Lisa Weiss

We all wish the Mandarin still existed and no Chinese restaurant has ever been able to duplicate the elegant atmosphere and refined but gutsy food since, but at least her legacy continues in some form. Cecilia's son Philip was one of the founding partners of PF Chang's, and in San Francisco Betelnut's chef Alex Ong has been mentored by Cecilia herself though he has put his own spin on the food. In fact, there are many Chinese chefs and restaurateurs who acknowledge Cecilia's influence. And thank you by the way, for a fabulous indexing job, an under-acknowledged art! If anyone has ever owned a poorly indexed cookbook they know what I mean.

Marlena, Thank you so much for your post. I'll pass it on to Cecilia when she returns from her trip to Japan--she's on a culinary tour with a group of food professionals. (It's impossible to keep up with that woman!) I respect your opinion, and always look forward to reading your columns in the San Francisco Chronicle. Speaking of the Chronicle, did you read yesterday's profile of Cecilia by Janet Fletcher? It was wonderful and she truly captured Madame Chiang in a short time. I'm sorry you didn't get to the Mandarin. There has been nothing like it since. I went there when I first moved to San Francisco from my hometown of Chicago in the early seventies and it truly changed the way I thought about Chinese food. Lisa

Unfortunately The Mandarin no longer exists and your longings will have to go unrequited, even if you lived in San Francisco. I'm Cecilia Chiang's co-author and I can't tell you how many times people have come up to her and said how much they missed her restaurant. There are a number of good, actually very good, regional Chinese restaurants here, but none that compare in terms of elegance and in its time, innovation. The introduction by Emerald Yeh is beautiful and fully captures Cecilia and what she accomplished.

We started going to a neighborhood Chinese restaurant in the early 1970s, and I quickly discovered their Sichuan pork. Man, that stuff opened my eyes to flavor combinations previously unimagined. After enjoying this restaurant’s food for many years, all of their sauces mutated into a sweet brown glop. Put me off “Chinese” food for many years. I had the same reaction the first time I made Fuchsia Dunlop’s version of gan bian niu rou si. This delightful dish reawakened my interest in Chinese food. I look forward to reading the book and trying its version of spicy dry-shredded beef. ← ← As Cecilia's co-author I'm so pleased that after reading a portion of her book that you'd be so inspired as to want to get in the kitchen and try one of the recipes. I had the same reaction which I refer to in the Introduction in the Seventh Daughter. That after dining at The Mandarin all I wanted to do was to learn how to make Cecilia's food. It was a revelation to me, the juxtapostion of hot and sour flavors. I grew up in Chicago in the "ahem" sixties, and all Chinese food was gloppy cornstarch-thickened brown sauces over soft or crispy noodles. When I had my first pot sticker at the Mandarin, I was blown away. I've never had a taste for very spicy food but at Cecilia's restaurant I was able for the first time to see that hot has a lot of nuance. It was an honor to work with Cecilia on her book and the best part was being able to taste all her food as we tested the recipes in my kitchen. The saddest thing is that as I walked through Chinatown with Cecilia so many people came up to her and said how much they missed The Mandarin. Truly, there is no other Chinese restaurant today in San Francisco that even comes close, in terms of food or atmosphere, though there are arguably several that serve wonderful regional cuisine.

We started going to a neighborhood Chinese restaurant in the early 1970s, and I quickly discovered their Sichuan pork. Man, that stuff opened my eyes to flavor combinations previously unimagined. After enjoying this restaurant’s food for many years, all of their sauces mutated into a sweet brown glop. Put me off “Chinese” food for many years. I had the same reaction the first time I made Fuchsia Dunlop’s version of gan bian niu rou si. This delightful dish reawakened my interest in Chinese food. I look forward to reading the book and trying its version of spicy dry-shredded beef. ←