market, located directly across the street from China Live, where Chen regularly checks on new produce. The couple’s first stop is at the ABC Supermarket Inc. On the table are herbs and vegetables picked earlier in the morning by his wife, Cindy Wong-Chen, from her Petaluma garden. George Chen goes over the previous day’s menu at China Live before heading out to see what produce, meats and other ingredients he may discover in Chinatown that will inspire new additions to this day’s lunch and dinner menus. That’s what makes it exciting-and where the adventure begins. Much like a jazz player, Chen has a firm grasp of his genre, he just doesn’t know what notes he’ll play on any given day. This is where ingredients, familiar and unfamiliar, inspire each day’s menu. This is reflected in his dishes (”Have you ever seen broccoli beef made with filet mignon at a Chinese restaurant before?” Chen asks), organic produce selected from local farms and, of course, Chinatown. Chen seeks to revolutionize the way people see Chinese food, without abandoning the flavors that people have come to love. From its thoroughfares to its narrow walkways, Chinatown serves as a treasure hunt for Chen, joined many times by his wife, Cindy Wong-Chen, who grows her own herbs and vegetables at their farm in Petaluma and in their home garden. On the same floor is the luxe Eight Tables dining space, which offers private dinners (prix fix, eight-course tasting menu, $225) in an opulent setting meant to make guests feel as if they’re eating at someone’s home-someone with an eye for detail and an appreciation for ritual.īut this magic that Chen has conjured inside China Live’s walls begins in the streets surrounding it. Upstairs, guests can find Cold Drinks, a Mad Men-meets-Old Shanghai bar with an assortment of signature cocktails (Sometimes Old-Fashioned is Peking duck fat-infused Speyburn, Knob Creek rye, black pepper syrup, black lemon and candy cap bitters, $16). Its street-level main entrance leads into the Oolong Café, as well as Market Restaurant, which includes five specialty food stations and two retail areas. Since opening its doors in 2017, the four-story building, modeled after food emporium, Eataly, rarely sees a slow day. Surprised, because the amply staffed, nearly 30,000-square-foot celebration of elevated Chinese cuisine hardly seems like a place where each piece of produce is handselected by its owner. Fans of the popular China Live restaurant may be surprised to learn that this is where many mornings begin for George Chen. ![]() Bright fruits and obscure vegetables, such as celtuce, dragon fruit, sinqua and opo are on full display in storefronts, as shoppers clamor to get the best picks of the morning offerings. The magic that George Chen conjures inside his food emporium begins each morning on the streets of Chinatown.Īt 9:30am, Chinatown merchants are bustling.
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