first served basis. (Good reason, perhaps, to show up early.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987176\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1408px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987176\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of a chef in a baseball cap posing in his restaurant.\" width=\"1408\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones.jpg 1408w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-160x227.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-768x1091.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/nigel-jones-1081x1536.jpg 1081w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1408px) 100vw, 1408px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Calabash chef-owner Nigel Jones says he’s optimistic about the future of Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nigel Jones)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jones notes that while it has been a challenging few years for all restaurants in Oakland, Black-owned food businesses have had a particularly difficult time. By and large, they’re scrappy, independent operations, often without any financial cushion. And the COVID shutdowns were brutal for restaurants like Calabash that depend on downtown foot traffic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the struggles, Jones says he’s hopeful for the future of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oakland doesn’t have tech. We don’t have oil. We don’t have any anchor stores to drive people downtown. But what we do have is culture,” Jones says, noting how inspired he was by the thousands of people who came out to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13986966/black-joy-parade-oakland-2026\">Black Joy Parade\u003c/a> this past weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The culture that we have in Oakland — that’s the thing that we need to invest in. That’s what we need to support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DU_OJ2-oDnE/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Oakland’s Black History Month centennial celebration\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is on Feb. 26, 6–9 p.m., at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts (10 10th St., Oakland). The event is free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to attend in “African swag or business attire.”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Naoko Takei Moore has beautiful memories of her mother’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japanese-food\">Japanese\u003c/a> home cooking. Growing up in Tokyo in the ’80s, she savored those moments when she and her mom stood side by side in the kitchen making fresh onigiri and mochi, and, most of all, when they’d sit around the family table to enjoy a meal of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4ZHSAtvjUG/?hl=en&img_index=1\">yose-nabe\u003c/a>, a kind of hot pot made with simple ingredients like clams, fish and whatever vegetables they had on hand — all cooked in the traditional Japanese clay pot known as donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best part, she says, was when they’d lift the lid of the pot to reveal the finished dish, and all of the steam wafted up. “It’s so special,” she says. “It never gets old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the introduction to her new cookbook, \u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/products/simply-donabe-cookbook\">\u003ci>Simply Donabe\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Takei Moore recalls how years later, after she’d immigrated to Los Angeles, she found herself wanting to share traditional donabe with her new community in the United States. In 2008, she founded \u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/\">TOIRO\u003c/a>, a company that sold handmade donabe imported from Iga, Japan, and started hosting donabe-centric Japanese cooking classes in her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before she knew it, she’d become donabe culture’s number one evangelist in the Western world, co-authoring her first award-winning cookbook on the topic (\u003ci>Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking) \u003c/i>in 2015, and expanding her business to include a brick-and-mortar donabe shop in West Hollywood. She’s also become a minor celebrity on Instagram, where she goes by “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrsdonabe/\">Mrs. Donabe\u003c/a>” and has more than 47,000 followers who marvel over her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DERIT5-PuMw/?hl=en&img_index=1\">gorgeously presented\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DNjUQbRSZMj/?hl=en&img_index=1\">one-pot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DRFm3pbkjW0/?hl=en&img_index=1\">dishes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987068\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian woman stirs a pot of soup.\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Takei Moore stirs a pot of soup cooked in a traditional donabe. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These days, she says, donabe cooking has become mainstream in ways she never could have imagined when she first started teaching her little grassroots cooking classes, when most of her students couldn’t even pronounce the word. (It’s “doh-nah-bay,” not “doh-nah-bee.”) Now, magazines like \u003ci>Food & Wine \u003c/i>and \u003ci>Bon Appétit\u003c/i> will reference “donabe” in recipes without feeling the need to translate the word as “Japanese clay pot,” and TOIRO routinely gets orders from customers across the U.S. and in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Takei Moore says the gospel she’s spreading isn’t really about any particular recipe or cooking technique. Instead, she believes using donabe in day-to-day cooking is a pathway toward a slower, more intentional and more idyllic life — what she calls her “happy donabe life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eve of a book tour visit to San Francisco that will include \u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/naoko-takei-moore-author-event-simply-donabe-japanese-one-pot-recipes\">a talk at Omnivore Books on Food\u003c/a> and a special dinner at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DUwLLUBEk3M/?img_index=1\">Rintaro\u003c/a>, I spoke to Takei Moore about the connective power of food and the life-changing, near-magical qualities of her beloved donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Luke Tsai: Can you briefly explain what a donabe \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>is\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb> for those who don’t know?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Naoko Takei Moore:\u003c/b> It literally means clay pot — “do” means clay, and “nabe” means pot. It’s the foundation of Japanese cuisine, going back more than 10,000 years during the Jōmon Period. So it’s almost like donabe is a national cookware for Japanese people; it’s so close to everybody’s heart. Almost every household owns at least one. It can be something very inexpensive and mass-produced, or, or you can invest in something a little bit more artisan — the super-premium style can go up to $1,000 or $2,000. But most donabe are very affordable and approachable, and if you use it properly, it can last for a long, long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>In the introduction to your book, you talk about how donabe isn’t just a cooking tool; it’s a “way of life” — and a way for a person to have a happy life. Can you elaborate on how that’s the case?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13986360,arts_13959259,arts_13926203']Ultimately, it’s a lifestyle, and it really symbolizes Japanese communal dining. In Japanese conversation, when we say “nabe,” it refers to a hot pot dish, but it also means “let’s get together.” Instead of saying “let’s get together,” we might say, “Let’s nabe sometime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you make hot pot in a donabe, you set up a tabletop burner in the center of the table, put the donabe there, add all the ingredients, and then you cook. Everybody gets to participate: Someone is in charge of the main cooking, but you might ask, “Can you pass that? Can you stir?” It’s really not about the vessel itself or the recipes, but it’s more about how donabe plays a role in communication and connecting people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And because donabe is essentially just a bowl and a lid, there’s always this time when the dish is done, so let’s reveal. That’s when everybody’s eyes just focus on the lid. And the joy when the donabe lid is lifted, that’s really so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really not about the finished dish, it’s the process of the entire meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987070\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"A spread of meat and seafood, ready to be cooked in a donabe for a hot pot meal.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A display of raw meat and seafood, ready to be cooked in the donabe. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A lot of American home cooks already have too many pots and pans and might feel like it’s too much to buy this kind of specialized cooking vessel. What do you say to those people when convincing them to give donabe cooking a try?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First of all, I completely understand. [laughs] I promote the spirit of donabe cooking — if you want to use different kinds of pots, that’s totally fine. But I have seen so many people who are like that who say, “Ok, I’ll give it a try,” and buy a basic, medium-size donabe. Then they come back and say, your donabe changed my life and changed my family’s life. They talk about how the donabe is so beautiful to look at and how, when it’s at the center of the table, it just connects people. It becomes their Sunday ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, people comment that when cooking in donabe, somehow the food magically tastes better. And that has been proven scientifically, because donabe is made of porous clay. It takes more time to build the heat, and once it gets hot, it stays hot for a long time. So if you’re making a braised dish or a stew or soup, when the pot cools down very slowly, that’s how you develop multiple layers of flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is there one recipe in particular that you suggest that people try cooking in order to convince them of the “donabe way”?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s hard because all the recipes are so personal to me! But probably miso soup or a hot pot dish. Soup is so essential in my life because it calms me and slows me down. Also, rice tastes so good when you cook it in the donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987071\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987071\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"A woman seated in front of a spread of Japanese small plates.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cookbook also includes recipes for assorted small bites meant to be eaten as part of a donabe-centric meal. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What about the versatility of donabe? Can you use it for cooking dishes that are completely non-Japanese? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I love making curry in the donabe. And orange saffron rice, which is inspired by Persian cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, donabe is not about the recipes; it’s really about the spirit of the cooking. Braising is part of every culture. Recently, I made a Mediterranean-style chickpea and lamb stew with tomato sauce that was really brilliant. And one time, a customer in Norway made a reindeer stew in the donabe and sent me a photo. It looked absolutely delicious.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/collections/books/products/simply-donabe-cookbook\">Simply Donabe\u003c/a>\u003ci> is available wherever books are sold. Takei Moore will be in conversation with food journalist Lauren Saria at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/naoko-takei-moore-author-event-simply-donabe-japanese-one-pot-recipes\">\u003ci>Omnivore Books on Food\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3885a Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco) on Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free to attend, but space is limited. Takei Moore will also help the chefs at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://resy.com/cities/san-francisco-ca/venues/izakaya-rintaro?date=2026-02-25&seats=2\">\u003ci>Rintaro\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> prepare a special a la carte donabe menu based on her recipes on Feb. 25. As of publication time, only a few reservations are still available.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Naoko Takei Moore has beautiful memories of her mother’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japanese-food\">Japanese\u003c/a> home cooking. Growing up in Tokyo in the ’80s, she savored those moments when she and her mom stood side by side in the kitchen making fresh onigiri and mochi, and, most of all, when they’d sit around the family table to enjoy a meal of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4ZHSAtvjUG/?hl=en&img_index=1\">yose-nabe\u003c/a>, a kind of hot pot made with simple ingredients like clams, fish and whatever vegetables they had on hand — all cooked in the traditional Japanese clay pot known as donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best part, she says, was when they’d lift the lid of the pot to reveal the finished dish, and all of the steam wafted up. “It’s so special,” she says. “It never gets old.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the introduction to her new cookbook, \u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/products/simply-donabe-cookbook\">\u003ci>Simply Donabe\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, Takei Moore recalls how years later, after she’d immigrated to Los Angeles, she found herself wanting to share traditional donabe with her new community in the United States. In 2008, she founded \u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/\">TOIRO\u003c/a>, a company that sold handmade donabe imported from Iga, Japan, and started hosting donabe-centric Japanese cooking classes in her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before she knew it, she’d become donabe culture’s number one evangelist in the Western world, co-authoring her first award-winning cookbook on the topic (\u003ci>Donabe: Classic and Modern Japanese Clay Pot Cooking) \u003c/i>in 2015, and expanding her business to include a brick-and-mortar donabe shop in West Hollywood. She’s also become a minor celebrity on Instagram, where she goes by “\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrsdonabe/\">Mrs. Donabe\u003c/a>” and has more than 47,000 followers who marvel over her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DERIT5-PuMw/?hl=en&img_index=1\">gorgeously presented\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DNjUQbRSZMj/?hl=en&img_index=1\">one-pot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DRFm3pbkjW0/?hl=en&img_index=1\">dishes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987068\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian woman stirs a pot of soup.\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Naoko-1-c-Matt-Russell-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Takei Moore stirs a pot of soup cooked in a traditional donabe. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These days, she says, donabe cooking has become mainstream in ways she never could have imagined when she first started teaching her little grassroots cooking classes, when most of her students couldn’t even pronounce the word. (It’s “doh-nah-bay,” not “doh-nah-bee.”) Now, magazines like \u003ci>Food & Wine \u003c/i>and \u003ci>Bon Appétit\u003c/i> will reference “donabe” in recipes without feeling the need to translate the word as “Japanese clay pot,” and TOIRO routinely gets orders from customers across the U.S. and in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Takei Moore says the gospel she’s spreading isn’t really about any particular recipe or cooking technique. Instead, she believes using donabe in day-to-day cooking is a pathway toward a slower, more intentional and more idyllic life — what she calls her “happy donabe life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eve of a book tour visit to San Francisco that will include \u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/naoko-takei-moore-author-event-simply-donabe-japanese-one-pot-recipes\">a talk at Omnivore Books on Food\u003c/a> and a special dinner at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DUwLLUBEk3M/?img_index=1\">Rintaro\u003c/a>, I spoke to Takei Moore about the connective power of food and the life-changing, near-magical qualities of her beloved donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Luke Tsai: Can you briefly explain what a donabe \u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003ci>is\u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003cb> for those who don’t know?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Naoko Takei Moore:\u003c/b> It literally means clay pot — “do” means clay, and “nabe” means pot. It’s the foundation of Japanese cuisine, going back more than 10,000 years during the Jōmon Period. So it’s almost like donabe is a national cookware for Japanese people; it’s so close to everybody’s heart. Almost every household owns at least one. It can be something very inexpensive and mass-produced, or, or you can invest in something a little bit more artisan — the super-premium style can go up to $1,000 or $2,000. But most donabe are very affordable and approachable, and if you use it properly, it can last for a long, long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>In the introduction to your book, you talk about how donabe isn’t just a cooking tool; it’s a “way of life” — and a way for a person to have a happy life. Can you elaborate on how that’s the case?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ultimately, it’s a lifestyle, and it really symbolizes Japanese communal dining. In Japanese conversation, when we say “nabe,” it refers to a hot pot dish, but it also means “let’s get together.” Instead of saying “let’s get together,” we might say, “Let’s nabe sometime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you make hot pot in a donabe, you set up a tabletop burner in the center of the table, put the donabe there, add all the ingredients, and then you cook. Everybody gets to participate: Someone is in charge of the main cooking, but you might ask, “Can you pass that? Can you stir?” It’s really not about the vessel itself or the recipes, but it’s more about how donabe plays a role in communication and connecting people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And because donabe is essentially just a bowl and a lid, there’s always this time when the dish is done, so let’s reveal. That’s when everybody’s eyes just focus on the lid. And the joy when the donabe lid is lifted, that’s really so special.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really not about the finished dish, it’s the process of the entire meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987070\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987070\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"A spread of meat and seafood, ready to be cooked in a donabe for a hot pot meal.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Meat-Group-c-Matt-Russell-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A display of raw meat and seafood, ready to be cooked in the donabe. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>A lot of American home cooks already have too many pots and pans and might feel like it’s too much to buy this kind of specialized cooking vessel. What do you say to those people when convincing them to give donabe cooking a try?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First of all, I completely understand. [laughs] I promote the spirit of donabe cooking — if you want to use different kinds of pots, that’s totally fine. But I have seen so many people who are like that who say, “Ok, I’ll give it a try,” and buy a basic, medium-size donabe. Then they come back and say, your donabe changed my life and changed my family’s life. They talk about how the donabe is so beautiful to look at and how, when it’s at the center of the table, it just connects people. It becomes their Sunday ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, people comment that when cooking in donabe, somehow the food magically tastes better. And that has been proven scientifically, because donabe is made of porous clay. It takes more time to build the heat, and once it gets hot, it stays hot for a long time. So if you’re making a braised dish or a stew or soup, when the pot cools down very slowly, that’s how you develop multiple layers of flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Is there one recipe in particular that you suggest that people try cooking in order to convince them of the “donabe way”?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s hard because all the recipes are so personal to me! But probably miso soup or a hot pot dish. Soup is so essential in my life because it calms me and slows me down. Also, rice tastes so good when you cook it in the donabe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13987071\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13987071\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell.jpg\" alt=\"A woman seated in front of a spread of Japanese small plates.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/Small-Bites-2-c-Matt-Russell-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cookbook also includes recipes for assorted small bites meant to be eaten as part of a donabe-centric meal. \u003ccite>(Matt Russell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What about the versatility of donabe? Can you use it for cooking dishes that are completely non-Japanese? \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I love making curry in the donabe. And orange saffron rice, which is inspired by Persian cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Again, donabe is not about the recipes; it’s really about the spirit of the cooking. Braising is part of every culture. Recently, I made a Mediterranean-style chickpea and lamb stew with tomato sauce that was really brilliant. And one time, a customer in Norway made a reindeer stew in the donabe and sent me a photo. It looked absolutely delicious.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://toirokitchen.com/collections/books/products/simply-donabe-cookbook\">Simply Donabe\u003c/a>\u003ci> is available wherever books are sold. Takei Moore will be in conversation with food journalist Lauren Saria at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/products/naoko-takei-moore-author-event-simply-donabe-japanese-one-pot-recipes\">\u003ci>Omnivore Books on Food\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3885a Cesar Chavez St., San Francisco) on Feb. 24 at 6:30 p.m. The event is free to attend, but space is limited. Takei Moore will also help the chefs at \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://resy.com/cities/san-francisco-ca/venues/izakaya-rintaro?date=2026-02-25&seats=2\">\u003ci>Rintaro\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> prepare a special a la carte donabe menu based on her recipes on Feb. 25. As of publication time, only a few reservations are still available.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "SF’s Most Legendary Chicken Phở Is Now Available Until 3 a.m.",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986960\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986960\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1.jpg\" alt=\"A group of me devouring bowls of beef and chicken pho.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Turtle Tower, one of San Francisco’s most famous pho restaurants, has a new location in the Marina District. The restaurant is known for its northern-style chicken pho. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d made the mistake of coming to the Marina District at 10 o’clock on a Friday night, and on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/super-bowl\">Super Bowl\u003c/a> weekend, no less. The intersection of Fillmore and Greenwich was even \u003ci>more\u003c/i> chaotic than usual — both sides of the street swarming with half-drunk twentysomething frat-boy and sorority-girl types traveling in packs of six or eight. Everyone was decked out in their tightest skirts and bro-iest muscle shirts to stand in line outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/balboa-cafe-bar-sf-19913258.php\">Balboa Cafe\u003c/a> or any of the half-dozen other bars that flank the block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the Marina in a nutshell. Depending on your \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/21/best-restaurants-bars-marina-sf/\">point of view\u003c/a>, it’s either the best or most obnoxious neighborhood in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe it goes without saying that our dowdy, middle-aged party did not trek to this corner of the Marina for espresso martinis or a night of sweaty, awkward flirtation. Instead, we’d come in search of much unlikelier treasure: the most wholesome bowl of chicken phở in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what we were hoping for, anyway, when we heard that \u003ca href=\"https://www.turtletowersf.com/\">Turtle Tower\u003c/a> had opened a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DToVxp2kt29/\">brand new location on Fillmore\u003c/a> — and, just as exciting, that it was dishing out hot phở until 3 a.m. on weekends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a serious phở slurper in San Francisco, you’re likely aware of Turtle Tower’s rise and fall and, now, rise again. Probably the most famous and widely beloved phở restaurant in San Francisco during its 25-year run, Turtle Tower operated four locations across the city at its peak. Regulars were understandably devastated, then, when the last location shut its doors in 2023 — and overjoyed when a new ownership group \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2025/3/19/24389523/san-francisco-turtle-tower-pho-restaurant-returns\">revived the business\u003c/a> with a sleek, well-appointed restaurant in the Financial District last spring. Then came the surprise news that Turtle Tower 2.0’s second location would be in the Marina, of all places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986959\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2.jpg\" alt='Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant. The sign up top reads, \"Turtle Tower.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Turtle Tower’s Marina location is open until 3 a.m. on weekends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open for about a month now, the new Fillmore Street restaurant has the look and feel of a swanky fusion restaurant, with low-pulsing electronic dance music and an abundance of stylishly backlit tropical greenery. A chic black-and-gold mural of what appears to be the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long spans the back wall. All in all, it’s quite a makeover from the stripped-down, mom-and-pop vibe of the original Larkin Street restaurant, where I used to go for big weekend lunches with my family in the early aughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The worry, of course, with the opening of a “fancier” Turtle Tower in a non-Asian neighborhood, is that the food is going to get whitewashed and watered down. Indeed, the first thing we noticed is that the menu didn’t list the “deluxe” version of the restaurant’s famous chicken phở (listed as “phở gà lòng” in the old days), which came with giblets and skin for a boost of texture and earthy oomph. When we asked our server about it, she smiled sheepishly and explained that, at least for now, they weren’t offering that version. “We weren’t sure if ‘Marina people’ would eat giblets,” she said. Which is, well, fair enough. (She noted, though, that a lot of Asian customers had been asking for them.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout our meal, there were other small signs of the “Marina-fication” of the restaurant: the (non-Asian) waitstaff’s confusion when one of us asked for some vinegar to mix into his dipping sauce for the phở meats. The fact that the phở arrived with only a single lime wedge and the tiniest imaginable pile of sliced jalapeños. (Not-so-pro tip: You just have to ask for more.) And, no surprise, the phở was priced about $5 higher than it was in the Tenderloin days, just a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when we actually dug into the food, we put aside all our skepticism. We started with an order of the fresh spring rolls stuffed with both shrimp and thin slices of pork — very light and very delicious, in large part because of the smokiness of the grilled pork, which lingered in our mouths. We also ordered the house-made crab chips (a perfect snack under any circumstance) and a plate of “Hanoi”-style chicken wings, which none of us remembered from any of the previous incarnations of Turtle Tower. These were whole, two-joint wings that we pulled apart with our hands, juicy and succulent, and fried to an attractive, crackly sheen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961997,arts_13954983,arts_13985780']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course the main attraction was the phở itself. Turtle Tower has always specialized in northern-style phở — one of the purest distillations of the form that you can find in the Bay Area. That means the broth is less sweet and incorporates fewer spices and fresh herbs; instead of the giant plate of basil and bean sprouts that you get at southern-style joints, the soup comes topped with just a flurry of chopped scallions and cilantro. What you’re meant to taste is the pure flavor of the chicken or beef itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been too long since I’d eaten at the old Turtle Tower for me to say with certainty that the chicken phở was exactly the same. But all it took was one sip of that broth — clear, refined, intensely chicken-y with just a hint of ginger — to be fully satisfied. The noodles were wide and soft and highly slurpable, and even without my precious giblets, I could appreciate the silkiness of the shreds of both dark and white chicken meat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beef phở, which many of the restaurant’s Vietnamese regulars like even better than the chicken, is similarly minimalistic. Thin slices of rare beef come lightly pounded, in the northern style, for extra tenderness, and the broth, once again, homes in on the pure essence of beef flavor. Both phởs are the very embodiment of a soup that’ll cure what ails you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the new incarnation of Turtle Tower first opened in the Financial District, that location was also open late on weekends and ran a steeply discounted late-night happy hour menu starting at 11 p.m. — $2 oysters, $8 chicken wings, $4 beers and the like. Now that the Marina location is the only one keeping those late-night hours, the happy hour has been discontinued while the restaurant sorts out its liquor license. But once it does, a manager told us, they plan to start those deals up once again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the night, we came away still a bit unsure of exactly what kind of “Marina person” the restaurant is hoping to attract, and how successful that effort has been. At least based on our visit, the crowd is a lot more restrained and low-key than we expected — no party people, just groups of two or three, mostly Asian Americans, quietly enjoying a bowl of phở at the end of the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, everyone just seemed pleased to have found this little oasis of home-cooked goodness — a shelter from all the blustery noise outside. Most of them, I’d dare to venture, seemed like they could handle a bowl of giblets.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/turtletower.sf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Turtle Tower’s\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> Marina location is open Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–3 a.m. at 3145 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. The restaurant also has a location in the Financial District, at 220 California St., with shorter, non-late-night hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986960\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986960\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1.jpg\" alt=\"A group of me devouring bowls of beef and chicken pho.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Turtle Tower, one of San Francisco’s most famous pho restaurants, has a new location in the Marina District. The restaurant is known for its northern-style chicken pho. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d made the mistake of coming to the Marina District at 10 o’clock on a Friday night, and on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/super-bowl\">Super Bowl\u003c/a> weekend, no less. The intersection of Fillmore and Greenwich was even \u003ci>more\u003c/i> chaotic than usual — both sides of the street swarming with half-drunk twentysomething frat-boy and sorority-girl types traveling in packs of six or eight. Everyone was decked out in their tightest skirts and bro-iest muscle shirts to stand in line outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/balboa-cafe-bar-sf-19913258.php\">Balboa Cafe\u003c/a> or any of the half-dozen other bars that flank the block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the Marina in a nutshell. Depending on your \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2025/07/21/best-restaurants-bars-marina-sf/\">point of view\u003c/a>, it’s either the best or most obnoxious neighborhood in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe it goes without saying that our dowdy, middle-aged party did not trek to this corner of the Marina for espresso martinis or a night of sweaty, awkward flirtation. Instead, we’d come in search of much unlikelier treasure: the most wholesome bowl of chicken phở in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what we were hoping for, anyway, when we heard that \u003ca href=\"https://www.turtletowersf.com/\">Turtle Tower\u003c/a> had opened a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reels/DToVxp2kt29/\">brand new location on Fillmore\u003c/a> — and, just as exciting, that it was dishing out hot phở until 3 a.m. on weekends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a serious phở slurper in San Francisco, you’re likely aware of Turtle Tower’s rise and fall and, now, rise again. Probably the most famous and widely beloved phở restaurant in San Francisco during its 25-year run, Turtle Tower operated four locations across the city at its peak. Regulars were understandably devastated, then, when the last location shut its doors in 2023 — and overjoyed when a new ownership group \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2025/3/19/24389523/san-francisco-turtle-tower-pho-restaurant-returns\">revived the business\u003c/a> with a sleek, well-appointed restaurant in the Financial District last spring. Then came the surprise news that Turtle Tower 2.0’s second location would be in the Marina, of all places.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986959\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986959\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2.jpg\" alt='Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant. The sign up top reads, \"Turtle Tower.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/turtle-tower-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Turtle Tower’s Marina location is open until 3 a.m. on weekends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open for about a month now, the new Fillmore Street restaurant has the look and feel of a swanky fusion restaurant, with low-pulsing electronic dance music and an abundance of stylishly backlit tropical greenery. A chic black-and-gold mural of what appears to be the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long spans the back wall. All in all, it’s quite a makeover from the stripped-down, mom-and-pop vibe of the original Larkin Street restaurant, where I used to go for big weekend lunches with my family in the early aughts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The worry, of course, with the opening of a “fancier” Turtle Tower in a non-Asian neighborhood, is that the food is going to get whitewashed and watered down. Indeed, the first thing we noticed is that the menu didn’t list the “deluxe” version of the restaurant’s famous chicken phở (listed as “phở gà lòng” in the old days), which came with giblets and skin for a boost of texture and earthy oomph. When we asked our server about it, she smiled sheepishly and explained that, at least for now, they weren’t offering that version. “We weren’t sure if ‘Marina people’ would eat giblets,” she said. Which is, well, fair enough. (She noted, though, that a lot of Asian customers had been asking for them.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout our meal, there were other small signs of the “Marina-fication” of the restaurant: the (non-Asian) waitstaff’s confusion when one of us asked for some vinegar to mix into his dipping sauce for the phở meats. The fact that the phở arrived with only a single lime wedge and the tiniest imaginable pile of sliced jalapeños. (Not-so-pro tip: You just have to ask for more.) And, no surprise, the phở was priced about $5 higher than it was in the Tenderloin days, just a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when we actually dug into the food, we put aside all our skepticism. We started with an order of the fresh spring rolls stuffed with both shrimp and thin slices of pork — very light and very delicious, in large part because of the smokiness of the grilled pork, which lingered in our mouths. We also ordered the house-made crab chips (a perfect snack under any circumstance) and a plate of “Hanoi”-style chicken wings, which none of us remembered from any of the previous incarnations of Turtle Tower. These were whole, two-joint wings that we pulled apart with our hands, juicy and succulent, and fried to an attractive, crackly sheen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course the main attraction was the phở itself. Turtle Tower has always specialized in northern-style phở — one of the purest distillations of the form that you can find in the Bay Area. That means the broth is less sweet and incorporates fewer spices and fresh herbs; instead of the giant plate of basil and bean sprouts that you get at southern-style joints, the soup comes topped with just a flurry of chopped scallions and cilantro. What you’re meant to taste is the pure flavor of the chicken or beef itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It had been too long since I’d eaten at the old Turtle Tower for me to say with certainty that the chicken phở was exactly the same. But all it took was one sip of that broth — clear, refined, intensely chicken-y with just a hint of ginger — to be fully satisfied. The noodles were wide and soft and highly slurpable, and even without my precious giblets, I could appreciate the silkiness of the shreds of both dark and white chicken meat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beef phở, which many of the restaurant’s Vietnamese regulars like even better than the chicken, is similarly minimalistic. Thin slices of rare beef come lightly pounded, in the northern style, for extra tenderness, and the broth, once again, homes in on the pure essence of beef flavor. Both phởs are the very embodiment of a soup that’ll cure what ails you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the new incarnation of Turtle Tower first opened in the Financial District, that location was also open late on weekends and ran a steeply discounted late-night happy hour menu starting at 11 p.m. — $2 oysters, $8 chicken wings, $4 beers and the like. Now that the Marina location is the only one keeping those late-night hours, the happy hour has been discontinued while the restaurant sorts out its liquor license. But once it does, a manager told us, they plan to start those deals up once again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the end of the night, we came away still a bit unsure of exactly what kind of “Marina person” the restaurant is hoping to attract, and how successful that effort has been. At least based on our visit, the crowd is a lot more restrained and low-key than we expected — no party people, just groups of two or three, mostly Asian Americans, quietly enjoying a bowl of phở at the end of the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, everyone just seemed pleased to have found this little oasis of home-cooked goodness — a shelter from all the blustery noise outside. Most of them, I’d dare to venture, seemed like they could handle a bowl of giblets.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/turtletower.sf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Turtle Tower’s\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> Marina location is open Sunday to Thursday 11 a.m.–9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–3 a.m. at 3145 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. The restaurant also has a location in the Financial District, at 220 California St., with shorter, non-late-night hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As the 17th annual \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">SF Beer Week\u003c/a> kicks off this weekend, there are a few things you should know, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beerandsoul/\">Sayre Piotrkowski\u003c/a>, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://bayareabrewers.org/\">Bay Area Brewers Guild\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s over 200 events at 176 different venues from Monterey to Windsor,” he tells me during a recent call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/degrees-plato\">Degrees Plato\u003c/a> in Oakland is serving beer with their taco Tuesday special, and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/trumer\">Trumer Brewery in Berkeley\u003c/a> is offering brunch and a brew with Oakland Ballers baseball team members. Other evenings, you can enjoy a story night or a trivia competition, attend a pet adoption drive or a vinyl record show. There are “tap takeovers” at Michelin Star-rated restaurants, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/visit-santa-rosa\">a 5k marathon in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/del-cielo-livermore/20260225-speed-dating\">a speed dating event at Del Cielo Brewing Co. in Livermore\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986945\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg\" alt=\"A bald white man sits at a wooden table while drinking a glass of beer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sayre Piotrkowski, executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild, enjoys a cold brew. \u003ccite>(Portraits To The People)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One night you’re dropping some real money and drinking \u003ca href=\"https://fairislebrewing.com/\">Fair Isle beer\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theanchovybar.com/\">The Anchovy Bar\u003c/a> in the City,” says Piotrkowski. “And then, maybe another night, you’re watching \u003ca href=\"https://ticketscandy.com/e/beerweek-rumble-14624\">wrestling in Alameda.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski,\u003ca href=\"https://beerandsoul.substack.com/\"> an avid beer writer\u003c/a> who has worked in multiple levels of the industry, says one of the goals of SF Beer Week is to provide something for everyone (who is 21 and over). In doing so, it creates a certain cross-pollination of beer connoisseurs, community lovers and people who appreciate the wide array of offerings found in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason for SF Beer Week, Piotrkowski laments, is that \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/07/14/california-breweries-closing-beer-sf\">breweries are struggling across the industry\u003c/a>. But not for the reasons one might assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will see a lot of stuff talking about ‘wellness trends’ and ‘abstinence trends’ around alcohol. I still think those are pretty small,” Piotrkowski asserts. “The big thing is that, if you’re under 40 and you live in an expensive place in this country, you don’t have any expendable income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bars, and the beer industry as a whole, are struggling for the same reason many \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/category/nosh/restaurant-closures/\">restaurants, \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/bar-closures/\">night clubs\u003c/a> and concert venues are having a hard time staying above water, says Piotrkowski. Cheaper and more convenient forms of fun, like staying home and enjoying subscription entertainment services, have replaced the drive for people to spend money at bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg\" alt=\"Musicians playing on a stage outside in San Francisco. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week offers a number of opportunities for people to hear live music all across the region, from small dive bars to larger outdoor venues. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SF Beer Week itself was born out of a slower season for the industry, as the rise in the popularity of “dry January” has pushed people to put down the booze during the start of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“February has always been a time when the local beer scene celebrated,” Piotrkowski says, “and did so with strong and rare beers.” He mentions \u003ca href=\"https://the-bistro.com/event-info\">Hayward’s Double IPA Festival\u003c/a>, which just celebrated its 26th year, as well as\u003ca href=\"https://probrewer.com/beverage-industry-news/business-of-beer/strong-beer-month-starts-this-evening/\"> Strong Beer Month, \u003c/a>which was founded in the late ’90s by \u003ca href=\"https://magnoliabrewing.com/\">Magnolia Brewing\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://21st-amendment.com/\"> 21st Amendment Brewing\u003c/a>. And now, the current iteration of SF Beer Week is more reflective of the current state of small breweries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest frontier for craft beer, Piotrkowski explains, is making the everyday beer — something he calls the “just-give-me-a-beer beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing SF Giants gear pose for a photo outside while holding a couple of beers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week: where people support local breweries and local teams. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you go back 15–20 years,” Piotrkowski says, “craft breweries really got their foothold at the periphery.” It was the creation of “loud, attention-getting” beers like imperial stouts and double IPAs that were antithetical to common beers, like light lagers and other beverages readily sold by big, well-known brand names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time,” Piotrkowski tells me, “we sort of won the Slow Food argument, and people just wanted to buy their beers from local companies.” In turn, small breweries began to make pilsners, light lagers and cream ales that could compete with the titans of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.temescalbrewing.com/\">Temescal Brewing\u003c/a>, which is releasing a special Mexican-style lager made from blue corn and barley, as an example of the change that he’s seeing of late. “It’s probably akin to a Negro Modelo,” Piotrkowski says of the new brew. “Except that no multinational corporate entity gets a penny out of your purchase of that beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the local brewery sources ingredients from nearby farms. It’s like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/food-wiki/farm-table-or-farm-fork\">farm to fork\u003c/a>,” but for beer. “Grain to glass,” he calls it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski, who represents the 71 breweries in the Bay Area Brewers Guild, knows that there are a lot of options for entertainment in Northern California. But SF Beer Week, with activations like “\u003ca href=\"https://pier39.com/beer-week/\">Beer 39\u003c/a>‘” — a scavenger-hunt-style sampling of beers at San Francisco’s Pier 39 — Piotrkowski says this event offers people something that can “invigorate your life and culture in a way that some of those other things won’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds, “This is of your community — world-class beer being made in your community, by people who are accountable to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information on events, activities and happenings around SF Beer Week, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">check out their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the 17th annual \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">SF Beer Week\u003c/a> kicks off this weekend, there are a few things you should know, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beerandsoul/\">Sayre Piotrkowski\u003c/a>, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://bayareabrewers.org/\">Bay Area Brewers Guild\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s over 200 events at 176 different venues from Monterey to Windsor,” he tells me during a recent call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/degrees-plato\">Degrees Plato\u003c/a> in Oakland is serving beer with their taco Tuesday special, and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/trumer\">Trumer Brewery in Berkeley\u003c/a> is offering brunch and a brew with Oakland Ballers baseball team members. Other evenings, you can enjoy a story night or a trivia competition, attend a pet adoption drive or a vinyl record show. There are “tap takeovers” at Michelin Star-rated restaurants, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/visit-santa-rosa\">a 5k marathon in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/del-cielo-livermore/20260225-speed-dating\">a speed dating event at Del Cielo Brewing Co. in Livermore\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986945\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg\" alt=\"A bald white man sits at a wooden table while drinking a glass of beer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sayre Piotrkowski, executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild, enjoys a cold brew. \u003ccite>(Portraits To The People)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One night you’re dropping some real money and drinking \u003ca href=\"https://fairislebrewing.com/\">Fair Isle beer\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theanchovybar.com/\">The Anchovy Bar\u003c/a> in the City,” says Piotrkowski. “And then, maybe another night, you’re watching \u003ca href=\"https://ticketscandy.com/e/beerweek-rumble-14624\">wrestling in Alameda.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski,\u003ca href=\"https://beerandsoul.substack.com/\"> an avid beer writer\u003c/a> who has worked in multiple levels of the industry, says one of the goals of SF Beer Week is to provide something for everyone (who is 21 and over). In doing so, it creates a certain cross-pollination of beer connoisseurs, community lovers and people who appreciate the wide array of offerings found in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason for SF Beer Week, Piotrkowski laments, is that \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/07/14/california-breweries-closing-beer-sf\">breweries are struggling across the industry\u003c/a>. But not for the reasons one might assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will see a lot of stuff talking about ‘wellness trends’ and ‘abstinence trends’ around alcohol. I still think those are pretty small,” Piotrkowski asserts. “The big thing is that, if you’re under 40 and you live in an expensive place in this country, you don’t have any expendable income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bars, and the beer industry as a whole, are struggling for the same reason many \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/category/nosh/restaurant-closures/\">restaurants, \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/bar-closures/\">night clubs\u003c/a> and concert venues are having a hard time staying above water, says Piotrkowski. Cheaper and more convenient forms of fun, like staying home and enjoying subscription entertainment services, have replaced the drive for people to spend money at bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg\" alt=\"Musicians playing on a stage outside in San Francisco. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week offers a number of opportunities for people to hear live music all across the region, from small dive bars to larger outdoor venues. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SF Beer Week itself was born out of a slower season for the industry, as the rise in the popularity of “dry January” has pushed people to put down the booze during the start of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“February has always been a time when the local beer scene celebrated,” Piotrkowski says, “and did so with strong and rare beers.” He mentions \u003ca href=\"https://the-bistro.com/event-info\">Hayward’s Double IPA Festival\u003c/a>, which just celebrated its 26th year, as well as\u003ca href=\"https://probrewer.com/beverage-industry-news/business-of-beer/strong-beer-month-starts-this-evening/\"> Strong Beer Month, \u003c/a>which was founded in the late ’90s by \u003ca href=\"https://magnoliabrewing.com/\">Magnolia Brewing\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://21st-amendment.com/\"> 21st Amendment Brewing\u003c/a>. And now, the current iteration of SF Beer Week is more reflective of the current state of small breweries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest frontier for craft beer, Piotrkowski explains, is making the everyday beer — something he calls the “just-give-me-a-beer beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing SF Giants gear pose for a photo outside while holding a couple of beers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week: where people support local breweries and local teams. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you go back 15–20 years,” Piotrkowski says, “craft breweries really got their foothold at the periphery.” It was the creation of “loud, attention-getting” beers like imperial stouts and double IPAs that were antithetical to common beers, like light lagers and other beverages readily sold by big, well-known brand names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time,” Piotrkowski tells me, “we sort of won the Slow Food argument, and people just wanted to buy their beers from local companies.” In turn, small breweries began to make pilsners, light lagers and cream ales that could compete with the titans of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.temescalbrewing.com/\">Temescal Brewing\u003c/a>, which is releasing a special Mexican-style lager made from blue corn and barley, as an example of the change that he’s seeing of late. “It’s probably akin to a Negro Modelo,” Piotrkowski says of the new brew. “Except that no multinational corporate entity gets a penny out of your purchase of that beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the local brewery sources ingredients from nearby farms. It’s like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/food-wiki/farm-table-or-farm-fork\">farm to fork\u003c/a>,” but for beer. “Grain to glass,” he calls it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski, who represents the 71 breweries in the Bay Area Brewers Guild, knows that there are a lot of options for entertainment in Northern California. But SF Beer Week, with activations like “\u003ca href=\"https://pier39.com/beer-week/\">Beer 39\u003c/a>‘” — a scavenger-hunt-style sampling of beers at San Francisco’s Pier 39 — Piotrkowski says this event offers people something that can “invigorate your life and culture in a way that some of those other things won’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds, “This is of your community — world-class beer being made in your community, by people who are accountable to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information on events, activities and happenings around SF Beer Week, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">check out their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "dzui-favorite-durian-dessert-shop-san-jose-banh-pia",
"title": "How Dzui’s Became San José’s Favorite Durian Dessert Shop",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t Dzui’s, a snug \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/vietnamese-food\">Vietnamese\u003c/a> dessert shop in Eastside San José, the display case is a cabinet of delectable mysteries. One side of the counter is piled high with flaky pastries and savory sponge cakes topped, variously, with pork floss and toasted seaweed. On the other, pillowy crepe rolls sit beside clamshell containers of rice pudding molded into the shape of Labubus (!) and a cluster of layer cakes resembling a snow-dusted, neon-green mountain range. Half the items in the case aren’t labeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13925835,arts_13986607']Who needs a menu, though, when just about everything is mind-bogglingly tasty? Over the course of three recent visits, I hoovered up a refreshing tofu pudding drink packed with boba, pandan jellies and other assorted textural delights, and devoured a pot-pie-like ground pork pastry with boiled quailed eggs hidden inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than anything, I reveled in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">rich, famously pungent flavor of durian\u003c/a>. Plump, tender durian crepes crammed full of whipped cream that’s layered with chunks of the intoxicating fruit. A durian-and-salt-cream milk tea that only got more potent — and more delicious — the longer I drank it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13904916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo.jpg\" alt=\"Two Vietnamese milk tea drinks, a pastry and a spiky green durian fruit spread out on a countertop.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An assortment of drinks and desserts highlighting the rich, pungent flavor of fresh durian. \u003ccite>(Andria Lo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most memorable of all was a treat I’d never tried before: a round, flaky pastry that looked like a mooncake or a Chinese \u003ca href=\"https://thewoksoflife.com/wife-cake-lao-po-bing/\">wife cake\u003c/a>. Inside, the filling was a mix of green mung beans, salted egg yolk, candied winter melon and, once again, that characteristic sweet funk of fresh, ripe durian — a delightful combination of textures and flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pastries are known as bánh pía. And, as I soon learned, they’re the product of a 40-plus-year family legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>A Chinese-Vietnamese legacy\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, the shop’s owner, Dzui Thai, comes from a long line of bánh pía makers. His aunt and uncle run \u003ca href=\"https://www.banhpiatanhung.vn/\">Tân Hưng\u003c/a>, one of the most famous bánh pía brands in Vietnam, adapting his grandfather’s four-decade-old original recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bánh pía pastries are a legacy of Vietnam’s Teochew (aka Chaozhou) people, an ethnic Chinese subgroup that mostly resettled in parts of Southeast Asia. Both sides of Thai’s family are Teochew who moved to Sóc Trăng, Vietnam, two generations ago. Thai himself is fluent in Mandarin. He says even after immigrating to Sóc Trăng, his paternal grandparents didn’t speak any Vietnamese at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986819\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a baseball cap poses for a portrait while holding a plate of pastries.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The dessert shop’s owner, Dzui Thai, poses with an assortment of pastries. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bánh pía’s Chinese roots help explain why the pastries most closely resemble the kind of flaky, thin-skinned mooncakes that you’ll find in Chaozhou. In fact, Thai says, back in his hometown of Sóc Trăng, people were more likely to eat bánh pía to celebrate the Moon Festival than traditional mooncakes. As a kid, he remembers going to help out at his auntie’s factory each fall, right before the Moon Festival, and everyone would be exhausted from working almost nonstop for the whole month, making thousands upon thousands of bánh pía.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, with his family’s blessing, the bánh pía at Dzui’s are also stamped with the Tân Hưng brand name — even though he produces the pastries independently here in San José, using the same laborious seven-step process that his family’s factories in Sóc Trăng employ. The branding caused some confusion when Thai first started selling the bánh pía, as some Vietnamese customers accused him of simply re-selling pastries he’d bought frozen from Vietnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respect my family, so that’s why I don’t change it,” Thai says of his decision to carry on the Tân Hưng name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986822\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986822\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a round Asian pastry, with the name of the brand — Tân Hưng — stamped in red. Next to it, a container of Labubu-shaped desserts.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dzui’s traditional durian bánh pía, seen here alongside a container of Labubu-shaped rice pudding. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thai’s own path to opening a food business was somewhat circuitous. Originally, he’d moved to California in the late 2000s to attend film school at USC, but wound up dropping out when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Then, seven or eight years later, whiles living in San José with his sister, the cancer returned, and he had to drop everything again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One day, I was lying in bed and didn’t know what to do. I was so craving my family’s [food], so I decided to make it,” Thai recalls. “And then I started to try and sell it at home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Thai’s nascent home bakery business only sold one item — a savory sponge cake topped with pork floss, Chinese sausage and salted egg yolk. It was a hit, and remains one of Dzui’s best-selling items. Soon, he started selling bánh pía too. At the time, he says, no one else was baking those fresh in San José; you could only buy frozen pía cakes at Vietnamese markets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986820\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986820\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake.jpg\" alt=\"A savory sponge cake on a plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The savory sponge cake remains one of the bakery’s best-selling items. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thai says his family didn’t initially support him getting into the food business; they were too worried about his health. But his little home baking venture was \u003ci>so \u003c/i>successful that they eventually relented and gave their approval. In 2017, when Thai was fully cancer-free, he opened Dzui’s Cakes & Desserts as a full-fledged Vietnamese bakery and snack shop. In the years since, Thai has expanded on his durian-forward beverage menu and added a cute cafe area bedecked with nostalgic, 1980s-era knicknacks, rebranding the shop as Dzui Cake & Tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>A paradise for durian lovers\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As Thai tells it, it’s no coincidence that Dzui’s wound up becoming the South Bay’s go-to destination for durian desserts. That was the vision from the very beginning, he says. After all, even the store’s logo is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=506833571442967&set=a.506833548109636\">jolly cartoon durian\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you open a business, you want to stand out — you want to be different,” Dzui says, pointing out the many other \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">coffee shops and boba shops in San José\u003c/a> that sell more or less the same selection of milk teas and fruit teas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holds a cup of milk tea. The label reads, "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy durian."\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dzui’s potent durian milk tea. The slogan on the label speaks to the shop’s overall ethos: “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy durian.” \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, given the love-it-or-hate-it nature of durian itself, there was always a risk that the business would flop entirely. Instead, these days Dzui’s attracts large crowds of Asian (and some non-Asian) customers who come precisely \u003ci>because\u003c/i> they’ve heard the shop is a kind of paradise for durian lovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13904913,arts_13986360']As for his family’s famous bánh pía, Thai sells a few different variations on the treat, including a savory version that has a char siu pork filling with crunchy bits of candied winter melon that act as a wonderful counterpoint. But in his view, a truly traditional bánh pía never omits the durian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Vietnamese people, he says, “When you say, ‘I want a pía cake,’ it means you love durian. Because that cake has to have durian inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Tết, aka Vietnamese Lunar New Year, kicks off this week, Thai says bánh pía aren’t necessarily a traditional New Year’s treat, but many of his customers love them so much that they’ll still buy them for their festival celebrations. He includes an assortment of them in the various Lunar New Year gift boxes that he sells, along with another perennial customer favorite: Taiwanese-style pineapple cakes that he makes using fresh pineapples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986818\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986818\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice.jpg\" alt=\"A man and a young woman of Asian descent pose in front of a display of cakes and pastries.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thai and his niece, My Trang, pose in front of a counter stacked high with breads and pastries. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Thai says he’s thinking of bringing even more of his family’s Teochew specialties here to San José. In particular, he says, some of his regulars keep clamoring for a type of Chinese sausage that he makes, about the size of a finger, with fresh shrimp inside. “Maybe this year,” he muses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And of course there’s always a bevy of durian innovations, old and new, in the works. “Have you tried the durian egg tarts?” Thai asks. He’s thinking of putting them back on the menu soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re really, really good,” he tells me. And I believe him.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr />\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Dzuis-Cakes-Desserts-100063489853107/\">\u003ci>Dzui Cake & Tea\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m.–8:30 p.m., and Friday–Sunday from 10 a.m.–9 p.m. at 2451 Alvin Ave. in San José. The shop is closed on Tuesdays.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The bakery’s bánh pía pastries are a Chinese-Vietnamese family’s 40-year legacy.",
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"title": "How Dzui’s Became San José’s Favorite Durian Dessert Shop | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>t Dzui’s, a snug \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/vietnamese-food\">Vietnamese\u003c/a> dessert shop in Eastside San José, the display case is a cabinet of delectable mysteries. One side of the counter is piled high with flaky pastries and savory sponge cakes topped, variously, with pork floss and toasted seaweed. On the other, pillowy crepe rolls sit beside clamshell containers of rice pudding molded into the shape of Labubus (!) and a cluster of layer cakes resembling a snow-dusted, neon-green mountain range. Half the items in the case aren’t labeled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Who needs a menu, though, when just about everything is mind-bogglingly tasty? Over the course of three recent visits, I hoovered up a refreshing tofu pudding drink packed with boba, pandan jellies and other assorted textural delights, and devoured a pot-pie-like ground pork pastry with boiled quailed eggs hidden inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than anything, I reveled in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">rich, famously pungent flavor of durian\u003c/a>. Plump, tender durian crepes crammed full of whipped cream that’s layered with chunks of the intoxicating fruit. A durian-and-salt-cream milk tea that only got more potent — and more delicious — the longer I drank it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13904916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13904916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo.jpg\" alt=\"Two Vietnamese milk tea drinks, a pastry and a spiky green durian fruit spread out on a countertop.\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/10/001_KQED100321_VietnameseSJDrinks_AndriaLo-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An assortment of drinks and desserts highlighting the rich, pungent flavor of fresh durian. \u003ccite>(Andria Lo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most memorable of all was a treat I’d never tried before: a round, flaky pastry that looked like a mooncake or a Chinese \u003ca href=\"https://thewoksoflife.com/wife-cake-lao-po-bing/\">wife cake\u003c/a>. Inside, the filling was a mix of green mung beans, salted egg yolk, candied winter melon and, once again, that characteristic sweet funk of fresh, ripe durian — a delightful combination of textures and flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pastries are known as bánh pía. And, as I soon learned, they’re the product of a 40-plus-year family legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>A Chinese-Vietnamese legacy\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, the shop’s owner, Dzui Thai, comes from a long line of bánh pía makers. His aunt and uncle run \u003ca href=\"https://www.banhpiatanhung.vn/\">Tân Hưng\u003c/a>, one of the most famous bánh pía brands in Vietnam, adapting his grandfather’s four-decade-old original recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bánh pía pastries are a legacy of Vietnam’s Teochew (aka Chaozhou) people, an ethnic Chinese subgroup that mostly resettled in parts of Southeast Asia. Both sides of Thai’s family are Teochew who moved to Sóc Trăng, Vietnam, two generations ago. Thai himself is fluent in Mandarin. He says even after immigrating to Sóc Trăng, his paternal grandparents didn’t speak any Vietnamese at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986819\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a baseball cap poses for a portrait while holding a plate of pastries.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-thai-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The dessert shop’s owner, Dzui Thai, poses with an assortment of pastries. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bánh pía’s Chinese roots help explain why the pastries most closely resemble the kind of flaky, thin-skinned mooncakes that you’ll find in Chaozhou. In fact, Thai says, back in his hometown of Sóc Trăng, people were more likely to eat bánh pía to celebrate the Moon Festival than traditional mooncakes. As a kid, he remembers going to help out at his auntie’s factory each fall, right before the Moon Festival, and everyone would be exhausted from working almost nonstop for the whole month, making thousands upon thousands of bánh pía.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, with his family’s blessing, the bánh pía at Dzui’s are also stamped with the Tân Hưng brand name — even though he produces the pastries independently here in San José, using the same laborious seven-step process that his family’s factories in Sóc Trăng employ. The branding caused some confusion when Thai first started selling the bánh pía, as some Vietnamese customers accused him of simply re-selling pastries he’d bought frozen from Vietnam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I respect my family, so that’s why I don’t change it,” Thai says of his decision to carry on the Tân Hưng name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986822\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986822\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu.jpg\" alt=\"Overhead view of a round Asian pastry, with the name of the brand — Tân Hưng — stamped in red. Next to it, a container of Labubu-shaped desserts.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-banh-pia-labubu-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dzui’s traditional durian bánh pía, seen here alongside a container of Labubu-shaped rice pudding. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thai’s own path to opening a food business was somewhat circuitous. Originally, he’d moved to California in the late 2000s to attend film school at USC, but wound up dropping out when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Then, seven or eight years later, whiles living in San José with his sister, the cancer returned, and he had to drop everything again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One day, I was lying in bed and didn’t know what to do. I was so craving my family’s [food], so I decided to make it,” Thai recalls. “And then I started to try and sell it at home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first, Thai’s nascent home bakery business only sold one item — a savory sponge cake topped with pork floss, Chinese sausage and salted egg yolk. It was a hit, and remains one of Dzui’s best-selling items. Soon, he started selling bánh pía too. At the time, he says, no one else was baking those fresh in San José; you could only buy frozen pía cakes at Vietnamese markets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986820\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986820\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake.jpg\" alt=\"A savory sponge cake on a plate.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-savory-sponge-cake-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The savory sponge cake remains one of the bakery’s best-selling items. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Thai says his family didn’t initially support him getting into the food business; they were too worried about his health. But his little home baking venture was \u003ci>so \u003c/i>successful that they eventually relented and gave their approval. In 2017, when Thai was fully cancer-free, he opened Dzui’s Cakes & Desserts as a full-fledged Vietnamese bakery and snack shop. In the years since, Thai has expanded on his durian-forward beverage menu and added a cute cafe area bedecked with nostalgic, 1980s-era knicknacks, rebranding the shop as Dzui Cake & Tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cb>A paradise for durian lovers\u003c/b>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>As Thai tells it, it’s no coincidence that Dzui’s wound up becoming the South Bay’s go-to destination for durian desserts. That was the vision from the very beginning, he says. After all, even the store’s logo is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=506833571442967&set=a.506833548109636\">jolly cartoon durian\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you open a business, you want to stand out — you want to be different,” Dzui says, pointing out the many other \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">coffee shops and boba shops in San José\u003c/a> that sell more or less the same selection of milk teas and fruit teas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holds a cup of milk tea. The label reads, "You can't buy happiness, but you can buy durian."\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-drink-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dzui’s potent durian milk tea. The slogan on the label speaks to the shop’s overall ethos: “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy durian.” \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Of course, given the love-it-or-hate-it nature of durian itself, there was always a risk that the business would flop entirely. Instead, these days Dzui’s attracts large crowds of Asian (and some non-Asian) customers who come precisely \u003ci>because\u003c/i> they’ve heard the shop is a kind of paradise for durian lovers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As for his family’s famous bánh pía, Thai sells a few different variations on the treat, including a savory version that has a char siu pork filling with crunchy bits of candied winter melon that act as a wonderful counterpoint. But in his view, a truly traditional bánh pía never omits the durian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Vietnamese people, he says, “When you say, ‘I want a pía cake,’ it means you love durian. Because that cake has to have durian inside.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Tết, aka Vietnamese Lunar New Year, kicks off this week, Thai says bánh pía aren’t necessarily a traditional New Year’s treat, but many of his customers love them so much that they’ll still buy them for their festival celebrations. He includes an assortment of them in the various Lunar New Year gift boxes that he sells, along with another perennial customer favorite: Taiwanese-style pineapple cakes that he makes using fresh pineapples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986818\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986818\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice.jpg\" alt=\"A man and a young woman of Asian descent pose in front of a display of cakes and pastries.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/dzui-and-neice-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thai and his niece, My Trang, pose in front of a counter stacked high with breads and pastries. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Thai says he’s thinking of bringing even more of his family’s Teochew specialties here to San José. In particular, he says, some of his regulars keep clamoring for a type of Chinese sausage that he makes, about the size of a finger, with fresh shrimp inside. “Maybe this year,” he muses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And of course there’s always a bevy of durian innovations, old and new, in the works. “Have you tried the durian egg tarts?” Thai asks. He’s thinking of putting them back on the menu soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re really, really good,” he tells me. And I believe him.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr />\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/p/Dzuis-Cakes-Desserts-100063489853107/\">\u003ci>Dzui Cake & Tea\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m.–8:30 p.m., and Friday–Sunday from 10 a.m.–9 p.m. at 2451 Alvin Ave. in San José. The shop is closed on Tuesdays.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "guerneville-russian-river-fungi-fest-mushroom-foraging-food-science-sonoma-county",
"title": "Fungi Fest Brings Mushroom Foraging, Food and Forest Science to Sonoma County",
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"content": "\u003cp>In winter, when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/russian-river\">Russian River\u003c/a> slows and fog clings to the redwoods, another kingdom quietly rises beneath the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Guerneville is throwing a festival in its honor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inaugural \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Russian River Fungi Fest\u003c/a>, taking place Feb. 21–22, brings a two-day celebration of mushrooms to West Sonoma County, blending science talks, forest foraging, art and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13984173']“We just threw some paint at the wall,” says Nick Schwanz, president of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomacounty.com/events/russian-river-fungi-fest/\">Russian River Chamber of Commerce\u003c/a> and co-founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/solarpunkfarms/\">Solar Punk Farms\u003c/a>, which is co-organizing the event. “And the instantaneous energy around it was like — okay, great, let’s do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The celebration comes at a time when mushroom safety is top of mind. California has seen recent cases of accidental poisonings from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999828/california-combats-largest-mushroom-poisoning-outbreak-in-the-country\">death cap mushrooms\u003c/a> — a toxic species that can resemble edible varieties and grows widely across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one reason Schwanz says education is central to the festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fungi Fest evolved from two overlapping goals. Solar Punk Farms, a climate-focused community hub, is always looking for ways to get people excited about ecology. The chamber of commerce, meanwhile, wants to remind visitors that Sonoma County isn’t just a summer river destination, Schwanz says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nature and winter in Sonoma County just scream mushrooms,” he explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='news_11901198'] Rather than positioning themselves as mushroom authorities, organizers built what Schwanz calls a “scaffolding”: a platform for the region’s mycologists, foragers and fungi enthusiasts to share their knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the center of the weekend is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Mushroom Marketplace\u003c/a>, expected to feature 60 to 80 vendors selling fresh mushrooms, foraging kits, books and mushroom-dyed artwork. A section dubbed “Yeast Village” will spotlight fermented foods, beer, wine and sourdough bread — everyday examples of fungi at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two stages will host the \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#fungi-forum\">Fungi Forum\u003c/a>, with about 15 speakers covering topics from the basics of Sonoma County mushroom identification to how to forage safely and avoid poisonous lookalikes. Some talks will dive deeper into mycelium, the threadlike underground network that makes up most of a fungus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984067\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984067\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person crouches to cut mushroom off log, dog and another person behind\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1314\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-768x505.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-1536x1009.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Schwanz picks mushrooms from the forest at Solar Punk Farms in Guerneville on Nov. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When people think of fungi, they think about the mushroom,” Schwanz says. “But most of fungi really is the mycelium.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mycelium, that hidden web, is essential to forest ecosystems, breaking down dead material and recycling nutrients. It’s also inspiring innovation, including biodegradable packaging and experimental building materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond lectures, the festival invites people into the woods. \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#outdoor-adventure\">Guided hikes\u003c/a> through Armstrong Woods and foraging expeditions with local experts will give beginners a chance to learn how to identify species and harvest responsibly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='forum_2010101887174']And then there are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#pop-up-events\">pop-ups\u003c/a> — nearly 30 of them. Local restaurants and businesses are planning mushroom-themed menus, drink specials, movie screenings, workshops and even a mushroom tattoo flash. “It’s a very Guerneville party,” Schwanz admits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suggested donation is $15 for the full weekend, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Organizers say the event is designed to be family-friendly, with some programming specifically for kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t just for people who love mushrooms on pizza,” Schwanz says. “It’s for people who are just curious about nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Russian River Fungi Fest\u003c/a> takes place Feb. 21–22, 2026 in downtown Guerneville. It is a free event with a suggested donation of $15 for the full weekend.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In winter, when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/russian-river\">Russian River\u003c/a> slows and fog clings to the redwoods, another kingdom quietly rises beneath the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Guerneville is throwing a festival in its honor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The inaugural \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Russian River Fungi Fest\u003c/a>, taking place Feb. 21–22, brings a two-day celebration of mushrooms to West Sonoma County, blending science talks, forest foraging, art and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We just threw some paint at the wall,” says Nick Schwanz, president of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomacounty.com/events/russian-river-fungi-fest/\">Russian River Chamber of Commerce\u003c/a> and co-founder of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/solarpunkfarms/\">Solar Punk Farms\u003c/a>, which is co-organizing the event. “And the instantaneous energy around it was like — okay, great, let’s do it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The celebration comes at a time when mushroom safety is top of mind. California has seen recent cases of accidental poisonings from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999828/california-combats-largest-mushroom-poisoning-outbreak-in-the-country\">death cap mushrooms\u003c/a> — a toxic species that can resemble edible varieties and grows widely across the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s one reason Schwanz says education is central to the festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fungi Fest evolved from two overlapping goals. Solar Punk Farms, a climate-focused community hub, is always looking for ways to get people excited about ecology. The chamber of commerce, meanwhile, wants to remind visitors that Sonoma County isn’t just a summer river destination, Schwanz says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nature and winter in Sonoma County just scream mushrooms,” he explains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Rather than positioning themselves as mushroom authorities, organizers built what Schwanz calls a “scaffolding”: a platform for the region’s mycologists, foragers and fungi enthusiasts to share their knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the center of the weekend is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Mushroom Marketplace\u003c/a>, expected to feature 60 to 80 vendors selling fresh mushrooms, foraging kits, books and mushroom-dyed artwork. A section dubbed “Yeast Village” will spotlight fermented foods, beer, wine and sourdough bread — everyday examples of fungi at work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two stages will host the \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#fungi-forum\">Fungi Forum\u003c/a>, with about 15 speakers covering topics from the basics of Sonoma County mushroom identification to how to forage safely and avoid poisonous lookalikes. Some talks will dive deeper into mycelium, the threadlike underground network that makes up most of a fungus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984067\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984067\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person crouches to cut mushroom off log, dog and another person behind\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1314\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-768x505.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/20251101_QUEERWOODS-GC-17-KQED-1536x1009.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Schwanz picks mushrooms from the forest at Solar Punk Farms in Guerneville on Nov. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When people think of fungi, they think about the mushroom,” Schwanz says. “But most of fungi really is the mycelium.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mycelium, that hidden web, is essential to forest ecosystems, breaking down dead material and recycling nutrients. It’s also inspiring innovation, including biodegradable packaging and experimental building materials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beyond lectures, the festival invites people into the woods. \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#outdoor-adventure\">Guided hikes\u003c/a> through Armstrong Woods and foraging expeditions with local experts will give beginners a chance to learn how to identify species and harvest responsibly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>And then there are the \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest#pop-up-events\">pop-ups\u003c/a> — nearly 30 of them. Local restaurants and businesses are planning mushroom-themed menus, drink specials, movie screenings, workshops and even a mushroom tattoo flash. “It’s a very Guerneville party,” Schwanz admits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suggested donation is $15 for the full weekend, with no one turned away for lack of funds. Organizers say the event is designed to be family-friendly, with some programming specifically for kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t just for people who love mushrooms on pizza,” Schwanz says. “It’s for people who are just curious about nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.solarpunkfarms.com/fungifest\">Russian River Fungi Fest\u003c/a> takes place Feb. 21–22, 2026 in downtown Guerneville. It is a free event with a suggested donation of $15 for the full weekend.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "asian-high-tea-afternoon-tea-singaporean-malaysian-bay-area-kopi-bar-malaya-tea-room",
"title": "It’s a Golden Age for Asian-Style Afternoon Tea in the Bay Area",
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"content": "\u003cp>On a recent Saturday morning, about a dozen elegantly dressed pastry lovers, decked out in their finest Regency-era gowns and dainty flower hats, promenaded into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/bampfa\">Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive\u003c/a>. Up the museum’s bright red staircase they went, pausing occasionally to snap a selfie, until they’d reached the second-floor cafe, where a handsome spread of teacakes and finger sandwiches awaited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The occasion? A \u003cem>Bridgerton\u003c/em>-themed tea party, which the cafe, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980465/kopi-bar-bampfa-cafe-berkeley-avocado-iced-coffee-kaya-toast\">Kopi Bar\u003c/a>, had timed to coincide with the soapy Netflix costume drama’s fourth season premiere. Thus the cavalcade of pearls and frilly chiffon gowns. Everything about the event appeared to be oh-so-perfectly British in its sensibilities — except that the food displayed on the wooden two-tier cake stands wasn’t \u003cem>only \u003c/em>your typical array of scones, clotted cream and cucumber sandwiches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cinnamon-roll-like pastry swirls shot through with sweet pandan and coconut sat next to crispy beef rendang samosas. Curried tuna salad topped delicate open-face sourdough brioche sandwiches. And while one sandwich did feature sliced cucumbers, they were mainly there to provide a cooling counterpoint to the fiery sambal-spiked egg salad on top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the kind of food that chef-owner Nora Haron likes to serve at Kopi Bar — a reflection of her background as a Singaporean immigrant of Indonesian-Indian descent. And while the spread might have surprised some Anglophile tea party enthusiasts, anyone who’s taken high tea at, say, one of Singapore’s grand hotels would find the mix of Eastern and Western flavors utterly familiar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, where afternoon tea is a well-loved remnant of British colonization, it’s standard practice to combine the format and the aesthetics of English-style tea service with an infusion of Asian flavors. There, too, Haron likes to point out, guests get dressed up and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963228/indonesian-high-tea-kopi-bar-sandai-walnut-creek\">sip their Earl Grey with their pinkies out\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Diners enjoying an afternoon tea spread inside a busy cafe.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guests share tea and pastries while dressed in “Bridgerton”-inspired outfits during Kopi Bar’s themed high tea service on Jan. 31, 2026, at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area has its own rich tea party traditions, mostly nodding to the British style. But up until a couple of years ago, it was nearly impossible to find this kind of hybridized, Asian-inspired afternoon tea service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no longer the case. In fact, we’re experiencing something of a golden age for Asian-style afternoon tea here in the Bay Area, as new pop-ups and standalone tea rooms crop up to satisfy the growing demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wit: Kopi Bar’s aforementioned \u003cem>Bridgerton \u003c/em>tea series will take over a section of the cafe every Saturday at least through the end of February. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/littlemoonbakehouse/?hl=en\">Little Moon Bakehouse\u003c/a>, an Asian American vegan baking company in Oakland, hosts “reimagined” afternoon tea pop-ups at different venues around the Bay — packing 100 sweets lovers onto, say, the second floor of San Francisco’s Ferry Building for moon cakes and mini pork floss buns. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pamanaplantas/?hl=en\">Pamana Plantas\u003c/a>, a plant store in Berkeley, has started throwing kamayan-inspired \u003ca href=\"https://pamanaplantas.com/pages/kamayan-tea-parties\">Filipino tea parties\u003c/a>, lining the tables with banana leaves and ube pastries. And while the afternoon tea program at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sonandgarden/?hl=en\">Son & Garden\u003c/a>, a lavishly flower-bedecked spot from the owners of the Farmhouse Thai restaurant empire, doesn’t have an explicit Asian focus, its \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/son-and-garden-san-francisco?select=WSZlwDtjjA9iLKVlv9XNng\">themed tea sets\u003c/a> often include delicacies like Japanese cherry blossom cookies and homemade samosas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up of a diner's hand holding up an open-face avocado sandwich.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A guest at Kopi Bar holds a tea sandwich topped with avocado and herbs. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the OG of the genre, Alameda’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/malayatearoom/?hl=en\">Malaya Tea Room\u003c/a>, which has served elegant Malaysian afternoon tea sets, both in person and as a take-home kit, for nearly seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her part, Haron says the tea parties have by far been her most popular events since she started hosting them last year. After she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980465/kopi-bar-bampfa-cafe-berkeley-avocado-iced-coffee-kaya-toast\">moved Kopi Bar to Berkeley\u003c/a> from its original Walnut Creek location this past fall, she received a steady stream of DMs from old customers, pleading with her: “Please, please, will you do this again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to such a groundswell of support, Haron says, laughing, “How can I not?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reclaiming a colonial history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course, the British were the ones who brought the practice of a light afternoon meal with tea to Singapore and Malaysia during their long period of colonial rule — from 1819 to 1963, in the case of Singapore. The Raffles Hotel, probably the most iconic place to take tea in Singapore, started offering its afternoon tea service — complete with live orchestra — in 1918.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new enterprise should be warmly encouraged by the public of both sexes who often find the hours between 4:30 and dinner time hang heavily,” an \u003ca href=\"https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19180109-1.2.26?qt=%22afternoon%20tea%22,%20%22raffles%20hotel%22&q=%22afternoon%20tea%22%20%22raffles%20hotel%22\">article in Singaporean newspaper \u003cem>The Straits Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> enthused at the time. Meanwhile, a popular restaurant called Emmerson’s Tiffin Room was advertising a more modest daily afternoon tea \u003ca href=\"https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/singfreepressb18980702-1.2.32.2?qt=%22afternoon%20tea%22,%20emmerson&q=%22afternoon%20tea%22%20%22emmerson%27s%22\">as early as 1898\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986151\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in an elegant dark blue dress with matching floral hat.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindy Lee, a guest at Kopi Bar’s “Bridgerton”-themed high tea, poses in the stairwell at BAMPFA. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These initial offerings were mostly geared toward Singapore’s British residents, as well as wealthy travelers visiting from Europe. But the custom of taking afternoon tea was eventually taken up by locals as well — and persisted long after the British left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local expressions of the tradition began as early as the 1960s, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kfseetoh/?hl=en\">KF Seetoh\u003c/a>, probably the foremost street food expert in Singapore. Cafes began selling kaya toast and local coffee in the afternoon; curry puffs and pandan cakes also first appeared around this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days at Raffles, you’ll find Indian tiffin meals \u003cem>and\u003c/em> tiered trays of high tea offerings, [everything] from the usual British fare to even \u003ca href=\"https://ccs.city/en/chinese-cultural-club/chinese-culinary/nyonya-cake\">Nyonya cakes\u003c/a>,” Seetoh says. “The evolution [can be] credited to finding an identity true to the mishmash of cultures in Singapore — the best of everyone’s kitchens and grandmas’ recipes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar story played out in Malaysia. For Malaya Tea Room owner Leena Lim, going out for tea was an occasional mother-daughter treat she remembers enjoying all through her childhood. Every couple of months, her mother would bring her to afternoon tea at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where she’d marvel at all of the fancy cakes and finger sandwiches.[aside postID=arts_13986360 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-kaisendon.jpg']“It was such an intimate, beautiful experience,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, in the ’80s and ’90s, most of the upscale hotel afternoon tea places in Malaysia still served food that was overwhelmingly British. At most, Lim recalls, maybe one item — say, a curry puff — would nod toward the local food culture. Because afternoon tea at the big hotels was “fancy” and expensive, Lim says even locals \u003cem>wanted\u003c/em> the food to be authentically British. Why would anyone pay so much to eat a Malaysian snack they could buy down the street for just a few ringgits?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lim estimates it’s only in the last 10 years or so that even the fanciest British-style tea rooms in Malaysia and Singapore have started leaning more into local flavors, adding sambals and curries and kuehs (assorted bite-size treats made with glutinous rice) into the mix with the scones and cucumber sandwiches that people still expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Lim opened Malaya Tea Room in 2019, on a quiet stretch of Central Avenue in Alameda, she wanted it to be more of a hybrid. At the time, she didn’t know of any other businesses that were throwing Asian–inspired afternoon tea parties. Beloved local institutions like Lovejoy’s more or less replicate the British traditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/9/14/21436496/malaya-tea-room-afternoon-tea-takeout-box-kaya-jam-rendang-alameda\">Lim wanted to do both\u003c/a>. She planned to do the British stuff just as well as, or maybe even better than, the purely Anglophilic places — to, for instance, be one of the only places that make their clotted cream from scratch. But she also wanted to introduce customers to elegant, afternoon tea versions of some of her favorite Malaysian street snacks — in other words, to serve food that actually tastes \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. (She’d grown to find the British standards to be quite bland and boring.) Her menu included one finger sandwich that’s based on kaya toast, another that combines pork floss with a homemade basil spread, and yet another that features bakkwa (Malaysian pork jerky).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986561\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Three-tiered cake stand with an array of cakes, pastries and finger sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">British-style scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam sit alongside curried potato canapés on gluten-free crackers during afternoon tea at Malaya Tea Room in Alameda on Feb. 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When my family arrived at Malaya on a recent Sunday, the atmosphere inside the cozy tea room was languid and vaguely tropical — lush greenery sprawled in every direction; a ceiling fan spun lazily up above. Nostalgic knickknacks (antique Chinese vases, an abacus, an old Hup Seng cracker tin) decorated the display cabinets. On the table was a little bell to ring when you were ready for your server to come take your order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sandwiches we loved best included the curry chicken, made with coconut milk and a secret spice blend, and a sardine-and-cucumber number that Lim makes by doctoring the canned sardines in tomato sauce that you can buy at Asian grocers. On the sweets side, we enjoyed an airy-light pandan chiffon cake that wasn’t \u003cem>too \u003c/em>sweet — the ultimate compliment for an Asian dessert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the egg salad sandwich, which we ordered off the British side of the menu, was uncommonly good — lush with Kewpie mayonnaise and served on fluffy milk bread. It tasted exactly like the ones you get at 7-Eleven in Japan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lim says that’s exactly what she was going for: a familiar flavor that reminds you of childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian woman poses in front of a tiered cake stand with pastries and sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leena Lim, owner of Malaya Tea Room, sits behind a table set for afternoon tea. The tea room opened in Alameda in 2019 and has become a destination for specialty tea service in the East Bay. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her business has had its ups and downs over the past seven years, especially with the pandemic hitting just months after it opened. But she’s developed a loyal customer base, and people do seem to better understand Malaya’s afternoon tea offerings now than they did in the shop’s early days. Part of that, she says, just has to do with how much more popular Asian food is these days — how there’s now a cultural cachet to being the sort of person who understands pandan and ube: “Otherwise, it’s like who are you? Do you even live here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It helps that afternoon tea is the ultimate Instagram-friendly meal. Plus, Lim says, “people love dressing up,” and going out for tea provides a rare opportunity to do that. Every year, she has a big group that comes in cosplaying as anime characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During our visit, we spotted three elderly women enjoying a quiet conversation, a table of Gen Z Taiwanese ladies chattering happily in Mandarin, and a group of white otaku having an intense debate about \u003cem>Dragon Ball Z\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I even get groups of men who come in by themselves,” Lim says. “I think that’s awesome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tea with a twist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bakeries and cafes that offer Asian-style afternoon tea in the Bay Area all have their own charm — and their own little twists on the genre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Little Moon Bakehouse owner Annie Wang says her pop-ups are a natural extension of the fact that she started baking bread for the first time in 2024, adding a variety of Chinese bakery–style buns to her repertoire of plant-based cookies and mooncakes. Unlike Wang’s other baked goods, the breads don’t have long enough of a shelf life to ship nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986606\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Little Moon Bakehouse owner Annie Wang (standing) mingles with guests at her afternoon tea pop-up at the San Francisco Ferry Building on Dec. 14, 2025. Featured items included plant-based mooncakes and mini pork floss buns. \u003ccite>(Phil Stockbridge/SF Event Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I realized that this would be great for an experience,” she says. She started renting out venues across the Bay Area to host one-day afternoon tea pop-ups, filling up three-tier cake stands with an equal split of sweet and savory treats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 22, she’ll host her second tea pop-up in the San Francisco Ferry Building — a \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/afternoon-tea-in-sf-sun-dec-14-ferry-building-copy\">Lunar New Year–themed bash\u003c/a> for 100 guests, seated at long tables that stretch the length of the festive second-floor Grand Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu will include miniature pork floss buns, garlic butter buns, and \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/preorder-soy-sauce-chocolate-citrus-cookie-sandwich-heydoh-x-little-moon-bakehouse\">citrus zest sugar cookies\u003c/a> filled with soy sauce–spiked white chocolate (that one is a collaboration with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heydoh.co/\">Heydoh\u003c/a>, a Taiwanese American soy sauce brand). In the coming months, she’ll host \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/collections/afternoon-tea\">additional pop-ups\u003c/a> in SF Chinatown, the Sunset District and San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986562\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986562\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Tea kettles, sugar bowls and metal canisters of loose-leaf tea on a wooden credenza.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Loose-leaf teas line a wooden cabinet at Malaya Tea Room. The tea room serves a wide selection of teas in a space filled with nostalgic antique furnishings. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Jai Kandayah, the owner of Pleasanton’s recently closed \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/curryleavesbistro/?hl=en\">Curry Leaves Bistro\u003c/a>, says he never \u003cem>intended \u003c/em>to serve afternoon tea at his restaurant. He, too, grew up taking afternoon tea in Malaysia, but not the kind served at fancy hotels, which wasn’t accessible for working-class people. For the majority of Malaysians, afternoon tea — or high tea — was more of a home ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In Kandayah’s experience, Malaysians are more likely to talk about “high tea” than afternoon tea, referring to a heartier meal eaten later in the afternoon, at perhaps 4 or 5 p.m. after they get home from work — much more practical for working-class folks who can’t leave their jobs to eat cakes for an hour at 2 in the afternoon.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These meals always featured local flavors, Kandayah recalls. “I remember my mom would make a big pot of tea in the afternoon and then usually a savory snack — banana fritters, fried yucca, fried yams, fried taro,” he says. Sometimes the bread man would come around, and they’d buy a loaf and dip the bread in the curry that was left over from lunch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local high tea buffets he remembers frequenting as a young man similarly skewed toward Malaysian flavors. Many of them would even serve fried noodles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But again, Kandayah never had a high tea menu at Curry Leaves Bistro. Instead, regular customers — all of them older Malaysian immigrants — would knock on his door on Friday or Saturday afternoons, when the restaurant was closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would call and say, ‘Hey, there are eight of us coming in at 4 o’clock after our golf game. Can you prepare some tea and roti, and a plate of noodles?’” Kandayah says. “And we would do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry Leaves Bistro wound up closing this past fall after the landlord increased the rent, but Kandayah has already scouted out a new location in the East Bay and hopes to reopen later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, he says, afternoon tea on the restaurant’s backyard patio is going to come officially baked into the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A celebration of immigration\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Kopi Bar has leaned into the cosplay of it all. In addition to her \u003cem>Bridgerton\u003c/em> series, Haron has also hosted Bollywood- and \u003cem>Arabian Nights\u003c/em>–themed afternoon teas, and encourages guests to come dressed up to reflect the theme. People come for Haron’s stellar baked goods, sure. But they also come because the tea parties are joyful and extravagant — an all-out happening, as they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for Haron, in the current political climate — while masked federal agents whisk soccer moms and five-year-old kids away to far-off detention centers — her tea parties aren’t just some frivolous, let-them-eat-cake moments to cosplay as British aristocrats. They’re important rituals that allow immigrants like her to come together and celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986148\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986148\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in glasses poses inside a cafe.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Nora Haron, owner of Kopi Bar and Bakery, poses in her cafe on the second floor of BAMPFA. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This idea of ‘illegal’ immigrants being criminals — that’s obnoxious. We’re doing something for the community. You know, we’re bringing people together. We’re creating jobs,” she says. “So it’s wonderful to be able to support one another this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, she says, food is intertwined with the immigration process. And traditions like afternoon tea are a vital way for immigrants to maintain their cultural identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Singapore and Malaysia, the history of afternoon tea followed the same path as so many other things in Southeast Asia: The colonizers brought it, but locals improved it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986547\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986547\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up on a pandan pastry, a cup of tea and a menu for a special high tea event.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pandan and coconut pastry swirl sits next to Kopi Bar’s “Bridgerton”-inspired high tea menu. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the food writer Seetoh puts it, “You can still spend over a hundred bucks for the little pinky high teas at posh hotels flavored with affluence, but the majority, even the well-heeled, prefer a kueh salat, curry puff or ang ku kueh at local cafes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels more like a Singapore story,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it goes here in the diaspora, as Asian Americans create a new set of traditions replete with sourdough, vegan pork floss and the Bay Area’s own unique sense of swagger. They, too, are making afternoon tea their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kopi Bar’s \u003c/em>Bridgerton \u003cem>high tea series will run every Saturday through Feb. 28, plus an additional date on March 1, with seatings at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-bridgerton-inspired-high-tea-at-kopi-bar-tickets-1979138513571\">\u003cem>Tickets\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are limited. The cafe is located on the second floor of BAMPFA, at 2155 Center St. in Berkeley.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Little Moon Bakehouse’s Lunar New Year–themed afternoon tea will take place on Feb. 22, 11:30-1:30 p.m., at the SF Ferry Building (1 Ferry Building, San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/afternoon-tea-in-sf-sun-dec-14-ferry-building-copy\">\u003cem>Tickets\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are limited. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/collections/afternoon-tea\">\u003cem>Future tea events\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are scheduled to take place in SF Chinatown, the Sunset District, and San José.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://malayatearoom.com/\">\u003cem>Malaya Tea Room\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> has three seatings per day, Thu.-Sun., at 11 a.m., 1:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. It’s located at 920 Central Ave. in Alameda.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a recent Saturday morning, about a dozen elegantly dressed pastry lovers, decked out in their finest Regency-era gowns and dainty flower hats, promenaded into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/bampfa\">Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive\u003c/a>. Up the museum’s bright red staircase they went, pausing occasionally to snap a selfie, until they’d reached the second-floor cafe, where a handsome spread of teacakes and finger sandwiches awaited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The occasion? A \u003cem>Bridgerton\u003c/em>-themed tea party, which the cafe, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980465/kopi-bar-bampfa-cafe-berkeley-avocado-iced-coffee-kaya-toast\">Kopi Bar\u003c/a>, had timed to coincide with the soapy Netflix costume drama’s fourth season premiere. Thus the cavalcade of pearls and frilly chiffon gowns. Everything about the event appeared to be oh-so-perfectly British in its sensibilities — except that the food displayed on the wooden two-tier cake stands wasn’t \u003cem>only \u003c/em>your typical array of scones, clotted cream and cucumber sandwiches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cinnamon-roll-like pastry swirls shot through with sweet pandan and coconut sat next to crispy beef rendang samosas. Curried tuna salad topped delicate open-face sourdough brioche sandwiches. And while one sandwich did feature sliced cucumbers, they were mainly there to provide a cooling counterpoint to the fiery sambal-spiked egg salad on top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the kind of food that chef-owner Nora Haron likes to serve at Kopi Bar — a reflection of her background as a Singaporean immigrant of Indonesian-Indian descent. And while the spread might have surprised some Anglophile tea party enthusiasts, anyone who’s taken high tea at, say, one of Singapore’s grand hotels would find the mix of Eastern and Western flavors utterly familiar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, in countries like Singapore and Malaysia, where afternoon tea is a well-loved remnant of British colonization, it’s standard practice to combine the format and the aesthetics of English-style tea service with an infusion of Asian flavors. There, too, Haron likes to point out, guests get dressed up and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963228/indonesian-high-tea-kopi-bar-sandai-walnut-creek\">sip their Earl Grey with their pinkies out\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Diners enjoying an afternoon tea spread inside a busy cafe.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_003-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guests share tea and pastries while dressed in “Bridgerton”-inspired outfits during Kopi Bar’s themed high tea service on Jan. 31, 2026, at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Bay Area has its own rich tea party traditions, mostly nodding to the British style. But up until a couple of years ago, it was nearly impossible to find this kind of hybridized, Asian-inspired afternoon tea service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no longer the case. In fact, we’re experiencing something of a golden age for Asian-style afternoon tea here in the Bay Area, as new pop-ups and standalone tea rooms crop up to satisfy the growing demand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To wit: Kopi Bar’s aforementioned \u003cem>Bridgerton \u003c/em>tea series will take over a section of the cafe every Saturday at least through the end of February. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/littlemoonbakehouse/?hl=en\">Little Moon Bakehouse\u003c/a>, an Asian American vegan baking company in Oakland, hosts “reimagined” afternoon tea pop-ups at different venues around the Bay — packing 100 sweets lovers onto, say, the second floor of San Francisco’s Ferry Building for moon cakes and mini pork floss buns. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pamanaplantas/?hl=en\">Pamana Plantas\u003c/a>, a plant store in Berkeley, has started throwing kamayan-inspired \u003ca href=\"https://pamanaplantas.com/pages/kamayan-tea-parties\">Filipino tea parties\u003c/a>, lining the tables with banana leaves and ube pastries. And while the afternoon tea program at San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sonandgarden/?hl=en\">Son & Garden\u003c/a>, a lavishly flower-bedecked spot from the owners of the Farmhouse Thai restaurant empire, doesn’t have an explicit Asian focus, its \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/son-and-garden-san-francisco?select=WSZlwDtjjA9iLKVlv9XNng\">themed tea sets\u003c/a> often include delicacies like Japanese cherry blossom cookies and homemade samosas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up of a diner's hand holding up an open-face avocado sandwich.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_001-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A guest at Kopi Bar holds a tea sandwich topped with avocado and herbs. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the OG of the genre, Alameda’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/malayatearoom/?hl=en\">Malaya Tea Room\u003c/a>, which has served elegant Malaysian afternoon tea sets, both in person and as a take-home kit, for nearly seven years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For her part, Haron says the tea parties have by far been her most popular events since she started hosting them last year. After she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13980465/kopi-bar-bampfa-cafe-berkeley-avocado-iced-coffee-kaya-toast\">moved Kopi Bar to Berkeley\u003c/a> from its original Walnut Creek location this past fall, she received a steady stream of DMs from old customers, pleading with her: “Please, please, will you do this again?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to such a groundswell of support, Haron says, laughing, “How can I not?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reclaiming a colonial history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course, the British were the ones who brought the practice of a light afternoon meal with tea to Singapore and Malaysia during their long period of colonial rule — from 1819 to 1963, in the case of Singapore. The Raffles Hotel, probably the most iconic place to take tea in Singapore, started offering its afternoon tea service — complete with live orchestra — in 1918.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The new enterprise should be warmly encouraged by the public of both sexes who often find the hours between 4:30 and dinner time hang heavily,” an \u003ca href=\"https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19180109-1.2.26?qt=%22afternoon%20tea%22,%20%22raffles%20hotel%22&q=%22afternoon%20tea%22%20%22raffles%20hotel%22\">article in Singaporean newspaper \u003cem>The Straits Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> enthused at the time. Meanwhile, a popular restaurant called Emmerson’s Tiffin Room was advertising a more modest daily afternoon tea \u003ca href=\"https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/singfreepressb18980702-1.2.32.2?qt=%22afternoon%20tea%22,%20emmerson&q=%22afternoon%20tea%22%20%22emmerson%27s%22\">as early as 1898\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986151\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986151\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in an elegant dark blue dress with matching floral hat.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_031-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cindy Lee, a guest at Kopi Bar’s “Bridgerton”-themed high tea, poses in the stairwell at BAMPFA. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These initial offerings were mostly geared toward Singapore’s British residents, as well as wealthy travelers visiting from Europe. But the custom of taking afternoon tea was eventually taken up by locals as well — and persisted long after the British left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local expressions of the tradition began as early as the 1960s, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kfseetoh/?hl=en\">KF Seetoh\u003c/a>, probably the foremost street food expert in Singapore. Cafes began selling kaya toast and local coffee in the afternoon; curry puffs and pandan cakes also first appeared around this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days at Raffles, you’ll find Indian tiffin meals \u003cem>and\u003c/em> tiered trays of high tea offerings, [everything] from the usual British fare to even \u003ca href=\"https://ccs.city/en/chinese-cultural-club/chinese-culinary/nyonya-cake\">Nyonya cakes\u003c/a>,” Seetoh says. “The evolution [can be] credited to finding an identity true to the mishmash of cultures in Singapore — the best of everyone’s kitchens and grandmas’ recipes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar story played out in Malaysia. For Malaya Tea Room owner Leena Lim, going out for tea was an occasional mother-daughter treat she remembers enjoying all through her childhood. Every couple of months, her mother would bring her to afternoon tea at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where she’d marvel at all of the fancy cakes and finger sandwiches.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It was such an intimate, beautiful experience,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back then, in the ’80s and ’90s, most of the upscale hotel afternoon tea places in Malaysia still served food that was overwhelmingly British. At most, Lim recalls, maybe one item — say, a curry puff — would nod toward the local food culture. Because afternoon tea at the big hotels was “fancy” and expensive, Lim says even locals \u003cem>wanted\u003c/em> the food to be authentically British. Why would anyone pay so much to eat a Malaysian snack they could buy down the street for just a few ringgits?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lim estimates it’s only in the last 10 years or so that even the fanciest British-style tea rooms in Malaysia and Singapore have started leaning more into local flavors, adding sambals and curries and kuehs (assorted bite-size treats made with glutinous rice) into the mix with the scones and cucumber sandwiches that people still expect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Lim opened Malaya Tea Room in 2019, on a quiet stretch of Central Avenue in Alameda, she wanted it to be more of a hybrid. At the time, she didn’t know of any other businesses that were throwing Asian–inspired afternoon tea parties. Beloved local institutions like Lovejoy’s more or less replicate the British traditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/9/14/21436496/malaya-tea-room-afternoon-tea-takeout-box-kaya-jam-rendang-alameda\">Lim wanted to do both\u003c/a>. She planned to do the British stuff just as well as, or maybe even better than, the purely Anglophilic places — to, for instance, be one of the only places that make their clotted cream from scratch. But she also wanted to introduce customers to elegant, afternoon tea versions of some of her favorite Malaysian street snacks — in other words, to serve food that actually tastes \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. (She’d grown to find the British standards to be quite bland and boring.) Her menu included one finger sandwich that’s based on kaya toast, another that combines pork floss with a homemade basil spread, and yet another that features bakkwa (Malaysian pork jerky).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986561\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Three-tiered cake stand with an array of cakes, pastries and finger sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_039-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">British-style scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam sit alongside curried potato canapés on gluten-free crackers during afternoon tea at Malaya Tea Room in Alameda on Feb. 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When my family arrived at Malaya on a recent Sunday, the atmosphere inside the cozy tea room was languid and vaguely tropical — lush greenery sprawled in every direction; a ceiling fan spun lazily up above. Nostalgic knickknacks (antique Chinese vases, an abacus, an old Hup Seng cracker tin) decorated the display cabinets. On the table was a little bell to ring when you were ready for your server to come take your order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sandwiches we loved best included the curry chicken, made with coconut milk and a secret spice blend, and a sardine-and-cucumber number that Lim makes by doctoring the canned sardines in tomato sauce that you can buy at Asian grocers. On the sweets side, we enjoyed an airy-light pandan chiffon cake that wasn’t \u003cem>too \u003c/em>sweet — the ultimate compliment for an Asian dessert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the egg salad sandwich, which we ordered off the British side of the menu, was uncommonly good — lush with Kewpie mayonnaise and served on fluffy milk bread. It tasted exactly like the ones you get at 7-Eleven in Japan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lim says that’s exactly what she was going for: a familiar flavor that reminds you of childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian woman poses in front of a tiered cake stand with pastries and sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_034-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leena Lim, owner of Malaya Tea Room, sits behind a table set for afternoon tea. The tea room opened in Alameda in 2019 and has become a destination for specialty tea service in the East Bay. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Her business has had its ups and downs over the past seven years, especially with the pandemic hitting just months after it opened. But she’s developed a loyal customer base, and people do seem to better understand Malaya’s afternoon tea offerings now than they did in the shop’s early days. Part of that, she says, just has to do with how much more popular Asian food is these days — how there’s now a cultural cachet to being the sort of person who understands pandan and ube: “Otherwise, it’s like who are you? Do you even live here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It helps that afternoon tea is the ultimate Instagram-friendly meal. Plus, Lim says, “people love dressing up,” and going out for tea provides a rare opportunity to do that. Every year, she has a big group that comes in cosplaying as anime characters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During our visit, we spotted three elderly women enjoying a quiet conversation, a table of Gen Z Taiwanese ladies chattering happily in Mandarin, and a group of white otaku having an intense debate about \u003cem>Dragon Ball Z\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I even get groups of men who come in by themselves,” Lim says. “I think that’s awesome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tea with a twist\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The bakeries and cafes that offer Asian-style afternoon tea in the Bay Area all have their own charm — and their own little twists on the genre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Little Moon Bakehouse owner Annie Wang says her pop-ups are a natural extension of the fact that she started baking bread for the first time in 2024, adding a variety of Chinese bakery–style buns to her repertoire of plant-based cookies and mooncakes. Unlike Wang’s other baked goods, the breads don’t have long enough of a shelf life to ship nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986606\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986606\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/LITTLE-MOON-BAKEHOUSE-TEA-PARTY-2025-136-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Little Moon Bakehouse owner Annie Wang (standing) mingles with guests at her afternoon tea pop-up at the San Francisco Ferry Building on Dec. 14, 2025. Featured items included plant-based mooncakes and mini pork floss buns. \u003ccite>(Phil Stockbridge/SF Event Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I realized that this would be great for an experience,” she says. She started renting out venues across the Bay Area to host one-day afternoon tea pop-ups, filling up three-tier cake stands with an equal split of sweet and savory treats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Feb. 22, she’ll host her second tea pop-up in the San Francisco Ferry Building — a \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/afternoon-tea-in-sf-sun-dec-14-ferry-building-copy\">Lunar New Year–themed bash\u003c/a> for 100 guests, seated at long tables that stretch the length of the festive second-floor Grand Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu will include miniature pork floss buns, garlic butter buns, and \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/preorder-soy-sauce-chocolate-citrus-cookie-sandwich-heydoh-x-little-moon-bakehouse\">citrus zest sugar cookies\u003c/a> filled with soy sauce–spiked white chocolate (that one is a collaboration with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/heydoh.co/\">Heydoh\u003c/a>, a Taiwanese American soy sauce brand). In the coming months, she’ll host \u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/collections/afternoon-tea\">additional pop-ups\u003c/a> in SF Chinatown, the Sunset District and San José.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986562\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986562\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Tea kettles, sugar bowls and metal canisters of loose-leaf tea on a wooden credenza.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/020626GOLDEN-AGE-OF-ASIAN-STYLE-HIGH-TEA_GH_042-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Loose-leaf teas line a wooden cabinet at Malaya Tea Room. The tea room serves a wide selection of teas in a space filled with nostalgic antique furnishings. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Jai Kandayah, the owner of Pleasanton’s recently closed \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/curryleavesbistro/?hl=en\">Curry Leaves Bistro\u003c/a>, says he never \u003cem>intended \u003c/em>to serve afternoon tea at his restaurant. He, too, grew up taking afternoon tea in Malaysia, but not the kind served at fancy hotels, which wasn’t accessible for working-class people. For the majority of Malaysians, afternoon tea — or high tea — was more of a home ritual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(In Kandayah’s experience, Malaysians are more likely to talk about “high tea” than afternoon tea, referring to a heartier meal eaten later in the afternoon, at perhaps 4 or 5 p.m. after they get home from work — much more practical for working-class folks who can’t leave their jobs to eat cakes for an hour at 2 in the afternoon.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These meals always featured local flavors, Kandayah recalls. “I remember my mom would make a big pot of tea in the afternoon and then usually a savory snack — banana fritters, fried yucca, fried yams, fried taro,” he says. Sometimes the bread man would come around, and they’d buy a loaf and dip the bread in the curry that was left over from lunch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local high tea buffets he remembers frequenting as a young man similarly skewed toward Malaysian flavors. Many of them would even serve fried noodles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But again, Kandayah never had a high tea menu at Curry Leaves Bistro. Instead, regular customers — all of them older Malaysian immigrants — would knock on his door on Friday or Saturday afternoons, when the restaurant was closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People would call and say, ‘Hey, there are eight of us coming in at 4 o’clock after our golf game. Can you prepare some tea and roti, and a plate of noodles?’” Kandayah says. “And we would do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curry Leaves Bistro wound up closing this past fall after the landlord increased the rent, but Kandayah has already scouted out a new location in the East Bay and hopes to reopen later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, he says, afternoon tea on the restaurant’s backyard patio is going to come officially baked into the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A celebration of immigration\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Kopi Bar has leaned into the cosplay of it all. In addition to her \u003cem>Bridgerton\u003c/em> series, Haron has also hosted Bollywood- and \u003cem>Arabian Nights\u003c/em>–themed afternoon teas, and encourages guests to come dressed up to reflect the theme. People come for Haron’s stellar baked goods, sure. But they also come because the tea parties are joyful and extravagant — an all-out happening, as they say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for Haron, in the current political climate — while masked federal agents whisk soccer moms and five-year-old kids away to far-off detention centers — her tea parties aren’t just some frivolous, let-them-eat-cake moments to cosplay as British aristocrats. They’re important rituals that allow immigrants like her to come together and celebrate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986148\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986148\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A woman in glasses poses inside a cafe.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GOLDENAGEOFASIANSTYLEHIGH-TEA_GH_019-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Nora Haron, owner of Kopi Bar and Bakery, poses in her cafe on the second floor of BAMPFA. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This idea of ‘illegal’ immigrants being criminals — that’s obnoxious. We’re doing something for the community. You know, we’re bringing people together. We’re creating jobs,” she says. “So it’s wonderful to be able to support one another this way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, she says, food is intertwined with the immigration process. And traditions like afternoon tea are a vital way for immigrants to maintain their cultural identity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Singapore and Malaysia, the history of afternoon tea followed the same path as so many other things in Southeast Asia: The colonizers brought it, but locals improved it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986547\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986547\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up on a pandan pastry, a cup of tea and a menu for a special high tea event.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/013126GoldenAgeofAsianStyleHigh-Tea_GH_020_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pandan and coconut pastry swirl sits next to Kopi Bar’s “Bridgerton”-inspired high tea menu. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the food writer Seetoh puts it, “You can still spend over a hundred bucks for the little pinky high teas at posh hotels flavored with affluence, but the majority, even the well-heeled, prefer a kueh salat, curry puff or ang ku kueh at local cafes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It feels more like a Singapore story,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it goes here in the diaspora, as Asian Americans create a new set of traditions replete with sourdough, vegan pork floss and the Bay Area’s own unique sense of swagger. They, too, are making afternoon tea their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kopi Bar’s \u003c/em>Bridgerton \u003cem>high tea series will run every Saturday through Feb. 28, plus an additional date on March 1, with seatings at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-bridgerton-inspired-high-tea-at-kopi-bar-tickets-1979138513571\">\u003cem>Tickets\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are limited. The cafe is located on the second floor of BAMPFA, at 2155 Center St. in Berkeley.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Little Moon Bakehouse’s Lunar New Year–themed afternoon tea will take place on Feb. 22, 11:30-1:30 p.m., at the SF Ferry Building (1 Ferry Building, San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/products/afternoon-tea-in-sf-sun-dec-14-ferry-building-copy\">\u003cem>Tickets\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are limited. \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://littlemoonbakehouse.com/collections/afternoon-tea\">\u003cem>Future tea events\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> are scheduled to take place in SF Chinatown, the Sunset District, and San José.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://malayatearoom.com/\">\u003cem>Malaya Tea Room\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> has three seatings per day, Thu.-Sun., at 11 a.m., 1:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. It’s located at 920 Central Ave. in Alameda.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>One of the most memorable breakfasts of my life was at a small sushi stall at the old Tsukiji fish market in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japan\">Tokyo\u003c/a>, where I dug into a big wooden tub of rice topped with a mountain of incredibly fresh-tasting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japanese-food\">uni, ikura and fatty tuna\u003c/a>. It was just past eight o’clock in the morning. After I’d devoured most of the raw seafood, the shopkeeper poured hot dashi over the last little bit so I could slurp it up like the most exquisite rice porridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Call it a typical Japanophile’s romanticized tourist experience, but for years I’ve thought about that bowl of seafood. I never found anything quite like it in the Bay Area until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yaichi_restaurant/\">Yaichi\u003c/a>, a newish restaurant specializing in fresh seafood bowls, or kaisendon, in the Ulferts Center shopping plaza in Milpitas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant. The blue curtain hanging in the doorway reads, \"Yaichi Japanese Udon & Seafood Bowl.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located in the Ulferts Center shopping plaza in Milpitas. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since this past fall, Yaichi sells three progressively luxed-up versions of its sushi bowl. The basic “Ume” bowl ($26) comes piled extravagantly high with minced yellowfin tuna, flying fish roe, scallops and a plump morsel of snow crab leg meat. The more premium bowls ($32 and $41, respectively) add a generous scattering of ikura (marinated salmon roe) and Hokkaido sea urchin to the mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginner-friendly instructions displayed on every table teach first-timers how to best enjoy the kaisen don: First, place some of the rice and seafood on a piece of dried seaweed, wrapping it up to eat like a sushi hand roll. Then, mix together some wasabi and house-brewed soy sauce and pour it over the remaining seafood. The briny pop of the ikura and the buttery ocean umami of the uni make for an especially delicious combination when stirred into the warm rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986366\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2.jpg\" alt=\"Japanese seafood bowl piled high with salmon roe, sea urchin and other assorted raw seafood.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another view of the “Matsu” bowl — the fanciest and most expensive of Yaichi’s seafood bowls. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Toward the end of the meal, you can add the optional ochazuke set ($4.50), which comes with shredded shiso, seaweed, tiny rice cracker balls and a single piece of salmon sashimi. Add all that into what’s left of your bowl (make sure you save some of the rice!) and then pour hot dashi over everything, transforming the sushi bowl into a gentle, cozy soup that warms you up from the inside. In that way, diners get to enjoy their kaisendon as two totally different dishes in one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant is the brainchild of Tokyo-raised chef-owner Nobu Kashima, who also runs Leichi, a popular izakaya in Santa Clara. In Japan, he explains, you can find kaisendon at casual izakayas, at beachside seafood restaurants and — perhaps most commonly for foreign tourists — at fish market kiosks like the one I ate at Tsikiji. In recent years, popular, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_XZH2zz_pE/?hl=en&img_index=1\">Instagram-friendly kaisendon chains\u003c/a> in Tokyo have been known to draw two-hour lines during the dinner rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the Bay Area, though, Kashima says he hasn’t really seen any restaurants specializing in these giant seafood bowls, though you might find a more modest version on the menu at certain sushi restaurants or izakayas. What’s much more common are chirashi bowls, which feature a variety of sashimi scattered on top of a bowl or bento box of vinegared sushi rice. Kaisendon like Yaichi’s, on the other hand, usually comes with plain, unseasoned rice, which makes it more suitable for the ochazuke treatment — also a relative rarity in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986371\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986371\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of dashi broth with seafood and rice.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The optional ochuzuke set gives diners an additional way to enjoy the meal. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Apart from the seafood bowls, Yaichi offers a concise selection of izakaya-style appetizers, my favorite of which was the delightful DIY Japanese potato salad, which comes with a little mortar and wooden pestle. You pound the potatoes to your preferred texture before mixing in the mayonnaise, cucumber, onion, soft-boiled egg and your choice of ham or salted cod roe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13986256,arts_13926203,arts_13957143']Eventually, the restaurant’s other main specialty will be udon. Kashimi says he’s in the process of importing a noodle machine from Japan so that he can make the udon fresh in-house. Both the noodles and the broth will be made according to the Sanuki style from Kanagawa Prefecture. The noodles are meant to be particularly chewy, and the broth will have a strong fish flavor from dried sardines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kanishi says he’s hoping the udon will be available within the coming month. At that point, the emphasis of the restaurant will be split evenly between the udon and the seafood rice bowls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people really like noodles,” he says. “But if you’re eating noodles every day, you miss the rice. That’s why I want to do both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://yaichi.netlify.app/\">\u003ci>Yaichi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open daily 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4:30–8:30 p.m., except for Tuesdays, when the restaurant is closed. It’s located in the Ulferts Center at 668 Barber Ln. in Milpitas.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One of the most memorable breakfasts of my life was at a small sushi stall at the old Tsukiji fish market in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japan\">Tokyo\u003c/a>, where I dug into a big wooden tub of rice topped with a mountain of incredibly fresh-tasting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/japanese-food\">uni, ikura and fatty tuna\u003c/a>. It was just past eight o’clock in the morning. After I’d devoured most of the raw seafood, the shopkeeper poured hot dashi over the last little bit so I could slurp it up like the most exquisite rice porridge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Call it a typical Japanophile’s romanticized tourist experience, but for years I’ve thought about that bowl of seafood. I never found anything quite like it in the Bay Area until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled on \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yaichi_restaurant/\">Yaichi\u003c/a>, a newish restaurant specializing in fresh seafood bowls, or kaisendon, in the Ulferts Center shopping plaza in Milpitas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986367\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant. The blue curtain hanging in the doorway reads, \"Yaichi Japanese Udon & Seafood Bowl.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-exterior-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located in the Ulferts Center shopping plaza in Milpitas. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since this past fall, Yaichi sells three progressively luxed-up versions of its sushi bowl. The basic “Ume” bowl ($26) comes piled extravagantly high with minced yellowfin tuna, flying fish roe, scallops and a plump morsel of snow crab leg meat. The more premium bowls ($32 and $41, respectively) add a generous scattering of ikura (marinated salmon roe) and Hokkaido sea urchin to the mix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginner-friendly instructions displayed on every table teach first-timers how to best enjoy the kaisen don: First, place some of the rice and seafood on a piece of dried seaweed, wrapping it up to eat like a sushi hand roll. Then, mix together some wasabi and house-brewed soy sauce and pour it over the remaining seafood. The briny pop of the ikura and the buttery ocean umami of the uni make for an especially delicious combination when stirred into the warm rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986366\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2.jpg\" alt=\"Japanese seafood bowl piled high with salmon roe, sea urchin and other assorted raw seafood.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-closeup-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another view of the “Matsu” bowl — the fanciest and most expensive of Yaichi’s seafood bowls. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Toward the end of the meal, you can add the optional ochazuke set ($4.50), which comes with shredded shiso, seaweed, tiny rice cracker balls and a single piece of salmon sashimi. Add all that into what’s left of your bowl (make sure you save some of the rice!) and then pour hot dashi over everything, transforming the sushi bowl into a gentle, cozy soup that warms you up from the inside. In that way, diners get to enjoy their kaisendon as two totally different dishes in one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant is the brainchild of Tokyo-raised chef-owner Nobu Kashima, who also runs Leichi, a popular izakaya in Santa Clara. In Japan, he explains, you can find kaisendon at casual izakayas, at beachside seafood restaurants and — perhaps most commonly for foreign tourists — at fish market kiosks like the one I ate at Tsikiji. In recent years, popular, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_XZH2zz_pE/?hl=en&img_index=1\">Instagram-friendly kaisendon chains\u003c/a> in Tokyo have been known to draw two-hour lines during the dinner rush.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here in the Bay Area, though, Kashima says he hasn’t really seen any restaurants specializing in these giant seafood bowls, though you might find a more modest version on the menu at certain sushi restaurants or izakayas. What’s much more common are chirashi bowls, which feature a variety of sashimi scattered on top of a bowl or bento box of vinegared sushi rice. Kaisendon like Yaichi’s, on the other hand, usually comes with plain, unseasoned rice, which makes it more suitable for the ochazuke treatment — also a relative rarity in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986371\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986371\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of dashi broth with seafood and rice.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/yaichi-ochuzuke-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The optional ochuzuke set gives diners an additional way to enjoy the meal. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Apart from the seafood bowls, Yaichi offers a concise selection of izakaya-style appetizers, my favorite of which was the delightful DIY Japanese potato salad, which comes with a little mortar and wooden pestle. You pound the potatoes to your preferred texture before mixing in the mayonnaise, cucumber, onion, soft-boiled egg and your choice of ham or salted cod roe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Eventually, the restaurant’s other main specialty will be udon. Kashimi says he’s in the process of importing a noodle machine from Japan so that he can make the udon fresh in-house. Both the noodles and the broth will be made according to the Sanuki style from Kanagawa Prefecture. The noodles are meant to be particularly chewy, and the broth will have a strong fish flavor from dried sardines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kanishi says he’s hoping the udon will be available within the coming month. At that point, the emphasis of the restaurant will be split evenly between the udon and the seafood rice bowls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some people really like noodles,” he says. “But if you’re eating noodles every day, you miss the rice. That’s why I want to do both.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://yaichi.netlify.app/\">\u003ci>Yaichi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open daily 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4:30–8:30 p.m., except for Tuesdays, when the restaurant is closed. It’s located in the Ulferts Center at 668 Barber Ln. in Milpitas.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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