308483 Tue Jul 11 17:40:09 -0700 2006 7 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 1738305 On Sunday morning we met for dinner at Capital in SF's Chinatown. This is an old time place that has a counter and seating for maybe 50? It was pretty full but we managed to snare the last family size table. We ordered the $68 menu and added one clay pot with oysters and roasted beef stew. Started off with a pleasant soup with bits of this and that ( bbq pork, yellow chives, seafood, chicken, etc) Clams with black bean sauce followed. Then a mixed seafood stir fry: shrimp, scallops, top shell with celery, snow peas, carrot, etc... An oxtail / beancurd clay pot Steamed catfish with bean paste Steamed chicken with scallion gravy Crab with ginger and scallions Mustard greens with toasted garlic fortune cookies I might be missing one dish but I can't come up with it.... The oyster and beef stew clay pot was pretty savory. Liked the chicken preparation - cooked just a shade more than my ideal but still very moist and juicy. Overall, a good meal but not a memorable one (foodwise)....but that's enough sometimes and it's close to my Mom's house in Chinatown. It was a decent value - not the monster platters that you used to find out at Best Panda but ...... We (8 of us) pretty much cleaned up - no leftovers this meal. A pretty relaxed place - not mobbed on this particular morning - no hungry diners standing over your shoulder waiting for you to finish. The one dish they are famous for is the dry fried chicken wings - $5.90 ? for 15 of them. Saw many dishes of them coming out of the kitchen. They also have a free two hour validation for the Portsmith Square Garage - 1 per table. Capital Restaurant 839 Clay Street (Tween Stockton & Grant) SF CA 94108 415. 397-6269 Walking back to our car we stopped at Golden Gate Bakery - the egg custard tarts and the coconut tarts are still the best! http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e365/GordonWing/CapitalDinner.jpg http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e365/GordonWing/CoconutTart.jpg Tue Jul 11 17:40:09 -0700 2006 10429 gordon wing 1 1738562 I can't believe you passed on the chicken wings, Gordon! That's a chowhound sin! Tue Jul 11 19:09:47 -0700 2006 1738305 10159 Ruth Lafler 2 1738614 I feel bad enough already ... don't rub it in! Had to leave room for Golden Gate Bakery :~) Tue Jul 11 19:27:14 -0700 2006 1738562 10429 gordon wing 1 1739335 Gordon, we've tried three of the set menus at Capital. The tastiest one and the outstanding value is the lowest priced one, which includes the chicken wings, which I think is for 4 people. Ordering it on the menu, the chicken wings are much underpriced compared to ala carte. Double it if you have 8. The dishes on the other wo choy menus haven't been nearly as tasty. Then add the steamed pork hash and salt fish to it, etc. I love the old Chinatown feel of this place. P.S. I thought our family was going to have dinner here on Sunday. But we ended up in Alameda. Sorry we missed you! Wed Jul 12 00:32:00 -0700 2006 1738305 10039 Melanie Wong 1 1739378 Melanie, Thanks for mentioning the other set menus .... will probably end up there again at some point. My brother mentioned the steamed pork has & salt fish but I'm always a bit leary of ordering this at a restaurant..... we used to have this regularly as a kid and the few times I've had it at a restaurant it was not that "homey" - more industrial. Is it time to jump back in the nostalgia pool? Wed Jul 12 01:01:58 -0700 2006 1738305 10429 gordon wing 2 1739681 Yes, this is one of those dishes that we debate continually and try to find one "just like Mom made". Water chestnuts or not, starch or without, different kinds of salted fish, coarse or smooth texture, hand-chopped or ground . . . the permutations are endless. What I'll say is that Capital understands the role of pork fat. Sometimes the salt fish is a bit on the hard side, whereas my sister would prefer it more "mui hearng" (sorry, don't know how to say that in Toishanese). Oddly, my two siblings and I seem to have slightly different preferences even though we grew up eating the same source cooked by Mom. Capital offers it as one of the lunch plates. I haven't had it that way, but have seen plenty of them. It's a mini-size, along with a mound of rice and some stir-fried greens. If you go at lunch time during the week, the place smells like hom yu. (g) Wed Jul 12 04:16:22 -0700 2006 1739378 10039 Melanie Wong 3 1739729 Thanks for the description and additional details - guess it's time to try it for myself. Sounds like it will be a good place to try this dish....pork fat - how can you go wrong? Wed Jul 12 05:03:05 -0700 2006 1739681 10429 gordon wing 1 1741369 I love this place... my favs... the wings of course. And the tofu with preserved vegetable and the steamed pork with preserved duck egg (the egg version was the one we had at home). I like their wonton soup too. Wed Jul 12 22:30:35 -0700 2006 1738305 12891 vliang