Lunar New Year starts next Monday January 23rd, celebrating the Year of the Dragon! Get your dragon-sized appetite ready for all the good eats that will be available over the 15 days of festivities.
Here’s a totally cute treat: ARIZMENDI BAKERY will have dragon-shaped almond cookies, as well as sesame, green tea, and plain shortbread, all starting January 20th.
Chef Rob Lam of BUTTERFLY is offering a Dungeness crab tasting menu, featuring two-pound crabs, from January 21st to February 3rd. The menu includes crab and sea urchin hand rolls, yuzu kosho vinaigrette, toasted nori; crab roe and soft tofu “ma po style,” poached egg, tofu crackers; salt and red chile crab, crab fried black rice, Buddha’s hand hollandaise; long life noodles, brown butter crab, caramelized daikon, lime leaf; and mandarin orange shaved ice, almond tofu, candied kumquat. $59/person.
You’re not gonna see this menu anywhere else: ~LA MAR CEBICHERIA PERUANA~ is ringing in the Lunar New Year with a special chifa menu beginning January 23rd through February 10th. Per Wikipedia, chifa is “a style of Chinese cooking in which ingredients which are available in Peru have been substituted for those originally used in China” and originated with Chinese immigrants who settled in Lima. Check their Facebook for more updates.
And if you want to go more traditional Chinese-style with the whole banquet-menu shebang, there are always plenty of choices in and around the city. Try traditional stand-bys like Koi Palace, R&G Lounge (websites with music, don’t say we didn’t warn you), Hong Kong Lounge, and Yank Sing, or go more fusion-style (in a good way) at Betelnut.
Update: DELISE, the North Beach dessert café, is reopening on Tuesday January 24th (the owners have been taveling in Asia) with a whole host of goodies, while supplies last. Don’t miss the Peking duck scones—they’re making these savories a Lunar New Year tradition. On the sweet side, they’ll have mandarin orange lemon bars with a walnut crust, “fried sesame ball” macarons (black and white sesame seed macaron with white chocolate and adzuki bean ganache filling), tangerine sorbet infused with Red Blossom’s jasmine tea, toasted white sesame ice cream with black sesame candy, and candied kumquat and walnut brittle ice cream.
Photo of Chinese New Year Dragon by Daisy Chow.
Event Info
Monday Jan 23, 2012 – Tuesday Feb 7, 2012
