Enter the Dragon

Dol Ho, Hing Lung, Lichee Garden, Oriental Pearl, Pearl City

Comments (0) By Matthew Stafford Wednesday, Feb 9 2000

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This being the new year, you'll want to head for a bakery and stock up on moon cakes. The Eastern (720 Grant at Clay, 392-4497; open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) has been the Stafford family favorite for years. I myself tend to skip the lunar variety of cake -- I could never get around the centrally located hard-boiled egg yolk -- but on a recent visit I enjoyed earthy, rich black bean cakes (an aficionado calls Eastern's version "the best in Chinatown"); simply textured, sweetly complex lotus cakes; dense, mouth-filling coconut cakes; and the unquestionably weird-chewy preserved egg- ginger cake, all of them wrapped up in flaky, lard-rich pastry ($2 for three cakes). The crisp, delicate, barely sweetened almond cookies ($2 per sack) are nice too. And if you're in the mood for fortune cookies, head over to Mee Mee (1328 Stockton at Broad- way, 362-3204; open Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), a shadowy little place where you can get multihued, personalized, and/or naughty fortune cookies created on the premises (peek in back, where a half-dozen craftspersons fashion the cookies with the help of apparatuses straight out of Rube Goldberg).

Stressed out from all the eating and jostling? This is a job for the Imperial Tea Court (1411 Powell at Broadway, 788-6080; open daily 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.), a most tranquil locale in which to stop and smell the roses (with Imperial White Peony, of course). In a soothing setting of deep-toned woodwork, lanterns, brush paintings, and birdcages, tea is served with great ceremony: The chosen leaves are presented in a porcelain cup; hot water is splashed over them and then poured out; the moist leaves are offered for inspection, like a wine cork. Finally, hot water is poured over the approved leaves and allowed to steep, the steeping time depending on the tea.

Anthony Pidgeon

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Location Info

Map

Dol Ho

808 Pacific
San Francisco, CA 94133

Category: Restaurant > Chinese

Region: North Beach/ Chinatown

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Details

Dol Ho
808 Pacific (between Stockton and Powell), 392-2828. Open daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reservations: not necessary. Muni: 12, 30, 45, 83. Noise level: high.

Hing Lung
674 Broadway (near Stockton), 398-8838. Open daily 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. Reservations: not necessary. Muni: 12, 30, 45, 83. Noise level: high.

Lichee Garden
1416 Powell (between Broadway and Vallejo), 397-2290. Open daily 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Reservations: not necessary. Muni: 12, 30, 45, 83. Noise level: moderate.

Oriental Pearl
760 Clay (near Grant), 433-1817. Lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5 to 9:30 p.m. Reservations: not necessary. Muni: 1, 15, 42. Noise level: moderate.

Pearl City
641 Jackson (between Kearny and Grant), 398-8383. Open daily 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations: not necessary. Muni: 1, 15, 42. Noise level: high.

Chinatown parking recommendation: Park at the Sutter-Stockton or Union Square garage and catch the Powell Street cable car or the 30 Stockton (or, better yet, stroll the two or three blocks into Chinatown)

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You drink your tea by placing the cup in the palm of one hand and scooping the leaves out of lip range with a porcelain saucer held in the other hand; the process forces you to take slow, occasional sips, to relax, to unwind, to let time pass unheeded. The water is kept steaming on a tableside hot plate, allowing you to replenish the cup at your leisure. I enjoyed the subtle, herbaceous Orchid Oolong and, with it, a plate of tiny almond cookies and green tea crackers, the latter all thin, crunchy texture ($1). There are 32 varieties of tea (including Monkey-Picked Tie Guan Yin) at $3 to $5 per cup; they're also available by the pound at prices ranging from $15 for the Chrysanthemum Blossom to $280 for the Imperial Dragon Well.