San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Inspiring recipes and stories from Mister Jiu’s restaurant
It isn’t easy to pin down “Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown,” the dazzling new cookbook from the Michelinstarred Chinese American restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
In ways, it’s a chef ’s cookbook, with many multiday, technically precise recipes that only the most enthusiastic home cooks would likely ever attempt. But it’s also full of inspiring ideas and components that could be spun out on their own — maybe you don’t have to make the two different chile oils for a combo of peeled tomatoes and mung bean jelly, or maybe you use a storebought sausage instead of making chicken boudin blanc from scratch for Moongate Lounge’s riff on Chinese sausage in a bun. (See the accompanying recipes for saltbaked trout and wild mushroom bao, which both come together with relative ease.)
At the same time, “Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories From the Birthplace of Chinese American Food” (Ten Speed Press, $35.49) offers a portrait of Brandon Jew, a classically trained chef who fell deep into Chinese traditions, looking at the cuisine with not only depth but admiration. It contextualizes Mister Jiu’s in the historic neighborhood and includes recipes for its greatest hits, such as delicate squid ink wontons, fluffy Dutch crunch pork buns and crispy roast duck with peanut butterhoisin sauce.
The book, cowritten by Jew and Tienlon Ho, is full of passion and care. The writers, photographer and recipe developer are all Asian American — an unusual feat for a cookbook by a major publishing house — and it shows.
For local readers, the cookbook feels like a mustget because it’s a loving tribute to Chinatown. There are beautiful images of familiar faces and storefronts with shoutouts to neighborhood favorites such as the Wok Shop, Eastern Baker and Hing Lung Co. There’s also deeply researched history on Chinatown and the development of Chinese American cuisine.
Here are five fun facts about San Francisco’s Chinatown’s food history.
1 Most people know Mister Jiu’s took over a longtime Chinese banquet restaurant, Four Seas. But before that, the building belonged to Hang Far Low for almost a century — a restaurant that opened in the 1850s and closed in 1958. The threelevel restaurant served elegant sevencourse banquets on the top floor, with ebony stools and a live Chinese orchestra.
2 When trade between the U.S. and China stopped from 1950 to 1972, Chinatown restaurants such as Four Seas started making substitutions such as Sherry in place of Shaoxing wine. Generally, they used what was easy to find, like oranges and ketchup — ingredients that remain common in Chinese American recipes.
3 The lazy Susan, now a staple atop big round tables at many Chinese American restaurants, dates back to 1954 in Chinatown. One of the partners at Kan’s, a restaurant credited with popularizing upscale Chinese American cuisine, created a revolving table set on ball bearings to add some wow factor to the service.
4 The proliferation of Sonoma Countybred Liberty ducks on fancy restaurant menus all over the Bay Area has roots in Chinatown. Otto Reichardt founded the farm in 1901 with a flock descended from Beijing ducks and primarily sold to Chinatown restaurants and butcher shops. When Chez Panisse opened in 1971, the menu featured Reichardt ducks, purchased from Chinatown.
5 Chineseinspired ice cream flavors like lychee and sesame cookietopped chop suey sundaes came to Chinatown thanks to FongFong BakeryFountain, which was open from 1935 to 1974. While it started with classic flavors and banana splits, tourists started demanding Chinese ice cream. Now, Brandon Jew makes a version of the chop suey sundae at his Richmond District restaurant, Mamahuhu.