Gary Soup

It will Google if you spell it "szechuan ace"

Did your husband find that it tasted of "good rotten apples?" John Steinbeck on Ng-Ka-Py

I think Chinese traditionally considered the drinking of chilled beverages unhealthy, though they are gradually changing their thinking. Even now, restaurants will often serve beer at room temperature unless cold beer is requested, and some probably still don't have cold beer. It's the same thing with soda pop. In Shanghai Shaoxing wine is often served in bowls in homes and traditional restaurants, and maybe it just seemed natural to serve beer the same way. In fast food places, beer in cans is often served with soda straws, as many customers feel it is more hygienic that way.

I haven't been to Yeah Shanghai Deluxe yet (next trip, for sure) and can't comment on YSD or any other restaurant using commercial pre-made stuff (which seems unconscionable to me). However, I can report that in my never-ending quest for xiaolong bao (a.k.a. soup dumplings) I've tried a number of frozen supermarket varieties at home (including a couple imorted from Shanghai) and can report that the best by far were made by a company called Prime Foods in Brooklyn. I know of quite a few restaurants that could noticeably improve the quality of their offerings by substituting these for their own house-made dumplings.

The boys in the (extended) family seem to like the white lightning called "Kongfuzi" (Confucius) lao jiu, but I find most of the hard stuff in China unappetizing. (To be fair, they didn't like the bourbon I brought them, either, though we all seem to be able to agree on brandy). Being of the "beer is the wine that goes with everything" school, I'm generally happy with a tall bottle of Reeb Gold with my meals.

I think you are right about that, and about the Korean influence. I recall one Shanghai Restaurant (Grape?) frequented by expats and with a bi-lingual menu that listed dog. I wonder how often you'll find it on an English menu.

Not a chance of me moving there, but I'm hoping to leave my stepdaughter there (she starts school at UC next week). I'm looking forward to some quietude in the Soup household.

I'll cheat and post again, since the first time I had just got back in town and reported on some out-of-State (Montreal) places. Last to first: Penang Garden (the new SF Chinatown branch) was disappointing, though we all liked the Gado Gado which was dominated by large cubes of firm tofu; Hon's Wun Tun House, comforting as ever, though I always feel shortchanged by the wonton only bowls (can never get behind those skinny HK-style noodles); and Star Lunch, for my neglected stinky tofu fix (don't expect much from anything else on weekend Shanghai specialties menu, except for rock-bottom prices).

Same way they detect Jinhua ham at customs. Dogs, and scanners. "That'll be $50, please, and we'll take your dangerous contraband for disposal (you know? )." You'll also be greeted like an old friend the next time your passport is run through a bar code reader. Allow an extra half hour for pleasantries.

I lived at No. 9 St. Marks Place ca. early 1962 and the only action on the block was at the Polish Brotherhood Hall across the street (loud Polka parties on Saturday nights). Plenty of eats on Second Ave., mostly mittel-European, to fortify me on the way to Stanley's Bar or the Ukranian movie place. I was there about a month ago, as a gawking tourist, but would gladly have come as a disaffected teen, all things considered.

It's "hong you chaoshuo" in PinYin, but you aren't likely to encounter that name in the US. As other posters have mentioned, it's usually called "dumplings in chili oil", "wontons in chili oil." or something like that on menus. You are most likely to find it at restaurants that serve Sichuan food, which I am sure Philadelphia must have.

Cafe del la Presse (the cafe portion, not the dining room) is open until 11:00 every night. Moules et Frites are right up their alley. Cafe de la Presse

Actually, "lao wai" isn't used in Shanghainese, either, though most would immediately understand it The Shanghainese term would be (phonetically) "na gu ning" which is simply local pronunciation of the characters for "waiguoren." (Go figure.)

Is laowai/gweilo a more polite term to refer to a Western person than lowfan? I'm not familiar with "lowfan", but laowai is more polite then "Gweilo" Gweilo is a beter-known term, however, which is why I used it to clarify "laowai."

You have a sharp eye. I blush to admit that it was in one of the interior lanes of Xintiandi, which I had to see from an urban design standpoint (and I happen to know some of the people involved in the design of the improbable man-made lake nearby). Though the predictably trendy restaurants and shops don't do anthing for me, I think it's a good example of adaptive re-use, and let's face it, the longtangs would have been bulldozed for something ugly otherwise.

I'm sure they will make exceptions for Western diners sent to them by tour guide books. It reminds me of my sister-in-law protesting when I calculated a 15 percent tip at a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco (that was some time ago). "Ten percent is enough," she said. "They don't expect people to tip more than 10 percent." My response was "I'm a laowai (Gweilo). They expect me to tip more." That quieted her immediately, because she recognized that I had a "face" issue there.

Sorry, but Google tells me that Dong Quai IS the scientific name, so you already know it whether you want to or not Chinese is dang gui (probably Mandarin) or Tang Kuei. It's said to be "Chinese Angelica." Dong Quai

Oh, gosh. Ignoring a Subway sandwich (emergency) and snacks, I guess it would be at 3 Brasseurs (a gibier choucroute and a biere blonde), Frite Alors! (cheval tartare and frites) and Chez Gatse (Tibetan) where I had the "Yeti" tasting menu, as it were. All were in Montreal (out of my home area) and not my usual fare (the Tibetan could be). I'll make it up to San Francisco this weekend, however..

sorry, once again you're right...what can I say, its late! Or perhaps its thinking about eating these little creatures that caused me to bang the keys with reckless abandon... Confess, you were really thinking of eating xiaolong bao.

I believe the spacing xiao longxia is less confusing (and less provocative to me, the xiaolong bao fiend) than xiaolong xia

I guess you can thank Chairman Mao and the "liberation" for that In San Franciso Chinatown my Shanghainese wife doesn't have any problem communicating, as pretty much every mainland Chinese under 60 has at least a smattering of putonghua because it's been a mandatory language for education and the media since 1957(?). Our biggest communication problem to date was in a restuarant in Toronto where the HK-bred servers knew neither English nor Putongha, and neither of us knows much Cantonese. Point-and-shoot was what worked with the menu, since my wife could at least READ it. Hey, in MTL Chinatown we found restaurants with staff conversant in Cantonese, Mandarin, English AND French.

It was may well have been "Shanghai Old Restaurant" (Lao Fandian) in the Old City. It used to be the number one destination for travellers, but has gone very seriously downhill in recent years.

Incidentally, I stumbled across another "glossary" of food terms in Chinese here. Click the bulleted side links to continue the list. I'ts from the website of an agency that places Chinese chefs overseas, so it has some interesting items: corn flakes 玉蜀黍片 Just in case, !

Hi Joel, I wish I were young enough and free enough to be your sidekick! I have never been to Guangzhou, but there are a couple of things that would be foremost in my mind. First, I am quite interested in how Chinese food morphs as it migrates, so I would pay attention to how "Cantonese" food in Guangzhou compares to, or differs from, "Cantonese" food in Hong Kong and in North America. The Chinese food you encounter in TO and Vancouver these days have definite HK roots, for example, whereas the Cantonese food in San Francisco (and MTL, for that matter) has roots in rural Guangdong, and there are definite differences between the two that go beyond simple localization. Secondly, and probably obvious to a documentary film maker, would be to look for exotic foods. I'd search for a famous snake soup place in Guangzhou I have heard about, for example (snake soup is quite tasty, I've had it in Shanghai). A few years ago National Geographic has a photo of a Cantonese "charcuterie" in Guangzhou which looked very much like the ones you see in San Francisco, New York and MTL, but hanging alongside the BBQ'd ducks and chickens were big fat roasted rats, heads, feet and tails all intact. Although I'd heard about rats in Cantonese cuisine, seeing them in such a familar milieu was quite startling. An of course, this time of year, I'd be looking out for moon cakes and moon cake culture.

On the grounds that it's too goofy an issue to waste our Government's time on. There is definitely some merit to that argument. On the other hand, that's also a good reason for Ahnold to sign it and be done with it once and for all. The SF Chronicle's toney food and wine sections are successful profit centers, so the Chron may have some enlightened self-interest influencing its editorial policies.