RICE PAPER SCISSORS

Sunday Brunch @ Dear Mom

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:13:44 -0400

Join us for Vietnamese brunch!

• When: Sunday, April 21st / 11am-4:30pm

• Where: Dear Mom - 2700 16th Street @ Harrison

• Service: A-la-carte brunch + full bar

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Starters

Ham Sui Gok - 8

fried mochi dumplings filled with pork and shiitake mushrooms

Numbing Sichuan Noodles (vg) (g) - 6

wide cellophane noodles in housemade Sichuan peppercorn oil, served with spring asparagus, fried peanuts and cilantro.

(+) Add cold sliced Five-spice Braised Beef Shank - 3

Pâté Chaud - 6

puff pastry filled with ground chicken, pate, and wood ear mushrooms

(+) Add a fried egg - 1

Mushroom Pâté Chaud - 6

puff pastry filled with ground chicken, pate, and wood ear mushrooms

(+) Add a fried egg - 1

Soup

Pho Ga - Chicken Pho - 12

fresh rice noodles in ginger chicken broth, served with poached chicken, shaved onions, culantro, scallions and lime leaves

Vegetarian Rice Porridge (v) (vg) - 11

spring vegetables, salted quail eggs, Chinese donut, marinated tofu, preserved mustard greens and cilantro

Banh Mi

Breakfast Banh Mi - 9

two fried eggs and cha lua (Vietnamese ham) with housemade pate, mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Vegetarian Breakfast Banh Mi (v) - 9

two fried eggs with housemade mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Vegan “Smoked Duck” Banh Mi (vg) - 9

Dessert & Drinks

Vietnamese Yogurt with Local Kiwi - 5

housemade yogurt made with a hint of condensed milk

Vietnamese Iced Coffee - 3

slow dripped Trung Nguyen coffee with condensed milk

Suan Mei Tang Sparkler - 3

smoked plum and hawthorne tea with ginger ale and aloe

Prices include sales tax

(v) vegetarian (vg) vegan (g) gluten-free

On the Menu: Ham Sui Gok

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:45:50 -0400

Ham Sui Gok (pronounced HUM-SOY-GOK) is a dim sum dish we put on our menu during the Lunar New Year and haven’t taken off!

Katie discovered them on her trip to Hong Kong last year and fell in love with the fried mochi dumping. The outside layer is a subtly sweet crispy and chewy mochi. Inside you’ll find a savory pork and shittake mushroom filling.

Come try them at our Thursday pop-up at Mojo Bicycle Cafe or at our Dear Mom pop-up on Sunday.

Recap: Lucky Mission Festival

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:44:00 -0400

Our Lucky Mission Festival in February came to be because we wanted to celebrate the Lunar New Year with the traditions we enjoyed growing up — but with more booze and dancing.

Usually, the Vietnamese/Chinese New Year is celebrated in the family home, with meals and red envelopes filled with money (not bad things, at all!).

However, we wanted to reimagine it and make it a holiday that more people can get into. After all, it’s about food, family and friends — and we can all use more of that in our lives.

The result: a month of pop-ups and partying!

We kicked things off with the Good Luck Biagarten, an indoor beer garden reminiscent of casual drinking spots in Vietnam. You could buy beers by-the-bucket OR the bottle.

The Potsticker Party was a casual cooking class we threw to teach people a new craft. People made Pork and Squash potstickers over beers and got to enjoy the fruits of their labor in Good Eggs HQ in the Mission.

To get people raging for the Lunar New Year, we hosted the Lion Dance Party at the Verdi Club. Lion dancers from the Chung Ngai Dance Troupe broke it down to “Sexy and I Know It” — combining the old the new. DJ Spinnerty spun classic party jams (everything from Robyn to Christina Aguilera) while 12FPS held it down on the photobooth.

(Best Chinese lion dance photobomb ever.)

We hope you’ll join us for next year’s Lucky Mission Festival!

Photos (top to bottom): Pete Lee, Akia Graybill, 12FPS

A Side of Rice: Kabocha Squash

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:14:23 -0400

We picked up kabocha squash from Thanh Ho Farms, one of our favorite vendors at the Heart of the City Farmers Market. During the winter, they introduced us to kabocha squash.

Kabocha can be found year-round offers a super sweet taste. Vung Ho and his mom (the proprietors) told us how they enjoy making a Kabocha and Sparerib soup. We followed suit for a staff meal and liked it so much we put it on our Mojo menu for a few weeks.

To make the savory, buttery soup, we started out with a chicken stock made from a whole chicken. We blanched the spareribs, rinsed them and added them to the stock, and let it boil for two hours.

Afterwards, we threw in sliced kabocha and simmered until it became tender. To top it off, we added culantro and Thai chiles.

The soup can get nice and thick as it reduces in the pot, and of course, pairs perfectly with a side of rice.

A Side of Rice was a column we started as guest writers on the Good Eggs blog where we documented Asian produce and purveyors from the Heart of the City Farmers Market.

Inspired by farmers’ recipes and stories, we would make staff meals using their ingredients, in the way the they would. Many of these dishes found its way onto our menus.

Check back here for occasional dispatches from the market. You can find previous articles here.

Pop-up at Dear Mom this Sunday

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:00:40 -0400

Come join us.

When: Sunday, April 14th / 4-11:30pm
Where: Dear Mom - 2700 16th Street @ Harrison
Service: A-la-carte dinner menu + full bar
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Menu

Ham Sui Gok - 8

fried mochi dumplings filled with pork and shiitake mushrooms

Fried Smelt (g) - 8

fried small fish served with fried cilantro and nuoc mam aioli, a fish sauce, ginger and lime dip

Pâté Chaud - 6

puff pastry filled with ground chicken, pate, and wood ear mushrooms

Add a fried egg + 1

Mushroom Pâté Chaud - 6

puff pastry filled with ground chicken, pate, and wood ear mushrooms

Add a fried egg + 1

Buddha’s Delight (vg) (g) - 9

cellophane noodle stir-fry with tofu, shitakke mushrooms, woodear mushrooms, lily buds and roasted ginko nuts

Pho Ga - Chicken Pho - 12

fresh rice noodles in ginger chicken broth, served with poached chicken, shaved onions, culantro, scallions and lime leaves.

Grilled Pork Banh Mi - 9

caramelized pork with housemade chicken pate and mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Breakfast Banh Mi - 9

two fried eggs and cha lua (Vietnamese ham) with housemade pate, mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Vegetarian Breakfast Banh Mi (v) - 9

two fried eggs with housemade mayo, daikon pickles, cucumbers and cilantro

Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwiches (v) - 5

housemade Vietnamese cinnamon cookies with vanilla bean ice cream

(v) vegetarian (vg) vegan (g) gluten-free

Prices include sales tax

Breakfast at Mojo Bicycle Cafe Scenes from our interview with...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:58:00 -0400

Breakfast at Mojo Bicycle Cafe

Scenes from our interview with Warby Parker, where we munched on Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) and Mushroom Pate Chaud while we talked about our early pop-up days and how we got to call Mojo our home.

See more photos and read the interview here.

Words by Taylor Bennett, photos by Collin Hughes.

Tray of Togetherness (i.e. Candy)

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:37:00 -0500

Lunar New Year Tradition #3: Candy!

What’s a holiday without candy?!

The Lunar New Year is often celebrated with a Tray of Togetherness, a circular or octagonal tray of different treats that represent the start of a sweet new year. Since the Chinese consider the number 8 to be extremely lucky, there are 8 compartments around one central compartment.

Traditionally, they represent these types tenants of the new year:

   Candied Melon: Growth and health
     Coconut: Friendship and unity
     Kumquat: Gold and prosperity
     Longan: Many sons and daughters
     Lotus Seeds: Fertility
     Seeds: Joy and happiness

In celebration of the holiday, we bought a Tray of Togetherness, got down on the candy, and then refilled it with our interpretation. Here are the old school and new school trays, side by side:

Storebought tray (let): Candied lotus seeds, candied ginger, candied melon, sesame brittle, and condensed milk caramels.

Our take (right):Candied kumquats, dried persimmon, sesame brittle, candied ginger, licorice caramels, pepitas (roasted squash seeds.) We mixed what we love about these trays (persimmons and ginger) with candies we’ve been curious to make (licorice caramels and rock candied kumquats.)

On a particularly warm MuuMuu Wednesday, we were shared this tray with our pals at 12FPS and Amos. We drank Vietnamese coffee, ate banh chung, and got together over these sweet treats.

- Katie & Zoë

Lion Dance Party

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 01:26:10 -0500

We’re throwing the Lion Dance Party, our first-ever dance party, on Friday, February 22nd to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

It’ll be everything you know and love about Vietnamese/Chinese New Year, but with lots more booze, street food and Harlem Shake.

Here’s a taste:

Come do the Harlem (Lion) Shake with us this Friday. Deets below.

—

Where: Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street

When: Friday, February 22, 8pm-1am. Doors and dinner at 8pm. Music at 9pm.

Tickets: 21+ / $10 (advance), $15 (door) / purchase here

Full bar + Vietnamese street food by yours truly

Classic party jams by DJ Spinnerty

Lion dance performance by Chung Ngai Dance Troupe

Lunar New Year Tradition #2: Paying Respects to Ancestors We’re...

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:26:00 -0500

Lunar New Year Tradition #2: Paying Respects to Ancestors

We’re not joshing when it comes to joss paper (aka ghost money), a common tradition in both Chinese and Vietnamese cultures. Joss papers are offerings that can take the form of patterned tissue papers or cardboard replicas of material objects. The joss paper is burned to ensure that ancestors and the deceased will be well kept in the afterlife.

As our team made a trip down to Chinatown to shop for decorations for the Lucky Mission Festival, we were impressed by the array of joss papers from fake dollar bills to iPads.

But Louis Vuitton bags? Well, if your grandma was a bonafide diva like mine, then the answer is yes and with shoes to match.

In the spirit the Lunar New Year, we bought (and burnt) some offerings for our ancestors. It was a cool experience to take a minute and think about the ancestors we never met, but are responsible for where we are today. May they be wealthy, healthy and well-dressed in the afterlife.

— Emily, RPS intern

Photos by Taylor Hoff

Potsticker Party: Roll em', Stuff em', Fold em', Eat em!

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:26:00 -0500

Where: Good Eggs, 530 Hampshire, #301

When: Sunday, February 17th, 4-7pm

Tickets: $40 / purchase here

As part of our Lunar New Year celebrations, we’ll be the honoring the craft god by hosting a Potsticker Party. What better craft to focus on than that of food?

Come to the Posticker Party at Good Eggs’ beautiful loft offices in the Mission, where you will:

- Learn to roll and fold two types of dumplings: (1) Pork and Leek and (2) Vegetarian kabocha and celery root

- Snack on Xoi Gac, red coconut sticky rice

- Drink Tiger beer and jasmine tea with candied kumquats

- Feast on your dumplings, boiled and fried

- Slurp down black sesame and mochi dumplings in jasmine ginger syrup

- Take away leftover dumplings and recipes cards so you can re-create the magic at home

Come join us for this age old tradition as we have re-imagined it! Get tickets here!

Happy New Year!

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:44:44 -0500

Today marks the first day of the Lunar New Year! New to New Years? Check our video on How To Say Happy New Year In…

Lunar New Years is very important to us because it also marks our second year in business. We’ll be spending the day relaxing with our loved ones and resting up for our the Lucky Mission Festival, a month long Lunar New Year celebration.

For now, here is a look at New Years past.

KK slinging Chicken Pho and Imperial Rolls at Pop Up #1, Tet Holiday Pop Up, Febraury 2011.

Valerie showing off the one item menu at Cha Ca Va Long, Hanoi February 2012.

Let this new year bring you good health and good food.

- RPS

Spotted: Amanda of Duc Loi and Duc Loi Kitchen on the Mission...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:21:00 -0500

Spotted: Amanda of Duc Loi and Duc Loi Kitchen on the Mission Merchants website

(via Ken Ken Ramen)

Lunar New Year Tradition #1: Clean House Before the new year...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:22:38 -0500

Lunar New Year Tradition #1: Clean House

Before the new year (Feb 10), it’s custom to get a haircut, new outfit and to clean your house to start anew and prepare for better luck in the coming year.

We spent this week getting haircuts (thanks to Public Barber Salon and Joys #2 Hair Salon) and a new Splendid dress from Industrie Denim. In our office, we stacked our stools, knolled things on our desks and swept the floor to make more room for good luck in the Year of the Snake.

There’s still a few more days until February 10th, so we hope you use the Lunar New Year as another reason to start fresh.

Southeast Cajun Boil: A Take on a Take

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:04:41 -0500

We love how cuisines can mesh together and evolve to become it’s own thing. The dishes from our Dungeness Crab House took from not only Viet-Cajun cuisine, but also traditional Vietnamese and New Orleans specialities.

For example, the Crawfish Etouffee Bouchee (pictured below) was a combination of the Vietnamese Pate Chaud (puffy pastry filled with meat) and Creole etoufee (thick seafood stew) - but made with a thick crawfish and sea snail gravy.

See more photos our Viet-Cajun dishes here.

Photos by Patrick Kawahara

Lucky Mission Festival: Party Like It’s The Year of the Snake

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:45:00 -0500

We’re celebrating the Year of the Snake by throwing the Lucky Mission Festival, a month-long series of events that reinterpret, reimagine and reintroduce the traditions and foods of the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, adding more booze and dance music along the way!

We’re kicking things off with the Good Luck Biagarten, a pop-up beer garden and mess hall this Saturday, February 9th.

Also on the list: a family-style dinner, potsticker class and a pop dance party complete with Chinese lion dancers. More details below.

May this year bring you good health, wealth and pop-ups,

Valerie, Katie, Akia, Emily and Zoë

—-

Good Luck Biagarten
Vietnamese beer garden and mess hall

Where: Saturday, February 9, 2013
When: 6-10pm
Location: Florida Street Cafe, 710 Florida Street

Bia = beer in Vietnamese.

To kick off the Lunar New Year celebrations, we’re throwing a mess-hall slash indoor biagarten inspired by Vietnam streetside bars. On the menu: dishes that will bring you good luck in the new year. More here.

—-

Tết Holiday Banquet
prix fixe Asian family-style meal

Canceled due to unforeseen circumstances.

—-

Potsticker Party
Potsticker making class, complete with snacks, beer and tea

Where: Good Eggs, 530 Hampshire, #301
When: Sunday, February 17th, 4-7pm
Tickets: $40 / purchase here

Get down on this age old tradition: a potsticker making party. Learn how to roll and fold two types of dumplings (pork and squash) while snacking on Vietnamese sticky rice and beer. You’ll leave with new skills, extra potstickers and hopefully some new friends.

—-

Lion Dance Party
classic party jams and Chinese lion dancers

Where: Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Street
When: Friday, February 22, 8pm-1am. Doors and dinner at 8pm. Music at 9pm.
Tickets: $10 (advance), $15 (door) / 21+ / purchase here

Rage like it’s the Year of the Snake. Also, get down on classic party jams spun by DJ Spinnerty of Grown Kids Radio as well as Vietnamese street food, a full bar and Chinese lion dancers.

Cheers to the Year of the Snake

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:10:00 -0500

Date: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Florida Street Cafe, 710 Florida Street

To kick off the Lunar New Year celebrations, we’re throwing a mess-hall slash indoor beer garden inspired by Vietnam streetside bars. (Bia = beer in Vietnamese.)

The menu consists of items that bring good luck in the new year — such as Ham Sui Gok, fried mochi dumplings stuffed with pork and shrimp, and Vietnamese Imperial Rolls. Since they look like ancient money, they’re eaten to bring in more bucks.

Our beer list will contain our favorite local and imported brews. A-la Vietnam, we’re offering beers by-the-bucket so you don’t even have to get off your little red stools to get another cold one. Boom.

Menu

(v) vegetarian (vg) vegan (g) gluten-free

Appetizers

Taro Chips (v) - $5

Cha Gio - Imperial Rolls (g)- $7
fried rice paper rolls with shrimp, pork, cabbage and taro. served with lettuce, herbs and nuoc cham.
Long in shape, these rolls are like gold bars. Wealth in the new year!

Ham Sui Gok - Fried Mochi Dumplings - $8
filled with ground pork and shrimp
Since they look like ancient Chinese money, you eat them for wealth in the new year.

Banh Chung - Tet Sticky Rice Cake - $6
sticky rice with ground pork and mung beans, steamed in banana leaves
The filling resembles the different layers of the earth - a humble representation of the earth we live in.

Mains

Buddha’s Delight (vg) - $8
cellophane noodle stir-fry with tofu, shitakke mushrooms, woodear mushrooms, lily buds and roasted ginko nuts
A vegetarian meal is often eaten to counterbalance to the richness of the new year festivities.

Pho Ga - Chicken Pho - $12
fresh rice noodles in housemade chicken broth, served with poached chicken. served with shaved onions, scallions, jalapenos, culantro and limes.
The broth is made from whole chickens, giving rise to prosperity, family, and joy. Fresh rice noodles symbolize long life!

Thit Heo Kho - Caramelized Pork and Egg Rice Plate - $11
spareribs braised in star anise, coconut water and fish sauce, served with a soft egg and broken rice
This classic Vietnamese New Year dish, represents family with whole eggs, symbols of life and fertility.

Dessert

Dan Tat - Chinese Egg Tarts - $3
sweet egg custard tarts
Whole eggs, the symbolism of life, shine through these tartlets.

Dungeness Crab House: Southeast Cajun Boil

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:40:00 -0500

Saturday, January 26th

7pm

Gung Ho Restaurant - 680 8th Street (at Townsend)

$65 / Tickets here

Crab season ain’t over yet — and we’re not letting it pass without doing it up Cajun-style (and just in time for Mardi Gras!)

Our next installment of Dungeness Crab House is inspired by Vietnamese Cajun seafood restaurants, popular in San Jose and Garden Grove in Southern California — cities with large Vietnamese populations.

Seems random, but like every fusion of cultures, there’s a backstory. After immigrating to the States, many Vietnamese families settled in the Gulf Coast, where “boiling points” or crawfish houses reign supreme.

Like any good New Orleanian, the Vietnamese also have an affinity for rice, spice, and seafood. Inspired by Creole cuisine, Viet-Cajun joints came to be — with an added Southeast twist of lemongrass, muoi tieu chanh (a lemon, salt, and pepper dip) and garlic noodles to go along with boiled crustaceans bathed in butter.

These restaurants are known in Vietnamese as “quan nhau” — basically, a restaurant where you can get crunked.

So in true Vietnamese and Louisianan spirit, come dine and be sure to leave the table with empty crab shells and beer bottles — always a sign of a good time.

Tickets are $65 and can be purchased here.

——

Menu

Crawfish Étouffée Bouchée

thick crawfish and sea snail gravy served in a puff pastry

Louisiana Shrimp, Pork and Pomelo Salad

with cucumbers, mint, and fried shallots

Southeast Cajun Crab

1/2 Dungeness crab and corn simmered in lemongrass and Old Bay Seasoning. served with a trio of sauces: tamarind, garlic butter, and salt-pepper-lime.

Garlic Noodles

housemade oyster sauce, butter, garlic and topped with Grana Padano cheese

Grilled Okra

with a housemade XO sauce

Bananas Foster & Beignets

rum bananas, fried beignets and fish sauce ice cream

—-

More details and tickets here

Beginning the New Year at Whiz Burgers

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:13:36 -0500

We started 2013 with a New Year’s Day Brunch a new pop-up location: Whiz Burgers, located on 18th and Van Ness.

For a while this location intrigued us. We weren’t sure who owned it or how to approach them to do a pop-up. Our curiosity pushed us to ask anyway.

We met John Kim, whose father owns Whiz Burger, one day at the take-out window. John told us that Whiz Burgers has been around since 1955. Twenty years ago, his father owned a liquor store on 14th and saw that Whiz Burgers was for sale — so he bought it. It’s been run by the Kim’s ever since.

Since Whiz Burgers was closed for New Year’s, the Kim’s allowed us to pop-up in the space for our brunch. “I wanted to support another small business,” John said.

Thanks to the Kim’s for letting us pop-up and everyone who came out to start 2013 with us!

And don’t forget to get a fresh banana shake and seasoned fries from the Whiz sometime this year :)

Photos by Andria Lo
See full set here
More photos from Doc Pop here

The Whiz in Analog

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 06:12:54 -0500

This year, we were lucky enough to have our New Year’s Day Brunch photographed by Doctor Popular.

He’s a fellow Mission District dweller who does everything from DJing to building LEGO dioramas.

While hanging out with us, he got behind-the-scene shots inside the Whiz Burgers.

Using his Minolta SLR and rolls of expired Konica film, he captured the vibes of the iconic burger joint.

See more photos on Doctor Popular’s website here.

2012 in Pictures

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:28:00 -0500

Our visit from Anthony Bourdain aired on TV

Traveled to Vietnam

Landed our first office and commercial kitchen (where we did an awesome shoot with Refinery29)

Had our first interns

Who helped us produce our spread in Food & Wine

And a music video

Which we made to try to get voted into the SF Street Food Festival (it worked!)

Afterwards, went on tour with The Bold Italic (and Allan, who snapped this pic)

Came home and gave Eddie Huang a tour of the Asian side of the Mission

Squeezed in a few end-of-summer camping trips

Which inspired The Camp-In movie night

Brought back the Dungeness Crab House

And said goodbye to the Underground Market, which started it all.

2012 was an adventure. We look forward to 2013 being a year of more first’s, popping up in crazy locations, traveling and learning new dishes — and doing it for all of you guys.

Come celebrate the beginning of 2013 at our New Year’s Day Brunch tomorrow at Whiz Burgers!

Cheers,

Valerie + Katie + the RPS team