I had a meal with friends the Sunday at Family Winemakers in San Francisco I feel is remarkable enough it’s worth sharing with fellow board members.
The restaurant is called Beijing. It’s in what I guess is called the Upper Mission area of San Francisco. The neighborhood is a little rough, but it’s not as bad as say the Little Vietnam area of the Tenderloin.
It’s what I’m told is authentic Beijing/Northern China food (don’t know enough to say so myself). One fan is Yao Ming, the professional basketball player. Several pictures of him are on the walls there.
We ordered a 12-course meal that was great dish after great dish. The bill came to something like $26 for each of us after tip, so we rounded up to $30. They tossed in a bonus dish, making it a 13-course meal.
The dishes were, left to right, top to bottom, spicy cucumbers Beijing style, a sour cabbage/fish soup with clear noodles, dumplings, cumin lamb, pork meat balls (steamed then deep fried), beef pancake, chives pancake, handmade noodles in a brown sauce, handmade noodles with beef, potatoes blanched in vinegar (can’t remember if it was red or black), and then going clockwise in the final picture, chicken with flour balls, what was basically a mountain of shoestring potatoes being covered in a black vinegar/chili sauce and the bonus course of a sweet bean cake.
For me, the highlights were:
Cumin lamb: Nice spiciness and perfectly-cooked lamb.
The sour cabbage/fish soup with clear noodles
The handmade noodles with beef (both handmade noodle dishes were nice but the beef was an extra bonus)
The chicken with flour balls (tough to eat but tasty)
And the potatoes covered in the black vinegar/chili sauce.
Part of this experience was the education. I had no idea potatoes were used in China. And it turns out that outside the wet areas of China, only the more well-to-do can afford rice. So the poorer people make substitutes, so they make flour balls.
I’d love to go back and try some other dishes. A lot of others reviewing online like an eggplant dish they do. It’s funny, but if you read the Yelp reviews the dishes people don’t like are the Chinese dishes invented in the United States.
Beijing Restaurant
1801 Alemany Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 333-8182