Cracking the Cookie: Chinatown

Welcome back to Condo Weekly’s lifestyle column! We provide you with useful insider tips on getting the most out of your city: in this case, San Francisco and the Bay Area. This week, one of our lifestyle columnists is covering one of San Francisco’s most popular neighborhoods: Chinatown.

When it comes to notable San Francisco neighborhoods, Chinatown can’t be beat. As one of the biggest cities on the west coast, San Francisco has historically been a haven for recent transplants from China. These first-generation immigrants have created an authentic atmosphere that you are unlikely to find in any other Chinatown in the United States. Though you can experience a classic taste of China in the neighborhood’s shops and markets, Chinese heritage is also reinvented at more modern locales like the restaurant, China Live.

CW Pro Tip: wait to buy until after you’ve seen the entire street

The stores in Chinatown sell merchandise that’s remarkably similar. You can walk into one store and see a shelf of red wooden Buddhas, then cross the street and see them lining the counter somewhere else. You shouldn’t feel pressured to purchase anything immediately, because chances are, you’ll see the same miniature figurine of a woman in a kimono elsewhere.

If you’re only looking for a few souvenirs, some of the best can be found at the much larger stores, a notable one being “Canton Bazaar”. There’s also a big store that sells upscale kimonos and silks on their second floor, located a few blocks from the Dragon Gate entrance. These two-story shops carry both the typical knick-knacks you’ll find everywhere, as well as more unique goods. If you’re short on time, they’re the best way to make the most of your Chinatown experience.

CW Pro Tip: make reservations for China Live

When I arrived at China Live at 4:45, the restaurant was nearly empty. This is a good time to go. There were open tables galore, but instead of grabbing a seat at one, I was redirected to the bar. Not really the bar, but one of their “stations” (possibly dim sum) with the same seating style: an elevated ledge and high chairs. I asked to be moved, but it wasn’t allowed because they told me that all of the regular seating is held exclusively for customers with reservations.

It was an easy fix - I logged onto their website through my mobile phone and made an “official” reservation. This is easy to do when you arrive earlier, before 6 pm. A waiter then told me that I was free to sit at a table, and I moved accordingly.

CW Pro Tip: be wary of so-called designer goods (unless you want fakes)

In the past, Chinatown has had a reputation for being the sort of place where you could buy designer handbags for less than designer prices, if you catch my drift. When I visited 5 years ago, a man showed me a purse and mentioned that with a pair of scissors I could turn two large “O’s” into interlocking “C’s” (the result looked very similar to the logo for Chanel).

On my most recent visit, I wasn’t able to find any knockoff designer bags (maybe I looked suspicious? These bags are illegal so you better act cool). However, if you want to walk on the wild side, there are still fakes to be found in Chinatown. The latest trend is: Ray-Ban sunglasses. I don’t know why, but I saw at least two stores selling fake Ray-Bans when I was there. To make matters slightly confusing, some of the Ray-Bans are also real. The fakes don’t have a “Ray-Ban” sticker and they cost $20. The real Ray-Bans do have a sticker, and they’re over $100 (basically full price). 

Long story short: If you want Ray-Bans and you like to play it dangerously, buy a pair in Chinatown. Otherwise, save your money for a reputable store.

My Trip

I parked at one of the few underground parking garages on the periphery of Chinatown. Protip: use google maps to find parking, driving through downtown San Francisco is similar to completing a maze. Many streets only go one way, and you can wind up a block from your destination only to be forced to drive four blocks away. 

San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when I tell you that it covers 24 square blocks. Because I was seeking the classic Chinatown experience, I decided to begin my tour at the Dragon Gate. Located at the intersection of Bush and Grant Avenue, the Dragon Gate was built with stones given to San Francisco by the Taiwanese government. It’s also the very beginning of Grant Avenue, Chinatown’s main drag.

The first thing I noticed as I began down this street was the number of “50% off” sales that many of the stores were having. Yes, it seemed every other knick-knack importer was “going out of business”. I am fairly sure that some were fake (they wrote “70% off” on what looked like a permanent sign), but it’s possible that others were real. 

I went into the stores one-by-one at the beginning, until I started to see the repeats (ceramic cats, buddha statues, red tassled gongs, etc). Though they often sell similar merchandise, some stores distinguish themselves by specializing in other categories like electronics or leather. A $100 leather jacket seemed like a steal, and Chinatown is the type of place you can probably haggle if you’re willing to take the time.

There are also a fair number of jewelry stores, which sell a lot of jade. I was a little surprised that they do not allow you to take any pictures, and will tell you not to take photos if they catch you doing it. Many stores in Chinatown forbid photography.

The best part of going through these stores was discovering unusual novelties. For instance, I found a bowl filled with water and clear stones called “glass eggs”. 

There was also a pair of slip-on “acupressure” sandals that were lined with little buttons labeled for body parts. I tried them on, and I actually did feel better.

They also had a dragon’s head mask which cost a lot less than I anticipated. You could probably buy it and use to celebrate your own Chinese New Year’s parade.

If you do one scheduled thing besides shopping in Chinatown, make it the fortune cookie factory. It’s located about a block away from the main street, down an alley that is notoriously difficult to find. I would also recommend using google maps here as well.

When I left the main street (you’ll know what it is when you get there), I noticed that I was entering a much less tourist-oriented version of Chinatown. There were elderly people, foreign DVDs, and I heard one guy talking about buying illegal fireworks. 

When I got to the fortune cookie factory, I encountered a line (it’s popular). Everyone got a free “flat” cookie, which tasted exactly like a regular cookie that hadn’t been folded yet. I could see the workers make and stuff the fortunes into these treats, and also got the opportunity to write my own. I thought I was forced to depend on fate, but apparently, you can write your own fortune (it costs $1).

Another can’t miss: the grocery stores. They sell exotic ingredients like dried ginger in giant barrels (imported from Wisconsin), dried shrimp in packets, and dried fish left loose in a bin. The general drift of it is that you will be surprised by the number of unusual foods that they have managed to dry. Some of these foods are unlabeled, so you will need to communicate with the store owner to be sure of what it is you’re buying.

I wanted to try a sit-down meal. There are plenty of well-reviewed restaurants inside Chinatown, like the House of Nanking (according to a website, Bill Clinton ate there), but I had heard that China Live was a different experience entirely. I wanted to go because I once ate at a chain-restaurant called Eataly (a complex filled with Italian restaurants and stores) and I’d heard that China Live was basically the Chinese version of that.

I re-parked my car on Broadway, and got a table at China Live. The restaurant’s design was incredibly modern, which makes sense because it’s only a few years old. I ate at the main restaurant on the first floor, but China Live also has two bars and a much more upscale restaurant (Eight Tables by George Chen) upstairs. The lobby was filled with trinkets, books, and free tea samples for you to try while you waited. 

The interior of the restaurant was spacious, and the seating was cozy. The crowd was definitely tech-friendly (I overheard a group talking about working for Google), but not especially young. 

The set up of the main “market restaurant” is this: everyone sits in a large open area, and they order food from one of the eight specialized stations spread around the room. The meals are served family-style. I got an order of chicken dumplings, which came on an unusually shaped plate.

China Live is open from 11 am to midnight. Most stores in Chinatown open at 10 am and close by 9 or 10 pm.