This East Bay Graphic Novel Celebrates the Magic of Passing Notes With Friends
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Remembering Chris Strachwitz's Many Gifts to the World
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"content": "\u003cp>The epigraph for Briana Loewinsohn’s wonderfully nostalgic new graphic memoir \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> reads, “This is not a love story. It is a love letter.” Set during the author’s middle and high school years in Berkeley, Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/el-cerrito\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> in the 1990s, the book is a coming-of-age story about the deep loneliness of being a teenager, and also the transformative power of friendship and art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also, as much as anything, about the magic of handwritten letters and notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone, the Oakland cartoonist explains that this was actually the impetus for the whole book: “First and foremost I wanted to write about notes,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the graphic novel’s 200 pages, Loewinsohn’s adolescent self is constantly writing notes to her friends. She folds them up into little triangles and passes them when the teacher isn’t looking, and marvels at how good and funny and weird a certain friend’s notes always are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972139\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972139\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg\" alt='Four panels from a graphic novel: A girl dozes off at her desk in class. Then, a hand reaches out to hand her a piece of paper folded up into a triangle. \"Briana\" is written on the outside of the note.' width=\"2000\" height=\"2012\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-800x805.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1020x1026.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-768x773.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1527x1536.jpg 1527w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1920x1932.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handwritten notes are a through line in this coming-of-age story. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The book also features what has become one of Loewinsohn’s signature devices (debuted in her KQED series on old East Bay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930727/comic-lost-cafes-coffee-shops-the-med-au-coquelet-gaylords-oakland-berkeley\">coffee shops\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movie theaters\u003c/a>), wherein she includes a handwritten note — something like a diary entry — every few pages, between scenes. Like her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926136/poignant-graphic-novel-ephemera-explores-an-oakland-artists-lonely-childhood\">debut memoir, \u003ci>Ephemera\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, about her early childhood, \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>has a quiet beauty, and many of the panels have little to no dialogue whatsoever. Against that backdrop, the handwritten interludes give deeper insight into what she’s thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The other kids] all seem to understand how to be in the world in a way that I do not,” she writes in one note. “They punch each other and laugh. Then they punch someone else. They get it.” In another, about her dad: “He will never ask how my day was or how school is going. But he will also never bother me. … Some days, though, I wouldn’t mind being bothered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loewinsohn says she’s kept every single note that her friends ever gave her. As research for the book, she went back and reread all of them — along with her high school journal and every email she wrote in 1997 — to put herself back into that “cringeworthy” mode of teenage self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972145\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972145\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg\" alt=\"Panels from a graphic novel: Each panels progressively zooms out, showing teens sprawled in a field, each listening to their own Walkman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book is a nostalgic trip for readers who grew up in the ’90s, listening to Walkmans and talking on landline telephones. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, Loewinsohn thinks back on all the notes she exchanged with her friends as an early form of social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13968201,arts_13930727,arts_13926136']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>“It was a cure for boredom, definitely, and a conduit for gossip,” she says. “But I think it really just made you feel connected to people even when you maybe weren’t with them, because you were like, ‘Oh, I’m writing a note to this person, or I’m waiting to get a note.’ There was that serotonin bump when you would get a note.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Loewinsohn’s teenage self explains in one of the handwritten notes that are interspersed throughout the book, “Notes make us feel … like we have a friend with us when really we are surrounded by zombies. … I can’t imagine how lonely I’d feel without them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>will resonate with Gen Xers and elder millennials who went to high school in the ’90s, watched the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movies\u003c/a> and TV shows, and made mixtapes with the same bands (Tupac, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins). Readers who grew up in the East Bay, in particular, will get a heavy dose of nostalgia from Loewinsohn’s lovingly rendered drawings of the old haunts where she and her friends spent their nights and weekends: Moe’s Books, Amoeba Music, Albany Bowl, all ages shows at Berkeley Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A young woman strolls down a downtown street. The signs on the storefronts read, "Shambhala Publications" and "Moe's Books."\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-768x771.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1920x1928.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book takes place at popular teen hangouts in the East Bay of the 1990s — including stores like Amoeba Music and Moe’s Books in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the book was really written with a teenage audience in mind, says Loewinsohn. On the one hand, she thinks many pages in \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will read as fun objects of curiosity for teens today, who might not talk on the phone at all anymore or at least not in the same way we Olds did — for six hours sometimes, twisting the long cord around our fingers, until our parents kicked us off the line or we literally fell asleep. They may have never known what it was like to fold up a handwritten note during a time when social media didn’t exist in the same way. (One of the most fun outcomes of the book, Loewinsohn says, would be if it helps spark a resurgence in note-writing among teens — which is why she included detailed origami diagrams for three different note-folding techniques in the appendix.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13972147 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for the book 'Raised by Ghosts.'\" width=\"240\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-800x1028.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1020x1311.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-768x987.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1593x2048.jpg 1593w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1920x2468.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-scaled.jpg 1991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than that, though, Loewinsohn hopes young readers will take the book’s message to heart. “The intention of the book is really just to acknowledge how hard it is to be a teenager and how big the feelings are — whether they’re founded or unfounded is inconsequential. It is \u003ci>hard\u003c/i> to be a teenager,” she says. “And the book is to acknowledge that and to tell you, I see you. You’re doing great. Keep going, and look for things in your life that help you feel connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s fitting, then, that one of Loewinsohn’s very first events promoting \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will be geared specifically for a teen audience. Her Feb. 22 reading at the Oakland Public Library will feature a Q&A led by fellow Oakland graphic novelist (and frequent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">KQED contributor\u003c/a>) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930458/thien-pham-family-style-graphic-novel-food-memoir-vietnamese-refugee-san-jose-hella-hungry\">Thien Pham\u003c/a>, and Loewinsohn will also spend some time talking about how she got into drawing comics to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the challenges of catering a book event for a younger crowd, Loewinsohn noted that she talks to teenagers every day. She’s worked as a high school art teacher for the past 20 years, after all.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/raised-by-ghosts?srsltid=AfmBOoopc3MlFgJFoIITS5LmDU5g4a8f1WbR0yb-b4RBpyvW2iQ2Tskv\">Raised by Ghosts\u003c/a> \u003ci>is available at all booksellers now. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DF_v8bSPsZH/\">\u003ci>Oakland Public Library event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m., in the TeenZone at the main branch (125 14th St., Oakland). Follow Loewinsohn on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brianabreaks/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> for details on other upcoming events.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Review: Briana Loewinsohn's Graphic Novel 'Raised by Ghosts' | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The epigraph for Briana Loewinsohn’s wonderfully nostalgic new graphic memoir \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> reads, “This is not a love story. It is a love letter.” Set during the author’s middle and high school years in Berkeley, Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/el-cerrito\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> in the 1990s, the book is a coming-of-age story about the deep loneliness of being a teenager, and also the transformative power of friendship and art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also, as much as anything, about the magic of handwritten letters and notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone, the Oakland cartoonist explains that this was actually the impetus for the whole book: “First and foremost I wanted to write about notes,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the graphic novel’s 200 pages, Loewinsohn’s adolescent self is constantly writing notes to her friends. She folds them up into little triangles and passes them when the teacher isn’t looking, and marvels at how good and funny and weird a certain friend’s notes always are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972139\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972139\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg\" alt='Four panels from a graphic novel: A girl dozes off at her desk in class. Then, a hand reaches out to hand her a piece of paper folded up into a triangle. \"Briana\" is written on the outside of the note.' width=\"2000\" height=\"2012\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-800x805.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1020x1026.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-768x773.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1527x1536.jpg 1527w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1920x1932.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handwritten notes are a through line in this coming-of-age story. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The book also features what has become one of Loewinsohn’s signature devices (debuted in her KQED series on old East Bay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930727/comic-lost-cafes-coffee-shops-the-med-au-coquelet-gaylords-oakland-berkeley\">coffee shops\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movie theaters\u003c/a>), wherein she includes a handwritten note — something like a diary entry — every few pages, between scenes. Like her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926136/poignant-graphic-novel-ephemera-explores-an-oakland-artists-lonely-childhood\">debut memoir, \u003ci>Ephemera\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, about her early childhood, \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>has a quiet beauty, and many of the panels have little to no dialogue whatsoever. Against that backdrop, the handwritten interludes give deeper insight into what she’s thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The other kids] all seem to understand how to be in the world in a way that I do not,” she writes in one note. “They punch each other and laugh. Then they punch someone else. They get it.” In another, about her dad: “He will never ask how my day was or how school is going. But he will also never bother me. … Some days, though, I wouldn’t mind being bothered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loewinsohn says she’s kept every single note that her friends ever gave her. As research for the book, she went back and reread all of them — along with her high school journal and every email she wrote in 1997 — to put herself back into that “cringeworthy” mode of teenage self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972145\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972145\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg\" alt=\"Panels from a graphic novel: Each panels progressively zooms out, showing teens sprawled in a field, each listening to their own Walkman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book is a nostalgic trip for readers who grew up in the ’90s, listening to Walkmans and talking on landline telephones. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, Loewinsohn thinks back on all the notes she exchanged with her friends as an early form of social media.\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>“It was a cure for boredom, definitely, and a conduit for gossip,” she says. “But I think it really just made you feel connected to people even when you maybe weren’t with them, because you were like, ‘Oh, I’m writing a note to this person, or I’m waiting to get a note.’ There was that serotonin bump when you would get a note.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Loewinsohn’s teenage self explains in one of the handwritten notes that are interspersed throughout the book, “Notes make us feel … like we have a friend with us when really we are surrounded by zombies. … I can’t imagine how lonely I’d feel without them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>will resonate with Gen Xers and elder millennials who went to high school in the ’90s, watched the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movies\u003c/a> and TV shows, and made mixtapes with the same bands (Tupac, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins). Readers who grew up in the East Bay, in particular, will get a heavy dose of nostalgia from Loewinsohn’s lovingly rendered drawings of the old haunts where she and her friends spent their nights and weekends: Moe’s Books, Amoeba Music, Albany Bowl, all ages shows at Berkeley Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A young woman strolls down a downtown street. The signs on the storefronts read, "Shambhala Publications" and "Moe's Books."\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-768x771.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1920x1928.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book takes place at popular teen hangouts in the East Bay of the 1990s — including stores like Amoeba Music and Moe’s Books in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the book was really written with a teenage audience in mind, says Loewinsohn. On the one hand, she thinks many pages in \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will read as fun objects of curiosity for teens today, who might not talk on the phone at all anymore or at least not in the same way we Olds did — for six hours sometimes, twisting the long cord around our fingers, until our parents kicked us off the line or we literally fell asleep. They may have never known what it was like to fold up a handwritten note during a time when social media didn’t exist in the same way. (One of the most fun outcomes of the book, Loewinsohn says, would be if it helps spark a resurgence in note-writing among teens — which is why she included detailed origami diagrams for three different note-folding techniques in the appendix.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13972147 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for the book 'Raised by Ghosts.'\" width=\"240\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-800x1028.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1020x1311.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-768x987.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1593x2048.jpg 1593w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1920x2468.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-scaled.jpg 1991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than that, though, Loewinsohn hopes young readers will take the book’s message to heart. “The intention of the book is really just to acknowledge how hard it is to be a teenager and how big the feelings are — whether they’re founded or unfounded is inconsequential. It is \u003ci>hard\u003c/i> to be a teenager,” she says. “And the book is to acknowledge that and to tell you, I see you. You’re doing great. Keep going, and look for things in your life that help you feel connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s fitting, then, that one of Loewinsohn’s very first events promoting \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will be geared specifically for a teen audience. Her Feb. 22 reading at the Oakland Public Library will feature a Q&A led by fellow Oakland graphic novelist (and frequent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">KQED contributor\u003c/a>) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930458/thien-pham-family-style-graphic-novel-food-memoir-vietnamese-refugee-san-jose-hella-hungry\">Thien Pham\u003c/a>, and Loewinsohn will also spend some time talking about how she got into drawing comics to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the challenges of catering a book event for a younger crowd, Loewinsohn noted that she talks to teenagers every day. She’s worked as a high school art teacher for the past 20 years, after all.\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.fantagraphics.com/products/raised-by-ghosts?srsltid=AfmBOoopc3MlFgJFoIITS5LmDU5g4a8f1WbR0yb-b4RBpyvW2iQ2Tskv\">Raised by Ghosts\u003c/a> \u003ci>is available at all booksellers now. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DF_v8bSPsZH/\">\u003ci>Oakland Public Library event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m., in the TeenZone at the main branch (125 14th St., Oakland). Follow Loewinsohn on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brianabreaks/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> for details on other upcoming events.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "jay-caspian-kang-asian-food-san-jose-hella-hungry",
"title": "Jay Caspian Kang Loves Bay Area Food — But Isn’t Shy About Bashing It",
"publishDate": 1706646992,
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"headTitle": "Jay Caspian Kang Loves Bay Area Food — But Isn’t Shy About Bashing It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13904835,arts_13950363,arts_13938479']My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jay Caspian Kang\"]‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’[/pullquote]I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003ci>¡Hella Hungry! is a series of interviews with Bay Area foodmakers exploring the region’s culinary innovations through the mouth of a first-generation local.\u003c/i>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Inside \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://gangnamtofuusa.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gangnam Tofu\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a destination-worthy Korean restaurant in an otherwise unremarkable El Cerrito strip mall, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jay Caspian Kang\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> orders a round of shareable dishes — galbi, honey-cheese fried chicken and budae jjigae (a wartime-era stew of mixed meats and noodles) — for us to split. As the lunch crowd pours in behind him, Kang tells me why he likes Gangnam over most other Asian eateries in the area: “I just want to eat standard Korean food that’s prepared well.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though he surprisingly prefers his spicy food mild, the Korean-born \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://goodbye.substack.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">podcast host\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, novelist and \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">New Yorker \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">staff writer serves plenty of hot takes on everything from the shortcomings of technology (he’s an aspiring luddite) to the most underrated rap albums of the past quarter century (he stands with Mos Def in the internet feud against Drake). And when it comes to the hypocrisies of Bay Area politics, he especially \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/london-breeds-cynical-swing-to-the-right\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">doesn’t hold back\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950802\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950802\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-09-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Best known for articles he’s written for national publications such as the New Yorker, Kang has lived in Berkeley since 2019. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having settled in Berkeley after years of living in New York City and Los Angeles, Kang has developed a genuine appreciation for the Bay Area’s microcultures. Despite growing up on the East Coast and often writing about topics of national interest, Kang has in many ways become a quintessential Northern Californian: In his free time, you might find him surfing or wandering the aisles at Berkeley Bowl.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yet, he’s also someone who brings a worldly outsider’s unflinching perspective to controversial Bay Area topics such as the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-does-californias-homeless-population-actually-look-like\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">housing crisis\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/magazine/where-does-affirmative-action-leave-asian-americans.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">affirmative action\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. He’ll even let you know that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740961971498074151\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Asian food in Las Vegas is better than the Bay Area’s\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perhaps \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">our region needs that tough love\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> now more than ever.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While talking to the sports-loving dad and low-key hip-hop historian about the highs and lows of Bay Area living, I remembered why I love this quirky region so deeply, despite its complex truths. Here’s what everyone’s favorite \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tyler Hansborough evangelist\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/hos-jay-caspian-kang\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">reformed online troll\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has to say about the state of the Bay — and its food offerings — in these precarious times.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">********\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Alan Chazaro: You were born in Korea, grew up in North Carolina and have lived in a ton of places. How long have you been in the Bay Area?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jay Caspian Kang: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I went to college in New England, and then I went to New York for grad school. But after that, I moved out to California and lived here in San Francisco for six, seven years. I was working as a high school teacher. Then I moved to L.A., back to New York, and then right before the pandemic we moved back out here to Berkeley. It’s been four years now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950796\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950796\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt='Hand pointing to the \"honey cheese chicken\" on Korean restaurant menu.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-03-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Perusing the menu at GangNam Tofu . \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve written about \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/magazine/writing-the-wave.html\">\u003cb>your passion for surfing\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb> in the Bay. What draws you to that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m not a good surfer, but yeah, I spend most of my time thinking about surfing. For years, I just went to Ocean Beach all the time, and you get used to it and, you know, you learn how to avoid trouble. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go once or twice a week. That’s the only way you can do it: You have to prioritize it. Or else, if you don’t, then you don’t ever go. If I get a Zoom call, I’ll just cancel that. You have to live with some of the consequences after, but surfing is very necessary for my mental well-being.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>It sounds like you’ve reached some kind of Zen mindstate. Did you achieve that when you were living in Los Angeles?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t really like to drive. And I’ve never liked Hollywood culture. I just find that the people I vibe most with are generally up here.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Who do you think is a good example of the Bay Area’s creativity and open-mindedness?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look at MC Hammer. He grew up doing that boogaloo style of dancing in East Oakland. He downloaded that as a kid. He blew it up into worldwide fame in a modified kind of way. Now that he’s old, his presence on social media is just showing all these old videos of guys from his neighborhood dancing. I find it amazing that he’s willing to go back and show these kids from his block who were his influences, and he’s basically showing how that made him who he is. That’s community, music coming out of community. He’s interesting because he’s like the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13909788/mc-hammer-oakland-redman-too-short-crips-louis-burrell-mc-serch-hit-e40\">most Oakland dude ever\u003c/a>, but he’s not always seen as being affiliated with that (laughs). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950797\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-04-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kang and KQED reporter Alan Chazaro put in their order. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Bay is weird like that. There’s a lot of different characters here.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is weird. It’s interesting how someone like E-40 has become this sort of mascot as a rapper. He’s the dude. He’s like an entire persona. And people love him because he goes to all the games. I’ve never seen Too $hort at a game. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Did you grow up listening to a lot of Bay Area rap out on the East Coast?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I grew up listening to whatever you imagine a 44-year-old man would listen to (laughs). A Tribe Called Quest. Wu-Tang. Mobb Deep. Then you had the Bay Area, so there was like “Blowjob Betty” or whatever, and you would listen to it, and it was crazy because it was just so nasty. Luniz, Del [the Funky Homosapien]. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Del is the one I personally listened to the most. I still listen to him. The Deltron 3030 album is brilliant. The production on that album is \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fucking\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> crazy. The whole concept is weird. [Bay Area producer] Dan the Automator had been messing with concept albums for a while. That was just a cool kind of rap with enough label support to make weird shit. That was before MF DOOM and all those dudes. It’s like Del imagining the future, and Del is awesome. He kills it. That album is low-key one of the 20 best rap albums ever. I hesitate to put it higher because is it as important as, say, KRS One? I don’t know. Listening to those KRS One albums can feel like you’re just doing your homework. I bet more people enjoyed Deltron 3030.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>What’s more Bay Area than an Asian American producer teaming up with a nerdy Black dude from East Oakland to make a futuristic album about a fictional dystopian society?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Totally. And these guys were getting deeply influenced by the shit that’s happening with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13812554/how-daly-citys-filipino-mobile-dj-scene-changed-hip-hop-forever\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Filipino DJs in Daly City\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Every city has some version of that, but it’s so interesting in the Bay because it really is so multiracial. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>I wonder if the Bay Area still represents that as much as it once did. You commented on the whole \u003c/b>\u003cb>fiasco with TikTok food critic Keith Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950363/keith-lee-tiktok-oakland-sf-bay-area-struggles\">recent Bay Area visit\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003cb>. He said the Bay is “not a place for tourists” right now. What do you think about that?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s no question that the Bay Area is going through a difficult time right now. If Keith Lee went to the Tenderloin and parts of East Oakland, which it seems like he did — or even if he went to 24th and Mission, which is highly trafficked — people when they come to the Bay Area and see that, it’s shocking to them. You have to be real about it. You don’t see that in New York. You see it in L.A. but it’s mostly in the Skid Row area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bay Area has had these issues for a long time, but it was more contained and it didn’t feel like it was as big of a problem. When I moved to San Francisco around 2002, I got off BART at 16th Street. I was like, \u003cem>Wow, this is kind of wild\u003c/em>. And now that has really expanded to a lot of places where a lot more people go. So in the Bay, you get these people coming for conferences or just visiting to see Fisherman’s Wharf, and chances are the hotel is going to be in Union Square or directly in the Tenderloin. So when you leave your hotel, you’re seeing really bad shit. That shocks outsiders and contributes to an unfair narrative. If you put all of the hotels in L.A. on Skid Row, everyone would be saying the same thing about L.A. But at the same time, I think it’s good to bring attention to this problem: We have completely out-of-control homelessness in one of the richest cities in America, and that paradox and contradiction is impossible to resolve.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The way out of it is going to be super messy and will create reactionary elements. People like [\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Fransicko \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">author] Michael Shellenberger believe all these \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Michael-Shellenberger-s-narrative-of-California-17172493.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">drug addicts should just be put in jail.\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://invisiblepeople.tv/san-francisco-mayor-london-breed-joins-calls-to-punish-homeless-people-overturn-martin-v-boise/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">London Breed sometimes feels that way, too\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. But I think overall, those people are underestimating that the San Francisco Bay Area is a very progressive place. They will never accept us locking up these people. And that’s a good thing. The idea that you’re going to lock up the poor and throw away the key, it’s just not going to happen. Right now we’re in a period of extremes: of extreme cynicism and despair. And for good reason, because it’s fucking bad, you know? But I still wouldn’t trade places with anyone to live somewhere else in this country. It’s a trade-off.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950799\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950799\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gangnam Tofu’s version of budae jjigae is a soft tofu stew loaded with sausage and noodles. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Despite our struggles, there’s so much to discover here and so many pockets of rich culture. You actually \u003c/b>\u003cb>had a take\u003c/b>\u003cb> that most of the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/jaycaspiankang/status/1740965943998927231\">Asian food in the Bay Area is bad\u003c/a>, outside of in San Jose. I’m not sure many outsiders, or even locals, would voice that.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So here’s the thing. This is just my theory. Immigrant food is only really good in a certain time period after the people who are making it have immigrated here. For example, new Chinese populations in the United States will have much better food in their restaurants, and in those areas where they are living, than older, established Chinese populations. And the reason for that is very simple. It’s that food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>My parents left Korea in 1978, and they never go back except for a little visit throughout 25 years. And by 1999, their understanding of Korean cuisine is basically frozen in 1978, because every single other person who owns a Korean restaurant also came around that same time, because there was a big wave of immigration from ’75 to ’79. I know that in San Francisco you have a multi-generational embedded Chinese population. But at this point, like, what are we even eating? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A lot of Chinese restaurants [in San Francisco] feel like they’re a movie set or something. It’s very charming, but it’s very old school. In the Richmond, there are places you can find that are exceptions to that. But right now, the cradle for the best Chinese food is from Cupertino to Mountain View, all around Silicon Valley. And the reason for that is because there are a lot of new Chinese immigrants that are coming to work there. In addition to that, there’s this \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904913/vietnamese-drinks-boba-che-guide-san-jose\">Vietnamese mall culture in San Jose\u003c/a>. It’s getting a little old-fashioned, but it’s still super vibrant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Food on the mainland continues to evolve, right? But the immigrants who have been living here for decades don’t. They’re frozen in time.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I just don’t find anything like that out here in the East Bay. We have taqueros in people’s backyards, and that’s very distinct and fully immigrant-driven, so that feels fresh in the cycle. But with Korean food, you have all these restaurants, but the issue is that they’ve all been here for so long that nothing has been updated. They’re basically selling food from the ’80s — but Korean food updates, even the standard dishes. When something comes straight from there and lands here, it feels exciting. That doesn’t happen as much up here as it does around San Jose. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904835/san-jose-immigrant-food\">The restaurants down there are fire\u003c/a>. Unfortunately I can’t go to Cupertino for lunch.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13950795\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13950795\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Two men seated across from each other inside a Korean restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/240122-GAGNAM-TOFU-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many Korean restaurants in the Bay Area are selling a version of Korean food that has been frozen in time since the 1980s, Kang says. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>So what are you working on next? What’s on your mind as a locally-based journalist with a national platform?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I write a lot about homelessness, so I’d like to continue to write and think about that. There’s tiny amounts of progress finally being made. It’s actually better than it was. For years here, we kind of felt like it could only get worse. But there are tiny indications things are getting a little bit better, that some of these interventions are working. People are just going to have to get used to the idea that the hotel down the street from their house where nobody ever stayed, that’s now a place for the people in the encampment that you didn’t like. They now live there. If you don’t like that, then I’m sorry. Obviously it’s going to take many, many years. And so following that is very interesting to me. They actually are reversing this thing that seems impossible to fix. I’m also going to write a lot about the upcoming election. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>You’ve had a decades-long career in this industry, which is currently struggling as \u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11973593/l-a-times-layoffs-decimate-journalists-of-color\">\u003cb>layoffs are decimating newsrooms across the country\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003cb>. What keeps you going?\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I feel the need to write a lot. I used to write very infrequently, and I found that I actually enjoyed writing much more. It’s a way to organize one’s life. Having something to put out and putting it out feels good. Sometimes it’s not great, because you might only have a week to do it. But I’m learning to be fine with that and understanding the job is not to make everything perfect. I’ve really embraced that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"wDYxhc\" lang=\"en-US\" data-attrid=\"kc:/local:lu attribute list\" data-md=\"205\" data-hveid=\"CB4QAA\" data-ved=\"2ahUKEwiGt_a2mIOEAxV_LUQIHYdKB3wQ1rkBegQIHhAA\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"TLYLSe MaBy9\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"CJQ04\">\u003cem>Gangnam Tofu Korean Cuisine (11740 San Pablo Ave. Suite C, El Cerrito) is open Mon.–Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Bay Area Guide to Cold Dishes for Hot Weather",
"headTitle": "A Bay Area Guide to Cold Dishes for Hot Weather | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find more of KQED’s picks for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/fallguide2023\">best fall 2023 events here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heading into fall, there are certain fundamental truths every Bay Arean knows: that summer here is (mostly) a lie. That September tomatoes are sacrosanct. And that the hottest damned day of the year often falls on some random weekday in October. This is the season of \u003ci>not\u003c/i> lighting our stoves, when mostly all we want to do is drink aguas frescas inside an air-conditioned room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thankfully, our local food scene is well prepared for this seasonal scorching. Here are 10 of my favorite dishes to beat the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933770\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933770\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of cold soba with dipping sauce and a side of tempura.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Slurping cold, slippery soba on a hot day is an A+ sensory experience. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Cold Soba at Soba Ichi\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2311A Magnolia St., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hot days were simply \u003ci>made \u003c/i>for cold noodles — or is it the other way around? Either way, it’s hard for me to separate the two, and the few times a year when Bay Area temperatures edge toward triple digits, I start thinking about heading to West Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sobaichi_oakland/?hl=en\">Soba Ichi\u003c/a> for a plate of soba. The restaurant serves these traditional buckwheat noodles a number of ways, of course, but my favorite is when the noodles are served cold with a dashi-based dipping sauce. Slurping those cold, slippery noodles while the sweat drips down your face: That’s an A+ sensory experience right there. An ice-cold lemon chu-hi also doesn’t hurt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933775\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933775\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT.jpg\" alt=\"An elegantly plated Peruvian cebiche: raw fish topped with a crinkled piece of fried trout skin, with trout roe and assorted seaweeds arranged on the plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The trout cebiche is notable for its undercurrent of briny ocean umami. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Cebiche at Pucquio\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>5337 College Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a sweltering hot day, sometimes the only thing I want to eat is chilled seafood — say, a simple poke bowl or a classic, caper-studded “Sicilian sashimi” from Swan Oyster Depot (if I didn’t have to wait in line for two hours). For me, the apex of this genre can be found at \u003ca href=\"https://www.pucquio.com/\">Pucquio\u003c/a>, an often-slept-on Peruvian joint where every cebiche on the menu is a stone cold killer. You’ll want to get a couple of them to share: The classic cebiche de pescado (made with rockfish during my recent visit) is bright and bracing, super-charged with a zip of citrusy ají limo chile heat. My favorite, though, is the comparatively mellow trout cebiche, which comes topped with crispy trout skin, as well as marinated trout roe that adds an undercurrent of briny ocean umami. Eat with a spoon so you can get a bit of each component in every bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A spread of Vietnamese spring roll fillings next to a plate covered with lettuce and herbs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresh herbs and vegetables keep Tigon’s bánh hỏi light and refreshing. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Bánh Hỏi Dặc Biệt at Tigon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might already know that fresh spring rolls are a Vietnamese hot-weather staple — something about the combination of pliable rice paper wrapping, crisp lettuce, fresh herbs and, often, cold meat or shrimp that makes for such a refreshing bite. The bánh hỏi đặc biệt platter at El Cerrito’s criminally underrated \u003ca href=\"https://eatattigon.com/\">Tigon\u003c/a> takes this general principle and kicks it up eight or nine notches. The base of the platter is the tidy little rice noodle bundles known as bánh hỏi, on top of which the chef has arranged a huge spread of beef, chicken, shrimp, crispy egg rolls and fried bean curd. You dip a round of rice paper in warm water; arrange your meats, noodles and fresh herbs and vegetables on top; and voilà — a make-your-own spring roll party that’s festive and communal, without anyone having to break a sweat. Note well: The $38.50 đặc biệt platter is probably enough food to feed a family of four, but there’s also an option to pick just one or two proteins if you come in a smaller group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933772\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT.jpg\" alt=\"Hand holding a white plastic takeout container of saucy meat skewers arranged over a bed of white rice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daly City’s Fil-Am Cuisine offers exquisite summer barbecue vibes all year round. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>BBQ Skewers at Fil-Am Cuisine\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>66 School St., Daly City\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time I step inside this Daly City meat stick institution, the smell of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915306/bbq-in-the-bay-series-intro-multicultural-barbecue-bay-area\">summer barbecue\u003c/a> hits me like a tidal wave of nostalgia. Fil-Am Cuisine boasts the same kind of sweet, charred meat and friendly Asian aunties that I associate with family get-togethers from when I was a kid. Even the prices seem like they’ve been time-warped from the early ’90s. Connoisseurs of crispy, carbonized edges, this is your spot. And whether you walk away with a fistful of skewered chicken or pork (why not both?), you can’t go wrong. Cash only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933771\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933771\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT.jpg\" alt=\"An Ethiopian veggie combo: six colorful spreads dolloped on an injera-lined metal plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cool, garlicky buticha — the scrambled egg–like dip in the front-left quadrant — is part of what makes Messob’s veggie combo one of the best around. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Buticha at Messob\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>4301 Piedmont Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My friend and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/rgebreyesus\">former KQED food writer\u003c/a> Ruth Gebreyesus first \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/the-curious-history-of-the-eritrean-and-ethiopian-veggie-combo-2-1/\">turned me on to\u003c/a> the buticha at \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/messobethiopianrestaurant/\">Messob\u003c/a>. This easy-to-miss slip of an Ethiopian restaurant serves what might be my favorite veggie combo in the Bay — especially the iteration that comes with a scoop of cool, refreshing buticha. At lesser restaurants, this cold chickpea flour dip often resembles an onion-y hummus, or a bland egg salad of sorts. Messob’s buticha is more flavorful by several orders of magnitude, with a texture akin to soft-scrambled eggs and a garlicky punch that had me dipping my injera back into it again and again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CctQwzzPfZE/\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Some Like It Harra at Reem’s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2901 Mission St., San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s something uniquely pleasing about scooping up a cool dip or spread with a hunk of warm, fresh bread. In some ways, that’s the whole organizing principle around \u003ca href=\"https://www.reemscalifornia.com/\">Reem’s\u003c/a>, an Arab bakery where the hot pita alone is worth the trip to the Mission. One of my favorite ways to eat it is with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/reem-assils-labneh\">labneh\u003c/a>, a strained yogurt dish that’s a classic hot-weather treat in much of the Arab world. For her “Some Like It Harra,” chef Reem Assil spices up the labneh with garlic chile morita oil, toasted sesame seeds and a jammy soft-boiled egg. Perfect for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CjHGICVJbv5/?hl=en\">pita dunking\u003c/a>. (\u003cem>Note: Reem’s Mission location is temporarily closed and is expected to reopen after Labor Day weekend. Its smaller kiosk in the Ferry Building remains open.\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933779\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933779\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB.jpg\" alt=\"A Burmese tea leaf salad, premixing, with piles of various seeds and nuts arranged on the plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1914\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-800x798.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-1020x1017.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-768x766.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-1536x1531.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mandalay’s fermented tea leaf salad is probably the most flavorful version in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mandalay/Facebook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Tea Leaf Salad at Mandalay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>4348 California St., San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you tell me it’s so hot that you just want to eat salad for dinner, I’ll take that to mean we should go out for Burmese food. After all, Burmese tea leaf salads are one of the jewels of the Bay Area’s immigrant food scene. My favorite is \u003ca href=\"https://www.mandalaysf.com/\">Mandalay’s\u003c/a> extra-pungent version, which isn’t cut with any lettuce — just cabbage, a huge dollop of fermented tea leaves, lime, shrimp powder and an assortment of nuts, seeds and other crunchy-toasty things. Forget your boring tossed salads: Here’s a salad that manages to be refreshing, nutritious \u003ci>and \u003c/i>righteously funky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933773\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933773\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of cold ramen noodles topped with grilled pork belly and a halved soft-boiled egg, with dipping broth served in a separate small bowl on the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For many ramen aficionados, tsukemen is the preferred choice for muggy days when you don’t want to drink a steaming-hot bowl of soup. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Tsukemen at Shugetsu\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2944 S. Norfolk St., San Mateo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know if there’s such a thing as “too hot for ramen,” but if I’m sweating even \u003ci>before\u003c/i> I sit down at the noodle counter, I’ll look to see if the menu includes tsukemen, or dipping noodles. Just like the best tsukemen shops in Tokyo, \u003ca href=\"https://shugetsu-ca.com/\">Shugetsu\u003c/a> lets you have whatever size bowl of thick, house-made noodles you want (regular, large or XL) for the same price, with the option to request them cold, as is traditional — both for cooling-off purposes and so that the noodles maintain their springy texture. The idea with tsukemen is to dip the noodles into a super-concentrated broth, too salty and intense to drink on its own, coating each bite with the perfect amount of flavor and fat. This is where Shugetsu shines: The rich, tangy dipping broth, blasted with dried-scallop umami, is simply fantastic. Pro tip: When you’ve slurped up your last noodle, ask the server for the “soup-wari,” a kettle of plain chicken soup that they pour into your remaining dipping broth — diluting it just enough so you can drink it like a normal, if uncommonly tasty, soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT.jpg\" alt=\"The cross section of a tuna salad sandwich made with thick slices of milkbread.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The conbini-style tuna salad sandwich features Kewpie-style mayonnaise and thick, bouncy milkbread. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Konbini Tuna Salad Sandwich at Ok’s Deli\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>3932 Telegraph Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deli sandwich weather means a short break from our usual programming of cheesesteaks and hot pastrami: It’s cold cut weather. Egg salad weather. At Oakland’s newish \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oksdeli/\">Ok’s Deli\u003c/a>, most of the sandwiches have some Asian American twist — and just about every one of them is a certified hit. Lately, I’ve been especially enamored with the deli’s take on a tuna salad sandwich, which takes all of the classic elements — line-caught tuna; pickles, onion and celery chopped super-fine; and lots and lots of mayo — and Asia-fies them ever so slightly through the lens of Japan’s incredible convenience store sandwiches. So, the house mayo is \u003ca href=\"https://thetakeout.com/my-chemical-dependence-on-japanese-kewpie-mayo-1798251538\">Kewpie\u003c/a>-adjacent. The bread is Ok’s delightfully bouncy house-made milk bread. And the sandwich, as a whole? Refreshing as a cool blast of convenience store AC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933778\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933778\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt.jpg\" alt=\"A steaming vessel of chicken ginseng soup with a whole cornish hen.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Fight fire with fire’ with BN Chicken’s soul-replenishing samgyetang. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Samgyetang at BN Chicken\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2725 El Camino Real, Santa Clara\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who like to zig when everyone else is zagging, consider that in Korea, it’s customary to eat samgyetang — a bubbling-hot chicken and ginseng soup — on the very hottest days of the year. The idea is that causing yourself to sweat \u003ci>more\u003c/i> actually cools you down; meanwhile, the medicinal properties of the soup’s ginseng, garlic and dried jujubes help refill your stamina bar. It’s “\u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/summer-koreans-fight-fire-fire/\">fighting fire with fire\u003c/a>,” as Koreans are fond of saying. And there’s no better place to do it than at Santa Clara’s \u003ca href=\"http://bnchicken.com/\">BN Chicken\u003c/a>, an entire restaurant dedicated to the steamy, soul-replenishing pleasures of samgyetang. The soup comes in a stone bowl, which keeps things boiling-hot for the duration of your meal. Rip into the whole Cornish hen to dig into the glutinous rice and aromatics stuffed inside, and dip chunks of the tender meat in salt as you go. And if the hot soup approach isn’t working for you? Not to worry: BN Chicken also serves a top-notch version of the bracingly vinegary, ice-cold noodle soup known as naengmyeon.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "A Bay Area Guide to Cold Dishes for Hot Weather",
"datePublished": "2023-08-24T10:25:02-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Find more of KQED’s picks for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/fallguide2023\">best fall 2023 events here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heading into fall, there are certain fundamental truths every Bay Arean knows: that summer here is (mostly) a lie. That September tomatoes are sacrosanct. And that the hottest damned day of the year often falls on some random weekday in October. This is the season of \u003ci>not\u003c/i> lighting our stoves, when mostly all we want to do is drink aguas frescas inside an air-conditioned room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thankfully, our local food scene is well prepared for this seasonal scorching. Here are 10 of my favorite dishes to beat the heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933770\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933770\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A plate of cold soba with dipping sauce and a side of tempura.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/soba-ichi-cold-soba_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Slurping cold, slippery soba on a hot day is an A+ sensory experience. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Cold Soba at Soba Ichi\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2311A Magnolia St., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hot days were simply \u003ci>made \u003c/i>for cold noodles — or is it the other way around? Either way, it’s hard for me to separate the two, and the few times a year when Bay Area temperatures edge toward triple digits, I start thinking about heading to West Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sobaichi_oakland/?hl=en\">Soba Ichi\u003c/a> for a plate of soba. The restaurant serves these traditional buckwheat noodles a number of ways, of course, but my favorite is when the noodles are served cold with a dashi-based dipping sauce. Slurping those cold, slippery noodles while the sweat drips down your face: That’s an A+ sensory experience right there. An ice-cold lemon chu-hi also doesn’t hurt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933775\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933775\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT.jpg\" alt=\"An elegantly plated Peruvian cebiche: raw fish topped with a crinkled piece of fried trout skin, with trout roe and assorted seaweeds arranged on the plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/pucquio-cebiche_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The trout cebiche is notable for its undercurrent of briny ocean umami. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Cebiche at Pucquio\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>5337 College Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a sweltering hot day, sometimes the only thing I want to eat is chilled seafood — say, a simple poke bowl or a classic, caper-studded “Sicilian sashimi” from Swan Oyster Depot (if I didn’t have to wait in line for two hours). For me, the apex of this genre can be found at \u003ca href=\"https://www.pucquio.com/\">Pucquio\u003c/a>, an often-slept-on Peruvian joint where every cebiche on the menu is a stone cold killer. You’ll want to get a couple of them to share: The classic cebiche de pescado (made with rockfish during my recent visit) is bright and bracing, super-charged with a zip of citrusy ají limo chile heat. My favorite, though, is the comparatively mellow trout cebiche, which comes topped with crispy trout skin, as well as marinated trout roe that adds an undercurrent of briny ocean umami. Eat with a spoon so you can get a bit of each component in every bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933777\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A spread of Vietnamese spring roll fillings next to a plate covered with lettuce and herbs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/tigon-banh-hoi-2_LT-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fresh herbs and vegetables keep Tigon’s bánh hỏi light and refreshing. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Bánh Hỏi Dặc Biệt at Tigon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>10086 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You might already know that fresh spring rolls are a Vietnamese hot-weather staple — something about the combination of pliable rice paper wrapping, crisp lettuce, fresh herbs and, often, cold meat or shrimp that makes for such a refreshing bite. The bánh hỏi đặc biệt platter at El Cerrito’s criminally underrated \u003ca href=\"https://eatattigon.com/\">Tigon\u003c/a> takes this general principle and kicks it up eight or nine notches. The base of the platter is the tidy little rice noodle bundles known as bánh hỏi, on top of which the chef has arranged a huge spread of beef, chicken, shrimp, crispy egg rolls and fried bean curd. You dip a round of rice paper in warm water; arrange your meats, noodles and fresh herbs and vegetables on top; and voilà — a make-your-own spring roll party that’s festive and communal, without anyone having to break a sweat. Note well: The $38.50 đặc biệt platter is probably enough food to feed a family of four, but there’s also an option to pick just one or two proteins if you come in a smaller group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933772\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933772\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT.jpg\" alt=\"Hand holding a white plastic takeout container of saucy meat skewers arranged over a bed of white rice.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/fil-am-cuisine-skewers_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daly City’s Fil-Am Cuisine offers exquisite summer barbecue vibes all year round. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>BBQ Skewers at Fil-Am Cuisine\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>66 School St., Daly City\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every time I step inside this Daly City meat stick institution, the smell of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915306/bbq-in-the-bay-series-intro-multicultural-barbecue-bay-area\">summer barbecue\u003c/a> hits me like a tidal wave of nostalgia. Fil-Am Cuisine boasts the same kind of sweet, charred meat and friendly Asian aunties that I associate with family get-togethers from when I was a kid. Even the prices seem like they’ve been time-warped from the early ’90s. Connoisseurs of crispy, carbonized edges, this is your spot. And whether you walk away with a fistful of skewered chicken or pork (why not both?), you can’t go wrong. Cash only.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933771\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933771\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT.jpg\" alt=\"An Ethiopian veggie combo: six colorful spreads dolloped on an injera-lined metal plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/messob-veggie-combo_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cool, garlicky buticha — the scrambled egg–like dip in the front-left quadrant — is part of what makes Messob’s veggie combo one of the best around. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Buticha at Messob\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>4301 Piedmont Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My friend and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/rgebreyesus\">former KQED food writer\u003c/a> Ruth Gebreyesus first \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/the-curious-history-of-the-eritrean-and-ethiopian-veggie-combo-2-1/\">turned me on to\u003c/a> the buticha at \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/messobethiopianrestaurant/\">Messob\u003c/a>. This easy-to-miss slip of an Ethiopian restaurant serves what might be my favorite veggie combo in the Bay — especially the iteration that comes with a scoop of cool, refreshing buticha. At lesser restaurants, this cold chickpea flour dip often resembles an onion-y hummus, or a bland egg salad of sorts. Messob’s buticha is more flavorful by several orders of magnitude, with a texture akin to soft-scrambled eggs and a garlicky punch that had me dipping my injera back into it again and again.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>Some Like It Harra at Reem’s\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2901 Mission St., San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s something uniquely pleasing about scooping up a cool dip or spread with a hunk of warm, fresh bread. In some ways, that’s the whole organizing principle around \u003ca href=\"https://www.reemscalifornia.com/\">Reem’s\u003c/a>, an Arab bakery where the hot pita alone is worth the trip to the Mission. One of my favorite ways to eat it is with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/reem-assils-labneh\">labneh\u003c/a>, a strained yogurt dish that’s a classic hot-weather treat in much of the Arab world. For her “Some Like It Harra,” chef Reem Assil spices up the labneh with garlic chile morita oil, toasted sesame seeds and a jammy soft-boiled egg. Perfect for \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/CjHGICVJbv5/?hl=en\">pita dunking\u003c/a>. (\u003cem>Note: Reem’s Mission location is temporarily closed and is expected to reopen after Labor Day weekend. Its smaller kiosk in the Ferry Building remains open.\u003c/em>)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933779\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933779\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB.jpg\" alt=\"A Burmese tea leaf salad, premixing, with piles of various seeds and nuts arranged on the plate.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1914\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-800x798.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-1020x1017.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-768x766.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/mandalay-tea-leaf-salad_courtesyFB-1536x1531.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mandalay’s fermented tea leaf salad is probably the most flavorful version in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Mandalay/Facebook)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Tea Leaf Salad at Mandalay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>4348 California St., San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you tell me it’s so hot that you just want to eat salad for dinner, I’ll take that to mean we should go out for Burmese food. After all, Burmese tea leaf salads are one of the jewels of the Bay Area’s immigrant food scene. My favorite is \u003ca href=\"https://www.mandalaysf.com/\">Mandalay’s\u003c/a> extra-pungent version, which isn’t cut with any lettuce — just cabbage, a huge dollop of fermented tea leaves, lime, shrimp powder and an assortment of nuts, seeds and other crunchy-toasty things. Forget your boring tossed salads: Here’s a salad that manages to be refreshing, nutritious \u003ci>and \u003c/i>righteously funky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933773\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933773\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT.jpg\" alt=\"A bowl of cold ramen noodles topped with grilled pork belly and a halved soft-boiled egg, with dipping broth served in a separate small bowl on the side.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/shugetsu-tsukemen_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">For many ramen aficionados, tsukemen is the preferred choice for muggy days when you don’t want to drink a steaming-hot bowl of soup. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Tsukemen at Shugetsu\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2944 S. Norfolk St., San Mateo\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I don’t know if there’s such a thing as “too hot for ramen,” but if I’m sweating even \u003ci>before\u003c/i> I sit down at the noodle counter, I’ll look to see if the menu includes tsukemen, or dipping noodles. Just like the best tsukemen shops in Tokyo, \u003ca href=\"https://shugetsu-ca.com/\">Shugetsu\u003c/a> lets you have whatever size bowl of thick, house-made noodles you want (regular, large or XL) for the same price, with the option to request them cold, as is traditional — both for cooling-off purposes and so that the noodles maintain their springy texture. The idea with tsukemen is to dip the noodles into a super-concentrated broth, too salty and intense to drink on its own, coating each bite with the perfect amount of flavor and fat. This is where Shugetsu shines: The rich, tangy dipping broth, blasted with dried-scallop umami, is simply fantastic. Pro tip: When you’ve slurped up your last noodle, ask the server for the “soup-wari,” a kettle of plain chicken soup that they pour into your remaining dipping broth — diluting it just enough so you can drink it like a normal, if uncommonly tasty, soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933776\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT.jpg\" alt=\"The cross section of a tuna salad sandwich made with thick slices of milkbread.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/oks-deli-tuna-salad_LT-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The conbini-style tuna salad sandwich features Kewpie-style mayonnaise and thick, bouncy milkbread. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Konbini Tuna Salad Sandwich at Ok’s Deli\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>3932 Telegraph Ave., Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deli sandwich weather means a short break from our usual programming of cheesesteaks and hot pastrami: It’s cold cut weather. Egg salad weather. At Oakland’s newish \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oksdeli/\">Ok’s Deli\u003c/a>, most of the sandwiches have some Asian American twist — and just about every one of them is a certified hit. Lately, I’ve been especially enamored with the deli’s take on a tuna salad sandwich, which takes all of the classic elements — line-caught tuna; pickles, onion and celery chopped super-fine; and lots and lots of mayo — and Asia-fies them ever so slightly through the lens of Japan’s incredible convenience store sandwiches. So, the house mayo is \u003ca href=\"https://thetakeout.com/my-chemical-dependence-on-japanese-kewpie-mayo-1798251538\">Kewpie\u003c/a>-adjacent. The bread is Ok’s delightfully bouncy house-made milk bread. And the sandwich, as a whole? Refreshing as a cool blast of convenience store AC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13933778\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13933778\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt.jpg\" alt=\"A steaming vessel of chicken ginseng soup with a whole cornish hen.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/bn-chicken-samgyetang_lt-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Fight fire with fire’ with BN Chicken’s soul-replenishing samgyetang. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Samgyetang at BN Chicken\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>2725 El Camino Real, Santa Clara\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who like to zig when everyone else is zagging, consider that in Korea, it’s customary to eat samgyetang — a bubbling-hot chicken and ginseng soup — on the very hottest days of the year. The idea is that causing yourself to sweat \u003ci>more\u003c/i> actually cools you down; meanwhile, the medicinal properties of the soup’s ginseng, garlic and dried jujubes help refill your stamina bar. It’s “\u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/summer-koreans-fight-fire-fire/\">fighting fire with fire\u003c/a>,” as Koreans are fond of saying. And there’s no better place to do it than at Santa Clara’s \u003ca href=\"http://bnchicken.com/\">BN Chicken\u003c/a>, an entire restaurant dedicated to the steamy, soul-replenishing pleasures of samgyetang. The soup comes in a stone bowl, which keeps things boiling-hot for the duration of your meal. Rip into the whole Cornish hen to dig into the glutinous rice and aromatics stuffed inside, and dip chunks of the tender meat in salt as you go. And if the hot soup approach isn’t working for you? Not to worry: BN Chicken also serves a top-notch version of the bracingly vinegary, ice-cold noodle soup known as naengmyeon.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "bay-area-summer-cocktails-summer-guide-2023",
"title": "9 Bay Area Cocktails to Drink This Summer",
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"headTitle": "9 Bay Area Cocktails to Drink This Summer | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Be sure to check out our full \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/summerguide2023\">2023 Summer Arts Guide to live music, movies, art, theater, festivals and more\u003c/a> in the Bay Area.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s be honest: Bay Area summers are hella weird. With inconsistent days that get interrupted by strong winds, fog and poorly-timed storms, it’s not quite the palm tree–saturated, sunglasses vibe that an uninitiated visitor might be craving. Still, it \u003ci>does \u003c/i>warm up around here (relatively speaking), and if you’re lucky, your boss might let you hop off the clock early so you can inhale more fresh oxygen than usual — or, better yet, unwind with a decadent cocktail in hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s a non-alcoholic concoction with top-shelf botanical extracts sipped on a ritzy rooftop or a boozy behemoth poured with a heavy hand at a red-light dive bar, Bay Area bartenders will be serving up enough drinks this summer to keep Alcatraz Island afloat. Trust me, I did the science, it checks out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s where KQED employees will be sipping their favorite “warm-weather” cocktails around the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929628\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A bourbon cocktail served in a glass tumbler, garnished with a lemon slice and a sprig of mint.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The drink reminds the author of a hot Louisiana summer. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Back Porch at Bardo Lounge & Supper Club\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bourbon, house black tea syrup, mint, Angostura, lemon peel ($14)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3343 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This slickly decorated, mid-century themed bar and restaurant tucked a few blocks away from Grand Lake Theater is a cocktail lover’s paradise. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bardo_oakland/\">Bardo’s\u003c/a> zine-length drink menu is sophisticated and diverse (including an impressive range of mocktails), but my personal favorite is the Back Porch. The name alone reminds me of a hot Louisiana summer, and the mix of bourbon and black tea syrup, with touches of fresh mint and lemon, give it that homemade sweet tea aroma you can’t ever go wrong with. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/CblN8bbvQEu/?hl=en\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Surfer on Acid’ at White Cap\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Coconut coffee rum, amaro, sherry wine, falernum, pineapple ($14)\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>3608 Taraval St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer is a tough season in San Francisco. And it’s especially tough in the Outer Sunset. In the two summers I lived out in the Avenues, the cold fog could get so thick that I wasn’t able to see any sand on the beach, mere blocks away. One way to cope was by building fires to stay warm. The other? To bundle up in a down jacket and grab a cocktail at \u003ca href=\"https://whitecapsf.com/\">White Cap\u003c/a>. The “Surfer on Acid” is a classic — tropical, boozy — and while you’re drinking it, you can pretend you’re somewhere where it’s actually hot in May, June or July. \u003ci>—Bianca Taylor\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929630\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929630\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge.jpg\" alt=\"Two mint-garnished tropical cocktails, lit from behind by candle light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Saturn is one of the refreshing tiki drinks you can find at El Cerrito’s Little Hill Lounge. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Saturn at Little Hill Lounge\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Gin, passion fruit, orgeat, falernum, lemon juice ($12)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>10753 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a quick lesson for my non-Spanish speakers: “cerro” translates as “hill” and “El Cerrito” means “the little hill.” So the next time you’re on Highway 80, look for the tiny hillside along the San Pablo Bay shoreline and tell your Uber driver to hop off the first exit. At \u003ca href=\"https://littlehillelcerrito.com/\">Little Hill Lounge\u003c/a>, you’ll encounter tiki drinks inside a retro ’70s red-interior room with a gorgeous oval-shaped bar in the middle. There might even be a neighborhood regular belting jukebox favorites to himself. The Saturn is my beverage of choice here. It’s smooth, satiating, zesty and simple. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/Coz_ZA6paN3/\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Chamborlada at Forbidden Island\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Rum, Chambord, pineapple, coconut ($16)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>1304 Lincoln Ave., Alameda\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Full disclosure: I’m one of those maniacs whose favorite La Croix flavor is coconut. I want coconut everything. Coconut cake, coconut sake (it’s a real thing!), coconut protein bars — just give me all of the coconut. (Don’t tell me it tastes like sun block, I’ve heard it all before.) Because of that, \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbiddenislandalameda.com/\">Forbidden Island\u003c/a> is a cocktail paradise for me. There are ample drink options for coconut haters in this fantastically kitsch little joint, but there is also an entire section of the menu dedicated to “Coconutty Creations.” My favorite is the Chamborlada, a drink that combines light tropical flavors with a heavy hit of alcohol. It’s the perfect cocktail to transport you to a tropical island, even as the fog rolls over the Bay outside. —\u003ci>Rae Alexandra\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929632\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929632\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball.jpg\" alt=\"A whisky highball in a tall glass, garnished with a slice of lemon peel.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Japanese whisky highball at Umami Mart is simple, elegant and extremely refreshing. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Whisky Highball at Umami Mart\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Japanese whisky, soda, lemon ($12)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>4027 Broadway, Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13928804,arts_13929494']\u003c/span>As someone who goes for low-alcohol carbonated drinks almost exclusively (yes, I’m a lightweight), I love a good Japanese whisky highball. My drink of the summer this year is the version they’re pouring at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/umamimart/?hl=en\">Umami Mart\u003c/a>, which you might know for its design-conscious Japanese bar gadget and kitchenware shop in North Oakland. But did you know about the not-so-secret bar in the back, where you can bop your head to old jazz records while perusing the finely curated shochu and sake collection? The classic highball couldn’t be simpler: a high-proof Iwai whisky from Nagano (so the drink isn’t actually \u003ci>that\u003c/i> weak), Fever Tree’s aggressively fizzy club soda, a slice of lemon peel and plenty of ice. It’s the kind of elegant cocktail you make for a person who enjoys cold beer: super smooth, super refreshing. On a hot day, there’s nothing better. \u003ci>—Luke Tsai\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Last Mistake’ at North Light\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Mezcal, Aperol, aloe, citrus, ginger, soda\u003c/i> (\u003ci>$15)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>4915 Telegraph Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://northlight.bar/\">North Light\u003c/a> appears to be a narrow bar hidden between busy Temescal stores, but keep going to the back and it opens into a beautiful patio. The place serves delicious food (love the tater tots), and my go-to drink is the “Last Mistake,” a smooth and uplifting blend of mezcal, citrus flavors and ginger. My favorite thing about North Light is that it doubles as a bookstore whose selection is curated by writers and artists as illustrious as Michael Chabon, Patti Smith and Samin Nosrat. Nothing I love more than snacks and a drink with a book in front of me. (Also on the drinks front: the \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">KQED Live\u003c/a> team’s July 13 cocktail event with the podcast Bay Curious!) —\u003ci>Sarah Rose Leonard\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929633\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929633\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holding up a cocktail, with fruity, pulpy bits floating on top. A fully stocked bar is visible in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fruity, spicy “E&E” from the Cat House Bar makes a good start or finish to a Lake Merritt excursion. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘E&E’ at the Cat House Bar\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Tequila, mezcal, pineapple, cilantro, lime, jalapeño ($13)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3255 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all else fails, add tequila and mezcal to your night for an extra summery kick. With fruity splashes of pineapple and lime and dashes of spice from the jalapeño and cilantro, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/the_cat_house_bar/?hl=en\">The Cat House Bar’s\u003c/a> “E&E” is a perfectly balanced cocktail served in an elegant, laid-back environment. Pro tip: Both Lake Merritt and the aforementioned \u003ca href=\"https://www.bardooakland.com/\">Bardo\u003c/a> are within short walking distance. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929652\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva.jpg\" alt=\"A pink cocktail garnished with mint on a wood bar counter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ‘Hitman’ is an pink, effervescent beauty of a cocktail. It also happens to be alcohol-free. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The ‘Hitman’ at Dalva\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Grapefruit, lime, NA bitter, Mala syrup, soda ($7)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3121 16th St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There may not be another bar in San Francisco serving a better mocktail than this pink beauty at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dalva_thehideout/?hl=en\">Dalva\u003c/a>. The beverage is what some of my bar-hopping friends might call effervescent — it’s also light, minty, herbaceous and bubbly. Soak up the non-alcoholic (or \u003ca href=\"https://www.dalvasf.com/menu\">alcoholic\u003c/a>) vibes at this grown-up lounge with psychedelically-swirled decor next to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/roxie_theater/\">Roxie Theater\u003c/a>. Conveniently, it’s just a few feet away from some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/panchitaspupuseria/?hl=en\">Bay Area’s best pupusas\u003c/a>. —\u003ci>A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Great American Sazerac at the Great American Music Hall\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>cognac, rye whiskey, simple syrup, absinthe rinse ($16)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>859 O’Farrell St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In need of a good drink and show this summer? The \u003ca href=\"https://gamh.com/\">Great American Music Hall\u003c/a> is your place. This historic building lies in the heart of the city, surrounded by some of the best restaurants in San Francisco. Formerly known as “Blancos,” the venue was built in 1907, served as a speakeasy during Prohibition and, just like the movies, even had a small basement stage that remains to this day — the perfect place for an intimate show with your favorite artist. My go-to drink is the Great American Sazerac, a little drink that packs a punch and is as rich as the venue it’s named after. It’s complex, warm and just sweet enough to balance out the potent kick of rye whiskey. \u003ci>—Antony Fangary\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Be sure to check out our full \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/summerguide2023\">2023 Summer Arts Guide to live music, movies, art, theater, festivals and more\u003c/a> in the Bay Area.\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Let’s be honest: Bay Area summers are hella weird. With inconsistent days that get interrupted by strong winds, fog and poorly-timed storms, it’s not quite the palm tree–saturated, sunglasses vibe that an uninitiated visitor might be craving. Still, it \u003ci>does \u003c/i>warm up around here (relatively speaking), and if you’re lucky, your boss might let you hop off the clock early so you can inhale more fresh oxygen than usual — or, better yet, unwind with a decadent cocktail in hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether it’s a non-alcoholic concoction with top-shelf botanical extracts sipped on a ritzy rooftop or a boozy behemoth poured with a heavy hand at a red-light dive bar, Bay Area bartenders will be serving up enough drinks this summer to keep Alcatraz Island afloat. Trust me, I did the science, it checks out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s where KQED employees will be sipping their favorite “warm-weather” cocktails around the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929628\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929628\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A bourbon cocktail served in a glass tumbler, garnished with a lemon slice and a sprig of mint.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/BackPorch_Bardo-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The drink reminds the author of a hot Louisiana summer. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Back Porch at Bardo Lounge & Supper Club\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Bourbon, house black tea syrup, mint, Angostura, lemon peel ($14)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3343 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This slickly decorated, mid-century themed bar and restaurant tucked a few blocks away from Grand Lake Theater is a cocktail lover’s paradise. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bardo_oakland/\">Bardo’s\u003c/a> zine-length drink menu is sophisticated and diverse (including an impressive range of mocktails), but my personal favorite is the Back Porch. The name alone reminds me of a hot Louisiana summer, and the mix of bourbon and black tea syrup, with touches of fresh mint and lemon, give it that homemade sweet tea aroma you can’t ever go wrong with. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Surfer on Acid’ at White Cap\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Coconut coffee rum, amaro, sherry wine, falernum, pineapple ($14)\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>3608 Taraval St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer is a tough season in San Francisco. And it’s especially tough in the Outer Sunset. In the two summers I lived out in the Avenues, the cold fog could get so thick that I wasn’t able to see any sand on the beach, mere blocks away. One way to cope was by building fires to stay warm. The other? To bundle up in a down jacket and grab a cocktail at \u003ca href=\"https://whitecapsf.com/\">White Cap\u003c/a>. The “Surfer on Acid” is a classic — tropical, boozy — and while you’re drinking it, you can pretend you’re somewhere where it’s actually hot in May, June or July. \u003ci>—Bianca Taylor\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929630\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929630\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge.jpg\" alt=\"Two mint-garnished tropical cocktails, lit from behind by candle light.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Saturn_LittleHillLounge-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Saturn is one of the refreshing tiki drinks you can find at El Cerrito’s Little Hill Lounge. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Saturn at Little Hill Lounge\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Gin, passion fruit, orgeat, falernum, lemon juice ($12)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>10753 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s a quick lesson for my non-Spanish speakers: “cerro” translates as “hill” and “El Cerrito” means “the little hill.” So the next time you’re on Highway 80, look for the tiny hillside along the San Pablo Bay shoreline and tell your Uber driver to hop off the first exit. At \u003ca href=\"https://littlehillelcerrito.com/\">Little Hill Lounge\u003c/a>, you’ll encounter tiki drinks inside a retro ’70s red-interior room with a gorgeous oval-shaped bar in the middle. There might even be a neighborhood regular belting jukebox favorites to himself. The Saturn is my beverage of choice here. It’s smooth, satiating, zesty and simple. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ch2>\u003cb>Chamborlada at Forbidden Island\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Rum, Chambord, pineapple, coconut ($16)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>1304 Lincoln Ave., Alameda\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Full disclosure: I’m one of those maniacs whose favorite La Croix flavor is coconut. I want coconut everything. Coconut cake, coconut sake (it’s a real thing!), coconut protein bars — just give me all of the coconut. (Don’t tell me it tastes like sun block, I’ve heard it all before.) Because of that, \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbiddenislandalameda.com/\">Forbidden Island\u003c/a> is a cocktail paradise for me. There are ample drink options for coconut haters in this fantastically kitsch little joint, but there is also an entire section of the menu dedicated to “Coconutty Creations.” My favorite is the Chamborlada, a drink that combines light tropical flavors with a heavy hit of alcohol. It’s the perfect cocktail to transport you to a tropical island, even as the fog rolls over the Bay outside. —\u003ci>Rae Alexandra\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929632\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929632\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball.jpg\" alt=\"A whisky highball in a tall glass, garnished with a slice of lemon peel.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/umami-mart-whisky-highball-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Japanese whisky highball at Umami Mart is simple, elegant and extremely refreshing. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>Whisky Highball at Umami Mart\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Japanese whisky, soda, lemon ($12)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>4027 Broadway, Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>As someone who goes for low-alcohol carbonated drinks almost exclusively (yes, I’m a lightweight), I love a good Japanese whisky highball. My drink of the summer this year is the version they’re pouring at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/umamimart/?hl=en\">Umami Mart\u003c/a>, which you might know for its design-conscious Japanese bar gadget and kitchenware shop in North Oakland. But did you know about the not-so-secret bar in the back, where you can bop your head to old jazz records while perusing the finely curated shochu and sake collection? The classic highball couldn’t be simpler: a high-proof Iwai whisky from Nagano (so the drink isn’t actually \u003ci>that\u003c/i> weak), Fever Tree’s aggressively fizzy club soda, a slice of lemon peel and plenty of ice. It’s the kind of elegant cocktail you make for a person who enjoys cold beer: super smooth, super refreshing. On a hot day, there’s nothing better. \u003ci>—Luke Tsai\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘Last Mistake’ at North Light\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Mezcal, Aperol, aloe, citrus, ginger, soda\u003c/i> (\u003ci>$15)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>4915 Telegraph Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://northlight.bar/\">North Light\u003c/a> appears to be a narrow bar hidden between busy Temescal stores, but keep going to the back and it opens into a beautiful patio. The place serves delicious food (love the tater tots), and my go-to drink is the “Last Mistake,” a smooth and uplifting blend of mezcal, citrus flavors and ginger. My favorite thing about North Light is that it doubles as a bookstore whose selection is curated by writers and artists as illustrious as Michael Chabon, Patti Smith and Samin Nosrat. Nothing I love more than snacks and a drink with a book in front of me. (Also on the drinks front: the \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">KQED Live\u003c/a> team’s July 13 cocktail event with the podcast Bay Curious!) —\u003ci>Sarah Rose Leonard\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929633\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929633\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse.jpg\" alt=\"A hand holding up a cocktail, with fruity, pulpy bits floating on top. A fully stocked bar is visible in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/E_E_CatHouse-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fruity, spicy “E&E” from the Cat House Bar makes a good start or finish to a Lake Merritt excursion. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>‘E&E’ at the Cat House Bar\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Tequila, mezcal, pineapple, cilantro, lime, jalapeño ($13)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3255 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all else fails, add tequila and mezcal to your night for an extra summery kick. With fruity splashes of pineapple and lime and dashes of spice from the jalapeño and cilantro, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/the_cat_house_bar/?hl=en\">The Cat House Bar’s\u003c/a> “E&E” is a perfectly balanced cocktail served in an elegant, laid-back environment. Pro tip: Both Lake Merritt and the aforementioned \u003ca href=\"https://www.bardooakland.com/\">Bardo\u003c/a> are within short walking distance. \u003ci>—A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929652\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva.jpg\" alt=\"A pink cocktail garnished with mint on a wood bar counter.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Hitman_Dalva-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ‘Hitman’ is an pink, effervescent beauty of a cocktail. It also happens to be alcohol-free. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The ‘Hitman’ at Dalva\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Grapefruit, lime, NA bitter, Mala syrup, soda ($7)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>3121 16th St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There may not be another bar in San Francisco serving a better mocktail than this pink beauty at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dalva_thehideout/?hl=en\">Dalva\u003c/a>. The beverage is what some of my bar-hopping friends might call effervescent — it’s also light, minty, herbaceous and bubbly. Soak up the non-alcoholic (or \u003ca href=\"https://www.dalvasf.com/menu\">alcoholic\u003c/a>) vibes at this grown-up lounge with psychedelically-swirled decor next to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/roxie_theater/\">Roxie Theater\u003c/a>. Conveniently, it’s just a few feet away from some of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/panchitaspupuseria/?hl=en\">Bay Area’s best pupusas\u003c/a>. —\u003ci>A.C.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cb>The Great American Sazerac at the Great American Music Hall\u003c/b>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>cognac, rye whiskey, simple syrup, absinthe rinse ($16)\u003c/i>\u003cbr>\n\u003ci>859 O’Farrell St., San Francisco\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In need of a good drink and show this summer? The \u003ca href=\"https://gamh.com/\">Great American Music Hall\u003c/a> is your place. This historic building lies in the heart of the city, surrounded by some of the best restaurants in San Francisco. Formerly known as “Blancos,” the venue was built in 1907, served as a speakeasy during Prohibition and, just like the movies, even had a small basement stage that remains to this day — the perfect place for an intimate show with your favorite artist. My go-to drink is the Great American Sazerac, a little drink that packs a punch and is as rich as the venue it’s named after. It’s complex, warm and just sweet enough to balance out the potent kick of rye whiskey. \u003ci>—Antony Fangary\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]M[/dropcap]y childhood trips to the Bay Area were a chance for my family to revisit old haunts. Whenever my dad would drive us down the long strip of highway from Sacramento to San Francisco, he would point out every memorable cue through the car window. “That’s the hospital you were born in” or “I used to come here for shakes and soft serve” or, my favorite, “that’s where your grandmother’s old restaurant used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, my grandmother, Helena Lomanto, was one of the Bay Area’s very first Indonesian restaurateurs — though I didn’t know it at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That restaurant we’d pass by is now Waikiki Hawaiian BBQ, a humble takeout facade on San Pablo Avenue’s El Cerrito strip. I know it best from old pictures, where my grandmother’s signage displayed the name “BOROBUDUR” in all caps. Inside the restaurant was a takeout counter and pink laminated menus. Served hot and fresh: ayam goreng, or thinly battered fried chicken with sambal goreng on the side, and a variety of rice plates and vegetable stir fries. Like many Asian restaurants in the Bay Area during the ’80s and ’90s, the menu was a mix of timeless classics like bakmi goreng (an Indonesian take on Chinese chow mein) and more fusion-y, Americanized flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My grandmother loved to tell me stories about her days in the restaurant and how she learned about the business when she first immigrated stateside and worked as the lettuce slicer at Burger King. Soon enough, she and my grandfather would open not one, but three different Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in the Bay Area — one in San Francisco, one in El Cerrito and yet another in Daly City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]‘My grandmother was one of the Bay Area’s very first Indonesian restaurateurs — though I didn’t know it at the time.’[/pullquote]And so, when I heard that her restaurants hadn’t done well, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know \u003ci>why\u003c/i> it wasn’t bustling with people. After all, my friends used to fight for a spot at my dining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, my father explained it to me: Borobudur wasn’t an El Cerrito hotspot because people don’t travel to El Cerrito for Chinese-Indonesian cuisine. There’s a word for it in Indonesian — hokee\u003ci>,\u003c/i> which roughly translates to “luck.” The location of that restaurant, plus the exact timing of the cuisine in that specific locale, was not hokee. By the late ’90s, her third and final restaurant — Daly City’s Plantation Golden Fried Chicken — had also closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929187\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city.jpg\" alt='Photograph dated April 13, 1991 shows the facade of a strip mall restaurant at dusk. The sign reads, \"Plantation Golden Fried Chicken\" in red letters.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-800x556.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-1020x709.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-1536x1068.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plantation Golden Fried Chicken in Daly City was the last of Lomanto’s restaurants. It closed in the late ’90s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, Indonesian restaurants across the Bay Area have once again been struggling. My standard meeting places with visiting relatives saw less and less traffic in the years before the pandemic: Jayakarta in Berkeley shuttered its windows in the summer of 2019. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Two-of-the-Bay-Area-s-only-Indonesian-14373778.php\">Another restaurant called Borobudur\u003c/a> — often cited as the oldest Indonesian restaurant in San Francisco — soon followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, that Borobudur was my grandparents’ first restaurant. I didn’t make the connection until recently, when my grandmother showed me some photographs of her San Francisco restaurant: Scrawled in the caption was the same name, the same Post Street address. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/checkplease/1461/borobudur-restaurant-review\">New owners\u003c/a> must have taken over the business sometime in the early ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I knew about Borobudur were the stories she’d tell me. My grandmother’s tenure at the San Francisco restaurant saw its heyday in the 1980s. For a while, the business thrived — especially on Tuesdays, when a certain thin, middle-aged woman would eat at my grandmother’s table during her lunch break. Every time she came in, a horde of other customers would follow, and, in our family lore, this mystery woman came to be regarded as the restaurant’s good luck charm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929188\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929188\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735.jpg\" alt='Man and a woman pose for a photograph in the dining room of their restaurant. A handwritten caption reads, \"Borobudur Resto, 1981. 700 Post St., San Francisco, CA.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1403\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-800x585.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-1020x745.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-768x561.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-1536x1122.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lomanto and her husband pose in Borobudur’s dining room during the restaurant’s heyday in the early ’80s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In those years, the clientele at Borobudur was diverse, consisting mostly of locals looking for a good hole-in-the-wall Asian food stop. The restaurant’s biggest asset was loyalty. Regular customers would come back again and again to order from the menu’s bilingual offerings — satay ayam (chicken skewers with peanut sauce) or honey walnut prawns made with extra mayonnaise. Even the mystery woman made her way around the menu during her weekly visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when the 1989 earthquake struck, in all its 6.9-magnitude glory, Borobudur’s customers proved to be superstitious as well. My grandmother speaks about how she felt the ground shake beneath her feet. Trinkets fell off shelves. Plates rattled in cupboards. Everyone inside the restaurant scrambled for cover. After that, the good luck charm woman did not return, and the Tuesday lunch rush slowed in the weeks that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s hokee, it seemed, had run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"large\" align=\"right\"]‘When the 1989 earthquake struck, in all its 6.9-magnitude glory, Borobudur’s customers proved to be superstitious as well.’[/pullquote]I’d always imagined the restaurant having the bustling atmosphere I see in my own favorite restaurants. But my grandmother used to regale us about the toll that cooking took on her body. Eventually, retirement called, and she quickly realized that there were other mouths to feed. Mainly, my sister’s and mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, I lived with my grandparents as a part of our family’s intergenerational household. Every night, I would devour a home-cooked meal from my grandma’s well-seasoned wok. Sometimes it was a steaming bowl of pickled greens and pork bone soup — so sour and scintillating that I would call it “refreshing soup.” Sometimes it would be a sweet soy sauce, onion and potato stir-fry that we called “Hayley potatoes,” because it was the only plate our neighbor Hayley would finish. I had every sweet and savory treat I desired because of her prowess in the kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929189\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929189\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman poses with her grandmother in front of a birthday during the grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. The older woman wears a pink sash that reads, "Happy 90th Birthday."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author and her grandmother pose for a photo during the grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Giovanna Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My grandma spent her retirement taking care of the two of us, cooking most (if not all) of our meals, and driving us to and from school in our new Sacramento home. After my grandfather passed away, my mother started taking up her mantle in the kitchen, and I began to desire culinary talents of my own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13904861,arts_13921079,arts_13908798']\u003c/span>A few years ago, my grandmother sent me six notebooks filled with her handwritten recipes. Excited to flip through and learn her secrets, I opened the recipe books only to find that they were all written by hand in Dutch, the language she spoke in a colonized Indonesia. Her loopy cursive fell to sharp corners on her p’s and a’s, and much of the pencil lead was wearing off the faded pages. Suddenly, I was no longer worried about cooking replications of her food. I just wanted to preserve the pages, to seal into memory all the knowledge she had bestowed upon these precious artifacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recipe books are in my room, wrapped in a plastic bag and some rubber bands, waiting for the day that I learn Dutch. Maybe it’ll never happen — maybe they’ll be some indecipherable family heirloom I’ll pass down to my children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is certain, though. Along with the other keepsakes I’ve collected from my grandmother’s closet of trinkets and memories, I’ll make sure to share at least one photo for posterity: my grandmother standing in front of the glass window outside her El Cerrito restaurant, surrounded by her husband and her sisters. All of them joined together in the physical space where she once shared a taste of her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joy she exudes, in that picture and onwards, has always been the source of my hokee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929190\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929190\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito.jpg\" alt='A family poses for a photo in front of a restaurant. A handwritten label reads, \"Borobudur Restaurant, San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA.\"' width=\"1006\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito.jpg 1006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-768x543.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1006px) 100vw, 1006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Helena Lomanto and her family pose for a portrait in front of their El Cerrito restaurant. Today the space is occupied by Waikiki Hawaiian BBQ. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">M\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>y childhood trips to the Bay Area were a chance for my family to revisit old haunts. Whenever my dad would drive us down the long strip of highway from Sacramento to San Francisco, he would point out every memorable cue through the car window. “That’s the hospital you were born in” or “I used to come here for shakes and soft serve” or, my favorite, “that’s where your grandmother’s old restaurant used to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, my grandmother, Helena Lomanto, was one of the Bay Area’s very first Indonesian restaurateurs — though I didn’t know it at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That restaurant we’d pass by is now Waikiki Hawaiian BBQ, a humble takeout facade on San Pablo Avenue’s El Cerrito strip. I know it best from old pictures, where my grandmother’s signage displayed the name “BOROBUDUR” in all caps. Inside the restaurant was a takeout counter and pink laminated menus. Served hot and fresh: ayam goreng, or thinly battered fried chicken with sambal goreng on the side, and a variety of rice plates and vegetable stir fries. Like many Asian restaurants in the Bay Area during the ’80s and ’90s, the menu was a mix of timeless classics like bakmi goreng (an Indonesian take on Chinese chow mein) and more fusion-y, Americanized flavors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My grandmother loved to tell me stories about her days in the restaurant and how she learned about the business when she first immigrated stateside and worked as the lettuce slicer at Burger King. Soon enough, she and my grandfather would open not one, but three different Chinese-Indonesian restaurants in the Bay Area — one in San Francisco, one in El Cerrito and yet another in Daly City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>And so, when I heard that her restaurants hadn’t done well, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know \u003ci>why\u003c/i> it wasn’t bustling with people. After all, my friends used to fight for a spot at my dining table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, my father explained it to me: Borobudur wasn’t an El Cerrito hotspot because people don’t travel to El Cerrito for Chinese-Indonesian cuisine. There’s a word for it in Indonesian — hokee\u003ci>,\u003c/i> which roughly translates to “luck.” The location of that restaurant, plus the exact timing of the cuisine in that specific locale, was not hokee. By the late ’90s, her third and final restaurant — Daly City’s Plantation Golden Fried Chicken — had also closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929187\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929187\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city.jpg\" alt='Photograph dated April 13, 1991 shows the facade of a strip mall restaurant at dusk. The sign reads, \"Plantation Golden Fried Chicken\" in red letters.' width=\"1920\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-800x556.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-1020x709.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-160x111.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-768x534.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/plantation-golden-fried-chicken-daly-city-1536x1068.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plantation Golden Fried Chicken in Daly City was the last of Lomanto’s restaurants. It closed in the late ’90s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the past few years, Indonesian restaurants across the Bay Area have once again been struggling. My standard meeting places with visiting relatives saw less and less traffic in the years before the pandemic: Jayakarta in Berkeley shuttered its windows in the summer of 2019. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Two-of-the-Bay-Area-s-only-Indonesian-14373778.php\">Another restaurant called Borobudur\u003c/a> — often cited as the oldest Indonesian restaurant in San Francisco — soon followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, that Borobudur was my grandparents’ first restaurant. I didn’t make the connection until recently, when my grandmother showed me some photographs of her San Francisco restaurant: Scrawled in the caption was the same name, the same Post Street address. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/checkplease/1461/borobudur-restaurant-review\">New owners\u003c/a> must have taken over the business sometime in the early ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I knew about Borobudur were the stories she’d tell me. My grandmother’s tenure at the San Francisco restaurant saw its heyday in the 1980s. For a while, the business thrived — especially on Tuesdays, when a certain thin, middle-aged woman would eat at my grandmother’s table during her lunch break. Every time she came in, a horde of other customers would follow, and, in our family lore, this mystery woman came to be regarded as the restaurant’s good luck charm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929188\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929188\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735.jpg\" alt='Man and a woman pose for a photograph in the dining room of their restaurant. A handwritten caption reads, \"Borobudur Resto, 1981. 700 Post St., San Francisco, CA.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1403\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-800x585.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-1020x745.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-160x117.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-768x561.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-dining-room_5735-1536x1122.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lomanto and her husband pose in Borobudur’s dining room during the restaurant’s heyday in the early ’80s. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In those years, the clientele at Borobudur was diverse, consisting mostly of locals looking for a good hole-in-the-wall Asian food stop. The restaurant’s biggest asset was loyalty. Regular customers would come back again and again to order from the menu’s bilingual offerings — satay ayam (chicken skewers with peanut sauce) or honey walnut prawns made with extra mayonnaise. Even the mystery woman made her way around the menu during her weekly visits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when the 1989 earthquake struck, in all its 6.9-magnitude glory, Borobudur’s customers proved to be superstitious as well. My grandmother speaks about how she felt the ground shake beneath her feet. Trinkets fell off shelves. Plates rattled in cupboards. Everyone inside the restaurant scrambled for cover. After that, the good luck charm woman did not return, and the Tuesday lunch rush slowed in the weeks that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant’s hokee, it seemed, had run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>I’d always imagined the restaurant having the bustling atmosphere I see in my own favorite restaurants. But my grandmother used to regale us about the toll that cooking took on her body. Eventually, retirement called, and she quickly realized that there were other mouths to feed. Mainly, my sister’s and mine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up, I lived with my grandparents as a part of our family’s intergenerational household. Every night, I would devour a home-cooked meal from my grandma’s well-seasoned wok. Sometimes it was a steaming bowl of pickled greens and pork bone soup — so sour and scintillating that I would call it “refreshing soup.” Sometimes it would be a sweet soy sauce, onion and potato stir-fry that we called “Hayley potatoes,” because it was the only plate our neighbor Hayley would finish. I had every sweet and savory treat I desired because of her prowess in the kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929189\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929189\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman poses with her grandmother in front of a birthday during the grandmother's 90th birthday celebration. The older woman wears a pink sash that reads, "Happy 90th Birthday."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/helena-lomanto-90-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The author and her grandmother pose for a photo during the grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Giovanna Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>My grandma spent her retirement taking care of the two of us, cooking most (if not all) of our meals, and driving us to and from school in our new Sacramento home. After my grandfather passed away, my mother started taking up her mantle in the kitchen, and I began to desire culinary talents of my own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>A few years ago, my grandmother sent me six notebooks filled with her handwritten recipes. Excited to flip through and learn her secrets, I opened the recipe books only to find that they were all written by hand in Dutch, the language she spoke in a colonized Indonesia. Her loopy cursive fell to sharp corners on her p’s and a’s, and much of the pencil lead was wearing off the faded pages. Suddenly, I was no longer worried about cooking replications of her food. I just wanted to preserve the pages, to seal into memory all the knowledge she had bestowed upon these precious artifacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The recipe books are in my room, wrapped in a plastic bag and some rubber bands, waiting for the day that I learn Dutch. Maybe it’ll never happen — maybe they’ll be some indecipherable family heirloom I’ll pass down to my children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One thing is certain, though. Along with the other keepsakes I’ve collected from my grandmother’s closet of trinkets and memories, I’ll make sure to share at least one photo for posterity: my grandmother standing in front of the glass window outside her El Cerrito restaurant, surrounded by her husband and her sisters. All of them joined together in the physical space where she once shared a taste of her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The joy she exudes, in that picture and onwards, has always been the source of my hokee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13929190\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1006px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13929190\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito.jpg\" alt='A family poses for a photo in front of a restaurant. A handwritten label reads, \"Borobudur Restaurant, San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA.\"' width=\"1006\" height=\"711\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito.jpg 1006w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-800x565.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/borobudur-el-cerrito-768x543.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1006px) 100vw, 1006px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Helena Lomanto and her family pose for a portrait in front of their El Cerrito restaurant. Today the space is occupied by Waikiki Hawaiian BBQ. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Helena Lomanto)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Remembering Chris Strachwitz's Many Gifts to the World",
"headTitle": "Remembering Chris Strachwitz’s Many Gifts to the World | KQED",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928741\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"762\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13928741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-800x595.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-1020x759.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-768x572.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Strachwitz at his Down Home Records store in El Cerrito, Calif. in 2014. The founder of the popular local music store and Arhoolie Records died Friday at age 91. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first time that Chris Strachwitz blew my mind open was in the mid-1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was my first pilgrimage to \u003ca href=\"https://www.downhomemusic.com/\">Down Home Music\u003c/a>, the El Cerrito record store that serves as home base for Arhoolie Records, the label that Strachwitz founded in 1960. Intrigued by the cover art of \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://folkways.si.edu/pachuco-boogie/jazz-ragtime/music/album/smithsonian\">Pachuco Boogie\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, I added the CD to my stack, allowing me to discover a liminal moment when Mexican-American musicians started absorbing the jump blues and early R&B of their Black neighbors in 1940s Los Angeles. The irresistible sound sparked an epiphany about the buried cultural geography of my hometown, which had recently been torn apart by the LA riots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13928746']Strachwitz, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928746/chris-strachwitz-legendary-roots-music-preservationist-dies-at-91\">died at his apartment in Marin on May 5 at the age of 91\u003c/a>, appreciated that story. A tireless ethnomusicologist, he seemed to experience life as an ongoing series of musical revelations, and he liked nothing better than sharing those transformative sounds. Running into Strachwitz, a longtime Berkeley resident, at a show or on BART was always a treat, as he was garrulous, opinionated and usually bubbling over with enthusiasm about something he’d recently heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strachwitz spent his life documenting, preserving, producing and releasing a far-flung roster of roots music traditions, including country blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, zydeco, Cajun and Tex-Mex music. His massive catalog of Arhoolie albums and compilation projects introduced several generations of listeners to sounds assiduously avoided by mainstream outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928753\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"509\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13928753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800-768x489.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Strachwitz with Texas blues musician Mance Lipscomb in an undated photo. \u003ccite>(Arhoolie Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t care for the slick R&B,” he told me in \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/at-50-arhoolie-records-looks-back-and-goes-forward-1/\">an interview for Arhoolie’s 50th anniversary\u003c/a>. “I liked the raggedy stuff, the stuff where the musicians are obviously expressing themselves. I like honking bands, the beat, the powerful rhythm, and I don’t care if it’s hillbilly or gospel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arhoolie wasn’t a commercial powerhouse, but the sounds that Strachwitz captured or uncovered influenced countless musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder and the Rolling Stones (whom Strachwitz successfully pursued for royalties due to ailing bluesman Fred McDowell for “You Gotta Move,” a track on 1971’s \u003cem>Sticky Fingers\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The influence of his work soaked into the roots of the communities he treasured, according to Maureen Gosling, who with Chris Simon directed and produced the feature documentary \u003cem>This Ain’t\u003c/em> \u003cem>No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records\u003c/em>.\u003cbr>\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYyNAgs4T5o\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking from New Orleans, where a \u003ca href=\"https://www.wwoz.org/blog/901596\">program celebrating the legacy of Arhoolie\u003c/a> concluded just hours before his death, Gosling had been to a screening with Simon of Les Blank’s Cajun and zydeco music documentary \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://lesblank.com/films/jai-ete-au-bal-i-went-to-the-dance-1989-2/\">J’ai Été Au Bal / I Went to the Dance\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Cajun folklorist Barry Ancelet said, “‘We knew about these recordings, but to see these compilations of Cajun music combined in a historical context was mind-blowing,’” Gosling said. “Michael Doucet listened to them and got excited about playing Cajun music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gosling and Simon got to know Strachwitz when they were part of Blank’s Flower Film team, which ended up being based upstairs from Down Home Music when Blank was working on the classic 1976 documentary about Norteño music, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://lesblank.com/films/chulas-fronteras-1976-2/\">Chulas Fronteras\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Strachwitz and Blank had met each other in the 1960s at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, and Strachwitz ended up serving as an advisor, guide and resource for many of Blank’s films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928752\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz. \u003ccite>(Alain McLaughlin/Arhoolie Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He has that energy and excitement,” Simon said. “They balanced each other out. Les was reserved and wanted to observe. Chris was all excited about everything. He was more interested in the music. Les wanted to get at the person and culture, the surroundings bringing that music forth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sheer scope of Strachwitz’s work was almost unimaginable. While Arhoolie released some 400 albums, that barely accounts for the music that Strachwitz compiled. At a time when Mexican music was largely invisible to non-Latino audiences, he started acquiring records that documented a constellation of styles, with a particular focus on accordion-driven norteño music.\u003cbr>\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlhDaing95Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strachwitz ended up compiling the Frontera Collection, the world’s largest private archive of Mexican and Mexican-American music. A grant from the San Jose norteño band Los Tigres del Norte’s foundation launched the digitizing process (via UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center), and two decades later, in 2022, the process was completed, encompassing 162,860 tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blues and Mexican music was part of Strachwitz’s introduction to the United States. Born into an aristocratic Prussian family, he was a teenager when his family resettled in Santa Barbara after being displaced at the end of World War II (his hometown, Gross Reichenau, is now the Polish city Bogaczów). It wasn’t long before American roots music became an abiding obsession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101854728']“I first heard it around 1948 on a radio station from Santa Paula that had some Mexican music, mostly mariachi, but some accordion too,” he told me in 2011. “I loved the sound of it. I thought it was just like hillbilly music, but in a different language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He followed that passion across the South to record Delta blue musicians, and into the Southwest to capture the sounds of the border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was out there when no one else was,” Gosling said. “Alan Lomax was recording for archives, all those folk ballads. But Chris wanted to capture music that people \u003cem>danced\u003c/em> to.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928741\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"762\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13928741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-800x595.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-1020x759.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Chris.Strachwitz.full_-768x572.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Strachwitz at his Down Home Records store in El Cerrito, Calif. in 2014. The founder of the popular local music store and Arhoolie Records died Friday at age 91. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first time that Chris Strachwitz blew my mind open was in the mid-1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was my first pilgrimage to \u003ca href=\"https://www.downhomemusic.com/\">Down Home Music\u003c/a>, the El Cerrito record store that serves as home base for Arhoolie Records, the label that Strachwitz founded in 1960. Intrigued by the cover art of \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://folkways.si.edu/pachuco-boogie/jazz-ragtime/music/album/smithsonian\">Pachuco Boogie\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, I added the CD to my stack, allowing me to discover a liminal moment when Mexican-American musicians started absorbing the jump blues and early R&B of their Black neighbors in 1940s Los Angeles. The irresistible sound sparked an epiphany about the buried cultural geography of my hometown, which had recently been torn apart by the LA riots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Strachwitz, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13928746/chris-strachwitz-legendary-roots-music-preservationist-dies-at-91\">died at his apartment in Marin on May 5 at the age of 91\u003c/a>, appreciated that story. A tireless ethnomusicologist, he seemed to experience life as an ongoing series of musical revelations, and he liked nothing better than sharing those transformative sounds. Running into Strachwitz, a longtime Berkeley resident, at a show or on BART was always a treat, as he was garrulous, opinionated and usually bubbling over with enthusiasm about something he’d recently heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strachwitz spent his life documenting, preserving, producing and releasing a far-flung roster of roots music traditions, including country blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, zydeco, Cajun and Tex-Mex music. His massive catalog of Arhoolie albums and compilation projects introduced several generations of listeners to sounds assiduously avoided by mainstream outlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928753\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"509\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13928753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/mousemusic800-768x489.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Strachwitz with Texas blues musician Mance Lipscomb in an undated photo. \u003ccite>(Arhoolie Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t care for the slick R&B,” he told me in \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/at-50-arhoolie-records-looks-back-and-goes-forward-1/\">an interview for Arhoolie’s 50th anniversary\u003c/a>. “I liked the raggedy stuff, the stuff where the musicians are obviously expressing themselves. I like honking bands, the beat, the powerful rhythm, and I don’t care if it’s hillbilly or gospel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arhoolie wasn’t a commercial powerhouse, but the sounds that Strachwitz captured or uncovered influenced countless musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder and the Rolling Stones (whom Strachwitz successfully pursued for royalties due to ailing bluesman Fred McDowell for “You Gotta Move,” a track on 1971’s \u003cem>Sticky Fingers\u003c/em>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The influence of his work soaked into the roots of the communities he treasured, according to Maureen Gosling, who with Chris Simon directed and produced the feature documentary \u003cem>This Ain’t\u003c/em> \u003cem>No Mouse Music! The Story of Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records\u003c/em>.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/eYyNAgs4T5o'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/eYyNAgs4T5o'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Speaking from New Orleans, where a \u003ca href=\"https://www.wwoz.org/blog/901596\">program celebrating the legacy of Arhoolie\u003c/a> concluded just hours before his death, Gosling had been to a screening with Simon of Les Blank’s Cajun and zydeco music documentary \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://lesblank.com/films/jai-ete-au-bal-i-went-to-the-dance-1989-2/\">J’ai Été Au Bal / I Went to the Dance\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Cajun folklorist Barry Ancelet said, “‘We knew about these recordings, but to see these compilations of Cajun music combined in a historical context was mind-blowing,’” Gosling said. “Michael Doucet listened to them and got excited about playing Cajun music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gosling and Simon got to know Strachwitz when they were part of Blank’s Flower Film team, which ended up being based upstairs from Down Home Music when Blank was working on the classic 1976 documentary about Norteño music, \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://lesblank.com/films/chulas-fronteras-1976-2/\">Chulas Fronteras\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. Strachwitz and Blank had met each other in the 1960s at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, and Strachwitz ended up serving as an advisor, guide and resource for many of Blank’s films.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13928752\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13928752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/Arhoolie-Records-Founder-Chris-Strachwitz-photo-by-Alain-McLaughlin-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz. \u003ccite>(Alain McLaughlin/Arhoolie Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He has that energy and excitement,” Simon said. “They balanced each other out. Les was reserved and wanted to observe. Chris was all excited about everything. He was more interested in the music. Les wanted to get at the person and culture, the surroundings bringing that music forth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The sheer scope of Strachwitz’s work was almost unimaginable. While Arhoolie released some 400 albums, that barely accounts for the music that Strachwitz compiled. At a time when Mexican music was largely invisible to non-Latino audiences, he started acquiring records that documented a constellation of styles, with a particular focus on accordion-driven norteño music.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/wlhDaing95Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/wlhDaing95Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Strachwitz ended up compiling the Frontera Collection, the world’s largest private archive of Mexican and Mexican-American music. A grant from the San Jose norteño band Los Tigres del Norte’s foundation launched the digitizing process (via UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center), and two decades later, in 2022, the process was completed, encompassing 162,860 tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Blues and Mexican music was part of Strachwitz’s introduction to the United States. Born into an aristocratic Prussian family, he was a teenager when his family resettled in Santa Barbara after being displaced at the end of World War II (his hometown, Gross Reichenau, is now the Polish city Bogaczów). It wasn’t long before American roots music became an abiding obsession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I first heard it around 1948 on a radio station from Santa Paula that had some Mexican music, mostly mariachi, but some accordion too,” he told me in 2011. “I loved the sound of it. I thought it was just like hillbilly music, but in a different language.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He followed that passion across the South to record Delta blue musicians, and into the Southwest to capture the sounds of the border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was out there when no one else was,” Gosling said. “Alan Lomax was recording for archives, all those folk ballads. But Chris wanted to capture music that people \u003cem>danced\u003c/em> to.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Chris Strachwitz, a producer, musicologist and one-man preservation society whose El Cerrito-based Arhoolie Records released thousands of songs by regional performers and comprised an extraordinary American archive that became known and loved worldwide, has died. He was 91.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strachwitz, recipient in 2016 of a Grammy Trustee Award, passed away Friday from complications with congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Marin County, the Arhoolie Foundation said Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Admired by Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and many others, Strachwitz was an unlikely champion of the American vernacular — a native German born into privilege who fell deeply for his adopted country’s music and was among the most intrepid field recorders to emerge after Alan Lomax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101854728']He founded Arhoolie in 1960 and over the following decades traveled to Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana among other states on a mission that rarely relented: taping little-known artists in their home environments, be it a dance hall, a front porch, a beer joint, a backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My stuff isn’t produced. I just catch it as it is,” he explained in the 2014 documentary \u003cem>This Ain’t No Mouse Music\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The name Arhoolie, suggested by fellow musicologist Mack McCormick, is allegedly a regional expression for field holler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ry Cooder would call him “El Fanatico,” the kind of true believer for whom just the rumor of a musician worth hearing would inspire him to get on a bus and ride hundreds of miles — like the time he sought out bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins in Houston. Strachwitz amassed a vast catalog of blues, Tejano, folk, jazz, gospel and Zydeco, with Grammy winners Flaco Jimenez and Clifton Chenier among those who later attracted wider followings. An Arhoolie 50-year anniversary box set featured Maria Muldaur, Taj Mahal, Savoy Family Band and Cooder, who would cite the Arhoolie release \u003cem>Mississippi’s Big Joe Williams and His Nine-String Guitar\u003c/em> as an early inspiration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just jumped out of the speaker on this little school record player,” Cooder told NPR in 2013, adding that he decided “once and for all” to become a musician. “I’m gonna do this, too. I’m gonna get good on guitar, and I’m gonna play it like that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13883253']Strachwitz despised most commercial music — “mouse music,” he called it — but he did have just enough success to keep Arhoolie going. In the mid-1960s, he recorded an album in his living room for no charge by Berkeley-based folk performer Joe McDonald, who in turn granted publishing rights to Arhoolie. By 1969, McDonald was leading Country Joe McDonald and the Fish and one song from the Arhoolie sessions, the anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” was a highlight of the Woodstock festival and soundtrack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arhoolie releases were cherished by blues fans in England, including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Around the same time Strachwitz met with McDonald, he taped more than a dozen songs by bluesman “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, including McDowell’s version of an old spiritual, “You Gotta Move.” The Stones sang a few lines from it during the 1970 documentary \u003cem>Gimme Shelter\u003c/em> and recorded a cover that appeared on their acclaimed 1971 album \u003cem>Sticky Fingers\u003c/em>. Strachwitz prevailed over the resistance of the band’s lawyers and ensured that royalties were given to McDowell, who was dying of cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was able to give Fred McDowell the biggest check he’d ever seen in his life,” Strachwitz later said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1993, Arhoolie was boosted again when country star Alan Jackson had a hit with “Mercury Blues,” a song co-written and first performed by K.C. Douglas for the label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides his Grammy, Strachwitz received a lifetime achievement award from the Blues Symposium and was inducted as a non-performing member of the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1995, Strachwitz established the Arhoolie Foundation to “document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music,” with advisers including Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt. In 2016, Strachwitz sold his majority interest in the record label to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, part of the national museum in Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ripple effect of Chris Strachwitz in the world of is immeasurable in preserving this music,” Raitt, a longtime friend, told the podcast \u003cem>The Kitchen Sisters Present\u003c/em> in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_10142164']The son of wealthy farm owners, he was born Count Christian Alexander Maria Strachwitz in the German region of Silesia, now part of Poland. His family, displaced at the end of World War II, moved to the United States in 1947, eventually settling in Santa Barbara, California. Strachwitz had already been exposed to swing overseas through Armed Forces Radio and became a jazz fan after seeing the movie \u003cem>New Orleans\u003c/em>, a 1947 musical featuring Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. He also felt a strong kinship with country and other forms of “hillbilly music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt it all had this kind of earthiness to it that I didn’t hear in any other kind of music. They sang about how lonesome you are, and how you miss your girlfriend and all this other thing,” Strachwitz told NPR. “Those songs really spoke to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By his early 20s, he was taping local radio and live performances and he perfected his craft while attending the University of California at Berkeley. He served two years in the Army, completed his studies at Berkeley through the GI Bill and, starting in the late 1950s, taught high school for a few years in Los Gatos, California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Often short on money, Strachwitz sold pressings from his collection of old 78s to support his early recording efforts. Arhoolie’s first release was Mance Lipscomb’s \u003cem>Texas Sharecropper and Songster\u003c/em>, for which Strachwitz and friends personally assembled 250 copies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So much of pop music has all this slop added, with this mush background that I can’t even call music,” he said in a 2013 interview with the online publication waytooindie.com. “You can hardly hear the voices! They bury the voices. If somebody wants to sing, sing, goddammit! You know? In the old days, you could hear them sing.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Strachwitz despised most commercial music — “mouse music,” he called it — but he did have just enough success to keep Arhoolie going. In the mid-1960s, he recorded an album in his living room for no charge by Berkeley-based folk performer Joe McDonald, who in turn granted publishing rights to Arhoolie. By 1969, McDonald was leading Country Joe McDonald and the Fish and one song from the Arhoolie sessions, the anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag,” was a highlight of the Woodstock festival and soundtrack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arhoolie releases were cherished by blues fans in England, including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Around the same time Strachwitz met with McDonald, he taped more than a dozen songs by bluesman “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, including McDowell’s version of an old spiritual, “You Gotta Move.” The Stones sang a few lines from it during the 1970 documentary \u003cem>Gimme Shelter\u003c/em> and recorded a cover that appeared on their acclaimed 1971 album \u003cem>Sticky Fingers\u003c/em>. Strachwitz prevailed over the resistance of the band’s lawyers and ensured that royalties were given to McDowell, who was dying of cancer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was able to give Fred McDowell the biggest check he’d ever seen in his life,” Strachwitz later said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1993, Arhoolie was boosted again when country star Alan Jackson had a hit with “Mercury Blues,” a song co-written and first performed by K.C. Douglas for the label.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides his Grammy, Strachwitz received a lifetime achievement award from the Blues Symposium and was inducted as a non-performing member of the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1995, Strachwitz established the Arhoolie Foundation to “document, preserve, present and disseminate authentic traditional and regional vernacular music,” with advisers including Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt. In 2016, Strachwitz sold his majority interest in the record label to Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, part of the national museum in Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ripple effect of Chris Strachwitz in the world of is immeasurable in preserving this music,” Raitt, a longtime friend, told the podcast \u003cem>The Kitchen Sisters Present\u003c/em> in 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So much of pop music has all this slop added, with this mush background that I can’t even call music,” he said in a 2013 interview with the online publication waytooindie.com. “You can hardly hear the voices! They bury the voices. If somebody wants to sing, sing, goddammit! You know? In the old days, you could hear them sing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A New Guatemalan Restaurant Brings Central American Flavors to El Cerrito",
"headTitle": "A New Guatemalan Restaurant Brings Central American Flavors to El Cerrito | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When Yury Aguilar and her husband Carlos Pool first started selling tamales from the trunk of their car back in 2015, it was hard for them to even imagine what it would be like to open an actual restaurant. An entire restaurant selling nothing but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913355/guatemalan-rice-tamales-antojitos-guatemaltecos-richmond\">traditional Guatemalan dishes like tamales de arroz and pepián de pollo\u003c/a>? How many customers could they count on to support something like that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quite a few, it turns out. After cultivating a loyal fanbase for their tamales in the Richmond area for the past seven years, the Aguilar family — Pool, Aguilar and several of her brothers and sisters — opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/antojitosguatemaltecoss/\">Antojitos Guatemaltecos\u003c/a>, in El Cerrito this past December. The San Pablo Ave. storefront is an expansion of the family’s tamal cart business, which two of the Aguilar siblings continue to operate in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguilar’s initial doubts were understandable: Despite the region’s growing Guatemalan population, the Bay Area doesn’t really have an established Guatemalan dining scene, apart from a handful of panaderías and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-fruitvale-guatemala-neighborhood-17667201.php\">informal food stalls that have sprung up in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood\u003c/a>. But no one should be sleeping on Guatemalan food, mostly because it’s delicious, with unique charms that set it apart from the Bay Area’s more widely recognized Mexican and Salvadoran food scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923366\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family.jpg\" alt=\"Seven family members in matching black shirts pose inside their restaurant, Antojitos Guatemaltecos.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pictured from left to right inside Antojitos Guatemaltecos: Carlos Pool and Yury, Marleny, Yasmin, Edilma, Melany and Josue Aguilar. Not pictured is Azriel Aguilar, the seventh Aguilar sibling who helped open this family business. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Antojitos Guatemaltecos)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The new Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant is the perfect place to cozy up to some of the greatest hits of the cuisine. If you haven’t had them before, you’ll want to start with a sampling of the Aguilars’ tamales, which have long been the staple of the business. They’re available not only in the exceptionally tender, jiggly Central American style, but also in lesser-known varieties that aren’t made with corn masa — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913355/guatemalan-rice-tamales-antojitos-guatemaltecos-richmond\">exquisitely flavorful rice tamales\u003c/a> and the potato tamales known as paches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the Aguilars have a full kitchen to work out of, they’re also able to offer hot food that’s cooked to order, not just reheated, for the first time. The best lunch I’ve eaten so far in 2023 was the restaurant’s churrasco chapin — Guatemala’s answer to a Mexican restaurant’s carne asada plate, Aguilar explains. It comes with a thin cut of well-seasoned steak, two slabs of sausage, rice, refried beans, fried plantains served with queso fresco and a dab of sour cream, a kind of savory potato salad that Guatemalans call ensalada rusa and thick, piping-hot corn tortillas. By any standard, it’s an elite-level lunch or dinner plate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other menu staples include the estofada de res, a kind of beef stew that Aguilar says she learned how to cook back in Guatemala when she was 13 years old, and started working at a restaurant that served dishes associated with the country’s indigenous Mam community. To drink, there’s agua de nance, a sweet, refreshing juice made from a tropical fruit that resembles a yellow cherry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923367\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks.jpg\" alt=\"A display shelf stocked full of Central American chips and other snacks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A display of Central American snacks, including an assortment of Tortrix brand chips and Diana jalapeño-flavored tortilla chips. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13913355,arts_13921650,arts_13921917']Perhaps most exciting to homesick Guatemalan immigrants, the restaurant has also started serving fried chicken that’s similar in style to Pollo Campero — a Central American chain so beloved that \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-14/pollo-campero-central-america-los-angeles\">Guatemalan Americans are known to stuff their suitcases with huge boxes of the chicken\u003c/a> every time they fly back from their home country. What distinguishes the fried chicken, Aguilar says, is that the batter is lighter than the typical American style, and they use a seasoning blend that they ship in from Guatemala.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the month since Antojitos Guatemaltecos has opened, Aguilar says the most surprising thing is how diverse the customer base has been — not just Guatemalans, not just regulars from the tamal cart, but also locals from all different backgrounds who have poked their heads in the restaurant, curious about the cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so afraid that people would not accept our food,” Aguilar says. “Guatemalan food is not popular in the world. But I’m very happy. People from everywhere have come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923368\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923368\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior.jpg\" alt=\"Exterior of the Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant with a yellow facade and a handful of outdoor tables on the sidewalk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Now open in El Cerrito. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant is open Tue.–Sat., from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., at 11252 San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito. The tamal cart is open Mon.–Sat., 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., outside Panadería Guatemalteca at 653 23rd St. in Richmond. Cash only.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Yury Aguilar and her husband Carlos Pool first started selling tamales from the trunk of their car back in 2015, it was hard for them to even imagine what it would be like to open an actual restaurant. An entire restaurant selling nothing but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913355/guatemalan-rice-tamales-antojitos-guatemaltecos-richmond\">traditional Guatemalan dishes like tamales de arroz and pepián de pollo\u003c/a>? How many customers could they count on to support something like that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quite a few, it turns out. After cultivating a loyal fanbase for their tamales in the Richmond area for the past seven years, the Aguilar family — Pool, Aguilar and several of her brothers and sisters — opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/antojitosguatemaltecoss/\">Antojitos Guatemaltecos\u003c/a>, in El Cerrito this past December. The San Pablo Ave. storefront is an expansion of the family’s tamal cart business, which two of the Aguilar siblings continue to operate in Richmond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aguilar’s initial doubts were understandable: Despite the region’s growing Guatemalan population, the Bay Area doesn’t really have an established Guatemalan dining scene, apart from a handful of panaderías and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-fruitvale-guatemala-neighborhood-17667201.php\">informal food stalls that have sprung up in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood\u003c/a>. But no one should be sleeping on Guatemalan food, mostly because it’s delicious, with unique charms that set it apart from the Bay Area’s more widely recognized Mexican and Salvadoran food scenes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923366\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923366\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family.jpg\" alt=\"Seven family members in matching black shirts pose inside their restaurant, Antojitos Guatemaltecos.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-guatemaltecos_aguilar-family-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pictured from left to right inside Antojitos Guatemaltecos: Carlos Pool and Yury, Marleny, Yasmin, Edilma, Melany and Josue Aguilar. Not pictured is Azriel Aguilar, the seventh Aguilar sibling who helped open this family business. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Antojitos Guatemaltecos)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The new Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant is the perfect place to cozy up to some of the greatest hits of the cuisine. If you haven’t had them before, you’ll want to start with a sampling of the Aguilars’ tamales, which have long been the staple of the business. They’re available not only in the exceptionally tender, jiggly Central American style, but also in lesser-known varieties that aren’t made with corn masa — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913355/guatemalan-rice-tamales-antojitos-guatemaltecos-richmond\">exquisitely flavorful rice tamales\u003c/a> and the potato tamales known as paches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that the Aguilars have a full kitchen to work out of, they’re also able to offer hot food that’s cooked to order, not just reheated, for the first time. The best lunch I’ve eaten so far in 2023 was the restaurant’s churrasco chapin — Guatemala’s answer to a Mexican restaurant’s carne asada plate, Aguilar explains. It comes with a thin cut of well-seasoned steak, two slabs of sausage, rice, refried beans, fried plantains served with queso fresco and a dab of sour cream, a kind of savory potato salad that Guatemalans call ensalada rusa and thick, piping-hot corn tortillas. By any standard, it’s an elite-level lunch or dinner plate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other menu staples include the estofada de res, a kind of beef stew that Aguilar says she learned how to cook back in Guatemala when she was 13 years old, and started working at a restaurant that served dishes associated with the country’s indigenous Mam community. To drink, there’s agua de nance, a sweet, refreshing juice made from a tropical fruit that resembles a yellow cherry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923367\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923367\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks.jpg\" alt=\"A display shelf stocked full of Central American chips and other snacks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos_snacks-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A display of Central American snacks, including an assortment of Tortrix brand chips and Diana jalapeño-flavored tortilla chips. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Perhaps most exciting to homesick Guatemalan immigrants, the restaurant has also started serving fried chicken that’s similar in style to Pollo Campero — a Central American chain so beloved that \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-14/pollo-campero-central-america-los-angeles\">Guatemalan Americans are known to stuff their suitcases with huge boxes of the chicken\u003c/a> every time they fly back from their home country. What distinguishes the fried chicken, Aguilar says, is that the batter is lighter than the typical American style, and they use a seasoning blend that they ship in from Guatemala.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the month since Antojitos Guatemaltecos has opened, Aguilar says the most surprising thing is how diverse the customer base has been — not just Guatemalans, not just regulars from the tamal cart, but also locals from all different backgrounds who have poked their heads in the restaurant, curious about the cuisine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so afraid that people would not accept our food,” Aguilar says. “Guatemalan food is not popular in the world. But I’m very happy. People from everywhere have come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13923368\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13923368\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior.jpg\" alt=\"Exterior of the Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant with a yellow facade and a handful of outdoor tables on the sidewalk.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/antojitos-exterior-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Now open in El Cerrito. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12904247\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"39\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-160x16.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-240x23.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/03/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39-375x37.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Antojitos Guatemaltecos restaurant is open Tue.–Sat., from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., at 11252 San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito. The tamal cart is open Mon.–Sat., 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., outside Panadería Guatemalteca at 653 23rd St. in Richmond. Cash only.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
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},
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"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"order": 8
},
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},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"order": 1
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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}
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"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"hidden-brain": {
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
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"source": "NPR"
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"jerrybrown": {
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"order": 18
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
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},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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