Urban Stomach

Roughly six years ago, I was up late one night frantically searching Chowhound (when Chowhound used to matter) for chicken wings. I was sure that there had to be something that I was missing. In college, wings were a staple of my umm, “balanced” diet. I once proudly ate 27 Mr. Spot’s jumbo wings in one sitting on a dare. How could San Francisco, with such a great diversity of food, be void of a decent wing joint? A place with cold beer on tap, maybe a few big screen tv’s with football on, and, most importantly, hot, greasy, messy wings by the basket with celery and processed blue cheese dressing on the side. Well I found that place…and it was called Hooters. At the Wharf.

But I also found San Tung, the venerable Chinese place on Irving and 11th. I didn’t even know that such a thing as Chinese style chicken wings existed but the Chowhound raves were so numerous, I had to trot out to the Inner Sunset for a taste. The Chowhounders were right. These wings, while completely different than my Mr. Spot’s memories, were a revelation. However, San Tung was nearly impossible to get into, especially with young kids who weren’t going to put up with a 45 minute wait for a table (ok, me). More Chowhound research ensued and the result was SO, a small place further down Irving at around 23rd. SO was owned by James, the son of the San Tung owners, and he smartly created a menu with San Tung’s greatest hits including the potstickers, the black bean sauce noodles and, yes, the wings. SO became a regular part of my Chinese food rotation until, one day around three years ago, there was a “CLOSED” sign in the window and, much to my disappointment, they never reopened.

So (no pun intended), I’m up late again surfing food sites a few weeks ago (some things haven’t changed in six years) when I notice that #3 on the “hot” restaurants on Yelp is a place called SO. “No Way!” , I thought to myself. Then, I saw the SOMA address and figured that this was a total coincidence. Maybe SO was yet another locavore, organic blah, blah, blah. But I clicked anyway and started reading Yelpers’ thoughts. Every single review mentioned chicken wings. Most reviews mentioned potstickers. SO was reopen! Five minutes away from our house!

Wanting to try a variety of dishes, I asked my cousins to join us for dinner this past Friday night. While the decor was a little bit nicer than the old Irving St. location, not much else had changed. To my memory, the menu was nearly identical with a variety of fried items, noodles, potstickers, and fried rice. I’m beyond happy to report that everything tasted exactly as I remembered it, maybe even better. Let’s start with the star of the show, the wings. SO’s wings are very lightly fried, to a point that you get a glassy crunch, and then tossed with a simple combination of roasted red pepper, garlic, and ginger soy sauce. The results are both stunning and addictive. If there weren’t six other hungry diners with me, I would have easily polished the whole order myself.

While the wings are my “essential order” at SO, the potstickers are also not to be missed. There’s no secret ingredient or anything unusual about them but rarely in San Francisco have I had potstickers this well executed. Well browned pillows of dough hug a perfectly balanced mixture of ground pork and ginger. Hint: Order the potstickers early as they tend to take longer than then other dishes to arrive at the table, a result of proper pan frying in the kitchen. Other winners included the SO Black Bean Sauce Noodles, a spicy mix of house made noodles, pork, and scrambled eggs and the Dried Sauteed String Beans, cooked with super fresh beans and a little bit on the garlicky side.

If you can’t tell by now, my excitement about the relaunch of SO is boiling over. It’s the perfect place for a quick dinner or to stop by on the way home from work for takeout. Prices are very reasonable with no dishes on the current menu costing more than $7.50. Including my two young daughters and two teenage boys, seven of us ate for $63 after tax and tip. So are these the best wings in San Francisco? Right now, I’d say a big yes.

SO
1010 Bryant St. (b/t 8th and 9th)
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-552-7676
Monday-Saturday, 11AM-9PM
Website