The Midnight Diners is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and artist Thien Pham. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.
Some of the Bay Area’s Tastiest Soul Food Is Sold Out of a Convenience Store in Oakland
Believe the Teens: Beep’s Is SF’s Best Spot for Late-Night Burgers and Shakes
The Grill by Miss G Is the Rowdiest Late-Night Filipino Meat Stick Party in the Bay
HaiDiLao Brings a Bit of Razzle Dazzle to Fremont’s Late-Night Hot Pot Scene
This Soul Food Spot in San Leandro Serves Some of the Tastiest Gumbo in the Bay
In South San Francisco, Noodles and Karaoke Are the Perfect Late-Night Combo
Taishan Cuisine Is Keeping Chinatown’s Late-Night Food Scene Alive
In San Francisco, Mitchell’s Ice Cream Is the People’s Choice
’Tinis and Weenies Are a Winning Late-Night Combination
This Hot Pot Restaurant Serves All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu Beef
Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria Goes Big
San Francisco’s Favorite Spaghetti Shack Has a New Late-Night Menu
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"title": "Some of the Bay Area’s Tastiest Soul Food Is Sold Out of a Convenience Store in Oakland",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972837\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in glasses devouring chicken wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, and other soul food dishes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland, Dimond Kitchen’s soul food is so good, you want devour it right away — even if there aren’t any tables or chairs. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located across the street from a weed dispensary in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Dimond District, the Two Star Market looks like any other corner convenience store in the Bay — bright fluorescent lights, fridges stacked with beer and wine coolers, and shelves upon shelves of chips and candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, except for this: The store also features a fully equipped kitchen that serves some of the tastiest soul food in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dimond Kitchen,” the grand opening banner outside reads. “Food for the Soul.” The restaurant-inside-a-corner-store markets itself as the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">only late-night soul food spot\u003c/a>, which seems \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969092/late-night-soul-food-gumbo-san-leandro-nellas-place\">mostly true\u003c/a> — even if it was \u003ci>more\u003c/i> apt a few years ago when the business used to set up on the sidewalk, on Broadway or Telegraph, selling ribs and meatloaf plates to the bar crowd until as late as 2 a.m. These days, the convenience store iteration of Dimond Kitchen is open until midnight on weekends, and that still feels like a miracle — to be able to snag a piping-hot plate of pork chops, greens, and mac and cheese during your late-night liquor store run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My abiding love of restaurants embedded inside \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/hidden-in-plain-sight-norma-meat-amp-deli-1/\">liquor stores\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950577/halal-king-yemeni-restaurant-gas-station-richmond\">gas station convenience stores\u003c/a> is well-documented at this point, including a long obsession with \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/borinquen-soul-dishes-out-puerto-rican-grandma-food-inside-an-oakland-convenience-store-2-1/\">Borinquen Soul\u003c/a>, which sold the most delicious Puerto Rican pernil and arroz con gandules I’d ever eaten out of this very same slightly janky corner store kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love most, I think, is the joy of discovery — of stumbling on unexpected deliciousness in an unusually casual or inappropriate setting. “What?” we said to the woman working the counter at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night. “You serve \u003ci>oxtails\u003c/i> on the weekend?” Even before we’d ordered our food, we were making plans to come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Dimond Kitchen, you should be prepared for the food to take a little while, especially if you order anything beyond the spread of entrees and side dishes already laid out in warming trays on the steam table. The chicken wings are fried to order. So are the pork chops, before they get smothered in gravy. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> are tossed fresh in a hot pan — again, all to order. With just one or two cooks cranking plates out of that tiny, bootstrapped convenience store kitchen, it’s no wonder we waited a solid 40 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland-style picnic. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How much you enjoy that wait might depend on how you feel about the late-night corner store vibe, which has its own brand of joyously chaotic Town energy. A white guy in a hoodie tried to sweet-talk the staff into letting him buy a (nonexistent) “two-meat, one-side” combo plate. (“It’s twice the meat, half the sorrow,” he quipped, nonsensically.) A young woman with long braids slapped a couple of dollar bills onto the counter after the chef gave her a few extra tubs of housemade hot sauce, shrugging him off when he said she didn’t have to pay. Every once in a while, someone would burst into the store cussing jovially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chef, you can smell that shit up the street!” one of them shouted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most everyone seemed like they were a regular. Which makes sense because once our food arrived, each takeout carton steaming-hot and filled almost to overflowing, we stopped thinking about anything else except how astoundingly delicious it all was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13972197,arts_13969092,arts_13966030']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The special of the day was smothered pork chops — juicy, bone-in specimens drowned generously in a savory brown gravy that was pitch perfect, neither too thick nor too thin. The kind of gravy that makes you want to eat a boatload of white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another excellent vehicle for rice (or noodles) was the garlic shrimp. Vaguely Alfredo-like in its creamy richness, the sauce was slightly spicy, a little bit sweet, and thoroughly addicting. Meanwhile, the fried chicken wings — arguably the staple of the menu — were plump and full-sized (with the tips attached), impeccably seasoned and succulent as all get-out. These were as delicious plain as they were with a drizzle of Crystal or the restaurant’s sweet, housemade hot sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What really made the meal, however, was the abundance of side dishes, which we found to be even tastier than the mains. There were sweet, syrupy yams and gloriously golden-crusted jalapeño mac and cheese. There was dirty rice that \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> tasted dirty, in the best way, with a livery depth of flavor we couldn’t get enough of. Best of all, there were soft collard greens soaked in a pool of potlikker so tasty and potent, I would happily drink a whole bowl of it on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes out smelling so intoxicatingly good, you want to devour it right away — which is a slight problem, because the corner-store setting means there aren’t any tables or seats to speak of. But on a clear evening, when the night air isn’t too chilly, you can do what we did and set up a very Oakland-style picnic: Lay your bounty on the hood of your car, right there in the convenience store parking lot. Roll up your sleeves. And dig in.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">\u003ci>Dimond Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Tuesday through Thursday, 2–10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 1 p.m.–midnight inside Two Star Market at 2020 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland — though it’s best to call ahead to confirm their hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972837\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in glasses devouring chicken wings, collard greens, mac and cheese, and other soul food dishes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sold inside the Two Star Market convenience store in Oakland, Dimond Kitchen’s soul food is so good, you want devour it right away — even if there aren’t any tables or chairs. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located across the street from a weed dispensary in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland’s\u003c/a> Dimond District, the Two Star Market looks like any other corner convenience store in the Bay — bright fluorescent lights, fridges stacked with beer and wine coolers, and shelves upon shelves of chips and candy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, except for this: The store also features a fully equipped kitchen that serves some of the tastiest soul food in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dimond Kitchen,” the grand opening banner outside reads. “Food for the Soul.” The restaurant-inside-a-corner-store markets itself as the Bay Area’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">only late-night soul food spot\u003c/a>, which seems \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969092/late-night-soul-food-gumbo-san-leandro-nellas-place\">mostly true\u003c/a> — even if it was \u003ci>more\u003c/i> apt a few years ago when the business used to set up on the sidewalk, on Broadway or Telegraph, selling ribs and meatloaf plates to the bar crowd until as late as 2 a.m. These days, the convenience store iteration of Dimond Kitchen is open until midnight on weekends, and that still feels like a miracle — to be able to snag a piping-hot plate of pork chops, greens, and mac and cheese during your late-night liquor store run.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My abiding love of restaurants embedded inside \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/hidden-in-plain-sight-norma-meat-amp-deli-1/\">liquor stores\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13950577/halal-king-yemeni-restaurant-gas-station-richmond\">gas station convenience stores\u003c/a> is well-documented at this point, including a long obsession with \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/borinquen-soul-dishes-out-puerto-rican-grandma-food-inside-an-oakland-convenience-store-2-1/\">Borinquen Soul\u003c/a>, which sold the most delicious Puerto Rican pernil and arroz con gandules I’d ever eaten out of this very same slightly janky corner store kitchen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I love most, I think, is the joy of discovery — of stumbling on unexpected deliciousness in an unusually casual or inappropriate setting. “What?” we said to the woman working the counter at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night. “You serve \u003ci>oxtails\u003c/i> on the weekend?” Even before we’d ordered our food, we were making plans to come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Dimond Kitchen, you should be prepared for the food to take a little while, especially if you order anything beyond the spread of entrees and side dishes already laid out in warming trays on the steam table. The chicken wings are fried to order. So are the pork chops, before they get smothered in gravy. And the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> are tossed fresh in a hot pan — again, all to order. With just one or two cooks cranking plates out of that tiny, bootstrapped convenience store kitchen, it’s no wonder we waited a solid 40 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/Dimondkitchen2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Oakland-style picnic. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>How much you enjoy that wait might depend on how you feel about the late-night corner store vibe, which has its own brand of joyously chaotic Town energy. A white guy in a hoodie tried to sweet-talk the staff into letting him buy a (nonexistent) “two-meat, one-side” combo plate. (“It’s twice the meat, half the sorrow,” he quipped, nonsensically.) A young woman with long braids slapped a couple of dollar bills onto the counter after the chef gave her a few extra tubs of housemade hot sauce, shrugging him off when he said she didn’t have to pay. Every once in a while, someone would burst into the store cussing jovially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chef, you can smell that shit up the street!” one of them shouted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most everyone seemed like they were a regular. Which makes sense because once our food arrived, each takeout carton steaming-hot and filled almost to overflowing, we stopped thinking about anything else except how astoundingly delicious it all was.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The special of the day was smothered pork chops — juicy, bone-in specimens drowned generously in a savory brown gravy that was pitch perfect, neither too thick nor too thin. The kind of gravy that makes you want to eat a boatload of white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another excellent vehicle for rice (or noodles) was the garlic shrimp. Vaguely Alfredo-like in its creamy richness, the sauce was slightly spicy, a little bit sweet, and thoroughly addicting. Meanwhile, the fried chicken wings — arguably the staple of the menu — were plump and full-sized (with the tips attached), impeccably seasoned and succulent as all get-out. These were as delicious plain as they were with a drizzle of Crystal or the restaurant’s sweet, housemade hot sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What really made the meal, however, was the abundance of side dishes, which we found to be even tastier than the mains. There were sweet, syrupy yams and gloriously golden-crusted jalapeño mac and cheese. There was dirty rice that \u003ci>actually\u003c/i> tasted dirty, in the best way, with a livery depth of flavor we couldn’t get enough of. Best of all, there were soft collard greens soaked in a pool of potlikker so tasty and potent, I would happily drink a whole bowl of it on its own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all comes out smelling so intoxicatingly good, you want to devour it right away — which is a slight problem, because the corner-store setting means there aren’t any tables or seats to speak of. But on a clear evening, when the night air isn’t too chilly, you can do what we did and set up a very Oakland-style picnic: Lay your bounty on the hood of your car, right there in the convenience store parking lot. Roll up your sleeves. And dig in.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/dimond_kitchen_us_catering/\">\u003ci>Dimond Kitchen\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Tuesday through Thursday, 2–10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 1 p.m.–midnight inside Two Star Market at 2020 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland — though it’s best to call ahead to confirm their hours.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "beeps-burgers-best-late-night-san-francisco-milkshakes",
"title": "Believe the Teens: Beep’s Is SF’s Best Spot for Late-Night Burgers and Shakes",
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"headTitle": "Believe the Teens: Beep’s Is SF’s Best Spot for Late-Night Burgers and Shakes | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972201\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two Asian men in glasses devour a burger and fries.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">You don’t have to be a teen to enjoy the burgers and fries at Beep’s Burgers, an Ocean Avenue institution since 1962. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ’60s-style neon “Beep’s Burgers” sign, with its blinking, stylized satellite logo, called out to us like a beacon in the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d come to Ocean Avenue at 10 o’clock on a cold, rainy Friday because we heard that this old-school drive-up burger shack is open until 2 a.m. — and that it’s \u003ci>the\u003c/i> late-night food spot for local teens, who are utterly devoted to the garlic fries and the chocolate shakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out it’s true: Big, giggly groups of high schoolers kept pulling up all night, in matching varsity jackets after the game, or amped up on adrenaline on their way to a party. There were teenage couples, arm in arm. Lone wolf teens, there strictly for the food. Others arrived in minivans with their parents and siblings, all buttoned up in suits and ties on their way to the night service at a nearby church. The high school teacher in our duo even ran into a current student of his — who’d driven all the way from Oakland with his family to satisfy a burger craving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have a teenager in your life, there are even odds you’ll run into them at Beep’s too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As expected, everyone was ordering milkshakes and big, heaping trays of fries, which, if memory serves correctly, constitute something like 60% of the American teenage diet. You can trust their expertise on this topic is what I’m saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually, when Beep’s has gotten press in the decades since the restaurant first opened in 1962, it’s for being anachronistically affordable — “the best $7 burger in San Francisco,” \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2017/12/19/16790324/beeps-burgers-classic-san-francisco-review\">one 2017 review\u003c/a> proclaimed. Like everywhere else in the city, the prices here have crept up a bit: The quarter-pound burger now starts at $9.25, without fries or a drink. Still cheap enough for a student budget, especially if you split an order of fries. More to the point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better burger in the city at a lower price (and yes, that includes In-n-Out).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972202\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A burger shack lit up at night. The neon sign reads, "Beep's Burgers."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The neon-lit burger shack is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The cheeseburger had everything I look for: a well-charred crust on a loosely compacted, exceptionally juicy patty. Melty American cheese (or cheddar for the wrong-headed). A squishy bun. There’s nothing complicated happening here; the closest comparison would be a really good backyard burger. We didn’t see until too late that you have to ask for pickles and onions, but the high school regulars behind us in line had their orders down to a science, requesting In-n-Out-style customizations like the addition of both grilled \u003ci>and\u003c/i> raw onions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing we didn’t love were those very popular garlic fries. We’d been expecting more of a ballpark style, overloaded with heaps of fresh garlic, and these were more subdued, with a starchy outer coating that stayed somewhat crispy while they cooled. They were fine. Mostly, we wished they were a lot hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13971532,arts_13966812,arts_13959808']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Just about everything else was fantastic. The compact, impeccably crunchy fried chicken sandwich was hot and juicy, and so much easier to eat than the behemothic chicken sandwiches most trendy shops are selling these days. The onion rings were similarly well-fried — the crisp breading a counterpoint to their soft, sweet, slippery insides. Even the very standard-looking chicken nuggets were much better than the norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re going to go to Beep’s for one thing, though, let it be for those milkshakes, which are thick and substantial but still slurpable through a straw as soon as they come out. Both the chocolate and the Oreo were some of the very best we’ve had in the Bay — the rare shakes you drink down to the last drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing that’s great about Beep’s is how lively and social it feels, even though you’re essentially eating in a small, crowded parking lot. Double- and triple-parking seems to be the norm, and there’s almost no seating to speak of — just one picnic table (abandoned on this drizzly night) and a longish counter running along the front of the shop. Most customers either grabbed their food to go or sat back in their cars with the doors open, stereos blasting, to scarf it down while it was fresh and hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You don’t have to be a teenager to feel the buzz of excitement of being out late with the people you like best — of sharing a mess of fries, with the night still young and full of promise. You don’t even have to \u003ci>like\u003c/i> the burgers to feel a twinge of sweet nostalgia for that kind of free and easy life. But the burgers definitely help.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beepsburgers/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Beep’s Burgers\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 a.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–2 a.m. at 1051 Ocean Ave. in San Francisco. There’s also a newer East Bay location in Danville.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Beep’s Serves SF’s Best Late-Night Burgers and Shakes | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972201\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two Asian men in glasses devour a burger and fries.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-5-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">You don’t have to be a teen to enjoy the burgers and fries at Beep’s Burgers, an Ocean Avenue institution since 1962. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ’60s-style neon “Beep’s Burgers” sign, with its blinking, stylized satellite logo, called out to us like a beacon in the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d come to Ocean Avenue at 10 o’clock on a cold, rainy Friday because we heard that this old-school drive-up burger shack is open until 2 a.m. — and that it’s \u003ci>the\u003c/i> late-night food spot for local teens, who are utterly devoted to the garlic fries and the chocolate shakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out it’s true: Big, giggly groups of high schoolers kept pulling up all night, in matching varsity jackets after the game, or amped up on adrenaline on their way to a party. There were teenage couples, arm in arm. Lone wolf teens, there strictly for the food. Others arrived in minivans with their parents and siblings, all buttoned up in suits and ties on their way to the night service at a nearby church. The high school teacher in our duo even ran into a current student of his — who’d driven all the way from Oakland with his family to satisfy a burger craving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you have a teenager in your life, there are even odds you’ll run into them at Beep’s too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As expected, everyone was ordering milkshakes and big, heaping trays of fries, which, if memory serves correctly, constitute something like 60% of the American teenage diet. You can trust their expertise on this topic is what I’m saying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Usually, when Beep’s has gotten press in the decades since the restaurant first opened in 1962, it’s for being anachronistically affordable — “the best $7 burger in San Francisco,” \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2017/12/19/16790324/beeps-burgers-classic-san-francisco-review\">one 2017 review\u003c/a> proclaimed. Like everywhere else in the city, the prices here have crept up a bit: The quarter-pound burger now starts at $9.25, without fries or a drink. Still cheap enough for a student budget, especially if you split an order of fries. More to the point, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better burger in the city at a lower price (and yes, that includes In-n-Out).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972202\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972202\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A burger shack lit up at night. The neon sign reads, "Beep's Burgers."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-4-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The neon-lit burger shack is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The cheeseburger had everything I look for: a well-charred crust on a loosely compacted, exceptionally juicy patty. Melty American cheese (or cheddar for the wrong-headed). A squishy bun. There’s nothing complicated happening here; the closest comparison would be a really good backyard burger. We didn’t see until too late that you have to ask for pickles and onions, but the high school regulars behind us in line had their orders down to a science, requesting In-n-Out-style customizations like the addition of both grilled \u003ci>and\u003c/i> raw onions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only thing we didn’t love were those very popular garlic fries. We’d been expecting more of a ballpark style, overloaded with heaps of fresh garlic, and these were more subdued, with a starchy outer coating that stayed somewhat crispy while they cooled. They were fine. Mostly, we wished they were a lot hotter.\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>Just about everything else was fantastic. The compact, impeccably crunchy fried chicken sandwich was hot and juicy, and so much easier to eat than the behemothic chicken sandwiches most trendy shops are selling these days. The onion rings were similarly well-fried — the crisp breading a counterpoint to their soft, sweet, slippery insides. Even the very standard-looking chicken nuggets were much better than the norm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re going to go to Beep’s for one thing, though, let it be for those milkshakes, which are thick and substantial but still slurpable through a straw as soon as they come out. Both the chocolate and the Oreo were some of the very best we’ve had in the Bay — the rare shakes you drink down to the last drop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing that’s great about Beep’s is how lively and social it feels, even though you’re essentially eating in a small, crowded parking lot. Double- and triple-parking seems to be the norm, and there’s almost no seating to speak of — just one picnic table (abandoned on this drizzly night) and a longish counter running along the front of the shop. Most customers either grabbed their food to go or sat back in their cars with the doors open, stereos blasting, to scarf it down while it was fresh and hot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You don’t have to be a teenager to feel the buzz of excitement of being out late with the people you like best — of sharing a mess of fries, with the night still young and full of promise. You don’t even have to \u003ci>like\u003c/i> the burgers to feel a twinge of sweet nostalgia for that kind of free and easy life. But the burgers definitely help.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beepsburgers/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Beep’s Burgers\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–2 a.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.–2 a.m. at 1051 Ocean Ave. in San Francisco. There’s also a newer East Bay location in Danville.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hayward-filipino-barbecue-the-grill-by-miss-g-midnight-diners",
"title": "The Grill by Miss G Is the Rowdiest Late-Night Filipino Meat Stick Party in the Bay",
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"headTitle": "The Grill by Miss G Is the Rowdiest Late-Night Filipino Meat Stick Party in the Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971537\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men grill their own meat skewers at a large communal grill while a band performs in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At The Grill at Miss G, the centerpiece of the restaurant is a large communal grill. Located in Hayward, the Filipino barbecue spot is known for its raucous late-night atmosphere. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to describe how overstimulating it was walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thegrillby_missg/\">The Grill by Miss G\u003c/a> at 9 o’clock on a recent Friday night. The Hayward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/filipino-food\">Filipino\u003c/a> meat skewers spot was about as packed as I’ve ever seen any restaurant — practically standing room only, so crowded we could barely squeeze our way in. A Filipino cover band was singing an emo rock version of Madonna’s “Crazy For You,” to raucous applause. And, as it turns out, a local Filipino motorcycle gang, the Crispy Patas, were having a holiday party, so about half the people there were rough-and-tumble types decked out in heavy leather jackets emblazoned with a stylized, goggles-wearing cartoon pig head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there were regular folks like us, who’d come just to grab a late dinner. For us, the main point of interest was the big, communal grill in the middle of the restaurant, wafting with smoke and the smell of charred meat, where about a dozen diners were lined up, cooking skewer after sticky-sweet meat skewer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that sounds like a lot of things going on at once, well, that’s The Grill by Miss G — maybe the rowdiest, most high-spirited and \u003ci>most Filipino\u003c/i> late-night Filipino restaurant in the Bay. The kind of spot where every night feels like a party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant has been an East Bay staple since 2017, mostly under its original name, Toto’s Grill. I discovered the place during the height of the pandemic, when the dining room and self-grilling station were closed. Undeterred, groups of friends and family would simply bring their takeout cartons out to the parking lot, set their spread of hot skewers on the hood of their car, and blast the stereo — voilà, an impromptu picnic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was one of my most memorable COVID-era takeout meals, and I swore I’d come back for the full experience once restrictions were lifted. By the time I did, a new owner had rebranded the restaurant as “The Grill by Miss G,” extended its weekend hours to midnight, and turned the place into even more of a party spot — more concerts, more live-band karaoke, more appearances by Filipino celebrities. (Recent collaborations have featured \u003ci>X-Factor Philippines \u003c/i>finalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DCRvh2Nvv0L/\">Mark Mabasa\u003c/a> and the chess grandmaster Eugene Torre.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest attraction, though, is still those meat sticks. The Bay Area has no shortage of Filipino barbecue joints — Daly City legend \u003ca href=\"https://www.filamcuisine.com/\">Fil-Am Cuisine\u003c/a> is probably the most famous of the bunch, but you’ll find a big tray of pork skewers at almost any turo-turo steam table joint. The Grill, however, is the only restaurant I’ve been to in the Bay that really evokes the spirit of street-side Filipino barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971539\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1.jpg\" alt='Illustration: The exterior of a restaurant lit up at night. The sign in front reads, \"The Grill by Miss G.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Formerly known as Toto’s Grill, the restaurant is open until midnight on the weekend. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Part of that has to do with the sheer variety of meats on offer, most priced at around $2 a stick. You can, of course, get your standard pork and chicken skewers, which are plump, full of flavor and exceptionally well-charred — a solid foundation for your meal. But half the fun of eating at The Grill is trying out the gnarlier offal cuts lined up on the buffet counter. On the night of our visit, almost every diner snagged several sticks of fatty pork intestine, which softened to a stretchy, super-rich consistency when heated on the grill, and were delicious dipped in spicy vinegar sauce. And where else are you going to get chicken isaw (grilled chicken intestines)? These were an even hotter ticket, kept hidden behind the counter so you have to know to ask for them. Each skewer is just one long intestine, folded into a tight coil and threaded onto the stick. Its intense gameyness and rubber band–like texture make it a delicacy for advanced offal eaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if innards aren’t your thing, you’ll still find plenty of fun dishes to try. The Grill’s bright orange kwek kwek, or batter-fried quail eggs, are the pinnacle homey, comforting street food — crunchy on the outside with a soft, creamy yolk in the center. And we loved the kikiam, a kind of fish cake wrapped in crispy tofu skin, which was especially tasty when slathered in the restaurant’s sweet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.certifiedfoodies.com/2013/08/14/fish-ball-sauce-recipe/\">Manong’s-style\u003c/a> brown fishball sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, the restaurant was selling little tubs of oxtail caldereta studded with green olives and peas, the meat stewed to saucy, tender, suck-on-the-bones perfection — fantastic ladled over white rice. The Grill is also one of a relatively small number of Bay Area restaurants where you can get balut, the legendary Filipino specialty of boiled fertilized duck eggs. It was my first time. I cracked open the top of the shell to sip the warm broth inside. Sprinkled the tiny, embryonic bird with a bit of salt, pepper and vinegar. Then, with a burst of courage, took it all down in one decisive slurp. The duck embryo itself was surprisingly soft and earthy-tasting, and absolutely delicious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13970445,arts_13956683,arts_13968142']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course, the other thing that sets The Grill apart is the self-grilling aspect — though, to be clear, everything is cooked ahead of time, so the grill at the center of the restaurant is more of a reheating station. Still, we loved the communal aspect of the experience. If you’ve ever seen the shiny, state-of-the-art grills you might find at an upscale Korean BBQ spot, this is … not that. If anything, the grill itself is a little bit janky, with hot spots randomly shooting out flames, and other sections that are barely warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But everyone brings the tray of skewers they’ve selected to the grill at the center of the restaurant, and stands around, shoulder to shoulder with strangers. Afraid of overcooking our meats, we carefully tended to just a handful of sticks at a time, flipping each one over until they started sizzling. (The others around us were clearly old pros, lining up 20 or 30 sticks in one go like it was nothing.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we loved most was this uniquely Filipino family party atmosphere, like we’d gathered at a gregarious auntie’s house or in a church basement. Though it’s poor etiquette to hog a space at the grill for too long while people are waiting, we all ate at least a couple of skewers fresh, when they were at their hot and juicy peak, before heading back to our tables. People sipped liquids of unknown provenance from paper cups. Meanwhile, maybe five feet from the grill, the emcee for the night was belting out 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” like a rock star, working the crowd with a full band to back her up, her voice and her verve practically indistinguishable from the original (though her slight Filipino accent somehow made it even more bad-ass). We had to full-on shout in order to carry on any kind of conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a spectacle all right, and maybe more stimulation than I usually crave on a Friday night — and also, easily, the most fun I’d had at dinner in months.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thegrillby_missg/\">\u003ci>The Grill By Miss G\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Thursday 2–10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 2 p.m.–midnight, and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 21933 Foothill Blvd. in Hayward. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "The Best Late-Night Filipino BBQ Spot in the Bay Is in Hayward | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971537\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men grill their own meat skewers at a large communal grill while a band performs in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At The Grill at Miss G, the centerpiece of the restaurant is a large communal grill. Located in Hayward, the Filipino barbecue spot is known for its raucous late-night atmosphere. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to describe how overstimulating it was walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thegrillby_missg/\">The Grill by Miss G\u003c/a> at 9 o’clock on a recent Friday night. The Hayward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/filipino-food\">Filipino\u003c/a> meat skewers spot was about as packed as I’ve ever seen any restaurant — practically standing room only, so crowded we could barely squeeze our way in. A Filipino cover band was singing an emo rock version of Madonna’s “Crazy For You,” to raucous applause. And, as it turns out, a local Filipino motorcycle gang, the Crispy Patas, were having a holiday party, so about half the people there were rough-and-tumble types decked out in heavy leather jackets emblazoned with a stylized, goggles-wearing cartoon pig head.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there were regular folks like us, who’d come just to grab a late dinner. For us, the main point of interest was the big, communal grill in the middle of the restaurant, wafting with smoke and the smell of charred meat, where about a dozen diners were lined up, cooking skewer after sticky-sweet meat skewer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that sounds like a lot of things going on at once, well, that’s The Grill by Miss G — maybe the rowdiest, most high-spirited and \u003ci>most Filipino\u003c/i> late-night Filipino restaurant in the Bay. The kind of spot where every night feels like a party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant has been an East Bay staple since 2017, mostly under its original name, Toto’s Grill. I discovered the place during the height of the pandemic, when the dining room and self-grilling station were closed. Undeterred, groups of friends and family would simply bring their takeout cartons out to the parking lot, set their spread of hot skewers on the hood of their car, and blast the stereo — voilà, an impromptu picnic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was one of my most memorable COVID-era takeout meals, and I swore I’d come back for the full experience once restrictions were lifted. By the time I did, a new owner had rebranded the restaurant as “The Grill by Miss G,” extended its weekend hours to midnight, and turned the place into even more of a party spot — more concerts, more live-band karaoke, more appearances by Filipino celebrities. (Recent collaborations have featured \u003ci>X-Factor Philippines \u003c/i>finalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DCRvh2Nvv0L/\">Mark Mabasa\u003c/a> and the chess grandmaster Eugene Torre.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest attraction, though, is still those meat sticks. The Bay Area has no shortage of Filipino barbecue joints — Daly City legend \u003ca href=\"https://www.filamcuisine.com/\">Fil-Am Cuisine\u003c/a> is probably the most famous of the bunch, but you’ll find a big tray of pork skewers at almost any turo-turo steam table joint. The Grill, however, is the only restaurant I’ve been to in the Bay that really evokes the spirit of street-side Filipino barbecue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971539\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1.jpg\" alt='Illustration: The exterior of a restaurant lit up at night. The sign in front reads, \"The Grill by Miss G.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Untitled_Artwork-3-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Formerly known as Toto’s Grill, the restaurant is open until midnight on the weekend. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Part of that has to do with the sheer variety of meats on offer, most priced at around $2 a stick. You can, of course, get your standard pork and chicken skewers, which are plump, full of flavor and exceptionally well-charred — a solid foundation for your meal. But half the fun of eating at The Grill is trying out the gnarlier offal cuts lined up on the buffet counter. On the night of our visit, almost every diner snagged several sticks of fatty pork intestine, which softened to a stretchy, super-rich consistency when heated on the grill, and were delicious dipped in spicy vinegar sauce. And where else are you going to get chicken isaw (grilled chicken intestines)? These were an even hotter ticket, kept hidden behind the counter so you have to know to ask for them. Each skewer is just one long intestine, folded into a tight coil and threaded onto the stick. Its intense gameyness and rubber band–like texture make it a delicacy for advanced offal eaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if innards aren’t your thing, you’ll still find plenty of fun dishes to try. The Grill’s bright orange kwek kwek, or batter-fried quail eggs, are the pinnacle homey, comforting street food — crunchy on the outside with a soft, creamy yolk in the center. And we loved the kikiam, a kind of fish cake wrapped in crispy tofu skin, which was especially tasty when slathered in the restaurant’s sweet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.certifiedfoodies.com/2013/08/14/fish-ball-sauce-recipe/\">Manong’s-style\u003c/a> brown fishball sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, the restaurant was selling little tubs of oxtail caldereta studded with green olives and peas, the meat stewed to saucy, tender, suck-on-the-bones perfection — fantastic ladled over white rice. The Grill is also one of a relatively small number of Bay Area restaurants where you can get balut, the legendary Filipino specialty of boiled fertilized duck eggs. It was my first time. I cracked open the top of the shell to sip the warm broth inside. Sprinkled the tiny, embryonic bird with a bit of salt, pepper and vinegar. Then, with a burst of courage, took it all down in one decisive slurp. The duck embryo itself was surprisingly soft and earthy-tasting, and absolutely delicious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course, the other thing that sets The Grill apart is the self-grilling aspect — though, to be clear, everything is cooked ahead of time, so the grill at the center of the restaurant is more of a reheating station. Still, we loved the communal aspect of the experience. If you’ve ever seen the shiny, state-of-the-art grills you might find at an upscale Korean BBQ spot, this is … not that. If anything, the grill itself is a little bit janky, with hot spots randomly shooting out flames, and other sections that are barely warm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But everyone brings the tray of skewers they’ve selected to the grill at the center of the restaurant, and stands around, shoulder to shoulder with strangers. Afraid of overcooking our meats, we carefully tended to just a handful of sticks at a time, flipping each one over until they started sizzling. (The others around us were clearly old pros, lining up 20 or 30 sticks in one go like it was nothing.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we loved most was this uniquely Filipino family party atmosphere, like we’d gathered at a gregarious auntie’s house or in a church basement. Though it’s poor etiquette to hog a space at the grill for too long while people are waiting, we all ate at least a couple of skewers fresh, when they were at their hot and juicy peak, before heading back to our tables. People sipped liquids of unknown provenance from paper cups. Meanwhile, maybe five feet from the grill, the emcee for the night was belting out 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” like a rock star, working the crowd with a full band to back her up, her voice and her verve practically indistinguishable from the original (though her slight Filipino accent somehow made it even more bad-ass). We had to full-on shout in order to carry on any kind of conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a spectacle all right, and maybe more stimulation than I usually crave on a Friday night — and also, easily, the most fun I’d had at dinner in months.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thegrillby_missg/\">\u003ci>The Grill By Miss G\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Thursday 2–10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 2 p.m.–midnight, and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 21933 Foothill Blvd. in Hayward. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "haidilao-hot-pot-fremont-late-night",
"title": "HaiDiLao Brings a Bit of Razzle Dazzle to Fremont’s Late-Night Hot Pot Scene",
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"headTitle": "HaiDiLao Brings a Bit of Razzle Dazzle to Fremont’s Late-Night Hot Pot Scene | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970444\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men watch a noodle maker while eating hot pot.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At HaiDiLao, dinner might come with a tableside ‘dancing noodle’ show. The high-end hot pot restaurant’s Fremont location is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I was growing up in my immigrant Chinese-Taiwanese household in the ’80s and ’90s, my family thought of hot pot as the humblest of home foods — perfect for cold, lazy days when you couldn’t be bothered to cook, but not really even a meal suitable for company, much less something you’d splurge on at a fancy restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We never could have imagined today’s landscape of pristine malatang bars and all-you-can-eat \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965215/all-you-can-eat-wagyu-beef-hot-pot-shabu-shabu-mikiya-santa-clara\">wagyu beef shabu shabu\u003c/a>. Who could have guessed that hot pot would become a trendy luxury food, with high-end mega-chains multiplying across East Asia and eventually landing here in the Bay? And in many neighborhoods, these epicenters of hot, bubbling broth might be the only restaurant in the general vicinity that’s open late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how we ended up at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/haidilao_us/?hl=en\">HaiDiLao\u003c/a> in a Fremont strip mall at 10 o’clock on a Friday night, sliding into an open booth inside a bright, expansive dining room packed mostly with young Asian Americans. The restaurant is open until 2 a.m. every night, and its late-night hours are especially appealing to the budget-minded: On weekends starting at 9:30 p.m. (and 8:30 on weekdays), there’s a 31% happy hour discount on all hot pot dishes — or, as it’s phrased in Chinese, “69% price.” (Nice.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve heard of HaiDiLao, that’s probably because it’s literally the largest, most successful hot pot chain in the world, with an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2024/05/15/the-5-secrets-of-haidilaos-114b-dollar-customer-experience-success/\">$14 billion market cap\u003c/a> and more than 1,300 locations in China, its home base, alone. In Asia, the chain is ubiquitous enough that hot pot snobs consider it tacky, with some haters going so far as to call it the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/Taipei/comments/189mw16/comment/kbsd3je/\">overpriced McDonald’s of hot pot restaurants\u003c/a>.” Here in the Bay Area, however, it’s still a relative novelty, with just one other location (in Cupertino) — and both the food and the experience are good enough to outshine most of the local competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HaiDiLao’s claim to fame is its focus on providing a more luxurious, pampering approach to the customer experience, which expresses itself in what felt to me like particularly Chinese ways. The overflow waiting area (basically a bar counter) has several Chinese checkers boards, that little magnetic fishing game that every Chinese kid played when they were little and even an electronic eyeglass cleaner. You also get a whole apron, not just a bib, to keep your clothes clean of splattering broth. And little R2-D2–sized robot trolleys bring your raw ingredients to the table because why not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970443\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970443\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant. The sign reads "Haidilao Hot Pot," and there's a statue of a panda in a cape in front.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The global mega-chain currently has two Bay Area outposts, in Fremont and Cupertino. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even with the late-night discount, this is an expensive meal — easily upwards of $50 a person depending on your appetite and ordering discipline, which puts it in the same price tier as the fanciest all-you-can-eat joints. So it’s good that the food mostly stacks up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the soup base, which HaiDiLao offers in eight varieties, listed on the iPad menu from spiciest (the Chengdu-style beef tallow hot pot brimming with red chilies) to not spicy at all (say, the mushroom- or tomato-based broths). We opted for a split pot, with the medium-hot spicy pork bone broth and a more mild broth made with pork stomach and chicken. The former was flecked pieces of kimchi, for a bit of a Korean vibe, and had a good depth of the flavor. The latter — our favorite — had the subtle medicinal quality of a home-cooked broth and a slight gaminess from the slices of chewy, tender stomach. This is one you actually want to drink as a soup, especially on a cold night. (Pro tip: If at the end of the meal you tell the server, “I like your soup base” — in English or Mandarin — they’ll give you an extra bag of broth to bring home with your leftovers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were also impressed by the sheer variety of offerings beyond the typical plates of thinly sliced meat. The fresh seafood options are especially robust. We loved the thick, lush slices of marinated basa, which came pre-seasoned, deliciously, with a hint of numbing Sichuan peppercorn. One of the more unusual offerings were little cigars of shrimp paste wrapped in some kind of spongy fungus and crowned with a scattering of flying fish roe at the tip. Once they firmed up in the broth, they bore an unfortunate resemblance to half-flaccid penises — but uncommonly tasty ones, especially when dipped into the garlicky sesame paste dipping sauce that I’d concocted at the serve-yourself sauce station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13969092,arts_13965215,arts_13952384']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>And even though HaiDiLao doesn’t boast the innately decadent all-you-can-eat model of a high-end buffet like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965215/all-you-can-eat-wagyu-beef-hot-pot-shabu-shabu-mikiya-santa-clara\">Mikiya\u003c/a>, it does have its own elements of razzle dazzle and charm that help make for a fun night out. Wagyu lovers can splurge on the “wagyu tree,” which, true to its name, is a big mound of ice upon which they’ve arranged a portion of extremely well-marbled Japanese beef so that it does resemble a pink, meaty Christmas tree. Is it Instagram and TikTok bait? Of course. Is the meat some of the most extraordinarily soft and tender I’ve had for hot pot? Also yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most memorably, for just $5, you can order a tableside “dancing noodle” show, inspired by the style of flashy hand-pulled noodle-making you’ll see in parts of northern China. In our case, it turned out to be a young Latino guy who pulled up to our table and asked if we had any song requests before queuing up Pitbull’s “DJ Got Us Falling in Love” on his phone. The performance that followed was akin to watching a pizza man at a rave, as he stretched a piece of dough longer and longer, spinning it around, over his head and behind his back, whipping the noodle toward us — just kidding! — and causing it to form quick ripples. (Afterward, he explained that he’d started at HaiDiLao as a busboy and basically taught himself how to pull noodles just by watching the previous Chinese noodle master, who didn’t speak any English. Immigrants! They get the job done.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were so distracted by the song and dance of it all — a spectacle I never could have imagined as a young, naive hot pot eater — that we almost forgot to fish the finished noodles out of the broth. Even gone a bit soft, they were thoroughly, slurpably enjoyable.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>HaiDiLao Hot Pot’s Fremont location is open Mon. to Thu. 11:30 a.m.–2 a.m. and Fri. to Sun. 11 a.m.–2 a.m. at 43349 Boscell Rd. The restaurant also has a location in Cupertino.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970444\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men watch a noodle maker while eating hot pot.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At HaiDiLao, dinner might come with a tableside ‘dancing noodle’ show. The high-end hot pot restaurant’s Fremont location is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I was growing up in my immigrant Chinese-Taiwanese household in the ’80s and ’90s, my family thought of hot pot as the humblest of home foods — perfect for cold, lazy days when you couldn’t be bothered to cook, but not really even a meal suitable for company, much less something you’d splurge on at a fancy restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We never could have imagined today’s landscape of pristine malatang bars and all-you-can-eat \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965215/all-you-can-eat-wagyu-beef-hot-pot-shabu-shabu-mikiya-santa-clara\">wagyu beef shabu shabu\u003c/a>. Who could have guessed that hot pot would become a trendy luxury food, with high-end mega-chains multiplying across East Asia and eventually landing here in the Bay? And in many neighborhoods, these epicenters of hot, bubbling broth might be the only restaurant in the general vicinity that’s open late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how we ended up at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/haidilao_us/?hl=en\">HaiDiLao\u003c/a> in a Fremont strip mall at 10 o’clock on a Friday night, sliding into an open booth inside a bright, expansive dining room packed mostly with young Asian Americans. The restaurant is open until 2 a.m. every night, and its late-night hours are especially appealing to the budget-minded: On weekends starting at 9:30 p.m. (and 8:30 on weekdays), there’s a 31% happy hour discount on all hot pot dishes — or, as it’s phrased in Chinese, “69% price.” (Nice.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve heard of HaiDiLao, that’s probably because it’s literally the largest, most successful hot pot chain in the world, with an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2024/05/15/the-5-secrets-of-haidilaos-114b-dollar-customer-experience-success/\">$14 billion market cap\u003c/a> and more than 1,300 locations in China, its home base, alone. In Asia, the chain is ubiquitous enough that hot pot snobs consider it tacky, with some haters going so far as to call it the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/Taipei/comments/189mw16/comment/kbsd3je/\">overpriced McDonald’s of hot pot restaurants\u003c/a>.” Here in the Bay Area, however, it’s still a relative novelty, with just one other location (in Cupertino) — and both the food and the experience are good enough to outshine most of the local competition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HaiDiLao’s claim to fame is its focus on providing a more luxurious, pampering approach to the customer experience, which expresses itself in what felt to me like particularly Chinese ways. The overflow waiting area (basically a bar counter) has several Chinese checkers boards, that little magnetic fishing game that every Chinese kid played when they were little and even an electronic eyeglass cleaner. You also get a whole apron, not just a bib, to keep your clothes clean of splattering broth. And little R2-D2–sized robot trolleys bring your raw ingredients to the table because why not?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970443\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970443\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant. The sign reads "Haidilao Hot Pot," and there's a statue of a panda in a cape in front.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/haililao-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The global mega-chain currently has two Bay Area outposts, in Fremont and Cupertino. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even with the late-night discount, this is an expensive meal — easily upwards of $50 a person depending on your appetite and ordering discipline, which puts it in the same price tier as the fanciest all-you-can-eat joints. So it’s good that the food mostly stacks up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the soup base, which HaiDiLao offers in eight varieties, listed on the iPad menu from spiciest (the Chengdu-style beef tallow hot pot brimming with red chilies) to not spicy at all (say, the mushroom- or tomato-based broths). We opted for a split pot, with the medium-hot spicy pork bone broth and a more mild broth made with pork stomach and chicken. The former was flecked pieces of kimchi, for a bit of a Korean vibe, and had a good depth of the flavor. The latter — our favorite — had the subtle medicinal quality of a home-cooked broth and a slight gaminess from the slices of chewy, tender stomach. This is one you actually want to drink as a soup, especially on a cold night. (Pro tip: If at the end of the meal you tell the server, “I like your soup base” — in English or Mandarin — they’ll give you an extra bag of broth to bring home with your leftovers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were also impressed by the sheer variety of offerings beyond the typical plates of thinly sliced meat. The fresh seafood options are especially robust. We loved the thick, lush slices of marinated basa, which came pre-seasoned, deliciously, with a hint of numbing Sichuan peppercorn. One of the more unusual offerings were little cigars of shrimp paste wrapped in some kind of spongy fungus and crowned with a scattering of flying fish roe at the tip. Once they firmed up in the broth, they bore an unfortunate resemblance to half-flaccid penises — but uncommonly tasty ones, especially when dipped into the garlicky sesame paste dipping sauce that I’d concocted at the serve-yourself sauce station.\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>And even though HaiDiLao doesn’t boast the innately decadent all-you-can-eat model of a high-end buffet like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965215/all-you-can-eat-wagyu-beef-hot-pot-shabu-shabu-mikiya-santa-clara\">Mikiya\u003c/a>, it does have its own elements of razzle dazzle and charm that help make for a fun night out. Wagyu lovers can splurge on the “wagyu tree,” which, true to its name, is a big mound of ice upon which they’ve arranged a portion of extremely well-marbled Japanese beef so that it does resemble a pink, meaty Christmas tree. Is it Instagram and TikTok bait? Of course. Is the meat some of the most extraordinarily soft and tender I’ve had for hot pot? Also yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most memorably, for just $5, you can order a tableside “dancing noodle” show, inspired by the style of flashy hand-pulled noodle-making you’ll see in parts of northern China. In our case, it turned out to be a young Latino guy who pulled up to our table and asked if we had any song requests before queuing up Pitbull’s “DJ Got Us Falling in Love” on his phone. The performance that followed was akin to watching a pizza man at a rave, as he stretched a piece of dough longer and longer, spinning it around, over his head and behind his back, whipping the noodle toward us — just kidding! — and causing it to form quick ripples. (Afterward, he explained that he’d started at HaiDiLao as a busboy and basically taught himself how to pull noodles just by watching the previous Chinese noodle master, who didn’t speak any English. Immigrants! They get the job done.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were so distracted by the song and dance of it all — a spectacle I never could have imagined as a young, naive hot pot eater — that we almost forgot to fish the finished noodles out of the broth. Even gone a bit soft, they were thoroughly, slurpably enjoyable.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>HaiDiLao Hot Pot’s Fremont location is open Mon. to Thu. 11:30 a.m.–2 a.m. and Fri. to Sun. 11 a.m.–2 a.m. at 43349 Boscell Rd. The restaurant also has a location in Cupertino.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "late-night-soul-food-gumbo-san-leandro-nellas-place",
"title": "This Soul Food Spot in San Leandro Serves Some of the Tastiest Gumbo in the Bay",
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"headTitle": "This Soul Food Spot in San Leandro Serves Some of the Tastiest Gumbo in the Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969095\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969095\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devour several plates of soul food: gumbo, a fried seafood platter, smothered pork chops.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nella’s Place has a quiet, down-home elegance. The San Leandro soul food spot also serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest gumbo. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nellasplace1/\">Nella’s Place\u003c/a>, a soul food restaurant on a quiet corner in San Leandro, feels like stepping into the living room of a particularly stylish auntie. The color scheme is all silver and white: bedazzled vases, three-ring chandeliers, curtains and tablecloths. Some of it is brand new with the tags still on, like you’re at a furniture showroom. The speakers play a steady stream of smooth R&B slow jams from the 1970s — deep cuts from the likes of Rose Royce and The Stylistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All in all, the place has a quiet, down-home, distinctly grown-up kind of elegance. Oh, and also: There’s a pot of gumbo simmering on the stove, and you swear it smells better than anything you’ve smelled before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had driven down to Nella’s — which until recently went by “Sistas Soul Food Kafe” — late on a Friday night expressly because we were in the mood for soul food. The restaurant is open until 10 p.m. and does its last call at 9:30 (we made it just in time) — so it’s pushing up against the border of what might rightfully be categorized as a late-night food spot. Then again, with so many Bay Area soul food spots turning their lights out by 8 o’clock, the ability to get a hold of a plate of smothered turkey wings after 9 felt downright miraculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, there was a steady stream of takeout customers all the way up until closing time. Almost all of them were older Black men, in their 60s or 70s, stopping in by themselves to pick up a late dinner — in my experience, a sure sign that the food was going to be a hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant at night. The sign reads, "Nella's Place" in ornate lettering.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located on a quiet corner in San Leandro. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It certainly didn’t disappoint. Start with the restaurant’s signature gumbo, which even in its smaller “lunch”-size portion came in an enormous bowl filled to the brim with andouille sausage, chicken slow-simmered long enough that even the bones had nearly disintegrated, and a big, generous pile of crab legs. And the broth! It was dark and smoky, savory and briny like the sea. I don’t want to say it was the best gumbo I’ve ever eaten in the Bay, but it’s hard for me to recall a better version. We licked the bowl clean even though we knew it meant we’d never finish all the other food we’d ordered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what a spread it was. There were pork chops smothered in a thick, savory gravy, the meat still tender and juicy after being batter-fried — on the saltier side, but delicious over white rice. (The owner also brought over a sample of her turkey chops — the breast sliced into thick “chops” and prepared the same way — and we liked those even better.) There was a sublimely oozy version of mac and cheese, made with the big, extra-wide elbows and spiked with jalapeños. There was even crisp stir-fried cabbage — a refreshing vegetable addition to an otherwise heavy meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13968142,arts_13953702,arts_13952384']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course we had to try the fried fish too, and the basa was top-tier, light and crisp without a hint of extra grease. It went especially well with Nella’s potato salad, which had been blended until it was smooth and airy-light, almost like whipped potatoes, with that bright, classic Southern flavor profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that point, we didn’t really have room for dessert, but it was hard to resist the charms of the banana pudding cake, which was phenomenal — moist and not too sweet, and studded with soft Nilla Wafers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were properly stuffed, then, with a big clamshell container of leftovers under each arm, when we stumbled out into the night, the smell of gumbo and pork gravy on our breaths. We listened to the voices of the old men busting each other’s chops inside the Black barbershop next door and made plans to come back soon — even if it was just for a slice of cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nellasplace.com/\">\u003ci>Nella’s Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Sunday 5 –10 p.m. at 571 Bancroft Ave. in San Leandro. Last call for food orders is at 9:30.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Nella's Place in San Leandro Serves Some of the Best Gumbo in the Bay | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969095\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969095\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devour several plates of soul food: gumbo, a fried seafood platter, smothered pork chops.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nella’s Place has a quiet, down-home elegance. The San Leandro soul food spot also serves some of the Bay Area’s tastiest gumbo. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/nellasplace1/\">Nella’s Place\u003c/a>, a soul food restaurant on a quiet corner in San Leandro, feels like stepping into the living room of a particularly stylish auntie. The color scheme is all silver and white: bedazzled vases, three-ring chandeliers, curtains and tablecloths. Some of it is brand new with the tags still on, like you’re at a furniture showroom. The speakers play a steady stream of smooth R&B slow jams from the 1970s — deep cuts from the likes of Rose Royce and The Stylistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All in all, the place has a quiet, down-home, distinctly grown-up kind of elegance. Oh, and also: There’s a pot of gumbo simmering on the stove, and you swear it smells better than anything you’ve smelled before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had driven down to Nella’s — which until recently went by “Sistas Soul Food Kafe” — late on a Friday night expressly because we were in the mood for soul food. The restaurant is open until 10 p.m. and does its last call at 9:30 (we made it just in time) — so it’s pushing up against the border of what might rightfully be categorized as a late-night food spot. Then again, with so many Bay Area soul food spots turning their lights out by 8 o’clock, the ability to get a hold of a plate of smothered turkey wings after 9 felt downright miraculous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the night of our visit, there was a steady stream of takeout customers all the way up until closing time. Almost all of them were older Black men, in their 60s or 70s, stopping in by themselves to pick up a late dinner — in my experience, a sure sign that the food was going to be a hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13969099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13969099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of a restaurant at night. The sign reads, "Nella's Place" in ornate lettering.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/12/Nellasplace-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is located on a quiet corner in San Leandro. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It certainly didn’t disappoint. Start with the restaurant’s signature gumbo, which even in its smaller “lunch”-size portion came in an enormous bowl filled to the brim with andouille sausage, chicken slow-simmered long enough that even the bones had nearly disintegrated, and a big, generous pile of crab legs. And the broth! It was dark and smoky, savory and briny like the sea. I don’t want to say it was the best gumbo I’ve ever eaten in the Bay, but it’s hard for me to recall a better version. We licked the bowl clean even though we knew it meant we’d never finish all the other food we’d ordered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And what a spread it was. There were pork chops smothered in a thick, savory gravy, the meat still tender and juicy after being batter-fried — on the saltier side, but delicious over white rice. (The owner also brought over a sample of her turkey chops — the breast sliced into thick “chops” and prepared the same way — and we liked those even better.) There was a sublimely oozy version of mac and cheese, made with the big, extra-wide elbows and spiked with jalapeños. There was even crisp stir-fried cabbage — a refreshing vegetable addition to an otherwise heavy meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course we had to try the fried fish too, and the basa was top-tier, light and crisp without a hint of extra grease. It went especially well with Nella’s potato salad, which had been blended until it was smooth and airy-light, almost like whipped potatoes, with that bright, classic Southern flavor profile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At that point, we didn’t really have room for dessert, but it was hard to resist the charms of the banana pudding cake, which was phenomenal — moist and not too sweet, and studded with soft Nilla Wafers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We were properly stuffed, then, with a big clamshell container of leftovers under each arm, when we stumbled out into the night, the smell of gumbo and pork gravy on our breaths. We listened to the voices of the old men busting each other’s chops inside the Black barbershop next door and made plans to come back soon — even if it was just for a slice of cake.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nellasplace.com/\">\u003ci>Nella’s Place\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday through Sunday 5 –10 p.m. at 571 Bancroft Ave. in San Leandro. Last call for food orders is at 9:30.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "karaoke-south-san-francisco-hong-kong-late-night-restaurant-noodles-e-plus",
"title": "In South San Francisco, Noodles and Karaoke Are the Perfect Late-Night Combo",
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"headTitle": "In South San Francisco, Noodles and Karaoke Are the Perfect Late-Night Combo | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13968150\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13968150\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Three middle-aged men singing their hearts out at karaoke while a woman placidly eats a plate of spaghetti.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At South San Francisco’s E Plus Karaoke and Cafe, the food and the vibes are both top-notch. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. This week’s guest artist is local dentist — and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/18439/happy-20th-birthday-wonderwall\">\u003ci>Oasis\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> superfan — Raynato Castro.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>E Plus Karaoke and Cafe isn’t exactly the world’s most inviting restaurant. Located on a sparse, warehouse-y block of South San Francisco, the dimly lit building is easy to miss if you aren’t actively looking for the “WE ARE OPEN” banner hanging high up on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Was\u003c/i> it open? And was it even a restaurant, really? When we pulled up at 9 o’clock on a Friday night, the front door was locked shut, and a slightly passive-aggressive signboard half-scolded us: “Sorry no dine-in, TO-GO only.” After a minute of uncertainty, a burly security guard with extensive face tattoos finally emerged and asked us, affably, if we’d made a reservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had. In fact, we’d been planning this night for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason we’d come to this slightly sketchy-looking shoebox of a karaoke joint was because, like so many of our Asian brethren, we live for karaoke — and also because we’d heard rumors that, in addition to having sweet private rooms (a.k.a. the only style of karaoke I abide) and superior song selection, E Plus also serves surprisingly good Cantonese food. Specifically, the sign in the window promises 港式西餐 — a genre of East-West fusion cuisine characteristic of Hong Kong–style coffee shops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, though, the emphasis is on the karaoke. You aren’t even allowed to eat inside if you haven’t reserved one of those private karaoke rooms ahead of time. But apart from the karaoke, the place is probably best known for being one of just a handful of late-night takeout options in the immediate vicinity of the San Francisco International Airport. Both the kitchen and the karaoke are open until 1:30 a.m. every night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which is to say, it didn’t necessarily \u003ci>seem\u003c/i> like there was any incentive for the E Plus kitchen to crank out much better than C plus food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13968154\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13968154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior.jpg\" alt='Illustration: The exterior of E Plus Karaoke and Cafe on a dark night with a full moon. The banner on top of the building reads, \"WE ARE OPEN.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t be deceived by the building’s somewhat uninviting exterior. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One pro tip: Everyone knows the key to a successful karaoke night is assembling the right crew. That’s especially true at E Plus, because the smallest size room will run you $58 an hour (with a two-hour minimum) even before you factor in food and drink — Lord knows, a pricey date night in this economy. But if you can cobble together at least a group of four, E Plus offers a $38 per person combo deal that’s a legitimate bargain: Each person picks a dish and a non-alcoholic drink, and two hours of karaoke time are included.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, our group of four put in our order and then promptly forgot about it in the excitement of scoping out the room we’d been assigned, with its big, shiny couches, moody neon backlighting, and top-notch sound system. Before we knew it, we were fully in our feelings: broing out to an especially lonesome rendition of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” and straining our voices to hit the high notes of the late, great Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quietly, a staff member brought in the food we’d ordered, crouching down so she wouldn’t block our view of the lyrics. And would you believe that every dish was a hit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dry-style beef chow fun is a litmus test for any self-respecting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962284/four-kings-hong-kong-restaurant-san-francisco-chinatown-hella-hungry-interview\">Canto food spot\u003c/a>, and E Plus’s version is as solid a rendition as I’ve had recently: soft, pliable noodles and well-charred beef, all glistening with a wonderfully savory soy sauce sheen. We took one bite and knew we were in good hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another house special is the spicy salt-and-pepper fried chicken cartilage, and it’s a knockout — a generous, piping-hot portion of crispy popcorn chicken, essentially, with a little bit of extra texture for good measure. This is the ideal accompaniment to cold beer or sake (both available for purchase) — and exactly the kind of finger food that’s convenient when you want to pop something in your mouth during, say, the 27-second instrumental intro to “Boys of Summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13967564,arts_13965215,arts_13961613']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The roast duck pancake, meanwhile, turns out to be a kind of hybrid between jianbing (a kind of northern Chinese street food crepe) and a Peking duck wrap. The eggy crepe is flecked with black sesame seeds, brushed with hoisin sauce, and then piled with slices of roast duck and rolled up like a burrito. I loved the bit of crispy duck skin you get in every bite, but you’ll want to devour this quickly, as soon as it comes out, before the crepe goes limp and cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most classic Hong Kong cafe–style dish that we ordered was the baked pork chop spaghetti — a pile of sweet, ketchup-spiked red sauce spaghetti topped with two big, juicy pork chops and an outlandish amount of stretchy melted cheese. Friends, this is late-night comfort food at its carby finest (though, admittedly, not the easiest or neatest dish to share).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To drink, E Plus offers a very respectable rendition of Hong Kong milk tea, served either cold or hot. But more adventurous diners may want to try the most surprising and delightful — and most overtly Hong Kong — menu item: hot Coke with lemon. It is what it sounds like: regular ol’ Coca-Cola, heated up to the temperature of hot tea so that it loses its fizz and amps up its sweetness, then mixed with a few thin rounds of lemon. Served this way, the drink tastes faintly medicinal — and indeed, in Hong Kong it’s a popular home remedy for a cough or sore throat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I like to think it made our singing voices especially potent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Granted, there were some of us who sang with the sweet, dulcet tones of a Filipino angel … and others who, well, compensated for our tone deafness by singing with our whole chest 100% of the time — and not hanging onto even one shred of our dignity. I’ll leave you to imagine who took Whitney’s part and who stepped in as Mariah in the big power-ballad duet moment of the night, “When You Believe.” Who crooned the most mournful old-man version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.” And who hit the high notes in “Let It Go” so sweetly and perfectly, we \u003ci>all\u003c/i> thought we’d turned into Disney princesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, the first and only rule of (private room) karaoke is that you keep those memories for yourself. Bury the video evidence. Never speak of it again. At least until the next time you get an irrepressible hankering for Don Henley and deep-fried chicken cartilage, and round up the whole gang once again.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eplusstudio94080.com/\">\u003ci>E Plus Karaoke and Cafe\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 3 p.m.–1:30 a.m. daily at 490 S. Airport Blvd. Ste. A in South San Francisco. Call ahead to reserve a karaoke room if you plan to dine in.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Noodles and Karaoke Are the Perfect Late-Night Combo in South San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13968150\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13968150\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Three middle-aged men singing their hearts out at karaoke while a woman placidly eats a plate of spaghetti.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/2-Karaoke-Room-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At South San Francisco’s E Plus Karaoke and Cafe, the food and the vibes are both top-notch. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. This week’s guest artist is local dentist — and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pop/18439/happy-20th-birthday-wonderwall\">\u003ci>Oasis\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> superfan — Raynato Castro.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>E Plus Karaoke and Cafe isn’t exactly the world’s most inviting restaurant. Located on a sparse, warehouse-y block of South San Francisco, the dimly lit building is easy to miss if you aren’t actively looking for the “WE ARE OPEN” banner hanging high up on the wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Was\u003c/i> it open? And was it even a restaurant, really? When we pulled up at 9 o’clock on a Friday night, the front door was locked shut, and a slightly passive-aggressive signboard half-scolded us: “Sorry no dine-in, TO-GO only.” After a minute of uncertainty, a burly security guard with extensive face tattoos finally emerged and asked us, affably, if we’d made a reservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had. In fact, we’d been planning this night for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reason we’d come to this slightly sketchy-looking shoebox of a karaoke joint was because, like so many of our Asian brethren, we live for karaoke — and also because we’d heard rumors that, in addition to having sweet private rooms (a.k.a. the only style of karaoke I abide) and superior song selection, E Plus also serves surprisingly good Cantonese food. Specifically, the sign in the window promises 港式西餐 — a genre of East-West fusion cuisine characteristic of Hong Kong–style coffee shops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be clear, though, the emphasis is on the karaoke. You aren’t even allowed to eat inside if you haven’t reserved one of those private karaoke rooms ahead of time. But apart from the karaoke, the place is probably best known for being one of just a handful of late-night takeout options in the immediate vicinity of the San Francisco International Airport. Both the kitchen and the karaoke are open until 1:30 a.m. every night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which is to say, it didn’t necessarily \u003ci>seem\u003c/i> like there was any incentive for the E Plus kitchen to crank out much better than C plus food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13968154\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13968154\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior.jpg\" alt='Illustration: The exterior of E Plus Karaoke and Cafe on a dark night with a full moon. The banner on top of the building reads, \"WE ARE OPEN.\"' width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/11/1-Exterior-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don’t be deceived by the building’s somewhat uninviting exterior. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One pro tip: Everyone knows the key to a successful karaoke night is assembling the right crew. That’s especially true at E Plus, because the smallest size room will run you $58 an hour (with a two-hour minimum) even before you factor in food and drink — Lord knows, a pricey date night in this economy. But if you can cobble together at least a group of four, E Plus offers a $38 per person combo deal that’s a legitimate bargain: Each person picks a dish and a non-alcoholic drink, and two hours of karaoke time are included.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, our group of four put in our order and then promptly forgot about it in the excitement of scoping out the room we’d been assigned, with its big, shiny couches, moody neon backlighting, and top-notch sound system. Before we knew it, we were fully in our feelings: broing out to an especially lonesome rendition of Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” and straining our voices to hit the high notes of the late, great Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quietly, a staff member brought in the food we’d ordered, crouching down so she wouldn’t block our view of the lyrics. And would you believe that every dish was a hit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dry-style beef chow fun is a litmus test for any self-respecting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962284/four-kings-hong-kong-restaurant-san-francisco-chinatown-hella-hungry-interview\">Canto food spot\u003c/a>, and E Plus’s version is as solid a rendition as I’ve had recently: soft, pliable noodles and well-charred beef, all glistening with a wonderfully savory soy sauce sheen. We took one bite and knew we were in good hands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another house special is the spicy salt-and-pepper fried chicken cartilage, and it’s a knockout — a generous, piping-hot portion of crispy popcorn chicken, essentially, with a little bit of extra texture for good measure. This is the ideal accompaniment to cold beer or sake (both available for purchase) — and exactly the kind of finger food that’s convenient when you want to pop something in your mouth during, say, the 27-second instrumental intro to “Boys of Summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The roast duck pancake, meanwhile, turns out to be a kind of hybrid between jianbing (a kind of northern Chinese street food crepe) and a Peking duck wrap. The eggy crepe is flecked with black sesame seeds, brushed with hoisin sauce, and then piled with slices of roast duck and rolled up like a burrito. I loved the bit of crispy duck skin you get in every bite, but you’ll want to devour this quickly, as soon as it comes out, before the crepe goes limp and cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most classic Hong Kong cafe–style dish that we ordered was the baked pork chop spaghetti — a pile of sweet, ketchup-spiked red sauce spaghetti topped with two big, juicy pork chops and an outlandish amount of stretchy melted cheese. Friends, this is late-night comfort food at its carby finest (though, admittedly, not the easiest or neatest dish to share).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To drink, E Plus offers a very respectable rendition of Hong Kong milk tea, served either cold or hot. But more adventurous diners may want to try the most surprising and delightful — and most overtly Hong Kong — menu item: hot Coke with lemon. It is what it sounds like: regular ol’ Coca-Cola, heated up to the temperature of hot tea so that it loses its fizz and amps up its sweetness, then mixed with a few thin rounds of lemon. Served this way, the drink tastes faintly medicinal — and indeed, in Hong Kong it’s a popular home remedy for a cough or sore throat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I like to think it made our singing voices especially potent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Granted, there were some of us who sang with the sweet, dulcet tones of a Filipino angel … and others who, well, compensated for our tone deafness by singing with our whole chest 100% of the time — and not hanging onto even one shred of our dignity. I’ll leave you to imagine who took Whitney’s part and who stepped in as Mariah in the big power-ballad duet moment of the night, “When You Believe.” Who crooned the most mournful old-man version of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind.” And who hit the high notes in “Let It Go” so sweetly and perfectly, we \u003ci>all\u003c/i> thought we’d turned into Disney princesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all, the first and only rule of (private room) karaoke is that you keep those memories for yourself. Bury the video evidence. Never speak of it again. At least until the next time you get an irrepressible hankering for Don Henley and deep-fried chicken cartilage, and round up the whole gang once again.\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.eplusstudio94080.com/\">\u003ci>E Plus Karaoke and Cafe\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 3 p.m.–1:30 a.m. daily at 490 S. Airport Blvd. Ste. A in South San Francisco. Call ahead to reserve a karaoke room if you plan to dine in.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "taishan-cuisine-san-francisco-chinatown-late-night-food",
"title": "Taishan Cuisine Is Keeping Chinatown’s Late-Night Food Scene Alive",
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"headTitle": "Taishan Cuisine Is Keeping Chinatown’s Late-Night Food Scene Alive | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967573\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967573\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devouring a Chinese meal with chopsticks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taishan Cuisine is one of a handful of restaurants in San Francisco that specializes in Taishanese cooking, including its standout yellow eel claypot rice. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late-night meals in San Francisco Chinatown are a long and storied tradition going back more than 100 years — for \u003ca href=\"https://gastronomica.org/2004/11/04/late-night-lions-den-chinese-restaurant-nightclubs-1940s-san-francisco/\">club-hoppers\u003c/a>, post-shift restaurant workers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hungryonion.org/t/sf-chinatown-chinatown-food-memories/7734/6\">hippies\u003c/a>, Beat poets and boozehounds making one final pit stop after last call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also all but extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, you can count on one hand the number of Chinatown restaurants open later than 9 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/food/1337752/remembering-sam-wos-edsel-ford-fong-san-franciscos-rudest-waiter\">Sam Wo\u003c/a>, the neighborhood’s oldest and most iconic after-hours spot, recently announced it will \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-sam-wo-restaurant-sale-risk-of-closure-19808509.php\">close at the end of the year\u003c/a> (barring an eleventh-hour miracle) — and it hasn’t been open past 8:30 since pre-pandemic times anyway. These days, if you’re craving a bowl of jook or a plate of sizzling hot beef chow fun after midnight, you’ll find more options out in the Richmond or the Sunset than you will anywhere in the vicinity of Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard, then, to overstate the value of a place like Taishan Cuisine, which very quietly serves some of the tastiest Chinese food in San Francisco until 3 a.m. every night. Quietly, anyway, to those outside the community: Taishan is your \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962284/four-kings-hong-kong-restaurant-san-francisco-chinatown-hella-hungry-interview\">favorite Chinese chef’s\u003c/a> favorite Chinatown joint — a low-key cult favorite among \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fuchsiadunlop/p/CztzEKex4G7/\">connoisseurs\u003c/a> of regional Chinese cuisine. And at a little before 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, the dining room was bustling almost exclusively with Cantonese-speaking locals and only seemed to get busier the later it got.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taishan opened in 2020, barely a month before lockdown, but it’s one of those Chinatown restaurants that looks and feels like it’s been around forever: weathered wooden tables, handwritten specials, the Hong Kong news playing on the TV. A series of red and yellow framed posters highlighting specific menu items has a vintage ’60s design aesthetic. (Each one is inscribed with a poetic Chinese idiom: A medicinal-looking pork belly hot pot dish, for instance, promises to fill men with vigor and serve as a “beauty salon” for women.) The only things that look new are the shiny, high-tech induction burners on each table, for hot pot, which feel almost anachronistic in this setting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967575\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of Taishan Cuisine restaurant lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Open until 3 a.m. every night, the restaurant is one of the last remaining late-night food spots in Chinatown. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The restaurant has one of those wide-spanning Chinese menus that can be intimidating for a first-time visitor. There’s a whole page dedicated to hot pot and another page for dim sum. It has a rice porridge section and a noodle section, with a handful of Chinese American standbys like Mongolian beef and sweet and sour chicken mixed in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the restaurant’s name itself gives a clear indication of what you should order: Taishan, aka Toisan, is the part of China’s Guangdong province from which many of the earliest immigrants to California hailed during the Gold Rush, back in the 1850s — the ones who built up San Francisco’s Chinatown. In that sense, you could say that Taishanese food is Chinatown’s mother cuisine, but today, only a handful of spots in San Francisco explicitly market themselves as specializing in dishes from that region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13966812,arts_13963437,arts_13956218']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>At Taishan Cuisine, most of these are listed as “house specials” or “chef’s specials,” and sometimes include the word “Taishan” in the name of the dish. If you stick to these, you’ll do very well for yourself. So, of course we had to order the Taishan roast chicken, which turns out to be a whole, foil-wrapped chicken with golden-brown skin that our efficient server disassembles tableside. Which is to say she rips it apart limb from limb — head, neck and all — with gloved hands until we’re left with a tidy pile of meat and bones. It comes with no sauce or seasoning dip, so we worry it might be a touch bland. But the chicken’s own juices are so flavorful, and the meat is so tender and, well, supremely chicken-y, we can’t stop eating it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another Taishan classic: a plate of Chinese cauliflower (skinnier and more pleasantly crunchy than Western varietals), which comes studded with garlic and tossed with thick slices of preserved sausage until it’s slicked with pork fat and salty juices. It’s one of the most delicious and addicting vegetable stir-fries I’ve eaten in a while.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taishanese food is probably best known for its claypot rice dishes, the most famous being yellow eel claypot rice. At Taishan Cuisine, it’s the biggest splurge on the menu at $48, but the portion is big enough to feed four people easily. It’s hard to describe how fragrant this pot of rice was when our server lifted up the lid. Again, there isn’t much seasoning to speak of — just a bit of soy sauce mixed with rendered eel fat to coat each glistening grain of rice. The eel itself, shredded into small chunks, tastes akin to a mild catfish — mild enough that you can order the dish as a fine and luxurious substitute for white rice, to accompany the rest of your meal. And the best part? The toasty, crunchy, utterly glorious crust that forms at the bottom of the pot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we hadn’t already, in typical fashion, ordered way too much food for two people, we would have loved to try the Taishan-style braised goose or cleansed our palate with the cloudy beef bone soup we saw on several other tables around us. As it was, I felt like we’d barely scratched the surface of what the restaurant, and the cuisine, had to offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last few weeks, then, this is the meal I keep thinking about. When the hunger pangs strike past midnight, I start daydreaming about claypot rice — and, maybe, for a return to a time when all of Chinatown is lit up late into the night with jook shops and noodle houses and stylish Hong Kong–style cafes. For now, it’ll have to be enough to plan my next meal at Taishan Cuisine. As long as they’re around, Chinatown’s late-night food scene isn’t dead yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Taishan Cuisine is open 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5 p.m.–3 a.m. daily at 781 Broadway in San Francisco.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Taishan Cuisine Is Keeping SF Chinatown’s Late-Night Food Scene Alive | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967573\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967573\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men devouring a Chinese meal with chopsticks.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Taishan Cuisine is one of a handful of restaurants in San Francisco that specializes in Taishanese cooking, including its standout yellow eel claypot rice. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late-night meals in San Francisco Chinatown are a long and storied tradition going back more than 100 years — for \u003ca href=\"https://gastronomica.org/2004/11/04/late-night-lions-den-chinese-restaurant-nightclubs-1940s-san-francisco/\">club-hoppers\u003c/a>, post-shift restaurant workers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hungryonion.org/t/sf-chinatown-chinatown-food-memories/7734/6\">hippies\u003c/a>, Beat poets and boozehounds making one final pit stop after last call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re also all but extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, you can count on one hand the number of Chinatown restaurants open later than 9 p.m. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/food/1337752/remembering-sam-wos-edsel-ford-fong-san-franciscos-rudest-waiter\">Sam Wo\u003c/a>, the neighborhood’s oldest and most iconic after-hours spot, recently announced it will \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-sam-wo-restaurant-sale-risk-of-closure-19808509.php\">close at the end of the year\u003c/a> (barring an eleventh-hour miracle) — and it hasn’t been open past 8:30 since pre-pandemic times anyway. These days, if you’re craving a bowl of jook or a plate of sizzling hot beef chow fun after midnight, you’ll find more options out in the Richmond or the Sunset than you will anywhere in the vicinity of Chinatown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s hard, then, to overstate the value of a place like Taishan Cuisine, which very quietly serves some of the tastiest Chinese food in San Francisco until 3 a.m. every night. Quietly, anyway, to those outside the community: Taishan is your \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962284/four-kings-hong-kong-restaurant-san-francisco-chinatown-hella-hungry-interview\">favorite Chinese chef’s\u003c/a> favorite Chinatown joint — a low-key cult favorite among \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fuchsiadunlop/p/CztzEKex4G7/\">connoisseurs\u003c/a> of regional Chinese cuisine. And at a little before 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, the dining room was bustling almost exclusively with Cantonese-speaking locals and only seemed to get busier the later it got.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taishan opened in 2020, barely a month before lockdown, but it’s one of those Chinatown restaurants that looks and feels like it’s been around forever: weathered wooden tables, handwritten specials, the Hong Kong news playing on the TV. A series of red and yellow framed posters highlighting specific menu items has a vintage ’60s design aesthetic. (Each one is inscribed with a poetic Chinese idiom: A medicinal-looking pork belly hot pot dish, for instance, promises to fill men with vigor and serve as a “beauty salon” for women.) The only things that look new are the shiny, high-tech induction burners on each table, for hot pot, which feel almost anachronistic in this setting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967575\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Exterior of Taishan Cuisine restaurant lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Taishan-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Open until 3 a.m. every night, the restaurant is one of the last remaining late-night food spots in Chinatown. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The restaurant has one of those wide-spanning Chinese menus that can be intimidating for a first-time visitor. There’s a whole page dedicated to hot pot and another page for dim sum. It has a rice porridge section and a noodle section, with a handful of Chinese American standbys like Mongolian beef and sweet and sour chicken mixed in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the restaurant’s name itself gives a clear indication of what you should order: Taishan, aka Toisan, is the part of China’s Guangdong province from which many of the earliest immigrants to California hailed during the Gold Rush, back in the 1850s — the ones who built up San Francisco’s Chinatown. In that sense, you could say that Taishanese food is Chinatown’s mother cuisine, but today, only a handful of spots in San Francisco explicitly market themselves as specializing in dishes from that region.\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>At Taishan Cuisine, most of these are listed as “house specials” or “chef’s specials,” and sometimes include the word “Taishan” in the name of the dish. If you stick to these, you’ll do very well for yourself. So, of course we had to order the Taishan roast chicken, which turns out to be a whole, foil-wrapped chicken with golden-brown skin that our efficient server disassembles tableside. Which is to say she rips it apart limb from limb — head, neck and all — with gloved hands until we’re left with a tidy pile of meat and bones. It comes with no sauce or seasoning dip, so we worry it might be a touch bland. But the chicken’s own juices are so flavorful, and the meat is so tender and, well, supremely chicken-y, we can’t stop eating it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another Taishan classic: a plate of Chinese cauliflower (skinnier and more pleasantly crunchy than Western varietals), which comes studded with garlic and tossed with thick slices of preserved sausage until it’s slicked with pork fat and salty juices. It’s one of the most delicious and addicting vegetable stir-fries I’ve eaten in a while.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taishanese food is probably best known for its claypot rice dishes, the most famous being yellow eel claypot rice. At Taishan Cuisine, it’s the biggest splurge on the menu at $48, but the portion is big enough to feed four people easily. It’s hard to describe how fragrant this pot of rice was when our server lifted up the lid. Again, there isn’t much seasoning to speak of — just a bit of soy sauce mixed with rendered eel fat to coat each glistening grain of rice. The eel itself, shredded into small chunks, tastes akin to a mild catfish — mild enough that you can order the dish as a fine and luxurious substitute for white rice, to accompany the rest of your meal. And the best part? The toasty, crunchy, utterly glorious crust that forms at the bottom of the pot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If we hadn’t already, in typical fashion, ordered way too much food for two people, we would have loved to try the Taishan-style braised goose or cleansed our palate with the cloudy beef bone soup we saw on several other tables around us. As it was, I felt like we’d barely scratched the surface of what the restaurant, and the cuisine, had to offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last few weeks, then, this is the meal I keep thinking about. When the hunger pangs strike past midnight, I start daydreaming about claypot rice — and, maybe, for a return to a time when all of Chinatown is lit up late into the night with jook shops and noodle houses and stylish Hong Kong–style cafes. For now, it’ll have to be enough to plan my next meal at Taishan Cuisine. As long as they’re around, Chinatown’s late-night food scene isn’t dead yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Taishan Cuisine is open 11 a.m.–3 p.m. and 5 p.m.–3 a.m. daily at 781 Broadway in San Francisco.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mitchells-ice-cream-san-francisco-mission-late-night-sundae-filipino",
"title": "In San Francisco, Mitchell’s Ice Cream Is the People’s Choice",
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"headTitle": "In San Francisco, Mitchell’s Ice Cream Is the People’s Choice | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating ice cream outside an ice cream shop at night. The sign above reads, "Mitchell's Ice Cream."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco classic since 1953, Mitchell’s Ice Cream’s Mission District shop is known for its tropical fruit flavors and its late-night hours. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you wondered what everyone in San Francisco was doing at 10:30 on a Friday night during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994643/yes-these-california-heat-waves-are-connected-to-climate-change-heres-how\">hottest week\u003c/a> of the entire year, I can offer some insight: Almost all of them were standing in line outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mitchellsicecreamsanfran/?hl=en\">Mitchell’s Ice Cream\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what it felt like, anyway, when we pulled up to the classic Mission District scoop shop, sticky with the sweat of yet \u003ci>another\u003c/i> 90-degree October day. Even half an hour before closing time, there were probably three dozen eager ice cream eaters gathered on the sidewalk and crammed inside the shop — a 20-minute wait at a minimum after you grab your number from the ticket machine inside. Go on a weekend, almost any time of day, and it’s always the same. This is an ice cream shop for people who don’t mind standing in line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, Mitchell’s enduring popularity — \u003ca href=\"https://mitchellsicecream.com/celebrating-70-years/\">now going on 71 years\u003c/a> — speaks for itself. On the night of our recent visit, the chatty, upbeat crowd consisted of almost every imaginable demographic: flocks of teens, big, multigenerational immigrant families (Arab, South Asian and Filipino American), jocks, nerds, lovey-dovey young couples and at least a handful of solo middle-aged men treating themselves to a late-night sundae (because why not).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s because in the Bay Area ice cream scene, Mitchell’s has long been the people’s choice — the big-name San Francisco ice cream brand that most resonates with so many of our region’s multicultural communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some context: When it comes to ice cream, I’ve always been a texture snob, which means I usually gravitate toward newer-school shops that emphasize the extra-creaminess of their product — say, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/biritecreamery/\">Bi-Rite\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lushgelato\">Lush\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/the-mad-science-of-gelato-1/\">Gelato\u003c/a>. Mitchell’s, on the other hand, makes pretty classic, old-fashioned hard scoop ice cream. What sets it apart is its near-encyclopedic selection of tropical fruit flavors you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else, at least in the same quality and sheer variety: mango, lychee, ube, avocado (treated properly here as a fruit, as it is throughout most of Asia), lucuma, coconut pineapple, jackfruit and more. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, it was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/mitchells-ice-cream-has-Filipino-flavors-sf-16588683.php\">first ice cream shop to bring these tropical flavors to the Bay Area\u003c/a>, using fruit imported directly from Southeast Asia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13966030,arts_13959808,arts_13956683']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>It’s no wonder, then, that in my heavily Latino neighborhood in Richmond, there are only two ice cream shops — and both of them sell Mitchell’s exclusively. And no wonder that the Bay Area’s Filipino American community has largely adopted the brand as its own. After all, what other local ice cream shop sells buko (young coconut), macapuno (“sweet, meaty coconut”) \u003ci>and \u003c/i>vegan roasted coconut flavors — all made with coconuts imported from the Philippines? And that’s before we even get to Mitchell’s two most iconic Filipino flavors, its mango and ube ice creams. The shop even sells a version of halo-halo, as a “sundae,” that’s as well regarded as many of the ones sold at proper Filipino restaurants. (In fact, for many years I labored under the illusion that Mitchell’s was actually owned by Filipinos. It isn’t.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when I’m in the mood to travel to that particular island of frozen-dessert paradise, Mitchell’s Ice Cream hits the spot like no other shop in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966817\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966817\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Customers inside a busy ice cream shop.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even at 10:30 p.m., you can expect long lines. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What we loved, too, was the controlled chaos of the place on a busy night — the patience with which the staff divvied out sample tastes to the crowd pressed up against the display case; the hulking Australian who marveled, as he watched his sundae getting made, “This guy’s a legend. Look at the size of that, it’s the size of a baby’s bottom!” This is the kind of place where a stranger will, unprompted, give you a glowing review of the lucuma ice cream — a butterscotch-like flavor made with a Peruvian fruit, the man explained. It’s next on my list to try.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, we stuck to the classics: a double scoop of avocado and ube, both luxurious in both their bright colors and the way the flavors were a true, sweet distillation of the original fruit. And then, because we were caught up in the whole celebratory spirit of the place, we got one of Mitchell’s exorbitantly sized banana split sundaes — something we hadn’t even thought about ordering in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What a joyous thing to eat! It came topped, old-school McDonald’s style, with strawberry sauce, peanuts and whipped cream, plus Maraschino cherries for good measure. For the ice cream, we’d chosen toasted almond (a more flavorful stand-in for vanilla) and mango (some of the best we’ve had in the States), adding a tropical twist to the all-American treat. And in the heat of the night, as we ate our sundae hunched over on the sidewalk, the strawberry sauce and the whipped cream and the melted parts of the ice cream slowly mixed together into the most delicious slurry.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mitchellsicecreamsanfran/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Mitchell’s Ice Cream\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–11 p.m. daily at 688 San Jose Ave. in San Francisco. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Mission District staple boasts long lines until 11 o’clock every night.",
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"title": "Mitchell’s Is SF's Great Late-Night Ice Cream Shop | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966816\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating ice cream outside an ice cream shop at night. The sign above reads, "Mitchell's Ice Cream."\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A San Francisco classic since 1953, Mitchell’s Ice Cream’s Mission District shop is known for its tropical fruit flavors and its late-night hours. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you wondered what everyone in San Francisco was doing at 10:30 on a Friday night during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994643/yes-these-california-heat-waves-are-connected-to-climate-change-heres-how\">hottest week\u003c/a> of the entire year, I can offer some insight: Almost all of them were standing in line outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mitchellsicecreamsanfran/?hl=en\">Mitchell’s Ice Cream\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what it felt like, anyway, when we pulled up to the classic Mission District scoop shop, sticky with the sweat of yet \u003ci>another\u003c/i> 90-degree October day. Even half an hour before closing time, there were probably three dozen eager ice cream eaters gathered on the sidewalk and crammed inside the shop — a 20-minute wait at a minimum after you grab your number from the ticket machine inside. Go on a weekend, almost any time of day, and it’s always the same. This is an ice cream shop for people who don’t mind standing in line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, Mitchell’s enduring popularity — \u003ca href=\"https://mitchellsicecream.com/celebrating-70-years/\">now going on 71 years\u003c/a> — speaks for itself. On the night of our recent visit, the chatty, upbeat crowd consisted of almost every imaginable demographic: flocks of teens, big, multigenerational immigrant families (Arab, South Asian and Filipino American), jocks, nerds, lovey-dovey young couples and at least a handful of solo middle-aged men treating themselves to a late-night sundae (because why not).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s because in the Bay Area ice cream scene, Mitchell’s has long been the people’s choice — the big-name San Francisco ice cream brand that most resonates with so many of our region’s multicultural communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some context: When it comes to ice cream, I’ve always been a texture snob, which means I usually gravitate toward newer-school shops that emphasize the extra-creaminess of their product — say, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/biritecreamery/\">Bi-Rite\u003c/a> or a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lushgelato\">Lush\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/the-mad-science-of-gelato-1/\">Gelato\u003c/a>. Mitchell’s, on the other hand, makes pretty classic, old-fashioned hard scoop ice cream. What sets it apart is its near-encyclopedic selection of tropical fruit flavors you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else, at least in the same quality and sheer variety: mango, lychee, ube, avocado (treated properly here as a fruit, as it is throughout most of Asia), lucuma, coconut pineapple, jackfruit and more. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, it was the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/mitchells-ice-cream-has-Filipino-flavors-sf-16588683.php\">first ice cream shop to bring these tropical flavors to the Bay Area\u003c/a>, using fruit imported directly from Southeast Asia.\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’s no wonder, then, that in my heavily Latino neighborhood in Richmond, there are only two ice cream shops — and both of them sell Mitchell’s exclusively. And no wonder that the Bay Area’s Filipino American community has largely adopted the brand as its own. After all, what other local ice cream shop sells buko (young coconut), macapuno (“sweet, meaty coconut”) \u003ci>and \u003c/i>vegan roasted coconut flavors — all made with coconuts imported from the Philippines? And that’s before we even get to Mitchell’s two most iconic Filipino flavors, its mango and ube ice creams. The shop even sells a version of halo-halo, as a “sundae,” that’s as well regarded as many of the ones sold at proper Filipino restaurants. (In fact, for many years I labored under the illusion that Mitchell’s was actually owned by Filipinos. It isn’t.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when I’m in the mood to travel to that particular island of frozen-dessert paradise, Mitchell’s Ice Cream hits the spot like no other shop in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966817\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966817\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Customers inside a busy ice cream shop.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Mitchells-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even at 10:30 p.m., you can expect long lines. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What we loved, too, was the controlled chaos of the place on a busy night — the patience with which the staff divvied out sample tastes to the crowd pressed up against the display case; the hulking Australian who marveled, as he watched his sundae getting made, “This guy’s a legend. Look at the size of that, it’s the size of a baby’s bottom!” This is the kind of place where a stranger will, unprompted, give you a glowing review of the lucuma ice cream — a butterscotch-like flavor made with a Peruvian fruit, the man explained. It’s next on my list to try.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time, we stuck to the classics: a double scoop of avocado and ube, both luxurious in both their bright colors and the way the flavors were a true, sweet distillation of the original fruit. And then, because we were caught up in the whole celebratory spirit of the place, we got one of Mitchell’s exorbitantly sized banana split sundaes — something we hadn’t even thought about ordering in years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What a joyous thing to eat! It came topped, old-school McDonald’s style, with strawberry sauce, peanuts and whipped cream, plus Maraschino cherries for good measure. For the ice cream, we’d chosen toasted almond (a more flavorful stand-in for vanilla) and mango (some of the best we’ve had in the States), adding a tropical twist to the all-American treat. And in the heat of the night, as we ate our sundae hunched over on the sidewalk, the strawberry sauce and the whipped cream and the melted parts of the ice cream slowly mixed together into the most delicious slurry.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mitchellsicecreamsanfran/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Mitchell’s Ice Cream\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–11 p.m. daily at 688 San Jose Ave. in San Francisco. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "tallboy-martinis-hot-dogs-oakland-cocktail-bar-late-night",
"title": "’Tinis and Weenies Are a Winning Late-Night Combination",
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"headTitle": "’Tinis and Weenies Are a Winning Late-Night Combination | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966037\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966037\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men seated at a bar devour a spread of hot dogs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foodwise, vegan hot dogs are the main attraction at Tallboy. The martini bar in Oakland’s Temescal district is one of the East Bay’s most popular late-night hot spots. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A minute after walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.tallboy.bar/\">Tallboy\u003c/a>, Oakland’s new self-styled “martini dive bar,” I thought I may have made a mistake in coming here. It wasn’t just that this was the most crowded bar I’d been in since pre-pandemic times, with a throng of people three deep all the way around the big, horseshoe-shaped bar counter. It was more that all of the hip party people in Oakland seemed to have packed themselves into this unmarked, dimly lit watering hole in Temescal, and we couldn’t have felt more out of place. Sharply dressed twenty-somethings were doing rounds of Jell-O shots, and the buzz of boisterous conversation was so loud, I couldn’t even really hear the music — all I could make out was a thumping electronic bass line. I had to raise my voice to almost a shout just to be heard by the person right next to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And all we’d wanted was to eat some hot dogs at 10 o’clock on a Friday night. So it felt like maybe we had come to the wrong place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I do like, however, is a bar with a legible theme. And among Oakland’s new cocktail spots, Tallboy has the clearest, most appealing three-word elevator pitch: hot dogs and martinis. Or, as the bar has branded itself online, “’tinis and weenies” — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/life/tinis-weenies-party-theme-tiktok\">TikTok dinner party trend\u003c/a> turned into a whole brick-and-mortar business. The cocktail list is mostly martinis and martini-adjacent drinks — seven different varieties served in classic V-shaped martini glasses, plus shot-size “teeny-tinis” and frosty espresso martini slushies. The food menu, meanwhile, is all hot dogs. And we’re not talking your average bar weenie, but an entire menu of whimsically souped-up \u003ci>vegan \u003c/i>hot dogs created by the team behind the recently closed vegan Singaporean sensation, Lion Dance Cafe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>’Tinis and (plant-based) weenies is the promise of a particular kind of good time — the kind of high-low schtick that plays particularly well online. The important thing is that once we finally squeezed into a spot at the counter, we found out that Tallboy’s martinis and hot dogs are both uncommonly good. The dirty martini I ordered came \u003ci>vigorously\u003c/i> shaken and was cold and refreshing as hell, shot through with enough olive brine to make it taste a little bit like the sea. If I were less of a lightweight, I would have happily thrown back two or three of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hot dogs, meanwhile, were a thousand times better than the sad, desiccated Tofu Pups I remember from vegan-friendly cookouts I attended when I was in grad school. The dogs themselves are a relatively new product from Impossible Foods, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/impossible-foods-ceo-says-company-will-raise-cash-with-or-without-ipo-2024-04-29/\">multibillion-dollar corporation\u003c/a> that doesn’t exactly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sportingnews.com/us/tsn/news/joey-chestnut-impossible-foods-banned-hot-dog-eating-contest/ac243bf293a40a3288623297#:~:text=Chestnut%20agreed%20to%20a%20sponsorship,Chestnut%20promoting%20a%20rival%20brand.\">need me to shill for it\u003c/a>. But suffice it to say that the faux-beef wieners deliver on their promise of tasting almost indistinguishable from the real thing, down to the firm but slightly squishy texture I associate with all processed meats. The only thing missing? The \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/24175365/vegan-hot-dogs-snap-uptons-naturals-oscar-mayer\">springy snap\u003c/a> of the casing that you get with the best beef dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966041\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966041\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The exterior of an unmarked, dimly lit bar at nighttime.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It felt like all of Oakland’s hip party people had packed themselves into this unmarked, dimly lit cocktail bar. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the main selling point of Tallboy’s hot dog menu is the Lion Dance–pedigreed array of multiculturally inspired topping combinations. The namesake Lion Dancing Dog comes garnished with cucumber, peanuts, pickled chilies, cilantro, fried shallots and a seriously spicy sambal aioli — a fire blast of bold, Southeast Asian flavors and crunchy textures. We liked the Korean-inspired Cheese in the Trap even better: The combination of well-fermented kimchi, vegan American cheese, gochujang aioli and crispy noodles is incredibly soothing, like a bowl of dressed-up Shin ramyun in hot dog form. If we had any minor complaint, it was that the buns were too big and overly bready — your classic \u003ca href=\"https://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/hot-dog-to-bun-ratio-is-a-scam-article\">wiener-to-bun ratio problem\u003c/a>. But even the simplest dog, topped with nothing but brown mustard and an avalanche of diced onions, scratched a certain comfort food itch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13965215,arts_13962759,arts_13954597']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Tallboy also serves a handful of other snacky vegan dishes created by the Lion Dance Cafe team. There’s a wedge salad, served chilled and topped with faux-bacon bits and an uncannily funky vegan blue cheese dressing, and a chips and dip plate that features a creamy, umami-rich dill pickle dip. And the limey, smoky, toasted-chile-spiked roasted peanuts — a Lion Dance Cafe staple — are simply an elite bar snack. (For the budget-minded, there’s also a free, serve-yourself popcorn station.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For meat eaters, there’s an initial novelty to a meal like this, where upon sampling each new dish, you think, “Wow, is that really vegan??” It’s a testament to how far plant-based meats and cheeses have advanced — and to the broad appeal of Tallboy’s crowd-pleasing menu — that once we really dug in, we stopped thinking about that altogether. It was just damn tasty food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a while, the whole vibe of the place started to grow on us too. This is hardly the first time we’ve been in the position of being the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962759/viridian-asian-american-cocktail-bar-late-night-food-oakland\">only customers ordering a four-course feast\u003c/a> at a cocktail bar. But Tallboy is so crowded, and everyone is in such good spirits, there’s a pleasant kind of anonymity to the experience: No one is going to give you the side-eye for your gratuitous \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/09/03/nx-s1-5098967/joey-chestnut-hot-dog-eating-world-record\">Joey Chestnut impersonation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More to the point, though, when we finally took a minute to look around, what struck us was how vibrantly diverse the crowd was — bar patrons of all races and ethnicities, often mixed together in surprising groupings, everyone vibing and having a great time. It’s the kind of crowd you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the Bay other than in Oakland. The kind that makes the idea of some all-pervasive “doom loop” — everyone too scared to have fun — seem almost laughable. That makes you fall in love with Oakland all over again.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tallboy.bar/\">\u003ci>Tallboy\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 2 p.m.–midnight on weekdays and 2 p.m.–2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at 4210 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tallboy makes a compelling case that Oakland nightlife isn’t dead.",
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"title": "At Tallboy in Oakland, Martinis and Hot Dogs Are a Winning Combination | KQED",
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"source": "The Midnight Diners",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966037\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966037\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men seated at a bar devour a spread of hot dogs.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Foodwise, vegan hot dogs are the main attraction at Tallboy. The martini bar in Oakland’s Temescal district is one of the East Bay’s most popular late-night hot spots. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A minute after walking into \u003ca href=\"https://www.tallboy.bar/\">Tallboy\u003c/a>, Oakland’s new self-styled “martini dive bar,” I thought I may have made a mistake in coming here. It wasn’t just that this was the most crowded bar I’d been in since pre-pandemic times, with a throng of people three deep all the way around the big, horseshoe-shaped bar counter. It was more that all of the hip party people in Oakland seemed to have packed themselves into this unmarked, dimly lit watering hole in Temescal, and we couldn’t have felt more out of place. Sharply dressed twenty-somethings were doing rounds of Jell-O shots, and the buzz of boisterous conversation was so loud, I couldn’t even really hear the music — all I could make out was a thumping electronic bass line. I had to raise my voice to almost a shout just to be heard by the person right next to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And all we’d wanted was to eat some hot dogs at 10 o’clock on a Friday night. So it felt like maybe we had come to the wrong place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What I do like, however, is a bar with a legible theme. And among Oakland’s new cocktail spots, Tallboy has the clearest, most appealing three-word elevator pitch: hot dogs and martinis. Or, as the bar has branded itself online, “’tinis and weenies” — a \u003ca href=\"https://www.bustle.com/life/tinis-weenies-party-theme-tiktok\">TikTok dinner party trend\u003c/a> turned into a whole brick-and-mortar business. The cocktail list is mostly martinis and martini-adjacent drinks — seven different varieties served in classic V-shaped martini glasses, plus shot-size “teeny-tinis” and frosty espresso martini slushies. The food menu, meanwhile, is all hot dogs. And we’re not talking your average bar weenie, but an entire menu of whimsically souped-up \u003ci>vegan \u003c/i>hot dogs created by the team behind the recently closed vegan Singaporean sensation, Lion Dance Cafe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>’Tinis and (plant-based) weenies is the promise of a particular kind of good time — the kind of high-low schtick that plays particularly well online. The important thing is that once we finally squeezed into a spot at the counter, we found out that Tallboy’s martinis and hot dogs are both uncommonly good. The dirty martini I ordered came \u003ci>vigorously\u003c/i> shaken and was cold and refreshing as hell, shot through with enough olive brine to make it taste a little bit like the sea. If I were less of a lightweight, I would have happily thrown back two or three of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hot dogs, meanwhile, were a thousand times better than the sad, desiccated Tofu Pups I remember from vegan-friendly cookouts I attended when I was in grad school. The dogs themselves are a relatively new product from Impossible Foods, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/impossible-foods-ceo-says-company-will-raise-cash-with-or-without-ipo-2024-04-29/\">multibillion-dollar corporation\u003c/a> that doesn’t exactly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sportingnews.com/us/tsn/news/joey-chestnut-impossible-foods-banned-hot-dog-eating-contest/ac243bf293a40a3288623297#:~:text=Chestnut%20agreed%20to%20a%20sponsorship,Chestnut%20promoting%20a%20rival%20brand.\">need me to shill for it\u003c/a>. But suffice it to say that the faux-beef wieners deliver on their promise of tasting almost indistinguishable from the real thing, down to the firm but slightly squishy texture I associate with all processed meats. The only thing missing? The \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/24175365/vegan-hot-dogs-snap-uptons-naturals-oscar-mayer\">springy snap\u003c/a> of the casing that you get with the best beef dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966041\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966041\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The exterior of an unmarked, dimly lit bar at nighttime.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/tallboy2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It felt like all of Oakland’s hip party people had packed themselves into this unmarked, dimly lit cocktail bar. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the main selling point of Tallboy’s hot dog menu is the Lion Dance–pedigreed array of multiculturally inspired topping combinations. The namesake Lion Dancing Dog comes garnished with cucumber, peanuts, pickled chilies, cilantro, fried shallots and a seriously spicy sambal aioli — a fire blast of bold, Southeast Asian flavors and crunchy textures. We liked the Korean-inspired Cheese in the Trap even better: The combination of well-fermented kimchi, vegan American cheese, gochujang aioli and crispy noodles is incredibly soothing, like a bowl of dressed-up Shin ramyun in hot dog form. If we had any minor complaint, it was that the buns were too big and overly bready — your classic \u003ca href=\"https://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/hot-dog-to-bun-ratio-is-a-scam-article\">wiener-to-bun ratio problem\u003c/a>. But even the simplest dog, topped with nothing but brown mustard and an avalanche of diced onions, scratched a certain comfort food itch.\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>Tallboy also serves a handful of other snacky vegan dishes created by the Lion Dance Cafe team. There’s a wedge salad, served chilled and topped with faux-bacon bits and an uncannily funky vegan blue cheese dressing, and a chips and dip plate that features a creamy, umami-rich dill pickle dip. And the limey, smoky, toasted-chile-spiked roasted peanuts — a Lion Dance Cafe staple — are simply an elite bar snack. (For the budget-minded, there’s also a free, serve-yourself popcorn station.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For meat eaters, there’s an initial novelty to a meal like this, where upon sampling each new dish, you think, “Wow, is that really vegan??” It’s a testament to how far plant-based meats and cheeses have advanced — and to the broad appeal of Tallboy’s crowd-pleasing menu — that once we really dug in, we stopped thinking about that altogether. It was just damn tasty food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a while, the whole vibe of the place started to grow on us too. This is hardly the first time we’ve been in the position of being the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962759/viridian-asian-american-cocktail-bar-late-night-food-oakland\">only customers ordering a four-course feast\u003c/a> at a cocktail bar. But Tallboy is so crowded, and everyone is in such good spirits, there’s a pleasant kind of anonymity to the experience: No one is going to give you the side-eye for your gratuitous \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/09/03/nx-s1-5098967/joey-chestnut-hot-dog-eating-world-record\">Joey Chestnut impersonation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More to the point, though, when we finally took a minute to look around, what struck us was how vibrantly diverse the crowd was — bar patrons of all races and ethnicities, often mixed together in surprising groupings, everyone vibing and having a great time. It’s the kind of crowd you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the Bay other than in Oakland. The kind that makes the idea of some all-pervasive “doom loop” — everyone too scared to have fun — seem almost laughable. That makes you fall in love with Oakland all over again.\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.tallboy.bar/\">\u003ci>Tallboy\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 2 p.m.–midnight on weekdays and 2 p.m.–2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at 4210 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "all-you-can-eat-wagyu-beef-hot-pot-shabu-shabu-mikiya-santa-clara",
"title": "This Hot Pot Restaurant Serves All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu Beef",
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"headTitle": "This Hot Pot Restaurant Serves All-You-Can-Eat Wagyu Beef | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965236\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A man chows down on a spread of wagyu beef and other hot pot items at a shabu shabu restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Santa Clara’s Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House, unlimited quantities of wagyu beef are the main attraction. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m old enough to remember how Americans used to talk about wagyu beef like it was the most rarefied foodstuff in the world — the manna of the gods butchered from some miniscule number of Japanese cattle who’d spent their entire lives being pampered with \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSU5Iu9Z9qI\">massages and beer\u003c/a>. But at some point in the past decade, wagyu (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.seriouseats.com/fake-kobe-wagyu-beef-japanese-steak\">pseudo-wagyu\u003c/a>) became \u003ci>the\u003c/i> number one signifier of bourgeois dining aspirations, to the point that we now have dumpling houses and fast-casual burger joints that churn through hundreds of pounds of the stuff each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve mostly been agnostic on the trend — but not so much so that I was immune to the inherent appeal of an (\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NYTIMESALLCAPS\">all caps\u003c/a>) ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT WAGYU BEEF HOT POT restaurant, especially one that stays open until 11 o’clock at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is how we found ourselves at Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House at 9:30 on a recent Friday, having had the foresight to put ourselves on Yelp’s remote online waiting list about two and a half hours before we arrived. (Apparently, this is how things are after the hype has already died down a bit. According to our server, four-hour wait times were routine just a few months ago.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, the Santa Clara shop is the only Bay Area outpost for a \u003ca href=\"https://chubbygroup.com/\">conglomerate of assorted high-end wagyu beef restaurants\u003c/a>, with locations in Las Vegas, Honolulu and all over Southern California, each \u003ca href=\"https://thexpot.com/\">new dining concept\u003c/a> swankier than the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Mikiya is \u003ci>pretty\u003c/i> swanky, starting with the massive, theatrically lit display case full of imported A5 Japanese wagyu beef roasts that greeted us at the front entrance. Inside, the overall aesthetic is something akin to a bustling cyberpunk night market: bright neon signs, moody red backlighting and vaguely pagoda-like design features. The dining room was packed with groups of youngish, professional-looking types, and, for what it’s worth, I don’t know if I saw a non-Asian person the entire time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking as an Asian: We do \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963093/supreme-crab-asian-cajun-ayce-buffet-crab-legs-redwood-city\">know our way around a buffet\u003c/a>. Even before the first tray of extravagantly marbled wagyu hits the table, you can tell that Mikiya is the kind of high-class Asian buffet that’s so ubiquitous in cities like Singapore and Taipei. The self-serve condiment, noodle and vegetable stations are immaculate — piles of chrysanthemum greens and pristine, unblemished Napa cabbage leaves refilled with such unflagging consistency that they never seemed to diminish. There’s an entire fridge full of pasteurized eggs so you can use the raw yolk as a “sauce” to pair with the sukiyaki broth. There’s a hot cauldron of saucy minced wagyu for you to ladle over rice — as many mini beef donburi as you have stomach space to eat. Cold appetizers like spicy clams and wasabi-spiked raw octopus were so tasty, I would have happily ordered them as a stand-alone at a nice, non-buffet restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A host of other fun touches feel similarly extravagant — the all-you-can-drink Assam milk tea dispenser, the freezer full of mini-cartons of Häagen-Dazs (i.e. the Rolls Royce of buffet ice cream).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The exterior of a restaurant at night. Inside, a display case of meat is lit up.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mikiya epitomizes swanky Asian buffet culture. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All this, and we haven’t even gotten to the beef! Everything except alcohol is included with the price of admission, but deciding on which specific \u003ci>tier \u003c/i>of all-you-can-eat hot pot experience you want can still be confusing, as there are “silver,” “gold” and “diamond” options that vary in price from $55 to $98 in person, and mostly differ in terms of the grade of wagyu offered and a few other super-premium items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trust me when I say that the silver tier is already plenty premium. You start the meal by choosing two soup bases for the split pot, and we opted for the most classic options: the slightly sweet, soy sauce–based sukiyaki broth (my favorite) and a clear shabu shabu broth — the most wholesome choice for hot pot eaters whose favorite part of the meal is drinking the soup at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13963832,arts_13963093,arts_13960432']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Then comes the parade of meats. Tray after tray of wagyu brisket, shoulder and ribeye sliced nearly paper-thin for you to dip into the hot broth for just a few seconds, then into your sauce of choice: just raw egg yolk for richness if you want to eat it sukiyaki style, or maybe a nutty sesame dressing or a bracing ponzu spiked with garlic and chilies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the hallmark of high-quality wagyu beef is its gorgeously fatty white marbling, which is the source of the meat’s rich flavor as well as its tenderness: The fat melts at a much lower temperature than most American beef fat, so you barely need to chew it. At the $55 tier, we were eating Australian wagyu beef, which was less sumptuously marbled than the higher-grade A5 Japanese wagyu available at the other price points, and already, each slice was unspeakably soft and buttery. (I would have argued that the extra marbling of the A5 wouldn’t make much difference at all when eaten in hot pot, but then we received one tray of it by accident — and oh, it \u003ci>did\u003c/i>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meal also came with an equally luxurious tray of raw seafood to cook in the hot pot broth (scallops! crab legs! abalone!) and our choice of special stand-alone items — a wagyu marrow bone and seared-wagyu nigiri, both delicious but somewhat superfluous given the amount of beef we were already consuming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a slightly grating tech-y aspect to Mikiya, from the \u003ca href=\"https://chubbyclub.com/\">NFT-based memberships\u003c/a> (?!) to the unfailingly cheerful AI bot that responds to literally every single Yelp review. But once we sat down for our meal in person, the servers were all so friendly and attentive, and the whole dining experience was seamless and comfortable. Though I don’t know if I’m a full-on wagyu convert yet, I saw that Mikiya also sells an annual (non-NFT) membership that offers discounted rates for $28 a year. And I really, really thought about it. Honestly, I’m still thinking about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mikiyanorthcalifornia/\">Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday–Thursday 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 3590 Homestead Rd. in Santa Clara. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965236\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A man chows down on a spread of wagyu beef and other hot pot items at a shabu shabu restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Santa Clara’s Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House, unlimited quantities of wagyu beef are the main attraction. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m old enough to remember how Americans used to talk about wagyu beef like it was the most rarefied foodstuff in the world — the manna of the gods butchered from some miniscule number of Japanese cattle who’d spent their entire lives being pampered with \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSU5Iu9Z9qI\">massages and beer\u003c/a>. But at some point in the past decade, wagyu (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.seriouseats.com/fake-kobe-wagyu-beef-japanese-steak\">pseudo-wagyu\u003c/a>) became \u003ci>the\u003c/i> number one signifier of bourgeois dining aspirations, to the point that we now have dumpling houses and fast-casual burger joints that churn through hundreds of pounds of the stuff each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve mostly been agnostic on the trend — but not so much so that I was immune to the inherent appeal of an (\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NYTIMESALLCAPS\">all caps\u003c/a>) ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT WAGYU BEEF HOT POT restaurant, especially one that stays open until 11 o’clock at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is how we found ourselves at Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House at 9:30 on a recent Friday, having had the foresight to put ourselves on Yelp’s remote online waiting list about two and a half hours before we arrived. (Apparently, this is how things are after the hype has already died down a bit. According to our server, four-hour wait times were routine just a few months ago.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, the Santa Clara shop is the only Bay Area outpost for a \u003ca href=\"https://chubbygroup.com/\">conglomerate of assorted high-end wagyu beef restaurants\u003c/a>, with locations in Las Vegas, Honolulu and all over Southern California, each \u003ca href=\"https://thexpot.com/\">new dining concept\u003c/a> swankier than the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Mikiya is \u003ci>pretty\u003c/i> swanky, starting with the massive, theatrically lit display case full of imported A5 Japanese wagyu beef roasts that greeted us at the front entrance. Inside, the overall aesthetic is something akin to a bustling cyberpunk night market: bright neon signs, moody red backlighting and vaguely pagoda-like design features. The dining room was packed with groups of youngish, professional-looking types, and, for what it’s worth, I don’t know if I saw a non-Asian person the entire time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking as an Asian: We do \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963093/supreme-crab-asian-cajun-ayce-buffet-crab-legs-redwood-city\">know our way around a buffet\u003c/a>. Even before the first tray of extravagantly marbled wagyu hits the table, you can tell that Mikiya is the kind of high-class Asian buffet that’s so ubiquitous in cities like Singapore and Taipei. The self-serve condiment, noodle and vegetable stations are immaculate — piles of chrysanthemum greens and pristine, unblemished Napa cabbage leaves refilled with such unflagging consistency that they never seemed to diminish. There’s an entire fridge full of pasteurized eggs so you can use the raw yolk as a “sauce” to pair with the sukiyaki broth. There’s a hot cauldron of saucy minced wagyu for you to ladle over rice — as many mini beef donburi as you have stomach space to eat. Cold appetizers like spicy clams and wasabi-spiked raw octopus were so tasty, I would have happily ordered them as a stand-alone at a nice, non-buffet restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A host of other fun touches feel similarly extravagant — the all-you-can-drink Assam milk tea dispenser, the freezer full of mini-cartons of Häagen-Dazs (i.e. the Rolls Royce of buffet ice cream).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13965238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13965238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The exterior of a restaurant at night. Inside, a display case of meat is lit up.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/mikiya-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mikiya epitomizes swanky Asian buffet culture. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>All this, and we haven’t even gotten to the beef! Everything except alcohol is included with the price of admission, but deciding on which specific \u003ci>tier \u003c/i>of all-you-can-eat hot pot experience you want can still be confusing, as there are “silver,” “gold” and “diamond” options that vary in price from $55 to $98 in person, and mostly differ in terms of the grade of wagyu offered and a few other super-premium items.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trust me when I say that the silver tier is already plenty premium. You start the meal by choosing two soup bases for the split pot, and we opted for the most classic options: the slightly sweet, soy sauce–based sukiyaki broth (my favorite) and a clear shabu shabu broth — the most wholesome choice for hot pot eaters whose favorite part of the meal is drinking the soup at the end.\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>Then comes the parade of meats. Tray after tray of wagyu brisket, shoulder and ribeye sliced nearly paper-thin for you to dip into the hot broth for just a few seconds, then into your sauce of choice: just raw egg yolk for richness if you want to eat it sukiyaki style, or maybe a nutty sesame dressing or a bracing ponzu spiked with garlic and chilies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, the hallmark of high-quality wagyu beef is its gorgeously fatty white marbling, which is the source of the meat’s rich flavor as well as its tenderness: The fat melts at a much lower temperature than most American beef fat, so you barely need to chew it. At the $55 tier, we were eating Australian wagyu beef, which was less sumptuously marbled than the higher-grade A5 Japanese wagyu available at the other price points, and already, each slice was unspeakably soft and buttery. (I would have argued that the extra marbling of the A5 wouldn’t make much difference at all when eaten in hot pot, but then we received one tray of it by accident — and oh, it \u003ci>did\u003c/i>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meal also came with an equally luxurious tray of raw seafood to cook in the hot pot broth (scallops! crab legs! abalone!) and our choice of special stand-alone items — a wagyu marrow bone and seared-wagyu nigiri, both delicious but somewhat superfluous given the amount of beef we were already consuming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a slightly grating tech-y aspect to Mikiya, from the \u003ca href=\"https://chubbyclub.com/\">NFT-based memberships\u003c/a> (?!) to the unfailingly cheerful AI bot that responds to literally every single Yelp review. But once we sat down for our meal in person, the servers were all so friendly and attentive, and the whole dining experience was seamless and comfortable. Though I don’t know if I’m a full-on wagyu convert yet, I saw that Mikiya also sells an annual (non-NFT) membership that offers discounted rates for $28 a year. And I really, really thought about it. Honestly, I’m still thinking about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mikiyanorthcalifornia/\">Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday–Thursday 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 3590 Homestead Rd. in Santa Clara. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners",
"title": "Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria Goes Big",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963836\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating tacos and tortas inside a dimly lit restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Tacos El Rulas’ new brick-and-mortar taqueria, everything — from the tortas to the dining room — is uncommonly big. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing to know about Richmond’s newest late-night taqueria, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">Tacos El Rulas\u003c/a>, is that everything about it is big.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the space itself, which is, in a word, cavernous. Located on the southern edge of Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-richmond-taco-crawl-2-1/\">23rd Street taco corridor\u003c/a>, it’s a high-ceilinged barn of a building that used to house a Mexican grocery store. Every square inch of wall space is covered with colorful blinking lights, neon signs (“Save Water, Drink Micheladas”), Mexican flags and larger-than-life murals depicting Selena, Jenni Rivera and other Mexican American musical icons. At around 9:30 on a Wednesday night, Colombian salsa music was blasting over the speakers while a group of coworkers threw back a $100 round of tequila shots served atop a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_bc6q4yf6D/?hl=en\">miniature combi bus lit up with sparklers\u003c/a>. The overall vibe was somewhere between rowdy cafeteria and cool, dimly neon-lit nightclub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it might not be the best place to visit if you’re trying to avoid overstimulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran East Bay taco eaters may recall that El Rulas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931115/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-taco-truck-alambre-papa-loca-instagram-food-influencer\">started out as a taco truck\u003c/a> — which currently sits idle in its old spot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The truck was popular in part because of its block-party-meets-backyard-barbecue atmosphere, perfuming the neighborhood with the smell of charred meat late into the night. Its success was also largely a product of social media: Every item on the menu seemed specifically engineered to go viral on Instagram, from the red-tinged, dripping-wet quesabirria tacos to the monstrous (and since discontinued) three-foot-long burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the new brick-and-mortar Tacos El Rulas, too, much of the food is comically oversized — and all of it is available until midnight every night. We started with one of the restaurant’s Instagram hits, the papas locas, a.k.a. the Mexican American answer to a loaded baked potato, except that El Rulas’ version comes pre-smashed, sans skin, in an aluminum tray. It comes topped with your choice of protein (I recommend the supremely well-seasoned al pastor), butter, bacon, more butter, two big dollops of guacamole and a metric ton of stretchy melted cheese. Order this with a side of handmade tortillas to scoop it all up, and the dish is hearty enough to feed two or three hungry diners all by itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant bathed in neon light at nighttime. The sign above reads, \"Tacos El Rulas.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The longtime taco truck has taken over a cavernous space on the southern edge of Richmond’s 23rd Street taco corridor. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The El Rulas taco truck’s \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2021/2/11/22275500/tacos-el-rulas-truck-berkeley-quesabirria-torta-cubana-handmade-tortillas\">first claim to fame\u003c/a>, long before it became a darling of Bay Area food influencers, was that it sold some of the biggest and tastiest tortas in our region. The restaurant makes a whopping 18 different varieties. And to this day, one of the most delicious things on the menu, pound for pound, is the torta Cubana. This is a sandwich the literal size of a football, layered so thick with meat that we practically had to unhinge our jaws in order to take a bite. The funny thing about El Rulas’ Cubana is that they seem to make it a little bit differently every time I order it, depending on what they have available in the kitchen. The most recent edition was crammed to overflowing with ham, four or five fried beef cutlets, a fried egg and stretchy mozzarella cheese — and no detectable vegetable matter whatsoever. (Other times, the sandwich has included some combination of lettuce, ham, chorizo and queso fresco.) Regardless: It’s a spectacular sandwich, especially after we doused it with some red salsa from the self-serve salsa station. And we still couldn’t finish even half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13963437,arts_13958926,arts_13958466']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The closest thing to a normally-portioned dish that we ordered was the ribeye tacos. Reasonable people might quibble over whether they’re worth the $6-a-taco price tag, but the thick cubes of steak were as buttery and tender as we could have hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s a downside to Tacos El Rulas, it’s that the place has been so infected by the social media brain worm that some of the offerings veer a little bit too close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936325/social-media-biggest-pupusas-burritos-instagram-tiktok-latinextravagant-bay-area\">stunt food territory\u003c/a>. The menu is loaded with luxe upgrades that aren’t really necessary for you to have a good experience — though I’ll admit that ribeye papas locas \u003ci>do \u003c/i>sound pretty great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My advice? Come with a group that likes to share, because you’re going to want to sample a few items. A solo diner can really only handle one of El Rulas’ special, over-the-top creations — and then you’re going to be eating one dish for a solid 40 minutes, and you still probably won’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On weekend nights, the restaurant tends to fill up with the party crowd. The lines get long, and things can get a little bit chaotic. Late on a random weeknight, though? It’s a lot of families with kids, and coworkers stopping by for a drink and a meal at the end of their shift. Neon lights, gargantuan sandwiches and sensory overload notwithstanding, it’s actually a pretty chill place to grab a bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Tacos El Rulas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–midnight daily at 232 23rd St. in Richmond. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Tacos El Rulas Is Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963836\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating tacos and tortas inside a dimly lit restaurant.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Tacos El Rulas’ new brick-and-mortar taqueria, everything — from the tortas to the dining room — is uncommonly big. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The thing to know about Richmond’s newest late-night taqueria, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">Tacos El Rulas\u003c/a>, is that everything about it is big.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Start with the space itself, which is, in a word, cavernous. Located on the southern edge of Richmond’s \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/a-richmond-taco-crawl-2-1/\">23rd Street taco corridor\u003c/a>, it’s a high-ceilinged barn of a building that used to house a Mexican grocery store. Every square inch of wall space is covered with colorful blinking lights, neon signs (“Save Water, Drink Micheladas”), Mexican flags and larger-than-life murals depicting Selena, Jenni Rivera and other Mexican American musical icons. At around 9:30 on a Wednesday night, Colombian salsa music was blasting over the speakers while a group of coworkers threw back a $100 round of tequila shots served atop a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C_bc6q4yf6D/?hl=en\">miniature combi bus lit up with sparklers\u003c/a>. The overall vibe was somewhere between rowdy cafeteria and cool, dimly neon-lit nightclub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, it might not be the best place to visit if you’re trying to avoid overstimulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Veteran East Bay taco eaters may recall that El Rulas \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931115/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-taco-truck-alambre-papa-loca-instagram-food-influencer\">started out as a taco truck\u003c/a> — which currently sits idle in its old spot in the restaurant’s parking lot. The truck was popular in part because of its block-party-meets-backyard-barbecue atmosphere, perfuming the neighborhood with the smell of charred meat late into the night. Its success was also largely a product of social media: Every item on the menu seemed specifically engineered to go viral on Instagram, from the red-tinged, dripping-wet quesabirria tacos to the monstrous (and since discontinued) three-foot-long burritos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the new brick-and-mortar Tacos El Rulas, too, much of the food is comically oversized — and all of it is available until midnight every night. We started with one of the restaurant’s Instagram hits, the papas locas, a.k.a. the Mexican American answer to a loaded baked potato, except that El Rulas’ version comes pre-smashed, sans skin, in an aluminum tray. It comes topped with your choice of protein (I recommend the supremely well-seasoned al pastor), butter, bacon, more butter, two big dollops of guacamole and a metric ton of stretchy melted cheese. Order this with a side of handmade tortillas to scoop it all up, and the dish is hearty enough to feed two or three hungry diners all by itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963838\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg\" alt='Exterior of a restaurant bathed in neon light at nighttime. The sign above reads, \"Tacos El Rulas.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/El-Rulas2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The longtime taco truck has taken over a cavernous space on the southern edge of Richmond’s 23rd Street taco corridor. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The El Rulas taco truck’s \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2021/2/11/22275500/tacos-el-rulas-truck-berkeley-quesabirria-torta-cubana-handmade-tortillas\">first claim to fame\u003c/a>, long before it became a darling of Bay Area food influencers, was that it sold some of the biggest and tastiest tortas in our region. The restaurant makes a whopping 18 different varieties. And to this day, one of the most delicious things on the menu, pound for pound, is the torta Cubana. This is a sandwich the literal size of a football, layered so thick with meat that we practically had to unhinge our jaws in order to take a bite. The funny thing about El Rulas’ Cubana is that they seem to make it a little bit differently every time I order it, depending on what they have available in the kitchen. The most recent edition was crammed to overflowing with ham, four or five fried beef cutlets, a fried egg and stretchy mozzarella cheese — and no detectable vegetable matter whatsoever. (Other times, the sandwich has included some combination of lettuce, ham, chorizo and queso fresco.) Regardless: It’s a spectacular sandwich, especially after we doused it with some red salsa from the self-serve salsa station. And we still couldn’t finish even half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The closest thing to a normally-portioned dish that we ordered was the ribeye tacos. Reasonable people might quibble over whether they’re worth the $6-a-taco price tag, but the thick cubes of steak were as buttery and tender as we could have hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If there’s a downside to Tacos El Rulas, it’s that the place has been so infected by the social media brain worm that some of the offerings veer a little bit too close to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13936325/social-media-biggest-pupusas-burritos-instagram-tiktok-latinextravagant-bay-area\">stunt food territory\u003c/a>. The menu is loaded with luxe upgrades that aren’t really necessary for you to have a good experience — though I’ll admit that ribeye papas locas \u003ci>do \u003c/i>sound pretty great.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My advice? Come with a group that likes to share, because you’re going to want to sample a few items. A solo diner can really only handle one of El Rulas’ special, over-the-top creations — and then you’re going to be eating one dish for a solid 40 minutes, and you still probably won’t finish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On weekend nights, the restaurant tends to fill up with the party crowd. The lines get long, and things can get a little bit chaotic. Late on a random weeknight, though? It’s a lot of families with kids, and coworkers stopping by for a drink and a meal at the end of their shift. Neon lights, gargantuan sandwiches and sensory overload notwithstanding, it’s actually a pretty chill place to grab a bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselrulas/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Tacos El Rulas\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 11 a.m.–midnight daily at 232 23rd St. in Richmond. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "emmys-spaghetti-shack-late-night-san-francisco-mission-bernal",
"title": "San Francisco’s Favorite Spaghetti Shack Has a New Late-Night Menu",
"publishDate": 1724976003,
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"headTitle": "San Francisco’s Favorite Spaghetti Shack Has a New Late-Night Menu | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963442\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men in a funkily decorated restaurant. They're devouring spaghetti, mozzarella balls, and a large meatball hero.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Highlights of the new late-night menu at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack include $9 spaghetti and a spectacular meatball hero. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/emmysspaghettishack/\">Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack\u003c/a> certainly isn’t the only spot in San Francisco serving an old-school Italian American menu. But it might be the only one I would describe as a punk rock red-sauce Italian dive bar. With its rainbow disco lights and weird chandeliers, its pinball machines and shrine of framed Dolly Parton photographs, the restaurant has the eclectic, lived-in quality of a place where someone — say, a fun aunt — has collected all the things they love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, founder (and namesake) Emmy Kaplan \u003ci>was \u003c/i>that “fun aunt,” and under her warm-hearted watch, the restaurant played great music every night, sold probably a million plates of spaghetti and meatballs, and cemented its reputation as a quintessentially \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-emmys-spaghetti-shack-17632474.php\">fun and casual neighborhood joint\u003c/a> on the edge of the Mission and Bernal Heights. A legit San Francisco classic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a few weeks ago, Kaplan \u003ca href=\"https://brokeassstuart.com/2024/08/02/emmys-spaghetti-shack-is-being-sold-and-this-is-good-news/\">announced that she had sold Emmy’s\u003c/a> to Mike Irish, the restaurant’s bar manager for the past several years. To everyone’s great relief, the upshot of that sale appears to be that precisely nothing will change. Well, almost nothing. The menu has a few crowd-pleasing additions (lasagna! shrimp cocktail!). And, at least on Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant now stays open until midnight — a throwback to the early-2000s incarnation of the spaghetti shack, when it was one of the only casual sit-down restaurants in the neighborhood that was open late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More to the point: On those nights, starting at 9:30, the restaurant serves a special late-night menu, which includes a $9 plate of spaghetti and a meatball parm hero that — spoiler alert — immediately ranks among San Francisco’s most appealing late-night dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is what brought us into Emmy’s sparkly, tinsel- and string light–bedecked dining room on a recent Friday night. The restaurant was only one or two weeks into its new late-night offerings, but the prospect of good red sauce Italian after 10 p.m. had a gravitational pull too heavy for us to resist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe the most impressive thing about Emmy’s is how the restaurant has been a master of capturing so many different demographics. We arrived a few minutes before it shifted over to the late-night menu, and the dining room was a multicultural mix of all different types of parties: young couples, older couples, families with exceptionally hungry teenagers, and swagged-out college kids pregaming on their way to the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmy’s is known as one of the city’s most family-friendly restaurants, with a longstanding “kids eat free” deal on Tuesdays. It’s also an enormously popular date-night spot — and just doubled down by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/offbeat-sf-restaurant-best-deal-19626297.php\">launching a $60 “Monday Is for Lovers” prix-fixe for two\u003c/a> that comes with a bottle of wine. In many ways, then, the new late-night hours are just the latest extension of the restaurant’s ongoing effort to provide things the community really wants — which, in this case, happens to be hearty red sauce Italian at midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963444\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: red and purple front facade of a restaurant at nighttime. The sign reads, "Emmy's" in cursive.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant has been open in San Francisco’s Mission Bernal neighborhood for more than 20 years. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because we arrived a little early, we were able to try the new “Cadillac lasagna” from the regular dinner menu. It was kind of a “deconstructed” version, the pasta sheets arranged in a loose pile rather than cut into a neatly layered square. But the combination of flavors — the rich vodka meat sauce, dollops of sunflower seed pesto and cool ricotta — were just as homey and nostalgic as we’d hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, though, it’s easy enough to cobble together a delicious meal ordering exclusively off the new late-night menu, which offers a mix of new dishes and Emmy’s classics. We started with a standard (and perfectly satisfying) version of shrimp cocktail and the crowd favorite cauliflower balls — oozy, stretchy, spherical mozzarella sticks, essentially, with bits of cauliflower mixed in for health (?) and textural interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13963093,arts_13961997,arts_13959808']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>While you can dine at Emmy’s at any time of night and find at least one massive plate of spaghetti and meatballs on every table, the late-night menu gives you the opportunity to order a smaller (but still not exactly petite) order of that red sauce spaghetti — for just $9, with the option to add on a meatball (or vegan meatball). It had been a number of years since I’d had a plate of Emmy’s spaghetti, but we were hooked from the first piping hot, eminently slurpable bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The showstopper is that new meatball hero, which repurposes several of the restaurant’s staple ingredients — vodka sauce, pesto, stretchy cheese and maybe the best meatballs in town — and serves them hot on a toasty sesame roll. The sandwich comes with a little squeeze bottle of Calabrian hot sauce, which you don’t really need. The real pro hack is to scoop some spaghetti into the hero so you get a bit of extra sauciness in every bite. This is it: the Platonic ideal of late-night drunk food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmy’s hasn’t done a ton of advertising for the new late-night menu on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/emmysspaghettishack/\">social media\u003c/a>, and for a while it seemed like maybe we were the only ones who knew about it. But by the time we left, around 11 o’clock, they’d curtained off the front room and turned up the music, and the restaurant had once again started to fill up. The playlist shuffled from MF Doom to Bo Diddley to a plaintive country ballad, and the night owls sipped Cosmos and dug into their plates of spaghetti. And for at least one night, in this one spot, it felt like San Francisco’s late-night scene hadn’t ever died at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://sfspaghettishack.com/\">\u003ci>Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Sun.–Thu. 5–9:30 p.m. and Fri.–Sat. 5 p.m.–midnight at 3230 Mission St. in San Francisco. On Fridays and Saturdays, it serves a special late-night menu starting at 9:30 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Emmy's Spaghetti Shack Has One of SF's Best Late-Night Menus | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963442\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963442\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men in a funkily decorated restaurant. They're devouring spaghetti, mozzarella balls, and a large meatball hero.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Highlights of the new late-night menu at Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack include $9 spaghetti and a spectacular meatball hero. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/emmysspaghettishack/\">Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack\u003c/a> certainly isn’t the only spot in San Francisco serving an old-school Italian American menu. But it might be the only one I would describe as a punk rock red-sauce Italian dive bar. With its rainbow disco lights and weird chandeliers, its pinball machines and shrine of framed Dolly Parton photographs, the restaurant has the eclectic, lived-in quality of a place where someone — say, a fun aunt — has collected all the things they love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than 20 years, founder (and namesake) Emmy Kaplan \u003ci>was \u003c/i>that “fun aunt,” and under her warm-hearted watch, the restaurant played great music every night, sold probably a million plates of spaghetti and meatballs, and cemented its reputation as a quintessentially \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-emmys-spaghetti-shack-17632474.php\">fun and casual neighborhood joint\u003c/a> on the edge of the Mission and Bernal Heights. A legit San Francisco classic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, a few weeks ago, Kaplan \u003ca href=\"https://brokeassstuart.com/2024/08/02/emmys-spaghetti-shack-is-being-sold-and-this-is-good-news/\">announced that she had sold Emmy’s\u003c/a> to Mike Irish, the restaurant’s bar manager for the past several years. To everyone’s great relief, the upshot of that sale appears to be that precisely nothing will change. Well, almost nothing. The menu has a few crowd-pleasing additions (lasagna! shrimp cocktail!). And, at least on Fridays and Saturdays, the restaurant now stays open until midnight — a throwback to the early-2000s incarnation of the spaghetti shack, when it was one of the only casual sit-down restaurants in the neighborhood that was open late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More to the point: On those nights, starting at 9:30, the restaurant serves a special late-night menu, which includes a $9 plate of spaghetti and a meatball parm hero that — spoiler alert — immediately ranks among San Francisco’s most appealing late-night dishes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is what brought us into Emmy’s sparkly, tinsel- and string light–bedecked dining room on a recent Friday night. The restaurant was only one or two weeks into its new late-night offerings, but the prospect of good red sauce Italian after 10 p.m. had a gravitational pull too heavy for us to resist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe the most impressive thing about Emmy’s is how the restaurant has been a master of capturing so many different demographics. We arrived a few minutes before it shifted over to the late-night menu, and the dining room was a multicultural mix of all different types of parties: young couples, older couples, families with exceptionally hungry teenagers, and swagged-out college kids pregaming on their way to the club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmy’s is known as one of the city’s most family-friendly restaurants, with a longstanding “kids eat free” deal on Tuesdays. It’s also an enormously popular date-night spot — and just doubled down by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/offbeat-sf-restaurant-best-deal-19626297.php\">launching a $60 “Monday Is for Lovers” prix-fixe for two\u003c/a> that comes with a bottle of wine. In many ways, then, the new late-night hours are just the latest extension of the restaurant’s ongoing effort to provide things the community really wants — which, in this case, happens to be hearty red sauce Italian at midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963444\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963444\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: red and purple front facade of a restaurant at nighttime. The sign reads, "Emmy's" in cursive.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Emmys-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant has been open in San Francisco’s Mission Bernal neighborhood for more than 20 years. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Because we arrived a little early, we were able to try the new “Cadillac lasagna” from the regular dinner menu. It was kind of a “deconstructed” version, the pasta sheets arranged in a loose pile rather than cut into a neatly layered square. But the combination of flavors — the rich vodka meat sauce, dollops of sunflower seed pesto and cool ricotta — were just as homey and nostalgic as we’d hoped.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it turns out, though, it’s easy enough to cobble together a delicious meal ordering exclusively off the new late-night menu, which offers a mix of new dishes and Emmy’s classics. We started with a standard (and perfectly satisfying) version of shrimp cocktail and the crowd favorite cauliflower balls — oozy, stretchy, spherical mozzarella sticks, essentially, with bits of cauliflower mixed in for health (?) and textural interest.\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>While you can dine at Emmy’s at any time of night and find at least one massive plate of spaghetti and meatballs on every table, the late-night menu gives you the opportunity to order a smaller (but still not exactly petite) order of that red sauce spaghetti — for just $9, with the option to add on a meatball (or vegan meatball). It had been a number of years since I’d had a plate of Emmy’s spaghetti, but we were hooked from the first piping hot, eminently slurpable bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The showstopper is that new meatball hero, which repurposes several of the restaurant’s staple ingredients — vodka sauce, pesto, stretchy cheese and maybe the best meatballs in town — and serves them hot on a toasty sesame roll. The sandwich comes with a little squeeze bottle of Calabrian hot sauce, which you don’t really need. The real pro hack is to scoop some spaghetti into the hero so you get a bit of extra sauciness in every bite. This is it: the Platonic ideal of late-night drunk food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Emmy’s hasn’t done a ton of advertising for the new late-night menu on its \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/emmysspaghettishack/\">social media\u003c/a>, and for a while it seemed like maybe we were the only ones who knew about it. But by the time we left, around 11 o’clock, they’d curtained off the front room and turned up the music, and the restaurant had once again started to fill up. The playlist shuffled from MF Doom to Bo Diddley to a plaintive country ballad, and the night owls sipped Cosmos and dug into their plates of spaghetti. And for at least one night, in this one spot, it felt like San Francisco’s late-night scene hadn’t ever died at 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://sfspaghettishack.com/\">\u003ci>Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Sun.–Thu. 5–9:30 p.m. and Fri.–Sat. 5 p.m.–midnight at 3230 Mission St. in San Francisco. On Fridays and Saturdays, it serves a special late-night menu starting at 9:30 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/26099305-72af-4542-9dde-ac1807fe36d5/kqed-s-the-california-report",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"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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"meta": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
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},
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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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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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}
},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"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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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "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",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"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.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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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/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"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": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"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",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
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