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.
’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
This All-You-Can-Eat Cajun Crab Buffet Is for Serious Eaters Only
We Hung Out With the Cool Kids at This Vibe-y Asian American Cocktail Bar
Hawaiian Barbecue Is This Late-Night Doughnut Shop’s Secret Weapon
Brazen Head Is San Francisco’s Most Delightful Late-Night Secret
Zareen’s Is a Late-Night Pakistani Food Gem in Palo Alto
Bay Pocha Was Made for a Late-Night Feast With Friends
This Hookah Sandwich Lounge Is Redwood City’s Buzziest Late-Night Hotspot
San Jose’s Late-Night Boba Shop Is a One-of-a-Kind Experience
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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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"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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"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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"headTitle": "Richmond’s New Late-Night Taqueria Goes Big | KQED",
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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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"excerpt": "Tacos El Rulas serves the East Bay’s largest tortas and most decadent loaded baked potatoes. ",
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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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"slug": "supreme-crab-asian-cajun-ayce-buffet-crab-legs-redwood-city",
"title": "This All-You-Can-Eat Cajun Crab Buffet Is for Serious Eaters Only",
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"headTitle": "This All-You-Can-Eat Cajun Crab Buffet Is for Serious Eaters Only | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963096\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963096\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men look starry-eyed with happiness as they devour plates of crab, shimp and other seafood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood City’s Supreme Crab Buffet is known for its Cajun-style crab legs. \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>They say that \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/5/19/21259918/sweet-tomatoes-hometown-buffet-silicon-valley-asian-american\">COVID killed the buffet restaurant\u003c/a>. But don’t tell that to the dozens of eager seafood lovers we saw standing in line at Supreme Crab Buffet at 9 o’clock on a Friday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d been searching for an all-you-can-eat spot that was open late, and this popular Redwood City Asian Cajun spot seemed to check all the boxes: It features two serve-yourself hot food buffet counters, a salad bar, a dessert station, and, oh, did I mention that the crab legs, too, are all-you-can-eat? All that for just over $30 a person, and it’s open until 10:30 every night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact that the place has the cheesy charm of a theme restaurant — a super-sized inflatable crawfish that greets you at the door, and all manner of maritime paraphernalia — is just an added bonus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than your average buffet restaurant, Supreme Crab isn’t for the faint of heart. At about half past 9, no one in Supreme Crab Buffet’s dining room looked like they had come to partake in fun conversation. These were serious eaters only. A sisterhood of pre-loosened pants strings. A convocation of hawk-eyed killers ready to clear that fresh tray of crab legs as soon as it hit the buffet counter. (Special shout-out to the \u003ci>solo\u003c/i> diners at a buffet restaurant, like the slender Filipino gentleman we saw who appeared to be loading plate after plate with crawfish exclusively. That guy will eat you under the table.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any AYCE enthusiast can tell you about the folly of hitting up a buffet without a strategy, which is to say, without a firm commitment to avoid filling up on low-value carbs. And Supreme Crab does offer plenty of carb options to tempt you: garlic bread, fried rice, potstickers, at least two or three different kinds of potato and, for some reason (it’s a trap!), pizza. The two I couldn’t resist were the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> and the plain white rice, both of which go so well with all of that saucy, spicy seafood — especially when you ladle a little bit of extra garlic butter or Cajun sauce on top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two main hot food counters are laden with many of the staple dishes you can find at any Asian American buffet: beef and broccoli, teriyaki chicken, General Tso’s and a panoply of assorted batter-fried things. There were dim sum–style sesame balls. There were leathery kalbi-style short ribs. There was even a whole corner of the salad bar dedicated to Korean banchan — a tasty baby octopus salad and better-than-you’d-expect kimchi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2.jpg\" alt=\"An giant inflatable crawfish decorates a restaurant's front entrance.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supreme Crab has the cheesy charm of a theme restaurant. It’s open until 10:30 p.m. daily. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Listen: You should eat whatever you love. But in our professional opinion, you’re wasting precious stomach space if you stray too far away from Supreme Crab’s most prized offerings — its many different varieties of shellfish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13962759,arts_13954983,arts_13956683']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>In this regard, the restaurant more than met our expectations. We piled our plates high with crawfish and juicy garlic-butter clams. We must have taken down a dozen cheesy mussels, that Asian buffet staple, each plump specimen topped with a comforting layer of mayo and Parmesan. And we feasted on a half-dozen different varieties of shrimp, each one more delicious than the last: cocktail shrimp; easy-peel garlic-butter shrimp; crispy salt-and-pepper shrimp whose heads we bit off and devoured, shells and all; and head-on Cajun seafood boil–style shrimp, whose juices were especially tasty soaked into a mound of steamed rice. We left a fearsome stack of crustacean carcasses in our wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(You can also order your seafood boil by the bag, a la carte, if that seems like a better value proposition for your party — or if you like your crawfish spicier than the relatively mild heat level they default to on the buffet table.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of it was great, but none greater than the restaurant’s biggest star attraction: the long and spindly snow crab legs, whose tray at the buffet station we monitored at all times so we could snag a plateful whenever the staff unloaded a fresh supply. (This is a “snooze you lose” situation; we watched a whole batch get cleared out in less than 10 minutes.) These, too, were cooked Cajun-style, with lots of garlic and a mild chili heat. We’d suck all the flavor off of the shell, then work our forks inside, jostling them around until it popped open. When we did it just right, the crab’s sweet, succulent flesh would pull out intact, ready to be dipped in butter or lemon juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For certain immigrant communities in the Bay, in particular, there’s no bite of food that feels more luxurious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is maybe a good time to mention that Supreme Crab Buffet was one of the most diverse restaurants we’ve visited recently, with an even split of Black, brown and Asian American customers. Here in the multicultural Bay Area, it seems, there are few things that bring our communities together quite like the promise of all-you-can-eat crab legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For anyone who’s ever gone out to eat at a trendy upscale restaurant, looked around the lily-white dining room and wondered, “Where are all my POC at?” — the answer might be that they’ve got their disposable gloves on and are absolutely going to town on a big plate of seafood at Supreme Crab. And they’re probably having a better time than you.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/supremecrabbuffet/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Supreme Crab Buffet\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. and Sun. 10 a.m.–10:30 p.m. at 373 Main St. in Redwood City. (The buffet stations close at around 10 p.m.) There’s also a \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/supremecrabbuffet/?hl=en\">\u003ci>San Francisco location\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, in Fisherman’s Wharf, that isn’t open as late.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Supreme Crab Buffet Serves AYCE Cajun Crab Legs | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963096\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963096\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men look starry-eyed with happiness as they devour plates of crab, shimp and other seafood.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supreme-crab-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood City’s Supreme Crab Buffet is known for its Cajun-style crab legs. \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>They say that \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/5/19/21259918/sweet-tomatoes-hometown-buffet-silicon-valley-asian-american\">COVID killed the buffet restaurant\u003c/a>. But don’t tell that to the dozens of eager seafood lovers we saw standing in line at Supreme Crab Buffet at 9 o’clock on a Friday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’d been searching for an all-you-can-eat spot that was open late, and this popular Redwood City Asian Cajun spot seemed to check all the boxes: It features two serve-yourself hot food buffet counters, a salad bar, a dessert station, and, oh, did I mention that the crab legs, too, are all-you-can-eat? All that for just over $30 a person, and it’s open until 10:30 every night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fact that the place has the cheesy charm of a theme restaurant — a super-sized inflatable crawfish that greets you at the door, and all manner of maritime paraphernalia — is just an added bonus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than your average buffet restaurant, Supreme Crab isn’t for the faint of heart. At about half past 9, no one in Supreme Crab Buffet’s dining room looked like they had come to partake in fun conversation. These were serious eaters only. A sisterhood of pre-loosened pants strings. A convocation of hawk-eyed killers ready to clear that fresh tray of crab legs as soon as it hit the buffet counter. (Special shout-out to the \u003ci>solo\u003c/i> diners at a buffet restaurant, like the slender Filipino gentleman we saw who appeared to be loading plate after plate with crawfish exclusively. That guy will eat you under the table.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any AYCE enthusiast can tell you about the folly of hitting up a buffet without a strategy, which is to say, without a firm commitment to avoid filling up on low-value carbs. And Supreme Crab does offer plenty of carb options to tempt you: garlic bread, fried rice, potstickers, at least two or three different kinds of potato and, for some reason (it’s a trap!), pizza. The two I couldn’t resist were the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a> and the plain white rice, both of which go so well with all of that saucy, spicy seafood — especially when you ladle a little bit of extra garlic butter or Cajun sauce on top.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two main hot food counters are laden with many of the staple dishes you can find at any Asian American buffet: beef and broccoli, teriyaki chicken, General Tso’s and a panoply of assorted batter-fried things. There were dim sum–style sesame balls. There were leathery kalbi-style short ribs. There was even a whole corner of the salad bar dedicated to Korean banchan — a tasty baby octopus salad and better-than-you’d-expect kimchi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963099\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963099\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2.jpg\" alt=\"An giant inflatable crawfish decorates a restaurant's front entrance.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/supremecrab2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supreme Crab has the cheesy charm of a theme restaurant. It’s open until 10:30 p.m. daily. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Listen: You should eat whatever you love. But in our professional opinion, you’re wasting precious stomach space if you stray too far away from Supreme Crab’s most prized offerings — its many different varieties of shellfish.\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>In this regard, the restaurant more than met our expectations. We piled our plates high with crawfish and juicy garlic-butter clams. We must have taken down a dozen cheesy mussels, that Asian buffet staple, each plump specimen topped with a comforting layer of mayo and Parmesan. And we feasted on a half-dozen different varieties of shrimp, each one more delicious than the last: cocktail shrimp; easy-peel garlic-butter shrimp; crispy salt-and-pepper shrimp whose heads we bit off and devoured, shells and all; and head-on Cajun seafood boil–style shrimp, whose juices were especially tasty soaked into a mound of steamed rice. We left a fearsome stack of crustacean carcasses in our wake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(You can also order your seafood boil by the bag, a la carte, if that seems like a better value proposition for your party — or if you like your crawfish spicier than the relatively mild heat level they default to on the buffet table.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of it was great, but none greater than the restaurant’s biggest star attraction: the long and spindly snow crab legs, whose tray at the buffet station we monitored at all times so we could snag a plateful whenever the staff unloaded a fresh supply. (This is a “snooze you lose” situation; we watched a whole batch get cleared out in less than 10 minutes.) These, too, were cooked Cajun-style, with lots of garlic and a mild chili heat. We’d suck all the flavor off of the shell, then work our forks inside, jostling them around until it popped open. When we did it just right, the crab’s sweet, succulent flesh would pull out intact, ready to be dipped in butter or lemon juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For certain immigrant communities in the Bay, in particular, there’s no bite of food that feels more luxurious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which is maybe a good time to mention that Supreme Crab Buffet was one of the most diverse restaurants we’ve visited recently, with an even split of Black, brown and Asian American customers. Here in the multicultural Bay Area, it seems, there are few things that bring our communities together quite like the promise of all-you-can-eat crab legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For anyone who’s ever gone out to eat at a trendy upscale restaurant, looked around the lily-white dining room and wondered, “Where are all my POC at?” — the answer might be that they’ve got their disposable gloves on and are absolutely going to town on a big plate of seafood at Supreme Crab. And they’re probably having a better time than you.\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/supremecrabbuffet/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Supreme Crab Buffet\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. and Sun. 10 a.m.–10:30 p.m. at 373 Main St. in Redwood City. (The buffet stations close at around 10 p.m.) There’s also a \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/supremecrabbuffet/?hl=en\">\u003ci>San Francisco location\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>, in Fisherman’s Wharf, that isn’t open as late.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "viridian-asian-american-cocktail-bar-late-night-food-oakland",
"title": "We Hung Out With the Cool Kids at This Vibe-y Asian American Cocktail Bar",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962763\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962763\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Viridian, we filled every available inch of our assigned counter space with plates and bowls piled high with food. The Oakland bar is best known for its cocktails. \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 list of Bay Area hotspots that I don’t feel cool enough to frequent is too long to enumerate, but suffice it to say that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/viridianbar/\">Viridian\u003c/a>, Uptown Oakland’s sleek Asian American cocktail bar, is near the top. With its pulsing electronic music, purple-pink neon glow, abundance of paper lanterns and psychedelic light show projected onto the walls, the vibe at Viridian is somewhere between a moody Wong Kar-wai film set (one of the owners’ \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/2/3/21119819/viridian-uptown-oakland-bar-cocktails-desserts-asian-photos\">stated inspirations\u003c/a>) and a particularly stylish rave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main thing you notice, though, is how impeccably cool and well-dressed everyone is, from the bar staff to the patrons. Viridian draws an ethnically diverse crowd, but the clientele does skew young (20s and 30s), and it especially skews toward the demographic I’ve always referred to as the Cool Asian, in every single strand: good-looking Cool Asians in designer black-framed glasses, in muscle shirts or showing off intricate full sleeve tattoos. Cool Asians wearing trucker hats or vintage Japanese denim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing that made us feel we hadn’t come to the wrong place at 9 o’clock on a Friday night? The fact that the bar also serves some of Oakland’s best late-night food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, Viridian only qualifies as a late-night restaurant if you’re grading on a bit of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951382/chinese-skewers-are-the-last-bastion-of-late-night-dining-in-the-bay\">Bay Area curve\u003c/a>. The bar is always open late, so you can stay and nibble at your plate of garlic noodles for as long as you like. But the latest the kitchen ever stays open is 10 p.m., and that’s only on weekends. During our recent visit, a server started politely collecting last-call orders at 9:30 sharp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that it mattered much: We appeared to be the only customers in the entire bustling, fully packed bar who had ordered any food whatsoever. No one else had purchased even a single lonely bowl of tater tots. Meanwhile, in typical fashion, we’d filled every available inch of our assigned counter space with plates and bowls piled high with braised meats and pickled greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, I get it. The vibes at Viridian are great, and the cocktails are spectacular — and I say this as someone who’d never describe themselves as a cocktail person. The signature Tomato Beef, a magically crystal-clear tequila drink that tastes like the purest essence of a ripe summer tomato, might be my favorite cocktail in the Bay Area. For a change of pace, this time I tried the Cafe Sữa Đáddy, a jet-black iced coffee concoction topped with a thick, fluffy cloud of egg foam. It was dangerously sweet and smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we’re here to tell you, though, is that you shouldn’t skip out on the food — that, in fact, Viridian is well worth a dinner or after-dinner-snack visit even if you don’t drink at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962765\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2.jpg\" alt=\"Exterior facade of Viridian cocktail bar at night, lit up inside in purple neon.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The vibe at Viridian is somewhere between a moody Wong Kar-wai film set and a particularly stylish rave. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is at least the third or fourth permutation that Viridian’s distinctly Asian American food program has gone through. When the bar first opened in early 2020, just a month before the start of the pandemic, it served almost exclusively desserts — elegant pandan custard pies and Thai tea tiramisu. It went through a period when the kitchen mostly served fancy reinterpretations of dim sum, and then various stretches when every intricately plated dish would have looked right at home at any three-star palace of fine dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current food menu, which launched just a few weeks ago, is probably the simplest, most bar-snacky edition yet, leaning toward homey diasporic Asian flavors in a way we found especially enjoyable. There was piping-hot “mala spice chicken tempura,” which turned out to be spicy chicken nuggets, essentially, served with a carrot-flecked sweet chili dipping sauce — but such a tasty rendition that McDonald’s really should have consulted with \u003ci>them\u003c/i> before launching its own tepid version. There were tater tots served with a sour cream, chili crisp and chive dip. It wasn’t anything fancy, but a must-order for anyone who likes munching on hot, crunchy carbs when they drink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13962340,arts_13961997,arts_13956218']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Our favorite dish might have been the huge mound of cucumbers that came coated with a thick layer of fiery, extra-crunchy chili crunch — the ideal bar snack. As delicious as it was, the portion was so abundant that we still wound up taking half of it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the best thing to order if you want a hearty \u003ci>dinner-\u003c/i>dinner, or to just sample a few different things, is the donburi. The rice bowl comes topped with a generous portion of mirin-glazed pork, crushed peanuts, pickled mustard greens topped with pork floss, and fresh cilantro. Taken all together, it was just like eating a deconstructed gua bao (pork belly bun) — pure comfort to my Taiwanese American soul.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We must have looked like we were having a good time, because toward the end of the night, one of those Cool Asians (black dress, tattoos) sitting just down the counter from us leaned over to ask what we’d recommend from the food menu. She and her date had already eaten before they came, but they’d noticed how delicious we made everything look when we were eating it. (This is, in the end, our one specialized skill.) So, we talked up the cucumbers, and the donburi, and the chicken, and…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So everything’s good,” she said, laughing. And you could tell she believed us, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.viridianbar.com/\">Viridian\u003c/a> is open Fri.–Sat. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. and Wed., Thu. and Sun. 5 p.m.–midnight at 2216 Broadway in Oakland. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m. except for on Fridays and Saturdays, when it’s open until 10 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Oakland's Viridian isn’t best known for its food. But maybe it should be.",
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"title": "Viridian Is an Asian American Cocktail Bar That Serves Great Food | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962763\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962763\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">At Viridian, we filled every available inch of our assigned counter space with plates and bowls piled high with food. The Oakland bar is best known for its cocktails. \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 list of Bay Area hotspots that I don’t feel cool enough to frequent is too long to enumerate, but suffice it to say that \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/viridianbar/\">Viridian\u003c/a>, Uptown Oakland’s sleek Asian American cocktail bar, is near the top. With its pulsing electronic music, purple-pink neon glow, abundance of paper lanterns and psychedelic light show projected onto the walls, the vibe at Viridian is somewhere between a moody Wong Kar-wai film set (one of the owners’ \u003ca href=\"https://sf.eater.com/2020/2/3/21119819/viridian-uptown-oakland-bar-cocktails-desserts-asian-photos\">stated inspirations\u003c/a>) and a particularly stylish rave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main thing you notice, though, is how impeccably cool and well-dressed everyone is, from the bar staff to the patrons. Viridian draws an ethnically diverse crowd, but the clientele does skew young (20s and 30s), and it especially skews toward the demographic I’ve always referred to as the Cool Asian, in every single strand: good-looking Cool Asians in designer black-framed glasses, in muscle shirts or showing off intricate full sleeve tattoos. Cool Asians wearing trucker hats or vintage Japanese denim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing that made us feel we hadn’t come to the wrong place at 9 o’clock on a Friday night? The fact that the bar also serves some of Oakland’s best late-night food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be fair, Viridian only qualifies as a late-night restaurant if you’re grading on a bit of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13951382/chinese-skewers-are-the-last-bastion-of-late-night-dining-in-the-bay\">Bay Area curve\u003c/a>. The bar is always open late, so you can stay and nibble at your plate of garlic noodles for as long as you like. But the latest the kitchen ever stays open is 10 p.m., and that’s only on weekends. During our recent visit, a server started politely collecting last-call orders at 9:30 sharp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that it mattered much: We appeared to be the only customers in the entire bustling, fully packed bar who had ordered any food whatsoever. No one else had purchased even a single lonely bowl of tater tots. Meanwhile, in typical fashion, we’d filled every available inch of our assigned counter space with plates and bowls piled high with braised meats and pickled greens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, I get it. The vibes at Viridian are great, and the cocktails are spectacular — and I say this as someone who’d never describe themselves as a cocktail person. The signature Tomato Beef, a magically crystal-clear tequila drink that tastes like the purest essence of a ripe summer tomato, might be my favorite cocktail in the Bay Area. For a change of pace, this time I tried the Cafe Sữa Đáddy, a jet-black iced coffee concoction topped with a thick, fluffy cloud of egg foam. It was dangerously sweet and smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we’re here to tell you, though, is that you shouldn’t skip out on the food — that, in fact, Viridian is well worth a dinner or after-dinner-snack visit even if you don’t drink at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962765\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2.jpg\" alt=\"Exterior facade of Viridian cocktail bar at night, lit up inside in purple neon.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Viridian2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The vibe at Viridian is somewhere between a moody Wong Kar-wai film set and a particularly stylish rave. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This is at least the third or fourth permutation that Viridian’s distinctly Asian American food program has gone through. When the bar first opened in early 2020, just a month before the start of the pandemic, it served almost exclusively desserts — elegant pandan custard pies and Thai tea tiramisu. It went through a period when the kitchen mostly served fancy reinterpretations of dim sum, and then various stretches when every intricately plated dish would have looked right at home at any three-star palace of fine dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current food menu, which launched just a few weeks ago, is probably the simplest, most bar-snacky edition yet, leaning toward homey diasporic Asian flavors in a way we found especially enjoyable. There was piping-hot “mala spice chicken tempura,” which turned out to be spicy chicken nuggets, essentially, served with a carrot-flecked sweet chili dipping sauce — but such a tasty rendition that McDonald’s really should have consulted with \u003ci>them\u003c/i> before launching its own tepid version. There were tater tots served with a sour cream, chili crisp and chive dip. It wasn’t anything fancy, but a must-order for anyone who likes munching on hot, crunchy carbs when they drink.\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>Our favorite dish might have been the huge mound of cucumbers that came coated with a thick layer of fiery, extra-crunchy chili crunch — the ideal bar snack. As delicious as it was, the portion was so abundant that we still wound up taking half of it home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the best thing to order if you want a hearty \u003ci>dinner-\u003c/i>dinner, or to just sample a few different things, is the donburi. The rice bowl comes topped with a generous portion of mirin-glazed pork, crushed peanuts, pickled mustard greens topped with pork floss, and fresh cilantro. Taken all together, it was just like eating a deconstructed gua bao (pork belly bun) — pure comfort to my Taiwanese American soul.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We must have looked like we were having a good time, because toward the end of the night, one of those Cool Asians (black dress, tattoos) sitting just down the counter from us leaned over to ask what we’d recommend from the food menu. She and her date had already eaten before they came, but they’d noticed how delicious we made everything look when we were eating it. (This is, in the end, our one specialized skill.) So, we talked up the cucumbers, and the donburi, and the chicken, and…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So everything’s good,” she said, laughing. And you could tell she believed us, too.\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>\u003ca href=\"https://www.viridianbar.com/\">Viridian\u003c/a> is open Fri.–Sat. 5 p.m.–2 a.m. and Wed., Thu. and Sun. 5 p.m.–midnight at 2216 Broadway in Oakland. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m. except for on Fridays and Saturdays, when it’s open until 10 p.m. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "late-night-hawaiian-barbecue-donuts-palo-alto",
"title": "Hawaiian Barbecue Is This Late-Night Doughnut Shop’s Secret Weapon",
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"headTitle": "Hawaiian Barbecue Is This Late-Night Doughnut Shop’s Secret Weapon | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962345\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962345\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men seen through the window of a doughnut shop. They're devouring doughnuts and plates of Hawaiian barbecue.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Open late in a Palo Alto strip mall, SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts specializes in hearty Hawaiian plate lunches. \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>In our quest to document the Bay Area’s sweetest and most sacred late-night haunts, let us not forget the humble doughnut shop. Temples to sweet-tooth possessors, havens for night owls and scratch lotto addicts, these fried pastry purveyors are often the only food business within a several-mile radius that’s open past midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located in a quiet Palo Alto strip mall, SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts isn’t a colorful, bustling hangout spot like a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bobsdonuts/?hl=en\">Bob’s\u003c/a>. (During our visit on a recent Friday night, it was almost completely empty.) It doesn’t have the surreal weirdness of a Silver Crest Donut Shop (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13961794/silver-crest-closed-sf-donut-shop\">R.I.P.\u003c/a>). It isn’t quite open 24 hours. It doesn’t even sell lotto scratchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing the doughnut shop/Hawaiian barbecue hybrid is committed to, though, is feeding anyone with a case of late-night munchies — and not just with doughnuts, but noodle soups, rice bowls and full-on Hawaiian plate lunches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant falls vaguely in the same category as the kind of \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/doughnuts-and-barbecue-1/\">Cambodian-owned doughnut shop\u003c/a> that sells lemongrass-scented meat skewers and sticky-sweet chicken wings on the side — except the savory food menu is even broader and more eclectic. As its name indicates, the shop is best known for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911062/hawaiian-barbecue-bay-area-multicultural-oakland-ilava\">Hawaiian barbecue\u003c/a>, but like other Bay Area restaurants in this genre, it rounds out its menu with a wide array of Hawaiian and Chinese American takeout standards. There’s Spam musubi, of course, along with other comfort food favorites like loco moco and kalua pork. You can order a Hawaiian-Japanese beef curry plate, a bowl of wonton soup, and about a half-dozen different variations on saimin (Hawaii’s homegrown, ramen-like noodle soup).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s even Vietnamese pho on the menu, even if we weren’t quite feeling frisky enough to try it on this particular visit. The dining room looks the part, too: the bottles of sriracha and sweet chili sauce (and, why not, green Tabasco) on every table, the flatscreen TV perpetually tuned to cable news, and the Christmas decorations still lit up in the middle of July. It’s a pleasantly chill late-night coffee shop vibe (though the place seems to mostly do a lot of takeout business).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962346\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962346\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The facade of SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts, lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant has a pleasantly chill late-night coffee shop vibe. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In any case, if you’re in the mood for a big, meaty Hawaiian plate lunch at 2 o’clock in the morning — and you won’t believe how often I get this \u003ci>specific\u003c/i> late-night craving — this is your spot. The good news is that the food at SH is as tasty as we had hoped, especially if you stick to the straightforward offerings on the barbecue side of the menu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re feeling particularly famished, go for the “BBQ Mix” plate, which for about $17 comes jam-packed with teriyaki-glazed grilled chicken, beef and kalbi-style on-the-bone short ribs, two scoops of rice, and one scoop of excellent, mayonnaise-y mac salad. The chicken and the short ribs, in particular, were excellent — juicy and flavorful with a nicely caramelized char. It was such a generous plate of food, the takeout carton still had an impressive heft to it even after we’d eaten half of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961997,arts_13961613,arts_13911062']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Maybe it was the lateness of the hour, but SH’s version of even something as ubiquitous as Spam musubi impressed us. Past midnight, where else can you get musubi where the Spam comes hot off the grill and the crisp nori is freshly toasted?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we couldn’t visit a late-night doughnut shop without scoring at least a couple of doughnuts, and in this regard too, SH’s offerings seemed to be a few notches better and more varied than the norm. In addition to the standard doughnut purveyor’s selection of crullers, cake doughnuts, variously-filled-and-glazed raised doughnuts, and croissant breakfast sandwiches, the shop also sells trendier items — maple-bacon bars, for instance, and doughnuts topped with ube-taro, Fruity Pebbles or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (“Some young person is affiliated with this business,” I wrote in my notes.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, I opted for a classic apple fritter — a gargantuan specimen, and one of several different fritter varieties on offer. The first bite was the best bite: those wonderfully crisp edges, rich and oily without being too sweet. The sudden urge I felt to scratch off a lotto ticket notwithstanding, it was the perfect way to close out the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts (3890 El Camino Real, Palo Alto) is open Mon.–Wed. 9 a.m.–2 a.m., Thu.–Sat. 8 a.m.–3 a.m. and Sun. 8 a.m.–2 a.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "This Late-Night Palo Alto Donut Shop Serves Hawaiian BBQ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962345\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962345\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men seen through the window of a doughnut shop. They're devouring doughnuts and plates of Hawaiian barbecue.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Open late in a Palo Alto strip mall, SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts specializes in hearty Hawaiian plate lunches. \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>In our quest to document the Bay Area’s sweetest and most sacred late-night haunts, let us not forget the humble doughnut shop. Temples to sweet-tooth possessors, havens for night owls and scratch lotto addicts, these fried pastry purveyors are often the only food business within a several-mile radius that’s open past midnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located in a quiet Palo Alto strip mall, SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts isn’t a colorful, bustling hangout spot like a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bobsdonuts/?hl=en\">Bob’s\u003c/a>. (During our visit on a recent Friday night, it was almost completely empty.) It doesn’t have the surreal weirdness of a Silver Crest Donut Shop (\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13961794/silver-crest-closed-sf-donut-shop\">R.I.P.\u003c/a>). It isn’t quite open 24 hours. It doesn’t even sell lotto scratchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The one thing the doughnut shop/Hawaiian barbecue hybrid is committed to, though, is feeding anyone with a case of late-night munchies — and not just with doughnuts, but noodle soups, rice bowls and full-on Hawaiian plate lunches.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restaurant falls vaguely in the same category as the kind of \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/doughnuts-and-barbecue-1/\">Cambodian-owned doughnut shop\u003c/a> that sells lemongrass-scented meat skewers and sticky-sweet chicken wings on the side — except the savory food menu is even broader and more eclectic. As its name indicates, the shop is best known for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13911062/hawaiian-barbecue-bay-area-multicultural-oakland-ilava\">Hawaiian barbecue\u003c/a>, but like other Bay Area restaurants in this genre, it rounds out its menu with a wide array of Hawaiian and Chinese American takeout standards. There’s Spam musubi, of course, along with other comfort food favorites like loco moco and kalua pork. You can order a Hawaiian-Japanese beef curry plate, a bowl of wonton soup, and about a half-dozen different variations on saimin (Hawaii’s homegrown, ramen-like noodle soup).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s even Vietnamese pho on the menu, even if we weren’t quite feeling frisky enough to try it on this particular visit. The dining room looks the part, too: the bottles of sriracha and sweet chili sauce (and, why not, green Tabasco) on every table, the flatscreen TV perpetually tuned to cable news, and the Christmas decorations still lit up in the middle of July. It’s a pleasantly chill late-night coffee shop vibe (though the place seems to mostly do a lot of takeout business).\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962346\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962346\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The facade of SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts, lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Sams-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant has a pleasantly chill late-night coffee shop vibe. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In any case, if you’re in the mood for a big, meaty Hawaiian plate lunch at 2 o’clock in the morning — and you won’t believe how often I get this \u003ci>specific\u003c/i> late-night craving — this is your spot. The good news is that the food at SH is as tasty as we had hoped, especially if you stick to the straightforward offerings on the barbecue side of the menu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re feeling particularly famished, go for the “BBQ Mix” plate, which for about $17 comes jam-packed with teriyaki-glazed grilled chicken, beef and kalbi-style on-the-bone short ribs, two scoops of rice, and one scoop of excellent, mayonnaise-y mac salad. The chicken and the short ribs, in particular, were excellent — juicy and flavorful with a nicely caramelized char. It was such a generous plate of food, the takeout carton still had an impressive heft to it even after we’d eaten half of it.\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>Maybe it was the lateness of the hour, but SH’s version of even something as ubiquitous as Spam musubi impressed us. Past midnight, where else can you get musubi where the Spam comes hot off the grill and the crisp nori is freshly toasted?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we couldn’t visit a late-night doughnut shop without scoring at least a couple of doughnuts, and in this regard too, SH’s offerings seemed to be a few notches better and more varied than the norm. In addition to the standard doughnut purveyor’s selection of crullers, cake doughnuts, variously-filled-and-glazed raised doughnuts, and croissant breakfast sandwiches, the shop also sells trendier items — maple-bacon bars, for instance, and doughnuts topped with ube-taro, Fruity Pebbles or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (“Some young person is affiliated with this business,” I wrote in my notes.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the end, I opted for a classic apple fritter — a gargantuan specimen, and one of several different fritter varieties on offer. The first bite was the best bite: those wonderfully crisp edges, rich and oily without being too sweet. The sudden urge I felt to scratch off a lotto ticket notwithstanding, it was the perfect way to close out the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>SH Hawaiian BBQ & Donuts (3890 El Camino Real, Palo Alto) is open Mon.–Wed. 9 a.m.–2 a.m., Thu.–Sat. 8 a.m.–3 a.m. and Sun. 8 a.m.–2 a.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "brazen-head-late-night-san-francisco-marina-cow-hollow",
"title": "Brazen Head Is San Francisco’s Most Delightful Late-Night Secret",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962008\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: One man eats a bowl of French onion soup, pulling up a long strand of melted cheese. Another, in the foreground, forks escargots into his mouth.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The food at Brazen Head is delightfully old-school. The Cow Hollow pub is one of San Francisco’s best late-night restaurants. \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>One of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets is an unmarked Irish pub that serves French food until midnight — a dimly lit time capsule of a restaurant hidden away on a windswept corner of the Marina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But maybe you already knew that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, what I love about \u003ca href=\"https://www.brazenheadsf.com/\">Brazen Head\u003c/a> — the Cow Hollow pub in question — is how the place is full of seeming contradictions. Start with how the restaurant still feels like a well-kept secret, unknown to wide swaths of San Franciscans — despite being, at the same time, a beloved local institution. Since we started this column, no other late-night spot in San Francisco has been recommended to us more frequently or with greater enthusiasm, in some cases by readers who’ve been frequenting the place since it first opened in the early ’80s. It’s your \u003ca href=\"https://blog.resy.com/2021/09/at-places-like-brazen-head-its-all-about-the-people/\">favorite chef’s favorite restaurant\u003c/a> — an IYKYK haunt for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/The-old-fashioned-art-of-bartending-is-alive-at-13171622.php\">local food and beverage industry types\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it really \u003ci>is \u003c/i>popular. Even at 10 o’clock on a random Monday night, both the bar counter and dining room were almost fully packed, the whole place busy and buzzing with conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also true that no one we knew personally had ever heard of Brazen Head, let alone eaten there. And the place is easy to miss, even if you’re already in the area. There’s no signage to speak of, other than a chalkboard specials sign posted on the sidewalk out front and a “B” and “H” on the old-timey stained-glass door panes. Pro tip: Look for the blue awning across the street from the Motel Capri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962006\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962006\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The facade of an unmarked bar pictured late at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There’s no signage other than a sidewalk chalkboard listing the day’s specials. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, Brazen Head’s aesthetics are those of an Irish pub even more ancient than its 40-plus years: wood paneling, thick velvet curtains and portraits of men in wigs reminiscent of the Elizabethan era. Dim orange lights suffuse the room with an eerie, Halloween-esque glow. The vibe is excellent — even if I’m convinced no human has ever taken a food photo here that doesn’t look like it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brazenheadsf/\">shot in infrared\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu, too, feels like a delightful time warp. It’s about evenly split between French bistro, Italian American and “classic American,” by which I mean the kind of old-school food that used to be ubiquitous at hotel restaurants in the 1980s — or the 1950s, even. When was the last time you saw escargots on the menu at a casual restaurant? Not some newfangled version topped with foam or microgreens, but the classic French style, in deep pools of hot, garlicky melted butter that you sop up with toasted sourdough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961613,arts_13961328,arts_13959808']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Or when was the last time you had beef Stroganoff, or even thought about the dish’s existence? (I’d probably have to go all the way back to my college struggle meals of Hamburger Helper.) Brazen Head’s version, a special on the night of our visit, featured tender chunks of filet mignon and fresh, handmade pappardelle, all tossed in a tangy sour cream sauce — a combination that was so wonderfully cozy and nostalgic, we couldn’t stop eating it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>French onion soup might seem like a perfunctory dish to put on a pub menu, but Brazen Head’s tastes like it was made with love — rich and melty, with a full-flavored broth that warmed us up from the inside. And even though most tables had ordered hefty prime rib plates (probably the restaurant’s most popular dish), we decided to go with another throwback: New York strip steak seared to an exquisitely tender and pink-centered medium rare, then bathed in a velvety black pepper au jus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It felt extraordinarily luxurious to be eating food like this — escargots and handmade pasta! — at 11 o’clock on a weeknight. But the most surprising thing about Brazen Head was just how genuinely warm and friendly the service was — and, for a casual pub, how downright elegant. I wouldn’t have pegged this as the kind of restaurant where they swap out your plates and silverware between every course, and brush every stray crumb off the table. As soon as we mentioned to our server that we planned on sharing everything, she coursed out the entire meal, bringing one entree at a time, so that we could savor each dish at our own pace. All without the slightest hint of pretension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No wonder the restaurant was still bustling even as the night wound down, a cross section of San Francisco all gathered in that hazy orange glow — young and septuagenarian; tourists and locals; couples dressed up for date night, and servers and line cooks just finished with their shift at some other restaurant. Everyone chatting up the bartender over cold martinis or polishing off the last bit of their prime rib plate. It was hard to imagine a more comfortable place.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brazenheadsf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Brazen Head\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3166 Buchanan St., San Francisco) serves dinner Mon. and Tue. from 5–11 p.m. and Wed.–Sun. from 5 p.m.–midnight. The bar is open until 2 a.m. daily. No reservations.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962008\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: One man eats a bowl of French onion soup, pulling up a long strand of melted cheese. Another, in the foreground, forks escargots into his mouth.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The food at Brazen Head is delightfully old-school. The Cow Hollow pub is one of San Francisco’s best late-night restaurants. \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>One of San Francisco’s best-kept secrets is an unmarked Irish pub that serves French food until midnight — a dimly lit time capsule of a restaurant hidden away on a windswept corner of the Marina.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But maybe you already knew that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, what I love about \u003ca href=\"https://www.brazenheadsf.com/\">Brazen Head\u003c/a> — the Cow Hollow pub in question — is how the place is full of seeming contradictions. Start with how the restaurant still feels like a well-kept secret, unknown to wide swaths of San Franciscans — despite being, at the same time, a beloved local institution. Since we started this column, no other late-night spot in San Francisco has been recommended to us more frequently or with greater enthusiasm, in some cases by readers who’ve been frequenting the place since it first opened in the early ’80s. It’s your \u003ca href=\"https://blog.resy.com/2021/09/at-places-like-brazen-head-its-all-about-the-people/\">favorite chef’s favorite restaurant\u003c/a> — an IYKYK haunt for \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/The-old-fashioned-art-of-bartending-is-alive-at-13171622.php\">local food and beverage industry types\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it really \u003ci>is \u003c/i>popular. Even at 10 o’clock on a random Monday night, both the bar counter and dining room were almost fully packed, the whole place busy and buzzing with conversation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s also true that no one we knew personally had ever heard of Brazen Head, let alone eaten there. And the place is easy to miss, even if you’re already in the area. There’s no signage to speak of, other than a chalkboard specials sign posted on the sidewalk out front and a “B” and “H” on the old-timey stained-glass door panes. Pro tip: Look for the blue awning across the street from the Motel Capri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962006\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962006\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The facade of an unmarked bar pictured late at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/BrazenHead-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">There’s no signage other than a sidewalk chalkboard listing the day’s specials. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inside, Brazen Head’s aesthetics are those of an Irish pub even more ancient than its 40-plus years: wood paneling, thick velvet curtains and portraits of men in wigs reminiscent of the Elizabethan era. Dim orange lights suffuse the room with an eerie, Halloween-esque glow. The vibe is excellent — even if I’m convinced no human has ever taken a food photo here that doesn’t look like it was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brazenheadsf/\">shot in infrared\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The menu, too, feels like a delightful time warp. It’s about evenly split between French bistro, Italian American and “classic American,” by which I mean the kind of old-school food that used to be ubiquitous at hotel restaurants in the 1980s — or the 1950s, even. When was the last time you saw escargots on the menu at a casual restaurant? Not some newfangled version topped with foam or microgreens, but the classic French style, in deep pools of hot, garlicky melted butter that you sop up with toasted sourdough.\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>Or when was the last time you had beef Stroganoff, or even thought about the dish’s existence? (I’d probably have to go all the way back to my college struggle meals of Hamburger Helper.) Brazen Head’s version, a special on the night of our visit, featured tender chunks of filet mignon and fresh, handmade pappardelle, all tossed in a tangy sour cream sauce — a combination that was so wonderfully cozy and nostalgic, we couldn’t stop eating it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>French onion soup might seem like a perfunctory dish to put on a pub menu, but Brazen Head’s tastes like it was made with love — rich and melty, with a full-flavored broth that warmed us up from the inside. And even though most tables had ordered hefty prime rib plates (probably the restaurant’s most popular dish), we decided to go with another throwback: New York strip steak seared to an exquisitely tender and pink-centered medium rare, then bathed in a velvety black pepper au jus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It felt extraordinarily luxurious to be eating food like this — escargots and handmade pasta! — at 11 o’clock on a weeknight. But the most surprising thing about Brazen Head was just how genuinely warm and friendly the service was — and, for a casual pub, how downright elegant. I wouldn’t have pegged this as the kind of restaurant where they swap out your plates and silverware between every course, and brush every stray crumb off the table. As soon as we mentioned to our server that we planned on sharing everything, she coursed out the entire meal, bringing one entree at a time, so that we could savor each dish at our own pace. All without the slightest hint of pretension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No wonder the restaurant was still bustling even as the night wound down, a cross section of San Francisco all gathered in that hazy orange glow — young and septuagenarian; tourists and locals; couples dressed up for date night, and servers and line cooks just finished with their shift at some other restaurant. Everyone chatting up the bartender over cold martinis or polishing off the last bit of their prime rib plate. It was hard to imagine a more comfortable place.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brazenheadsf/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Brazen Head\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (3166 Buchanan St., San Francisco) serves dinner Mon. and Tue. from 5–11 p.m. and Wed.–Sun. from 5 p.m.–midnight. The bar is open until 2 a.m. daily. No reservations.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Zareen’s Is a Late-Night Pakistani Food Gem in Palo Alto",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961617\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men sweating while they eat Indian/Pakistani food.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zareen’s has been a beloved Peninsula institution for the past 10 years, known for its homestyle Pakistani and Indian dishes. \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>For me, the most scenic vista in Palo Alto isn’t the view from the top of Hoover Tower, or within Gamble Garden’s immaculately manicured grounds, or deep inside a coastal redwood grove, lovely as all of those might be. As of last week, I’ve decided that the most beautiful sight in the entire city is the front patio at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/zareensrestaurant/?hl=en\">Zareen’s\u003c/a> at 10 o’clock on a gorgeous mid-summer night, when the umbrella-bedecked picnic tables are lit up with string lights and bustling with dozens of contented kebab and curry eaters. The vibe was so choice, I started to fall in love even before I took my first bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beloved Pakistani and Indian restaurant, a staple on the Peninsula for the past 10 years, has two other locations, including the Mountain View original, which opened in 2014. But the Palo Alto Zareen’s is the only one that’s open late — until midnight every day — so that’s where we headed on a recent Friday night, joining the long queue of customers waiting to order at the front counter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961328,arts_13958041,arts_13952384']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>The menu covers a wide gamut of contemporary Pakistani and Indian food trends. There is, for instance, a whole section devoted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952384/pakistani-desi-burger-fremont-late-night\">desi burgers\u003c/a>, naan wraps and other hybridized street foods that would fit in at any next-generation desi food truck — chapli burgers, fried chicken tikka sandwiches and so forth. Meanwhile, the traditional thali plates, which come with rice, pickles and lentil daal, are perfect for the solo diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We decided to stick to the kind of cozy, homestyle Indo-Pak dishes upon which Zareen’s first built its reputation. In many ways, the restaurant embodies the apotheosis of fast-casual dining: Within five minutes flat, our order arrives at our patio table piping hot, everything fresh and vibrant as a home-cooked meal. The chicken biryani, a specialty of the restaurant only available on Fridays, is an excellent version of the dish. Each grain of rice is perfectly toothsome, without any clumping, and we couldn’t stop eating the moist, well-spiced chicken and red-tinged potatoes buried underneath. Even better is the lamb gosht, with its tender chunks of meat and rich, savory gravy — the ideal vehicle for Zareen’s outrageously fluffy naan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961619\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961619\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A bustling front patio of a restaurant (the sign reads, "Zareen's") lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The front patio at Zareen’s. The restaurant’s Palo Alto location is open until midnight daily. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I have to admit that I may have been profiled just a bit: When I inquired about the gola kebab sizzler, the staff member at the front counter took a quick glance at me and suggested, not unkindly, that the dish might be too spicy for me. Of course — something something toxic masculinity — I couldn’t back down from that challenge. When the dish came out sizzling intensely, as promised, on a bed of grilled onions atop a cast iron plate, we took our first bite with more than a little trepidation. Thankfully, these beef meatballs were spicy enough to leave our tongues tingling but not so much that they set our mouths on fire. More importantly, they were \u003ci>delicious \u003c/i>— incredibly soft and flavorful. We smashed them onto pieces of sheermal, a slightly sweet, flaky flatbread that the restaurant suggests ordering to accompany its kebabs. It was a killer combo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we loved best, though, was the whole atmosphere of the place, whether you’re eating outside on the patio or inside the small but cozy dining room, with its chalkboard art and hanging, mobile-style lending library providing a spark of warmth and color. The vibe is equal parts relaxed and lively, but also cosmopolitan in that uniquely Bay Area way — the crowd is a mix of families with kids, tech workers, older white couples and groups of mostly South Asian teens and college kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this particular night in Palo Alto, there wasn’t anywhere else we’d rather be.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Palo Alto location of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/zareensrestaurant/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Zareen’s\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (365 S. California Ave.) is open 11 a.m. to midnight daily (takeout only after 11 p.m.). The restaurant also has \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zareensrestaurant.com/locations\">\u003ci>locations in Mountain View and Redwood City\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> that close earlier in the evening.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961617\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961617\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men sweating while they eat Indian/Pakistani food.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Zareen’s has been a beloved Peninsula institution for the past 10 years, known for its homestyle Pakistani and Indian dishes. \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>For me, the most scenic vista in Palo Alto isn’t the view from the top of Hoover Tower, or within Gamble Garden’s immaculately manicured grounds, or deep inside a coastal redwood grove, lovely as all of those might be. As of last week, I’ve decided that the most beautiful sight in the entire city is the front patio at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/zareensrestaurant/?hl=en\">Zareen’s\u003c/a> at 10 o’clock on a gorgeous mid-summer night, when the umbrella-bedecked picnic tables are lit up with string lights and bustling with dozens of contented kebab and curry eaters. The vibe was so choice, I started to fall in love even before I took my first bite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The beloved Pakistani and Indian restaurant, a staple on the Peninsula for the past 10 years, has two other locations, including the Mountain View original, which opened in 2014. But the Palo Alto Zareen’s is the only one that’s open late — until midnight every day — so that’s where we headed on a recent Friday night, joining the long queue of customers waiting to order at the front counter.\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 menu covers a wide gamut of contemporary Pakistani and Indian food trends. There is, for instance, a whole section devoted to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952384/pakistani-desi-burger-fremont-late-night\">desi burgers\u003c/a>, naan wraps and other hybridized street foods that would fit in at any next-generation desi food truck — chapli burgers, fried chicken tikka sandwiches and so forth. Meanwhile, the traditional thali plates, which come with rice, pickles and lentil daal, are perfect for the solo diner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We decided to stick to the kind of cozy, homestyle Indo-Pak dishes upon which Zareen’s first built its reputation. In many ways, the restaurant embodies the apotheosis of fast-casual dining: Within five minutes flat, our order arrives at our patio table piping hot, everything fresh and vibrant as a home-cooked meal. The chicken biryani, a specialty of the restaurant only available on Fridays, is an excellent version of the dish. Each grain of rice is perfectly toothsome, without any clumping, and we couldn’t stop eating the moist, well-spiced chicken and red-tinged potatoes buried underneath. Even better is the lamb gosht, with its tender chunks of meat and rich, savory gravy — the ideal vehicle for Zareen’s outrageously fluffy naan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961619\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961619\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A bustling front patio of a restaurant (the sign reads, "Zareen's") lit up at night.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Zareens-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The front patio at Zareen’s. The restaurant’s Palo Alto location is open until midnight daily. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>I have to admit that I may have been profiled just a bit: When I inquired about the gola kebab sizzler, the staff member at the front counter took a quick glance at me and suggested, not unkindly, that the dish might be too spicy for me. Of course — something something toxic masculinity — I couldn’t back down from that challenge. When the dish came out sizzling intensely, as promised, on a bed of grilled onions atop a cast iron plate, we took our first bite with more than a little trepidation. Thankfully, these beef meatballs were spicy enough to leave our tongues tingling but not so much that they set our mouths on fire. More importantly, they were \u003ci>delicious \u003c/i>— incredibly soft and flavorful. We smashed them onto pieces of sheermal, a slightly sweet, flaky flatbread that the restaurant suggests ordering to accompany its kebabs. It was a killer combo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What we loved best, though, was the whole atmosphere of the place, whether you’re eating outside on the patio or inside the small but cozy dining room, with its chalkboard art and hanging, mobile-style lending library providing a spark of warmth and color. The vibe is equal parts relaxed and lively, but also cosmopolitan in that uniquely Bay Area way — the crowd is a mix of families with kids, tech workers, older white couples and groups of mostly South Asian teens and college kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this particular night in Palo Alto, there wasn’t anywhere else we’d rather be.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Palo Alto location of \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/zareensrestaurant/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Zareen’s\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> (365 S. California Ave.) is open 11 a.m. to midnight daily (takeout only after 11 p.m.). The restaurant also has \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.zareensrestaurant.com/locations\">\u003ci>locations in Mountain View and Redwood City\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> that close earlier in the evening.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Pocha Was Made for a Late-Night Feast With Friends",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961332\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961332\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: One diner at a Korean restaurant shoves a lettuce wrap into his mouth while another eats noodles from a pot of stew.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Pocha sets itself apart from the crowd of Korean pubs by serving big, shareable, celebratory dishes like its bossam (pork belly wraps). The San Francisco restaurant is open until 1 a.m. on weekends. \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>Back in college, my friends and I would eat at the Fontainbleau Diner in Piscataway, New Jersey, every Thursday night after our weekly club meeting. This meant 10 or 20 of us, mostly Asian American, rolling in at 10 p.m. to commandeer a row of pushed-together two-tops. We were loud and giddy, reveling in our Monte Cristos, chicken fingers and root beer floats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, here in the Bay Area, a lot of the late-night restaurants aren’t built for that kind of large-group merrymaking — not when you’re squished up at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957143/late-night-japanese-whisky-highball-karaage-sunnyvale-nokori\">tiny bar counter\u003c/a> or, in some cases, there \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13959808/golden-boy-pizza-north-beach-sf-late-night\">isn’t any seating at all\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://baypocha.menu11.com/\">Bay Pocha\u003c/a>, a Korean pub on Ocean Avenue near Stonestown, is the exception that proves the rule. Even though it isn’t a particularly big restaurant, a long communal table, spacious enough to fit 20 people, runs down the center of the dining room, and the menu skews toward hearty, shareable dishes: bubbling stews and hot pots, and big platters piled high with braised and stir-fried meats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Named after Korea’s famed “pocha” (or \u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/2020/8/13/21366722/koreatown-pojangmacha-street-food-parking-look-outdoor-dining-los-angeles\">pojangmacha\u003c/a>) street carts and semi-outdoor food stalls, Bay Pocha has a similar aesthetic to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952823/zzan-korean-fried-chicken-late-night-san-francisco\">other Korean pubs in the Bay Area\u003c/a> with its cheery K-pop soundtrack and neon-lit signs advertising soju and Korean beer brands. On weekends, it’s open until 1 a.m. and, on a recent Friday night, it only seemed to get busier and more rambunctious as the night got later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The broad menu runs through the greatest hits of the kind of booze-friendly food you would find at your standard Bay Area soju bang: Korean fried chicken, cheese corn, tteokbokki. But where Bay Pocha sets itself apart is in its selection of big, celebratory dishes — the kind you’re surprised and delighted to be able to share with a group of friends at 11 o’clock at night. That includes harder-to-find dishes like spicy stir-fried chicken feet and jokbal, a.k.a. braised pig trotters, which Bay Pocha offers in both spicy and non-spicy versions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961334\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2.jpg\" alt='Illustration: Facade of a Korean restaurant; the sign reads, \"Bay Pocha.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is perfect for a late meal with a big group of friends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But we had mainly come for the hidden star of the menu, the bossam, or braised pork belly wraps, which is probably the dish Bay Pocha is best known for, even though it isn’t listed on the menu — you have to know to ask for it. It’s a huge platter of tender, fatty meat, cut into thick slices and fanned out like a beautiful flower, with a salad of thinly slivered scallions piled in the center. Make sure you also order the ssam set — a plate of lettuce, raw and pickled jalapeños, raw garlic and spicy ssamjang sauce — so that you can eat the pork belly Korean-style, as lettuce wraps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13961051,arts_13959808,arts_13956218']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>For each ssam, you’ll want a couple of slices of pork, a tangle of scallion salad, a smear of ssamjang, maybe some kimchi and, if you’re like me, an unconscionable amount of garlic. Build each wrap on your plate or do it “freestyle,” the way I learned from watching too many Korean dramas, holding the lettuce leaf in front of your mouth like you’re setting a trap, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@plumsoju/video/6799690626007977221?lang=en\">chopsticking all of the other ingredients into the leaf in one smooth motion\u003c/a>. Take it down in one bite if you can. Either way, the result is delicious — unctuous and meaty, spicy and sharp, with enough freshness from the lettuce that you don’t feel weighed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing the restaurant does well is its ample selection of shareable stews and hot pots, the most striking of which is the army stew, or budae jjigae, a Korean pub staple whose use of American processed foods has its \u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/budae-jjigae-army-stew-spam\">roots in the U.S. post-war military occupation of South Korea\u003c/a>. At Bay Pocha, they light up a portable gas burner, then bring the big pot of bubbling red broth to your table to finish cooking. The soup comes loaded with spicy pork, Spam, sliced up hot dogs, onions, kimchi, tofu, two different kinds of rice cakes, and a big block of instant ramen topped with two slices of American cheese. It is \u003ci>a lot\u003c/i>. But for us, it was pure comfort food. The salty, spicy broth got more and more flavorful as the night went on, and with some white rice on the side to soak up the soup, we stretched the leftovers into two more meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As if on cue, toward the end of the night, a boisterous, Cantonese-speaking adult volleyball or baseball team in matching red jackets came in and spread themselves out at the long communal table — the same kind of squad I’d go on those late-night diner runs with in college. They were celebrating, or consoling themselves, with a bubbling pot of galbijjim (short rib stew) that the server ceremoniously scorched with a blow torch until the cheese on top was brown-speckled and melty. I wasn’t sure how their night had gone up until then, but it seemed clear that they were ending it in the best possible way.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/baypocha/\">\u003ci>Bay Pocha\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 2642 Ocean Ave. in San Francisco. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m.–midnight, Friday and Saturday 5 p.m.–1 a.m. and Sunday 5–11:30 p.m.; it’s also open for lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961332\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961332\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: One diner at a Korean restaurant shoves a lettuce wrap into his mouth while another eats noodles from a pot of stew.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bay Pocha sets itself apart from the crowd of Korean pubs by serving big, shareable, celebratory dishes like its bossam (pork belly wraps). The San Francisco restaurant is open until 1 a.m. on weekends. \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>Back in college, my friends and I would eat at the Fontainbleau Diner in Piscataway, New Jersey, every Thursday night after our weekly club meeting. This meant 10 or 20 of us, mostly Asian American, rolling in at 10 p.m. to commandeer a row of pushed-together two-tops. We were loud and giddy, reveling in our Monte Cristos, chicken fingers and root beer floats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, here in the Bay Area, a lot of the late-night restaurants aren’t built for that kind of large-group merrymaking — not when you’re squished up at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957143/late-night-japanese-whisky-highball-karaage-sunnyvale-nokori\">tiny bar counter\u003c/a> or, in some cases, there \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13959808/golden-boy-pizza-north-beach-sf-late-night\">isn’t any seating at all\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://baypocha.menu11.com/\">Bay Pocha\u003c/a>, a Korean pub on Ocean Avenue near Stonestown, is the exception that proves the rule. Even though it isn’t a particularly big restaurant, a long communal table, spacious enough to fit 20 people, runs down the center of the dining room, and the menu skews toward hearty, shareable dishes: bubbling stews and hot pots, and big platters piled high with braised and stir-fried meats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Named after Korea’s famed “pocha” (or \u003ca href=\"https://la.eater.com/2020/8/13/21366722/koreatown-pojangmacha-street-food-parking-look-outdoor-dining-los-angeles\">pojangmacha\u003c/a>) street carts and semi-outdoor food stalls, Bay Pocha has a similar aesthetic to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952823/zzan-korean-fried-chicken-late-night-san-francisco\">other Korean pubs in the Bay Area\u003c/a> with its cheery K-pop soundtrack and neon-lit signs advertising soju and Korean beer brands. On weekends, it’s open until 1 a.m. and, on a recent Friday night, it only seemed to get busier and more rambunctious as the night got later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The broad menu runs through the greatest hits of the kind of booze-friendly food you would find at your standard Bay Area soju bang: Korean fried chicken, cheese corn, tteokbokki. But where Bay Pocha sets itself apart is in its selection of big, celebratory dishes — the kind you’re surprised and delighted to be able to share with a group of friends at 11 o’clock at night. That includes harder-to-find dishes like spicy stir-fried chicken feet and jokbal, a.k.a. braised pig trotters, which Bay Pocha offers in both spicy and non-spicy versions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961334\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2.jpg\" alt='Illustration: Facade of a Korean restaurant; the sign reads, \"Bay Pocha.\"' width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/Untitled_Artwork-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The restaurant is perfect for a late meal with a big group of friends. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But we had mainly come for the hidden star of the menu, the bossam, or braised pork belly wraps, which is probably the dish Bay Pocha is best known for, even though it isn’t listed on the menu — you have to know to ask for it. It’s a huge platter of tender, fatty meat, cut into thick slices and fanned out like a beautiful flower, with a salad of thinly slivered scallions piled in the center. Make sure you also order the ssam set — a plate of lettuce, raw and pickled jalapeños, raw garlic and spicy ssamjang sauce — so that you can eat the pork belly Korean-style, as lettuce wraps.\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>For each ssam, you’ll want a couple of slices of pork, a tangle of scallion salad, a smear of ssamjang, maybe some kimchi and, if you’re like me, an unconscionable amount of garlic. Build each wrap on your plate or do it “freestyle,” the way I learned from watching too many Korean dramas, holding the lettuce leaf in front of your mouth like you’re setting a trap, then \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@plumsoju/video/6799690626007977221?lang=en\">chopsticking all of the other ingredients into the leaf in one smooth motion\u003c/a>. Take it down in one bite if you can. Either way, the result is delicious — unctuous and meaty, spicy and sharp, with enough freshness from the lettuce that you don’t feel weighed down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other thing the restaurant does well is its ample selection of shareable stews and hot pots, the most striking of which is the army stew, or budae jjigae, a Korean pub staple whose use of American processed foods has its \u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/budae-jjigae-army-stew-spam\">roots in the U.S. post-war military occupation of South Korea\u003c/a>. At Bay Pocha, they light up a portable gas burner, then bring the big pot of bubbling red broth to your table to finish cooking. The soup comes loaded with spicy pork, Spam, sliced up hot dogs, onions, kimchi, tofu, two different kinds of rice cakes, and a big block of instant ramen topped with two slices of American cheese. It is \u003ci>a lot\u003c/i>. But for us, it was pure comfort food. The salty, spicy broth got more and more flavorful as the night went on, and with some white rice on the side to soak up the soup, we stretched the leftovers into two more meals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As if on cue, toward the end of the night, a boisterous, Cantonese-speaking adult volleyball or baseball team in matching red jackets came in and spread themselves out at the long communal table — the same kind of squad I’d go on those late-night diner runs with in college. They were celebrating, or consoling themselves, with a bubbling pot of galbijjim (short rib stew) that the server ceremoniously scorched with a blow torch until the cheese on top was brown-speckled and melty. I wasn’t sure how their night had gone up until then, but it seemed clear that they were ending it in the best possible way.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/baypocha/\">\u003ci>Bay Pocha\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is located at 2642 Ocean Ave. in San Francisco. The restaurant is open Monday through Thursday from 5 p.m.–midnight, Friday and Saturday 5 p.m.–1 a.m. and Sunday 5–11:30 p.m.; it’s also open for lunch 11 a.m.–2 p.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961061\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961061\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men eat sandwiches on Dutch Crunch bread while a hookah pipe lets off a wisp of smoke behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood City’s The Sandwich Spot is a combination deli and late-night hookah lounge. \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 no \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/hookah/comments/4qc1zg/food_and_shisha_pairings/\">hookah food-pairing\u003c/a> expert, but I never would have guessed that a hot Dutch Crunch deli sandwich, dripping with garlic sauce, would be the perfect match for an hour-long session with the shisha pipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that is the premise — and the genius — of \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/\">The Sandwich Spot\u003c/a> in downtown Redwood City, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspot.com/about\">deli chain\u003c/a> outpost that stands apart from all of its sister locations in two important ways: 1) it’s open until at least midnight every night (1 a.m. on the weekend), and 2) the restaurant doubles as a vibey, slightly raucous hookah lounge in the evenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we walked in at around 10:30 on a Friday night, it felt a little bit like we were pulling up to the club. On the left was a regular old sandwich counter, and there was a full bar on the right. But most of the real action was happening on the restaurant’s spacious covered patio, where the sound system blasted Kendrick Lamar and a mix of upbeat, danceable Arabic pop music while colorful disco lights made the floor and walls sparkle. Here, and in the long spillover tent on the sidewalk outside, big groups of twenty- and thirtysomethings sat around just kicking it — gossiping, talking shit and, of course, chomping down on some enormous sandwiches. Every once in a while, someone would take a deep drag on their hookah pipe and blow out a thick plume of smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place was so packed and boisterous, it felt like every single young(ish) person in Redwood City was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truth be told, even just having the option to get a good, fresh sandwich — especially a hot one — at 11 o’clock at night feels nearly miraculous in the Bay Area. (Plenty of customers came through just to pick up takeout orders to bring home.) With \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspot.com/copy-of-menu-locations-1\">30 locations\u003c/a> mostly spread around California, The Sandwich Spot belongs in the Ike’s-like genre of uniquely Northern Californian deli chains, with its unusual ingredient combinations; quirky, localized names (the “Bumgarner,” the “Smokin’ Sequoia”); variously zesty, spicy and garlicky sauces; and excellent Dutch Crunch bread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961065\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Inside a bar, groups of friends chat. Hookah pipes with glowing red coals are placed next to the tables.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It felt like every young(ish) person in Redwood City was there — especially young Arab Americans and South Asians. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A sandwich called The Hangover was like a slightly funkified Bay Area take on a club sandwich, with hot turkey, cream cheese, avocado, “Bomb” sauce (like a tangy hot sauce), garlicky Kassi sauce, and a lot of crispy bacon — extremely satisfying on warm Dutch Crunch. The equally tasty Purple Koosh, an original Redwood City creation available only on Fridays, was a smoky variation on a similarly saucy theme, featuring house-smoked chicken, fried onion strings and a tangle of purple coleslaw. To round out the meal, we had air-fried Cajun fries, which came out hot and crispy even if they didn’t seem particularly Cajun, with a side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894684/toum-shawarmaji-jordanian-restaurant-oakland-garlic-sauce\">toum-like\u003c/a> garlic dipping sauce — a nod to the restaurant’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/about\">Lebanese ownership\u003c/a>, perhaps — that made everything taste five times more delicious.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13960432,arts_13958926,arts_13955884']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>All the while we fiddled, like the total amateurs we were, with the hookah pipe we’d ordered — trying and failing and then finally succeeding at getting a decent puff of the mango mint flavored tobacco that we’d chosen, the little cubes of charcoal on top of the bowl glowing bright red as we got deeper into the night. The truth was, we felt a little bit out of place at first in this crowd of mostly college kids and recent college grads. Call it “Portrait of Two Lonely Middle-Aged Men at the Hookah Bar.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even if we’d started out a bit dubious about the hookah/sandwich concept, it didn’t take long for us to get caught up in the mood. I’ll leave it to the medical experts to pontificate on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/hookahs/\">health risks\u003c/a> associated with long-term hookah use, but the water pipe’s efficacy as a social lubricant and builder of community and feel-good vibes seems self-evident — especially among the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/20/style/hookah-dearborn-michigan.html\">young Arab Americans\u003c/a> and South Asians who made up a large chunk of The Sandwich Spot’s late-night crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting out on one of the sidewalk tables, with a cool breeze blowing through, we watched all those big groups of friends laughing and talking deep into the night, relaxed as can be, taking big bites of their sandwiches and blowing out even bigger puffs of smoke. Before long, we were already planning our return visit — because past 10 or 11 o’clock in Redwood City, what better way is there to pass a couple of pleasant hours with friends?\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/\">\u003ci>The Sandwich Spot\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m.–midnight, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.–1 a.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–midnight at 2420 Broadway in Redwood City. After 5 p.m., when the lounge starts serving hookah, it’s a 21-and-over-only venue, and the kitchen closes at 11 p.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961061\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961061\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men eat sandwiches on Dutch Crunch bread while a hookah pipe lets off a wisp of smoke behind them.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redwood City’s The Sandwich Spot is a combination deli and late-night hookah lounge. \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 no \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/hookah/comments/4qc1zg/food_and_shisha_pairings/\">hookah food-pairing\u003c/a> expert, but I never would have guessed that a hot Dutch Crunch deli sandwich, dripping with garlic sauce, would be the perfect match for an hour-long session with the shisha pipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that is the premise — and the genius — of \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/\">The Sandwich Spot\u003c/a> in downtown Redwood City, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspot.com/about\">deli chain\u003c/a> outpost that stands apart from all of its sister locations in two important ways: 1) it’s open until at least midnight every night (1 a.m. on the weekend), and 2) the restaurant doubles as a vibey, slightly raucous hookah lounge in the evenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When we walked in at around 10:30 on a Friday night, it felt a little bit like we were pulling up to the club. On the left was a regular old sandwich counter, and there was a full bar on the right. But most of the real action was happening on the restaurant’s spacious covered patio, where the sound system blasted Kendrick Lamar and a mix of upbeat, danceable Arabic pop music while colorful disco lights made the floor and walls sparkle. Here, and in the long spillover tent on the sidewalk outside, big groups of twenty- and thirtysomethings sat around just kicking it — gossiping, talking shit and, of course, chomping down on some enormous sandwiches. Every once in a while, someone would take a deep drag on their hookah pipe and blow out a thick plume of smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place was so packed and boisterous, it felt like every single young(ish) person in Redwood City was there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Truth be told, even just having the option to get a good, fresh sandwich — especially a hot one — at 11 o’clock at night feels nearly miraculous in the Bay Area. (Plenty of customers came through just to pick up takeout orders to bring home.) With \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspot.com/copy-of-menu-locations-1\">30 locations\u003c/a> mostly spread around California, The Sandwich Spot belongs in the Ike’s-like genre of uniquely Northern Californian deli chains, with its unusual ingredient combinations; quirky, localized names (the “Bumgarner,” the “Smokin’ Sequoia”); variously zesty, spicy and garlicky sauces; and excellent Dutch Crunch bread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961065\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Inside a bar, groups of friends chat. Hookah pipes with glowing red coals are placed next to the tables.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/SH2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It felt like every young(ish) person in Redwood City was there — especially young Arab Americans and South Asians. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A sandwich called The Hangover was like a slightly funkified Bay Area take on a club sandwich, with hot turkey, cream cheese, avocado, “Bomb” sauce (like a tangy hot sauce), garlicky Kassi sauce, and a lot of crispy bacon — extremely satisfying on warm Dutch Crunch. The equally tasty Purple Koosh, an original Redwood City creation available only on Fridays, was a smoky variation on a similarly saucy theme, featuring house-smoked chicken, fried onion strings and a tangle of purple coleslaw. To round out the meal, we had air-fried Cajun fries, which came out hot and crispy even if they didn’t seem particularly Cajun, with a side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13894684/toum-shawarmaji-jordanian-restaurant-oakland-garlic-sauce\">toum-like\u003c/a> garlic dipping sauce — a nod to the restaurant’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/about\">Lebanese ownership\u003c/a>, perhaps — that made everything taste five times more 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>All the while we fiddled, like the total amateurs we were, with the hookah pipe we’d ordered — trying and failing and then finally succeeding at getting a decent puff of the mango mint flavored tobacco that we’d chosen, the little cubes of charcoal on top of the bowl glowing bright red as we got deeper into the night. The truth was, we felt a little bit out of place at first in this crowd of mostly college kids and recent college grads. Call it “Portrait of Two Lonely Middle-Aged Men at the Hookah Bar.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even if we’d started out a bit dubious about the hookah/sandwich concept, it didn’t take long for us to get caught up in the mood. I’ll leave it to the medical experts to pontificate on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/tobacco_industry/hookahs/\">health risks\u003c/a> associated with long-term hookah use, but the water pipe’s efficacy as a social lubricant and builder of community and feel-good vibes seems self-evident — especially among the \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/20/style/hookah-dearborn-michigan.html\">young Arab Americans\u003c/a> and South Asians who made up a large chunk of The Sandwich Spot’s late-night crowd.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sitting out on one of the sidewalk tables, with a cool breeze blowing through, we watched all those big groups of friends laughing and talking deep into the night, relaxed as can be, taking big bites of their sandwiches and blowing out even bigger puffs of smoke. Before long, we were already planning our return visit — because past 10 or 11 o’clock in Redwood City, what better way is there to pass a couple of pleasant hours with friends?\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.thesandwichspotrwc.com/\">\u003ci>The Sandwich Spot\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m.–midnight, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.–1 a.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–midnight at 2420 Broadway in Redwood City. After 5 p.m., when the lounge starts serving hookah, it’s a 21-and-over-only venue, and the kitchen closes at 11 p.m. daily.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "San Jose’s Late-Night Boba Shop Is a One-of-a-Kind Experience | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960436\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960436\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A gray-haired man proudly holds up two boba drinks while two customers scarf down a bowl of tiramisu.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose’s Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge one of the Bay Area’s priciest — and most unique — boba shops. The owner, Tony, runs the place by sheer force of his personality.\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>Before my first visit to San Jose’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sweetgelatotealounge/\">Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge\u003c/a>, I had never gone out for boba past 11 o’clock — never even knew that was an option, really, when even boba shops in Taipei mostly call it a night by 8 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when I walked into this little storefront in the Vietnam Town shopping complex on a recent Friday night, I had to take a minute to let it all soak in. The vibey lights bathing the shop in a dim neon purple. The groups of Asian Zoomers and younger Millennials lounging in leather booths. The pastel-hued digital menu board with its vaguely (and not-so-vaguely) inappropriate drink names: the Pop Her Cherry, the PMS (Please Make Sweet), the Don’t Be a Hater and, unbelievably, the Lil Pee Pee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shop is open until 2 a.m. every night, and yes, I do believe that was a red Porsche parked right out front.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all was said and done, we’d paid $50 (!) for a dessert and two drinks, including one called the “Boba Virgin.” Was it worth it? Your mileage may vary, but at the end of a very, very long night, we couldn’t stop laughing at the ballsiness of the place, and how we’d just taken part in a truly only-in-San-Jose experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, few people embody the Vietnam Town mall’s boot-strappy, go-big-or-go-home ethic better than Sweet Gelato’s owner, who introduces himself as Tony. A trim, energetic older Vietnamese man with salt-and-pepper hair, Tony runs the shop by sheer force of his personality. As soon as we walk in, he pulls us over, gesturing toward the menu, and says, “Forget about this. It doesn’t matter. If you don’t like your drink, you don’t pay. Simple as that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Never mind that we’re already willing customers standing in line to order drinks. Tony holds up his phone to show us an article listing Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge as one of the top boba shops in San Jose. He pulls up the shop’s Yelp page. “Look at how many reviews,” he says. (There are \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-gelato-tea-lounge-san-jose\">more than 2,000\u003c/a>, for what it’s worth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960437\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960437\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The brightly lit exterior of a boba shop called Sweet Gelato.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What Tony likes to do, it seems, is to play boba sommelier, insisting that we not waste our time perusing the menu and instead just let him pick out something we’ll like based on our preferences. Do we like smoothies? Milk teas? Something fruity? How do we feel about strawberries? What about dragon fruit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For someone like me, who’s prone to analyzing a menu for upwards of 10 minutes to engineer the ideal order, giving up control in this way feels more than a little bit stressful. But Tony seems so fired up about the dragon fruit that I warm up to the idea. And that’s how I wind up ordering the Boba Virgin, a vaguely tropical concoction of dragon fruit, pomegranate, basil seeds and both popping boba and the regular tapioca-based variety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony decides to narrate my first sip. “Look at his face,” he says with palpable excitement. “Look at his face!” The drink is a bit sweet for my taste and doesn’t have any \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957666/best-boba-shops-bay-area-berkeley-cupertino-sf\">discernible tea flavor\u003c/a>, but I feel too bad about letting Tony down to do anything but nod enthusiastically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also order a durian smoothie with boba, which costs $18 all by itself, and I’ve never seen anyone make a smoothie with as much vigor as Tony, putting his whole back and shoulders into it as he stirs with a spatula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13959808,arts_13958466,arts_13957666']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>My biggest piece of advice? Don’t come to Sweet Gelato unprepared, or you’ll be steamrolled by the force of Tony’s charisma and salesmanship. This man could sell me any car in the used car lot. If he sold vacation packages, I’d wind up letting him send me anywhere in the world, via a mode of transportation of his own choosing. We asked one tentative question about the shop’s gelato and other dessert offerings, and before we knew what was happening, he’d taken out two spoons, offered us a taste of tiramisu, and closed the sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Were the drinks amazing enough to merit the highest prices I’ve ever encountered in a boba shop? I suppose that’s in the eye of the beholder. The durian smoothie was delicious, rich and super-buttery, and loaded with the fruit’s characteristically bold, pungent flavor. Like Tony promised, it was made with 100% \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">real durian\u003c/a>, and it showed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, though, I think the reason the shop has garnered such a cult following (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-gelato-tea-lounge-san-jose\">near-perfect Yelp rating\u003c/a>) has more to do with the shop’s odd quirks and Tony’s unique style of hospitality. A piece of paper taped to the display case previews not new drinks but simply new drink \u003ci>names \u003c/i>that he’s planning to release in the future. (A sample: LIFE (Living It Fiercely Everyday)”) And, in its own way, the entire process of ordering a drink and watching Tony make it (and then watching him watch you drink it!) is a kind of show in and of itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I haven’t encountered anything else like it in 30-plus years of boba drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sweetgelatotealounge/\">\u003ci>Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 5 p.m.–2 a.m. daily at 972 Green St. Unit 7084 in San Jose. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960436\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960436\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A gray-haired man proudly holds up two boba drinks while two customers scarf down a bowl of tiramisu.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEET-GELATO-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Jose’s Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge one of the Bay Area’s priciest — and most unique — boba shops. The owner, Tony, runs the place by sheer force of his personality.\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>Before my first visit to San Jose’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sweetgelatotealounge/\">Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge\u003c/a>, I had never gone out for boba past 11 o’clock — never even knew that was an option, really, when even boba shops in Taipei mostly call it a night by 8 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when I walked into this little storefront in the Vietnam Town shopping complex on a recent Friday night, I had to take a minute to let it all soak in. The vibey lights bathing the shop in a dim neon purple. The groups of Asian Zoomers and younger Millennials lounging in leather booths. The pastel-hued digital menu board with its vaguely (and not-so-vaguely) inappropriate drink names: the Pop Her Cherry, the PMS (Please Make Sweet), the Don’t Be a Hater and, unbelievably, the Lil Pee Pee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shop is open until 2 a.m. every night, and yes, I do believe that was a red Porsche parked right out front.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When all was said and done, we’d paid $50 (!) for a dessert and two drinks, including one called the “Boba Virgin.” Was it worth it? Your mileage may vary, but at the end of a very, very long night, we couldn’t stop laughing at the ballsiness of the place, and how we’d just taken part in a truly only-in-San-Jose experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, few people embody the Vietnam Town mall’s boot-strappy, go-big-or-go-home ethic better than Sweet Gelato’s owner, who introduces himself as Tony. A trim, energetic older Vietnamese man with salt-and-pepper hair, Tony runs the shop by sheer force of his personality. As soon as we walk in, he pulls us over, gesturing toward the menu, and says, “Forget about this. It doesn’t matter. If you don’t like your drink, you don’t pay. Simple as that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Never mind that we’re already willing customers standing in line to order drinks. Tony holds up his phone to show us an article listing Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge as one of the top boba shops in San Jose. He pulls up the shop’s Yelp page. “Look at how many reviews,” he says. (There are \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-gelato-tea-lounge-san-jose\">more than 2,000\u003c/a>, for what it’s worth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13960437\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13960437\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: The brightly lit exterior of a boba shop called Sweet Gelato.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/SWEEY-GELATO-2-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop is open until 2 a.m. every night. \u003ccite>(Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What Tony likes to do, it seems, is to play boba sommelier, insisting that we not waste our time perusing the menu and instead just let him pick out something we’ll like based on our preferences. Do we like smoothies? Milk teas? Something fruity? How do we feel about strawberries? What about dragon fruit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For someone like me, who’s prone to analyzing a menu for upwards of 10 minutes to engineer the ideal order, giving up control in this way feels more than a little bit stressful. But Tony seems so fired up about the dragon fruit that I warm up to the idea. And that’s how I wind up ordering the Boba Virgin, a vaguely tropical concoction of dragon fruit, pomegranate, basil seeds and both popping boba and the regular tapioca-based variety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tony decides to narrate my first sip. “Look at his face,” he says with palpable excitement. “Look at his face!” The drink is a bit sweet for my taste and doesn’t have any \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13957666/best-boba-shops-bay-area-berkeley-cupertino-sf\">discernible tea flavor\u003c/a>, but I feel too bad about letting Tony down to do anything but nod enthusiastically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We also order a durian smoothie with boba, which costs $18 all by itself, and I’ve never seen anyone make a smoothie with as much vigor as Tony, putting his whole back and shoulders into it as he stirs with a spatula.\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>My biggest piece of advice? Don’t come to Sweet Gelato unprepared, or you’ll be steamrolled by the force of Tony’s charisma and salesmanship. This man could sell me any car in the used car lot. If he sold vacation packages, I’d wind up letting him send me anywhere in the world, via a mode of transportation of his own choosing. We asked one tentative question about the shop’s gelato and other dessert offerings, and before we knew what was happening, he’d taken out two spoons, offered us a taste of tiramisu, and closed the sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Were the drinks amazing enough to merit the highest prices I’ve ever encountered in a boba shop? I suppose that’s in the eye of the beholder. The durian smoothie was delicious, rich and super-buttery, and loaded with the fruit’s characteristically bold, pungent flavor. Like Tony promised, it was made with 100% \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">real durian\u003c/a>, and it showed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, though, I think the reason the shop has garnered such a cult following (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-gelato-tea-lounge-san-jose\">near-perfect Yelp rating\u003c/a>) has more to do with the shop’s odd quirks and Tony’s unique style of hospitality. A piece of paper taped to the display case previews not new drinks but simply new drink \u003ci>names \u003c/i>that he’s planning to release in the future. (A sample: LIFE (Living It Fiercely Everyday)”) And, in its own way, the entire process of ordering a drink and watching Tony make it (and then watching him watch you drink it!) is a kind of show in and of itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I haven’t encountered anything else like it in 30-plus years of boba drinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sweetgelatotealounge/\">\u003ci>Sweet Gelato Tea Lounge\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open 5 p.m.–2 a.m. daily at 972 Green St. Unit 7084 in San Jose. \u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
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},
"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",
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"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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},
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"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.",
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"order": 10
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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},
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"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.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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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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"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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"source": "NPR"
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"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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"order": 18
},
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"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": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"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"
},
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"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",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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