In the latest episode of “Traveling Black,” Noel Cymone Walker takes a visit to the Golden Gate City and the cultural epicenters of Chinatown and Japantown.
San Francisco — a.k.a. the City by the Bay, Golden Gate City, Frisco, SF, San Fran, Fog City, the Paris of the West. Whatever we personally name it, we still collectively know it as one of the most diverse and progressive major cities in the United States. TheGrio’s Noel Cymone Walker took the opportunity to meet up for a walking tour of the many-monikered metropolis known for its dense Asian population and rich cultural centers on the latest “Traveling Black” adventure. On it, aside WokWiz’s Lola Hom, she explores the streets and pathways of Chinatown and makes a few mouthwatering stops. Later, Walker would join food blogger/journalist Chelsea Davis for a brief lesson in origami and origami history at the world-famous Paper Tree, a more-than-beloved stationery shop and origami hub run by Linda Mihara.
“Traveling Black” then delves into the contemporary culinary world of Chinatown with a visit to Empress By Boon, a modern love letter to Cantonese cooking by the hands of a Mongolian head chef, yet with a “sense of finesse and artistry,” according to Jim Minch, its front of house manager. The reincarnated restaurant not only has a spectacular view but a memorable story to match. The critically acclaimed China Live, ran by George Chen, is another stop, a beautiful cross between the modern dim sum house and the American-style scotch bar. Chen explains its origins and gives a brief explanation on the success of their drinks and food options.
Staying on the path of good eats, their next destination is Chef David Yoshimura’s restaurant, Nisei. With the term meaning “a person born in the US or Canada whose parents were immigrants from Japan,” according to dictionary.com, Chef Yoshimura finds his eatery to be the perfect medium to not only express his love of his Japan-born father’s heritage, but also put his own flavor and zest into each dish. He and Davis discuss the importance of Asian representation in the culinary space and the stigmas and differences of each nation’s cooking.
Below is the transcript of the above episode of “Traveling Black.”
Noel Cymone Walker: San Francisco. It’s one of the most popular cities in not only Northern California, but the entire world. Situated on a hilly peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, when you think of the city, you may think of its breathtaking views. But those who have actually visited the Bay Area know that it’s the cultural diversity that makes San Francisco a standout.
Outside of its scenic beauty, San Francisco has a rich history and a vibrant arts and culture. It’s home to world-renowned museums and theaters, as well as a thriving culinary scene that showcases the city’s diverse cultural influences. While the different districts consist of all ethnicities, San Francisco is home to one of the largest Asian populations in the United States. San Francisco’s Asian community consists of mostly Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese and South Asians, who are known for their delicious cuisine, vibrant festivals and cultural landmarks.
The city’s famous Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest one in North America, while its Japantown is one of only three left in America and is the oldest one to date. So, today, I’ll be taking you guys with me to Chinatown and Japantown to check out some of the richest culture of the Eastern world domestically.
Lola Hom: Good morning, Noel. My name is Lola. I’m your friendly tour guide today. I work for Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours, who’s been around for over 30 years. Today, you’re going to see some of the highlights of Chinatown. So, right now, we’re standing in Portsmouth Square, which is called Portsmouth Plaza, and this is pretty much the heart of the Chinatown “living room” because, as you can see around here, you’ll see the seniors playing cards and some of the people relaxing. They come out here in the morning to exercise, but mainly, they spend all day here. They’ll come here early in the morning, and then they will stay here until sunset.
Walker: OK.
Hom: So, because of the cramped living conditions in Chinatown, they come out here to play, to meet the friends, to read the newspaper, socialize. And this is why we call this the living room in Chinatown.
Walker: Oh, Ok. I’m excited. You said this is Ross Alley? Tell me about it.
Hom: Ross Alley is one of the oldest alleys in Chinatown that is known back in the late 1800s for gambling, prostitution and opium.
Walker: Oh, wow.
Hom: OK, so this is actually a very good map of Chinatown. It’s history. This is the map of Chinatown itself. We met at Kearny Street. When you’re at Broadway Street, you’re approaching Little Italy. California Street is where the cable cars run. Beyond Powell-Mason is more residential, but this is actually the heart of Chinatown, where everybody lives and shops and eats. This is home to Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. This was started in 1962 by the owner, who could not afford automation. And so, to this day, the cookies are still made manually. And so, the ladies will sit here for hours and hold it, which has made this a very well-known destination in Chinatown.
Walker: Oh, gosh; it smells amazing in here.
Hom: So, they have two buckets here. They have one for the ones that they folded correctly with a fortune in it. And they have the ones that did not quite make it as a fortune cookie shape. And you can also buy these cookies in bags, too.
Walker: Now, what constitutes what makes it as a shape or not?
Hom: It’s probably whether they can fold it in time for when it comes off the conveyor belt, and they have, you know, all kinds of flavors here.
Walker: Strawberry, green tea! I’ve never had flavored fortune cookies. So, what’s your favorite part of this street? This is Jackson Street.
Hom: This is Jackson Street. And this street sells a lot of good dim sum for takeout. And this is one of my favorite places, House of Dim Sum, because they have a good selection, and they have the parklets to sit outdoors.
Walker: Parklets?
Hom: Yes.
Walker: OK! You want to go in, try some?
Hom: Yeah, let’s go in and order!
Walker: All righty. What do we have here?
Hom: We have what we call the pork dumplings, the shrimp dumpling, the chicken feet.
Walker: How do I eat this?
Hom: You eat the skin, and just leave the bones. Good. And this is the pork bun. The barbecue pork bun. This is the steam pork dumpling, the shrimp dumpling. The Chinese sausage and salt pork. And the Chinese usually — the Chinese woman at home — will make tons of it, wrapped with a string and simmer for 3 hours. And it’s usually made around the month of May during the Dragon Boat Festival season. And this is wonderful. This is the barbecued pork bun. And it’s a baked pork bun with barbecued pork inside.
Walker: Let’s try it.
Hom: How is it?
Walker: So good!
Walker (Voiceover): The first Japanese immigrants arrived in San Francisco in the 1860s, seeking economic opportunities and a new life in America. As their numbers grew, they established businesses and cultural institutions, creating a vibrant community in San Francisco.
Hey, Chelsea! So good to see you! You ready to take this class?
Chelsea Davis: Yeah, let’s do it!
Walker: So, in exploring Japanese culture in Japantown, I knew I wanted to visit Paper Tree, which is the largest origami store in America.
Davis: Origami is so crucial to Japanese culture, and I knew I had to take Noel over here to this amazing store. So, let’s go take a lesson.
Walker: Let’s go.
So, what does origami mean to Japanese culture?
Linda Mihara: Well, I think it means a lot of different things. But if you look at the history of origami, it really started at the time when paper came over from China, and it was a very sacred commodity. So, only the rich could afford to do anything with paper. And as it started to slowly make its way out, it was also used in various Buddhist religion ceremonies, like staffs of folded paper for purification rites or the male and female butterfly that adorned the sake containers at a Shinto wedding. And then, as paper became more readily available, people started to experiment with it. And paper origami just kind of evolved because it was something that was a kind of a challenge, you know? What could you do with a simple sheet of paper?
And so, the crane, really, there’s no known notes on when the crane was actually developed or how it came to be, but it’s the most recognizable symbol in origami. But mostly the origami crane itself means peace. And the Japanese people really feel, you know, they’re happy about that recognition.
Walker: So, what are we going to make today?
Mihara: We’re going to make a heart because you are in San Francisco. You’re going to leave your heart in San Francisco. And turn it over, and there is your heart!
Walker: Oh, this is so pretty.
Mihara: Isn’t it great? Yeah, it looks really nice. She did a great job. So, isn’t this amazing? This is called Ryūjin, which is also “Asian dragon.” It’s designed by a Japanese creator named Satoshi Kamiya, and it was folded by our friend, Richard Kim. This is from a single sheet of paper. And there’s no cuts.
Walker: A single sheet of paper?
Mihara: It’s all just folded. Is that mind-blowing? So, this is a great example of what we call complex origami. It shows you can do anything without cutting a square down. But if you imagine six feet of paper, it’s a large paper. So the more complex the model, the larger the paper. So six feet of paper that gets compressed down to this.
Walker: Right. Right.
So, today, we’re at Empress By Boon, one of the top restaurants in Chinatown, and we have Jim here, who’s going to tell us all about it.
James Minch: Thank you for having us today. I really appreciate you joining us. But what we have in front of us, we try to bring a little Eastern culture and mix it with a little Western culture. So we do a prix fixe menu here. The first multiple courses are actually served, individually plated for you. But the final course, we serve family style. So that brings a little bit of the Eastern culture back into what we in the United States are kind of used to. We don’t want to be stuck into little touches and little finesses. We want you to be involved in the meal.
So with the quail, you actually you’re going to take a Chinese pancake, put that on your plate, put a little of the stir-fry quail in there, roll it up like a cigar, and enjoy it like a spring roll. Almost. We want you to be involved. We want our staff to be involved with you at the table. They will serve the dishes for you. They will talk to you about them, they’ll talk to you a little bit about the heritage, where they come from, where the chef is getting the ideas from.
Chef is actually of Malaysian descent, but he has a fondness, obviously, for the Cantonese culture. And that’s really where his passion lies. Cantonese culture you’ll find to have a lot more delicate flavors. It’s not about what some people would refer to right away as Cantonese. They think it’s going to be hot and spicy. We don’t rely on that. We rely on the delicacies and the finesse of a trained professional in the kitchen.
Walker: So I suppose the delicacies that you used is the way that you differentiate yourself in Chinatown, where Chinatown is full of food, full of culture, full of experiences.
Minch: It honestly is. We try to differentiate ourselves exactly like you said, with maybe a little more finesse. Obviously, we have the view to start with. We are by far one of the most photographed restaurants. You don’t walk in the store without taking 100 photos before you leave, but the culture here in Chinatown is one you don’t want to mess with. It is just so ingrained. The people are so loving, so caring, and we really feel like we’ve been developed by them here in Chinatown. They were a little nervous about us coming in, but now that we’re here, everybody is just enjoying having a new friend on the block.
Walker: When did you come in?
Minch: Our second-year anniversary will be this June!
Walker: Oh, you’re new! You’re that new!
Minch: Very new!
Walker: Oh, wow!
Minch: We do have a lot of history going back in this particular location. It was opened in 1966 as Empress of China. It served for almost 50 years. It closed in 2014. And then we reincarnated it and came in 2021. But during that almost 50-year run of Empress of China, it was one of the most sought-after reservations in the city. You don’t work an evening here without hearing somebody’s story about how they had their wedding here. They introduced their children here. They had their anniversary celebrations here. It was really ingrained into the community. So that was a lot of stress for us to reopen and really keep part of that tradition alive. It’s an old historical site with a new invitation to come in and enjoy us, with an amazing experience crafted by a chef that really has his heart back in Malaysia, back in the Cantonese culture in Chinatown, and really, with our staff, a warm welcoming experience.
George Chen: Cheers, guys. Welcome. Noel!
Walker: So, George. Is China Live a historical location?
Chen: Yeah. This location has been here for, like, 100 years. The second-oldest theater was actually in this building, and it became a big Chinese dim sum house. And I took it over in 2017, took me a few years to open this. And it’s now become kind of our common place here. Not just in Chinatown, but in the city.
Walker: Wow, that’s amazing.
Chen: A big place.
Walker: So, why did you choose to stay in Chinatown?
Chen: A lot of history here. The immigrant experience. We all came from somewhere in America, right? So, hey, this is living for me. Twenty-two city blocks of people who actually live here is not like a tourist attraction. And we want to bring back … you know, it had gone downhill a little bit, you know, all the years. And so we wanted to revitalize it, bring back the spirit. And so, we spent a lot of money, like 20 million bucks here to to do this big project.
Walker: Tell me about the uniqueness of the drinks, the food, of the place entirely.
Chen: I’m a scotch drinker, and my guys were the top guys and said, “Oh, we’ll do a scotch bar.” I said, “That’s boring. Everyone’s got a scotch bar.” But we’re actually one of the first to do scotch cocktails, like when you had here, the seven degrees. That tastes like a pina colada, but that’s Johnnie Walker Black washed with coconut.
Walker: So delicious.
Chen: Delicious, right?
Walker: And this one here.
Chen: Sometimes Old Fashioned is top-10 cocktail the year we open. It’s made with Peking duck fat. We sell a lot of Peking ducks here. We fat-wash the drinks, and it’s so smooth. It’s my number-one seller.
Walker: Why would you encourage people to visit Chinatown and China Live?
Chen: Well, we’re very unique. Chinatown’s got a long history, and it’s not going away. It’s already been gentrified, and you know, it’s part of the San Francisco story.
Walker: Cheers to that! Thank you so much.
Chen: Pleasure.
Walker (Voiceover): In 1906, the great earthquake and fire devastated Japanese areas in Chinatown, so the Japanese community began to move west in San Francisco, creating their own namesake enclave. By 1907, second-generation Japanese-Americans or “nisei” were born.
Walker: So we’re here with Chef David and Chelsea Davis, who is a vlogger and a foodie and a San Francisco native. So, tell me about yourself.
Chef David Yoshimura: Yeah, so I’m the chef-owner of Nisei. It’s a Japanese-American restaurant in San Francisco. It’s fine dining with a contemporary twist. We’ve been open for about two years, and we secured our first Michelin star this last year. Originally, I’m from Houston, Texas, and I’ve worked and lived in New York and Japan, and I finally settled down here about seven years ago.
Walker: And congratulations on your star.
Yoshimura: Thank you.
Walker: And I know you’re Japanese.
Yoshimura: That’s right.
Walker: And this restaurant specifically is named Nisei, and that is a second-generation Japanese term?
Yoshimura: That’s right, yes. Nisei means second-generation, refers to Japanese people born outside of Japan. So, it’s very transparent with who I am. I’m half-Japanese. My father’s Japanese from Japan. So the food and the restaurant kind of reflects who I am and what I’m trying to create. The food here and the restaurant is not exactly traditional, nor is it American. It’s kind of in-between.
Walker: OK. And Chelsea, you are part Filipino.
Davis: Born and raised in San Francisco. I’m a native, and yeah, one of my favorite things to do is try any new restaurants. I have dined here before, with my dad actually, and we absolutely loved it, so I’m excited to be back.
Walker: To be back. So, what’s your favorite thing here at Nisei?
Davis: I feel like the menu probably has changed since I’ve been here, but, I mean, I would definitely say just the diversity of every dish and how beautifully they’re presented, as well as, like, the innovation with every bite that I had. There’s a lot of really great, great dishes.
Walker: Yeah. So, what is something that has to be a part of every Japanese meal?
Yoshimura: I think something that has to be a part of every Japanese meal and probably for most Asian cultures is rice. You know, it’s kind of, like, the foundation of most meals and Asian cuisines, and it’s just quintessential.
Walker: So what do we have here?
Yoshimura: Speaking of rice, this is kind of a signature dish of ours. It is a grilled unagi; it’s grilled very traditionally over Japanese charcoal and glazed with what’s called tadei, which is kind of like a barbecue. It’s almost like a Japanese soy sauce-based barbecue sauce. On the bottom, you have local rice from Rue & Forsman Ranch in Sacramento. And then there’s a small pickle on the bottom, which is miso-pickled garlic. This one, we just gave a little bit because it’s really strong, but it takes about three months to make. So it’s very intense. Yeah.
Walker: How do you pickle?
Yoshimura: We literally just put the garlic in the miso and just let time do its thing.
Walker: So, guys, what is something that you want tourists and people just to know and to understand about Asian culture in San Francisco?
Yoshimura: I think a lot of people have preconceived notions of what the food is or what it is supposed to taste like or, you know, things like that. But, you know, kind of my mission is to let tourists and other people know that Japanese food is not just like sushi; it’s not just one thing. That’s what I would like people to know, that there’s a depth to these Asian cultures and, you know, there’s like a lot more than what people see on the surface level.
Walker: What do we have here?
Yoshimura: And so, this dessert is kind of a celebration of mandarin. This is end-of-the-season mandarin, and it’s very sweet. It’s in a couple of forms. Soy, as a mandarin curd with fresh mandarin and then mandarin sauce. Typically, you’ll see oranges around most Asian households and, like, or, like, little shrines and stuff. So I just love mandarin.
Walker: I love mandarin as well. I’m so excited about this.
Davis: Looks like the Little Cuties.
Yoshimura: Yeah, the Little Cuties.
Walker: They’re my favorite! That’s what you call a dessert.
Walker (Voiceover): Between the unique architecture and the amazing food, San Francisco has an abundance of Asian culture for you to experience. I look forward to the next time I can enjoy Asian culture in a space like this.
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