One of the great features of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is easy access to a wide variety of cuisines. Name it and you can get great quality somewhere close by. A couple of weeks ago, I took my family to a restaurant called Betelnut in San Francisco. Betelnut is located on Union Street in the Cow Hollow district.

The reservation was for 4 at 7 p.m., Saturday night.. We left our house in Central San Rafael and arrived in the “City” within a half hour. Union Street has a number of clothing boutiques and trendy stores; it was easy to kill 30 minutes by doing a little shopping. When we arrived at the restaurant the place was bustling. The bar was full of singles eating and drinking. The first thing you notice is the rich red textured walls and the dark wood stained beams, the feeling of being in the eclectic Shanghai of the mid 1930’s.

We were escorted to our table in the back; on the way we passed a large number of couples eating, drinking and enjoying. This is a great spot for a date! Loud, fun, and energetic with great food!

We started out with the lettuce cups and the chilli crusted calamari. My kid’s favorites are the “Jiao tze” dumplings and the “Little dragon” dumplings. The Jiao tze is covered in chili vinegar. If hot ain’t your thing, don’t order them! But they are delicious. My favorite is the oven smoked sea bass. The fish has a delightful sweet smoky flavor highlighted by a ginger-cucumber sauce. Linda, my wife, loves the Szechuan green beans. These are stir-fried in garlic and chili oil. Again, flavorful but spicy. The green beans and a cold draft beer are the perfect combination. I could’ve done without the grilled lemongrass beef with rice noodles; the rice noodles are not very flavorful.

All in all, a great food experience! Try the Mao Jito; it’s tasty and packs a punch. You can’t go wrong living in the Bay Area!

Posted by:Mark Machado