Jan + Feb Pop-up Roundup
Highlights: takeaway fine dining, weird ice cream flavors, and niche speciality dishes
I’ve had an article sitting my drafts to share a framework for how I think about dim sum that I haven’t made any progress on in ages, so I figured I’d start anew and share a quick round-up of the pop-ups I’ve visited so far.
Quick legend and the tl;dr for recommendations in this edition:
Worth a detour: Worth driving to if you’re not in the area.
Benu, Good Children, Noodle in a Haystack, Lao Wai Noodles
Visit if convenient: Worth trying once if you’re curious, but not a repeat for me
June’s Pizza, Yilan Foods, Dabao Singapore, Drool SF, Horn’s BBQ, Cotogna, Lojos Tacos
Wait: Not bad, but probably wouldn’t go to for another year
Ken’s Sushi
Skip: Places to pass on
Lazy Susan
Worth a detour
Benu, take home edition: Benu has been coming up with amazing dishes via San Ho Wan, but since the pandemic has now passed through several highly profitable holidays, Benu has now started offering their full tasting menu. We tried their Chinese New Year menu, and though it was pricey, I loved every single moment of it. My favorite dishes are below: uni and caviar with milk bread, a shaved vegetable salad with íberico ham, comté, black truffle, and gamsot rice with pork belly and crab. I was pleasantly surprised with how well each dish carried despite needing some light reassembly/re-heating effort. If they do more tasting menus, this is definitely worth the trip.
Good Children: Ice cream and other sweets created by a pastry chef at Dear Inga. I’ve absolutely loved the ice cream from this place: from orange blossom stracciatella, to san francisco fog (oolong tea, honey, lemon), to guava goat cheese ice cream, I’ve been so impressed with the creativity of the flavor combinations Rachel has come up with. They also sell excellent cookies (guava alfajores, animal crackers, snickerdoodles and more).
Good Children in its current current form at Dear Inga is actually closing in the next two weeks before they start to pop-up in different areas in the city. So check it out while you still can!
I don’t know that I’d drive from the South Bay just to pick up ice cream, but Good Children really is something special. Find a local friend to grab you some instead!
Noodle in a Haystack: Clint and Yoko made some of the best ramen in the city pre-pandemic and although they’ve significantly reduced the amount of food they’re selling, I’m still super impressed with what they do have. They’ve pivoted to curry pantry boxes with cheese donuts, and if you’re lucky, Yoko’s amazing shokupan, which somehow manages to retain its perfect texture even several days later. Daly City is always a bit of a journey, but I never regret going there when I’m picking up one of their kits.
My favorite pantry item is their “oh ma la” seasoning. Unlike other chili oils, theirs has an incredible kick and umami flavor, so you’re not just eating a spice bomb. It is an excellent supplement to just about any dish you’re cooking.
*Lao Wai Noodles: Nanjing-style “sweet water” noodles with a tangy sesame-based sauce. Honestly, I haven’t even tried this one yet, but I’m flagging this one because the waitlist is already in the thousands and it’s going to take forever to get off the waitlist, so click through to put your name down!
Visit if convenient
June’s Pizza: Decadent naturally leavened pizza in Oakland. There are only two items on the biweekly menu. A margherita and a special. The week we went, the special was yellow foot chanterelles, soft-cooked egg, red mizuna and argula, and grated black truffle. Each pizza comes with a healthy shaving of freshly grated cheese. The toppings compliment each other elegantly, and the crust is some of the better pizza crust I’ve had.
The only difficult thing about this place is they don’t sell many pies every day, so as a result, you have to call at exactly 1pm to reserve a pie for that evening. You can also swing through at lunch for slices.
Yilan Foods: Pretty authentic Taiwanese food in SF. They have two main entrees - a beef noodle soup and a “lu rou fan”, or braised pork rice. Both are quite excellent and well executed. The noodle soup has a rich and multifaceted flavor from the combination of the soup spices, and the lu rou fan is well executed, with flavorful meat as the topping.
I think the Peninsula may have some more Taiwanese options than SF, but if you are in the city, it is worth trying at least once.
Dabao Singapore: The closest to Singapore any of us are getting. Dabao has a pretty legit biweekly rotating menu of Singaporean classics. The laksa stays on weekly, and I’ve seen them rotate between chili crab to hainan chicken rice to char kway teow. Beyond just the tasty entrees, their pandan rice krispies are also an excellent snack to keep for a few days. The dishes are very well executed, but I think with some home chefing, it’s not impossible to replicate some of them at home, which is why this isn’t quite a worth a detour for me.
Drool SF: Michelin pastry chef creating seasonal Michelin-quality desserts in a takeaway box. The pastries are well executed though they run a little sweet, but I think it’s a matter of personal preference. They just dropped their first box last week with: meringue lemon tart, mango walnut granola, candied orange cake, peanut cookies, truffles, and caramels and nougat. The entire box is reminiscent of the end of a fine-dining meal.
These sell out pretty quickly so if you’re interested, follow them on IG and try to checkout pretty immediately.
Horn’s BBQ: I think some people would put this in worth a detour, but because I don’t like waiting in line for hours during COVID, I tried Horn’s BBQ in takeaway form. You can pre-order for a weekend pickup and then heat it up at home. The BBQ is excellent, but I have to imagine it must be much more amazing fresh. The meat has a luscious smoky quality (that does hold up pretty well even after reheating), and the sides are decadent and wonderfully complimentary. Don’t skip the banana pudding for dessert either.
If you are in Oakland, I think they actually don’t have lines for outdoor dining on the weekdays. But if you can only make it out on the weekends, the line is often 2-3 hours, which is why we opted for take away.
Cotogna: I was so sad when Cotogna was only doing pantry kits but not serving their actual cooking. They have recently pivoted to serving a few pizzas and pasta dishes that carry fairly well. You can’t go wrong with anything that is a pizza or pasta here, though I am most partial to their red sauce rigatoni dishes. Their pasta at home kits are good as well, though the agnolotti is the one item I haven’t figured out how to cook correctly.
Lojos Tacos: Soleil Ho recently described the current dining era as the advent of niche specialization of specific dishes. Lojos in Bernal Heights specializes in breakfast tacos. We tried one of each variety, but enjoyed the grilled steak and barbacoa beef the most. Definitely grab extra sauce as it really helps carry the dish.
Wait
Ken’s Sushi: Ken serves up very adorable sushi boxes, but I had trouble reconciling the price point (basically $80+/serving) with the food. The fish didn’t have much flavor themselves and I had to rely pretty heavily on the soy sauce to season the fish. My favorite omakses are when the chef has been able to thoughtfully age the fish to bring out unique flavors (e.g. a Sushi Yoshizumi). I don’t think it’s terrible though, but for that price point, I think there are other options in the city.
Skip
Lazy Susan: I should have known better when I ordered from this place, but I always get suckered into new Chinese places. Lazy Susan is from the same group that put out Atelier Crenn. Their goal is to create a fast casual chain restaurant for American Chinese food with higher quality ingredients than what I imagine Panda Express is serving. Unfortunately, no one is going to fast casual place for dinner when it costs $70 for dinner for two.
I’m always a sucker for the sinful satisfaction of a general tso’s chicken, but beyond that one dish, I was pretty disappointed with the execution of everything else. The lo mein had no flavor, the sweet and sour soup tasted like hot water, and the blistered green beans, though a classic staple of American Chinese, was way too spicy. The best dish I had from them was sauteeing the lo mein and green beans together next day as leftovers. Given the price point and lack of flavor, I’d skip this.