The Hidden Chinatown of San Francisco

Most of you who checked the origin of Caesar's Salad probably accept the story that it was invented in Mexico by Caesar Cardini at Caesar's Grill, in Tijuana, Mexico. But the story has MANY San Francisco ties. (Its ties to Chinatown will be explained in a second) The first person who put the Caesar salad into the American culture was none other than Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle columnist, in his column on August 27th, 1946, and even Caen mentioned that the salad had been well established by then, believed to have been invented 2 decades before. The Cardini version does NOT have anchovies, but instead, has Worcestershire sauce. And it is usually mixed at the table by the server or the chef.   However, San Francisco has a different story. There was also a Caesar's Grill in San Francisco during the prohibition, and may have existed as far back as 1911. Historians can find no link between Caesar Cardini and the San Francisco Caesar's Grill though. And this Caesar...

Golden King Vietnamese restaurant has the typical pho and rice plates of a Vietnamese restaurant, virtually idential to that of Golden Star, reviewed earlier. The main difference is Golden King is willing to open a little later and thus is a viable choice at 6PM when Golden Star will tell you they are already closed.  The food tastes almost identical, IMHO to Golden Star, as I also ordered the beef stew pho as a common basis of comparison. Similar amount of beef tendons, very tender beef that falls apart in your mouth, decent amount of fat in the broth (but not too much) with enough connective tissue to remind you you are eating beef, but not steak. There is a bit of spiciness in the broth, in that the waitress specifically mentioned the dish being "spicy", though it's not spicy hot in the hot chili sense, just that there's a bit of a kick in the spices used to prepare the beef.  Actually, after repeated comparison, there seems to be a lot less meat in the Golden King...

A while back, I lamented the death of Washington Bakery and Restaurant , but the spot was too good to stay unoccupied, and in August, the place reopened as the flagship location of Hon's Wun Tun House, which previously occupied a smaller store 648 Kearny. Now, the new location is "Soft Opening", but it is serving a full menu, more than just wonton and noodle soup. In fact, when I went in over the weekend, there was a waiting list!  I ordered beef stew with wonton noodle soup, and it's pretty good. The portion is a bit less than the equivalent priced bowl of pho in restaurants a block away (Golden Star, Golden King, etc.) but it is pretty good. Nothing really bad to stay about it other than the wait.  Give it a try at least.