San Francisco: August 2024: Day 1: Mason's Birthday

San Francisco

August 2024: Day 1: Mason's Birthday

Last days of the Southwest free for all?

Sea Salt and Paper is a great in-flight game to play.

Fairfield Inn and Suites Oyster Point hasn't changed very much since the last visit.

Rental car is so new it still has all the factory parts stickers on it.

The famed Koi Palace.

Inside has not changed much. Menu.

Menu.

Pearl is trying to recruit Sue into her plans. Sue seems unconvinced.

Har gow are excellent in all regards-- skin thickness, number of folds, taste...

Pai gut were okay, a bit too small.

Got the wrong tripe. Oops. Still tasty.

Deep fried tofu was perfectly cooked but also not very interesting.

Xiao long bao are not bad.

Ham sui gok are very good.

Dan tat, Portugese style.

Lo bac guo were solid. Ditto for the gai lan.

Fried shrimp rolls were excellent.

Gow chow gow looked ordinary but were nom.

Fried taro and pork balls were almost TOO fried, but not quite-- still good!

They parked a cart next to us to tempt us?

Baked pork chop over rice, maaaaybe this was the favorite dish Pearl was trying to get us to order?

Laughter.

Lovely summer day.

Happy Birthday Mason!!!

The Lai-Lu family is way too adorable.

B Star for Mason's birthday dinner.

Inside is small. I forget which Hollywood star we saw as we were leaving.

Patio is pretty nice.

Happy 10th Birthday Mason!

Happy family.

Spring rolls. Tofu, I think.

Stick pork spareribs were solid.

Deep fried cauliflower was good.

Brussels sprouts.

Platha with curry dip is always good.

Casey looks happy.

Proud parents doting over their son.

Tea leaf salad, nom nom nom.

Mason and his favorite dish.

Garlic noodle was okay.

Forgot the miso glazed cod also comes atop garlic noodle.

Coconut chicken curry noodles.

Laska was beautifully presented.

Duck fried rice. Subtle in how good it is.

Chowing down on his salmon ochazuke.

Defiant expression under his dad's penetrating gaze.

Hungry and satisified.

Time for cake.

Blowing out candles.

Birthday cake.

With the Lai grandparents.

Annual college friends visit for Pearl, Sue, and Ophelia. Started off with board games while on the short flight up from Los Angeles, picked up a rental car so new we were the renters, straight into dim sum at Koi Palace on landing, and before we know it, it was time to celebrate Mason's 10th birthday at the birthday boy's choice of restaurant, B Star.

Sea Salt and Paper is a recent favorite for the board game group, and it happens to have a small footprint that lends itself well to plane rides. Then not long after our arrival at SFO, Pearl met us for lunch at Koi Palace in Daly City. The decor hasn't changed much since she and Simon got married there years ago, but the food is still good, with a particularly well-executed har gow, and a ham sui gok that was nearly as good. The deep fried taro balls were almost too deep fried but were still tasty, and the fried shrimp roll was superb. Pearl also mentioned one entree whose name I sadly forget-- think we saw it on a passing cart later and it looked good too, but was glad we skipped it-- would not have had stomach space!

After an appropriate amount of time ensuring the cats would not murder us on our return, it was off to Mason's choice of restaurants for his birthday dinner, B Star. Food there was mostly good to excellent as well, with Mason enjoying his favorite, a crispy rice salmon soup (salmon ochazuke) that looked amazing (he did not share). The seafood laska was beautifully presented, while the duck fried rice, platha, and brussels sprouts were all good. Ditto for the sticky pork spareribs as well as the deep fried cauliflower. About the only thing I would skip are the garlic noodles as well as the coconut chicken curry noodles, both of which were pretty ordinary compared to the rest of the menu.

Both the Lu grandparents and the Lai grandparents made it, a cake from Schubert's was topped with many candles for the birthday boy, and a good time was had by all. Happy Birthday Mason!