589888 Thu Jan 22 11:04:05 -0800 2009 15 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 4347975 East Bay (Berkeley and environs) or San Francisco preferred as we probably won't want to drive too far in the rain this weekend. I don't really know what's out there other than the usual suspects, so help... any places that are doing something special, or what's traditional? Thanks! Thu Jan 22 11:04:05 -0800 2009 25012 chemchef 1 4351086 Well traditional food identified with Chinese New Year's are largely foods with lucky sounding names (almost homonyms) that are typically served at home and not in restaurants. I guess if you go out to the restaurant you'd order a regular meal, but perhaps a little more extravagantly so. Fri Jan 23 10:16:26 -0800 2009 4347975 10131 Chandavkl 1 4351183 My top suggestions would probably be Daimo in Richmond or East Ocean in Alameda. I've been to both for Lunar New Year dinners and have been very happy. I think East Ocean is more open to customizing a menu if you're planning on bringing a party. Call ahead and talk to a host, sometimes there's some good stuff they can make off menu. Fri Jan 23 10:36:40 -0800 2009 4347975 72348 nicedragonboy 1 4351650 I don't know what you mean by "usual suspects." Restaurants that cater to an "American" clientele will probably not be doing anything special, although they may have some decorations up. Restaurants that cater to a Chinese clientele and are bigger/nicer than holes in the wall will be packed with people having banquets or smaller celebratory meals. If you just walk in with a small party, you will probably get shunted to the side and given the "gringo treatment." The suggestion of East Ocean is good -- they're very good at balancing the needs of both their Chinese and non-Chinese clientele -- but do make a reservation and talk to them about what you'd like. If you do a search I believe there have been discussions in the past about what foods are traditional for Chinese New Year. As the other poster said, there are many foods that are traditional for one reason for another. In addition to homonyms (foods with names that sound like lucky things) there are foods like citrus (round, orange, symbolizing gold coins, i.e. prosperity), and whole fish (symbolizing, well, wholeness) and noodles (left uncut to symbolize long life). Fri Jan 23 12:49:15 -0800 2009 4347975 10159 Ruth Lafler 1 4352944 Well, Tommy Toy's is one of the DAT restaurants ... just joking. Not for this weekend but the Chronicle had some probably more gringo-oriented stuff http://www.sfgate.com/columns/insidescoop/ "Cecilia Chiang, the doyenne of Chinese cuisine, is doing a stint as guest chef at San Francisco's Aqua (252 California St.) to celebrate Chinese New Year on Monday. Chiang, whose Mandarin restaurant in Ghirardelli Square launched her to fame in 1961, has created an eight-course tasting menu, including Maine lobster siu mai, crisp crab crepe and steamed black bass. And to commemorate the Year of the Ox, she's also thrown in an oxtail dish. The $130 menu will also be available for two weeks" They also say there will be dragon dancers at Bong Su on Jan. 30 Anyone been to Jai Yun for Chinese NY? Fri Jan 23 23:11:08 -0800 2009 4347975 10264 rworange 1 4353904 Chinese New Year dinners at restaurants are always 8-9 course set menus (or set menus with substitutions) that can feed 8-10 people. Unlike other set menus you do want to make sure you have one traditional vegetarian dish. Sat Jan 24 11:22:52 -0800 2009 4347975 12327 PegS 1 4354883 After Monday (which some eateries will be close) there will be New Year Menus available. But one drawback is that they normally written in Chinese only. The wording for good luck will not translate to English. I have pick up a couple already and but will have to wait until Monday to have them read to me. But more "good luck" dishes are normally cooked at someone home. Good luck to find a good New Year's meal. Sat Jan 24 19:06:57 -0800 2009 4347975 10686 yimster 2 4355279 Hi all, Vancouver hound here on an unplanned stop in town. I'm staying at Sutter/Hyde area with a car. Looking for a Chinese New Year reunion meal Sunday night. New Year-esque food not important, but good chinese is. No preference for specific regional chinese. Prefer to be in city area. Considering it is a reunion dinner, cost isn't much of an issue. If you are familiar with Vancouver, I am looking for Sea Harbor/Sun Sui Wah quality. Considering the party size, it will be a bonus if there is something similar to Hakasan (tasting menu with nice plating work). I found the following after a quick search on the board: 1. R&G 2. Great Eastern 3. Koi Palace (except it is not in the city) 4. Kirin (any relation to the chain in Vancouver?) Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Sun Jan 25 01:24:23 -0800 2009 4354883 149589 kwailan4 3 4355828 Ton Kiang in the Avenue has some Hakia style dishes. Otherwise I would go with Great Eastern. If it is tonight good luck since you do not have reservations. For tonight I go for Ton Kiang unless you are will to wait for a late reservation. I would not go if I do have a reservation. Both R&G and Grest Eastern can be compared to Sun Sui Wah, serve and setting are not as good but the food is close. Food in Vancouver is closer to the food you get in Hong Kong while food here has more of a American touch to it. Good Luck Sun Jan 25 09:35:59 -0800 2009 4355279 10686 yimster 3 4355850 There is no Vancouver quality Chinese food in San Francisco (or L.A. or N.Y. or anywhere else in the U.S.). Kirin in SF is unrelated to the Vancouver restaurant--a common Chinese restaurant name not uncommonly found in different cities. (Sea Harbour does have a very good branch in the L..A. area, and is the only Vancouver Chinese restaurant with a U.S. presence.) R&G and Great Eastern are the best Hong Kong/Cantonese style in Chinatown but trail far behind the stuff in the suburbs. Koi Palace is your best bet, but it's a madhouse most of the time. Millbrae probably has the best concentration of good (by local standards) restaurants such as Zen Peninsula, The Kitchen, Asian Pearl and Hong Kong Flower Lounge. A wild card in Chinatown is the quirky Jai Yun which is sort of a Shanghainese restaurant (not really) where you tell them how much you want to spend and the chef will order for you. Many people think this is the best Chinese restaurant in San Francisco and if the chef moved to Vancouver I suspect he might do quite well there. Sun Jan 25 09:41:59 -0800 2009 4355279 10131 Chandavkl 3 4364610 Do I create a new thread for report? Anyways, we were headed towards Great Eastern only to face a road block due to the New Year celebrations. Along the detour, we came across R&G and street parking and that's where we ended up. It was 8 pm and there was a queue. The hostess told us 45 minutes, but we were seated in 20. I had a double stoli at the bar while waiting. The bartender poured straight from the bottle without measuring! I am sure it was at least a triple in Vancouver! Is this the norm in SF? On to food. We ordered 1/2 a peking duck (came highly recommended from the lady next to me at the bar), a steamed sea bass, lobster, a pork dish and a beef dish. Peking Duck - looked and tasted more like de-skinned roast duck. The skin was not crispy enough Sea Bass - Overcooked Lobster - Pretty good Beef - Too sweet. At least the beef was not soaked in baking soda like in Vancouver. Pork - Too sweet. Overall, a pretty decent meal because we were forewarned by yimster and chandavkl. Total came to $158 before tips. Actually, this was one of our better meals in SF this time round. Our other meals being: 3 times at Japan Town, 3 times around our hotel in the Sutter/Hyde area, Cheesecake Factory, McDonalds in Gilroy, a grab-and-go sandwich at Sausalito and a late night meal in San Mateo. Owing to the tasks at hand, convenience was the major consideration for the above choices. However, reunion dinners are special, and I appreciate the recs. Hopefully, my next trip to SF will be more chowhound-worthy. Wed Jan 28 02:43:08 -0800 2009 4355279 149589 kwailan4 4 4365702 It's often better to start a new thread with a report so it's easier to find -- someone might find this if they were looking for Chinese New Year, but not if they were specifically looking for reports on R&G Lounge. One way to make sure your report gets seen is to add a place link -- then the thread with the post will be listed on the restaurant's place page. Wed Jan 28 10:00:04 -0800 2009 4364610 10159 Ruth Lafler 4 4365806 >The bartender poured straight from the bottle without measuring! I am sure it was at least a triple in Vancouver! Is this the norm in SF?< It's the norm in any good bar here. If a bar measures the pour here, you're in the wrong bar. Wed Jan 28 10:26:36 -0800 2009 4364610 10724 Mick Ruthven 5 4367093 Thanks Mick. So is a double 2 oz in the states? I'm from Vancouver and we have some draconian laws on serving alcohol here. BTW, I'm back in Vancouver. Wed Jan 28 15:34:10 -0800 2009 4365806 149589 kwailan4 6 4367151 I'd say a normal single drink at a good bar here in SF is at least 1 1/2 ounces, probably more. There's no law about it that I know of in California. The norm definitely varies from region to region in the states. When I used to travel more for business I remember bars carefully measuring a shot in other cities. Wed Jan 28 15:53:12 -0800 2009 4367093 10724 Mick Ruthven 4 4367396 Sorry to hear that R&G was off its game, as the Peking duck was quite crispy and good the last time I had it there. But I'm not really surprised. I've been to each of the restaurants on your prospect list (R&G, Great Eastern, Koi Palace, Kirin) on Chinese New Year's Eve, the busiest night of feasting for the lunar new year. Each one of them has been subpar on that night, and overcooked whole fish seems to be the norm. I've eaten at all of them at other times and had much better meals. Do let us know the next time you're in town and we'll show you a better chow time. Wed Jan 28 17:09:49 -0800 2009 4364610 10039 Melanie Wong