Mission Chinese Food, the new project from the Mission Street Food team, will be open for business this Monday (July 5), operating out of former Mission Street Food spot Lung Shan. While blogville has mainly focused on the delivery service it will provide, Mission Chinese Food will actually offer eat-in, takeout, and delivery options, promising the latter within 20-45 minutes, seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m..
Continuing the charitable approach employed by MSF and the related forthcoming restaurant project Commonwealth, 75 cents from each item will be donated to SF Food Bank. As for the chefs' already controversial label of "Americanized Oriental Cuisine," which Danny Bowien broke down for us recently, Anthony Myint took to the Mission Street Food blog to add a postscript: "Our use of the term 'oriental' is not meant to be offensive. The word is derived from a root meaning 'eastern,' which represents a Eurocentric orientation to Asia, and it was most often used in a bygone era when Europeans viewed the regions east of the Mediterranean as exotic lands full of 'romance and intrigue.' For us, as Asian-American cooks, using this loaded term is an indictment of the Eurocentricity of fine dining, but it's also meant to desensitize the term in that transcending-racism-by-not-interpreting-every-single-thing-as-racist way. You know, like the 'queers' did."
The opening menu consists of 11 items, priced from $4-15, with the majority falling in the $8-9 range. Peking duck "Chinito" (pictured here), a rice noodle-wrapped and stuffed donut that was first served at the last Mission Street Food, will be joined by a vegan option (one of three on the menu, including MSF mainstay "Lung Shan's Vegan Delight" soup), made with roasted mushrooms and braised turnips. Chicken will be available in whole or half portions, roasted in Hainan ginger and burnt wine sauces, while Myint calls Bowien's fiery ma po tofu "soon-to-be world famous." Other fare includes an Islamic lamb hot pot, braised Mongolian beef cheek, and salt cod fried rice. [EaterWire]
· All Eater SF Mission Street Food Coverage [~ ESF ~]
· All Eater SF Commonwealth Coverage [~ ESF ~]
