Are we approachable?

Jerry and I had friends visiting from Laguna Beach this past weekend and two of the five visitors have never really experienced SF as a city. So, we decided to take them to our favorite SF haunts, which of course, include our favorite restaurants, cafes, and the like. We started with my family’s favorite dim sum restaurant in Chinatown-- named Golden Mountain.

The dim sum restaurant was exactly what you would expect from a traditional dim sum house--poor service but deliciously strange and strangely delicious food. In an effort not to scare our poor guests away, we decided not to order chicken feet or pig’s blood (normal fare for my family) but we did order pork buns, egg and lotus seed buns, beef and shrimp rice rolls, sui mai, shanghai dumplings, chive dumplings, sesame-seed balls, and squid with fish balls and pork skin. They did not take to the squid with fish balls, but we explained to them that the dish is normally much more well prepared--there was something a bit off about the curry sauce that day. (Although I’m sure that it wasn’t just the sauce that turned them off.)

As we were having brunch, my opinions about to making dim sum and other similar Chinese foods approachable to non-native eaters were pretty much confirmed. For those who have not had dim sum, it is usually the texture, names, and looks of things that turn them off. For instance, many dim sum items are a bit mushy, chewy, or stringy. And many items come in shapes not known in American food culture--such as the tear-drop shape of some dumplings and buns. Lastly, very few people find something labeled “pickled jelly-fish” appetizing. I think that “crunchy ocean salad” would be more winning as a name.

And as with most meals these days, I began thinking about how to improve the marketing of The Pig’s products. We’ve mostly gotten it right in terms of making the traditional Chinese bun into a pocket to allow for portability but also to mimic the beloved American sandwich, Mediterranean pita, and Mexican/Latin-American taco. Our bun would be a new flavor in a very familiar shape. But how would we also make the fillings approachable? We knew that kalbi beef short-ribs and fried chicken katsu would be a hit but would normal everyday people love or hate something called “pig-belly”? One thing for sure is the fact that lots of women (and men) are wary of eating something so fatty. So after much debate, we decided that braised pork shoulder might be a good exchange.

After all, we weren’t able to present the pig belly in its best form. All of the braising caused the fatty goodness to separate into clumps. It was still delicious, but not as pretty.

We also decided that adding a dessert item to the menu would be a good way to give people an end to their meal. Dessert is one crucial thing missing from dim sum that many non-native eaters crave. After we had cleaned through all of our tiny dishes, our friends asked, “Hey, what’s for dessert?” We had no response. Typically there is no dessert after a Chinese meal. Normally it ends with a slice of fruit and the bill.

Although we’ve not yet begun experimenting with our dessert bun, we’re thinking--mini versions of the buns fried (!) and injected with rich cream cheese and ricotta spiked with lemon zest and a tangy berry dipping sauce. Can’t wait for trials to begin! Stay tuned.