Yank Sing Offers Gluten-Free Options

Our most recent visit to Yank Sing in San Francisco was wonderful -- with the added bonus of the staff working carefully with our table to choose gluten-free options as well as regular courses.

The visit was the perfect was to kick-off a week-long stay by the Bay -- and touring the culinary delights of the regions, including visits to the Ferry Building Marketplace, Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys french restaurant, Fenton's Creamery in Oakland, and more.

The Rincon Center location was bustling on a holiday Monday -- with lots of traditional as well as new, more contemporary choices. There are those who believe Yank Sing is past its prime, but our experience in early January was anything but.

One challenge for some is the price -- it is easy to run up a pretty good size bill when your choices run $5 - $12.  Oh, what the heck. Go for it.

Dazzling Dumpling Infusion

It had been five years since I had the chance to return to Yank Sing, the San Francisco financial district dim sum palace that completely, forever, sealed my passion for the cuisine. It was and is something really, really good.

And, it was made better when my friend and former colleague Dave Chapman joined me for lunch at the Rincon Center location. Okay, maybe the company was as good as the food, but that's really not a fair comparison.

Every dish, including snap peas stir fried and served in a sweet brown sause, hit the mark. And, in about 30 minutes, we commited to a table littered with dishes of crab claws, shrimp dumplings, siu mai, shimp wrapped in skins, scallops fresh from the Bay and about 40 other varieties to which we saw sail past in steam carts.

Maybe we got there at the right time (about 11:30 a.m.) or maybe we were in the right spot, but there were an amazing number of wait staff and a graduate course in dumplings -- we were never short of choices, chances and calories.

Visit the web site and you'll see. Better yet, grab your chopsticks and get yourself over there now. If you've been there, what's your favorite?

Yanking My Chain

Yank Sing, here I come. A two-day visit to San Francisco is in the offing -- and a chance to cruise by my favorite dim sum palace. Yesterday, I read a great line -- "What wiggles your wonton?" Yes, it's Yank Sing. Photos to come.