San Tung’s Fried Chicken

/ Cali, Food

As a part of documenting my experience in California, I’m going to start sharing my experiences with food here. I’ve asked my friends to recommend some of their best eats for cheaps… so this is going to be fun.

Today, I went to San Tung, a Chinese restaurant that is known for its fried chicken wings. Easily accessible from the Muni, and there seems to be plenty of parking in the neighborhood. Patrick and I arrived around noon, and there was a short line outside. I’d say the wait was approximately 20 minutes. As soon as you walked in, you pretty much saw everyone with a plate of chicken wings. While this restaurant served other dishes, it was apparent that wings were their *thing*.

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So we ordered some wings and tried out a dish of steamed dumplings. The wings were pretty good—deep fried wings with a blend of sugary, salty, and peppery sauce. There were seasoned well, though a little on the sugary side. The balance, however, was right. The skin was crispy, and wasn’t over battered. When you compare the wings at San Tung to Bon Chon’s, I’d say that you could easily eat more wings at San Tung. For some reason, Bon Chon’s wings are so heavily battered, that the average person can probably only eat 6 wings before tapping out.

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The steam dumplings were pretty good. I’d say the dumplings probably needed to *be* served with a nice vinegar sauce to really elevate the flavor. Nonetheless, it was decent.

Overall price was about $10-12 per person, and it was satisfying. I’d say that the one thing you shouldn’t do is order too much. The wings don’t look like they would reheat well compared to Bon Chons’ wings.

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My only criticism of their wings is that once you get to the bottom of the plate, there is an excess of sauce, which makes the last 3 or 4 wings really… well, saucy. Some may like this, but my last couple of bites were a little too rich.

Would I go back to San Tung? Sure. It’s pretty solid. Truthfully, it’s not the best wings I’ve ever had, but it hits the spot when I want something similar to a Bon Chon’s.

Here’s San Tung’s address:
1031 Irving St
San Francisco, CA 94122
Inner Sunset

If you have any recommendations of cheap eats in SF, please leave them in the comments below. Thanks!

Back to DC

/ Cali, Me

It’s been two weeks now in San Francisco, and now I’m on my flight back to DC. I can say with certainly the following things:

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1. The last two weeks have felt like 2 months. The pace is fast, and the race is on.

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2. My network in SF is truly talented. I am pushed, challenged and encouraged by everyone around me. The density of talent in this area just blows my mind.

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3. I am now obsessed with learning everything I can from this opportunity. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t learned something massive.

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4. It is clear that I need to be in SF to take advantage of my new network and build things faster. Being there gives me front row seats.

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5. We need to move faster on Flare. We are putting a lot of process in place to understand the mechanics of everything… but it’s time to but we need to focus on delivering builds faster, iterating on designs/research, and we need to get this thing to grow.

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As I reflect on all the things I’ve learned in the past two weeks, I realize that I probably should start blogging a little more and sharing the little nuggets that I’ve picked up.

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I’ll be in DC for the next two weeks to sell off more of my stuff and prepping my condo for rental. I certainly need to spend time with Annie and my family, but I need to get back to SF as soon as possible to keep the momentum.

A New Chapter: SF

/ Cali, Me

My mom always said the world is huge and “it’s like being a frog looking up at the sky from the bottom of a well”. I’m writing now, on a plane, on my way to San Francisco to take on a new project. After working in Northern Virginia for AddThis.com for over 7.5 years, I realized that it was time for a change.

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When I first joined AddThis (originally called “Clearspring” at the time), the company had just received its series B funding and was hiring people left and right. I was among the first 30-ish employees that they hired. During that time, I helped to build, scale and a company. I also saw a lot of change.

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What’s seems contradictory about this move is that I was very happy with my AddThis and everything around me. I walked to work nearly every day, my job catered lunch, and I enjoyed living close to my family. The pay was good, and I could afford to surround myself with nice things without feeling burnt out or ever needing a real vacation.

So why change things “if it ain’t broken”? I think at the end of the day, I needed two satisfy 3 things:

1. I needed to co-found a company. Being involved earlier would give me a chance to play a bigger part in creating the culture and experiencing everything from the front lines.

2. I needed to take more risks. I had to be a part of something that could have the potential of a tremendous payout in the future.

3. I needed to be challenged. I needed to be around people better than me, that could push me to do better work. I needed a new network of peers that could sculpt me into becoming a sharper and more creative professional.

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I needed to be at the mecca of all of this, and all the signs pointed to San Francisco. I didn’t need another job, I needed a project that was mine—something I could truly call my own project.

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I’m not sure if I’ll be much happier if I had all these things, but I have a feeling that taking some risks now may have a bigger payout in the future. And, at the end of the day, I’ll be working about the same amount of time and putting the same amount of effort. The main delta at the moment is that I have to downsize, and I’ll have to put more effort into making time to spend with my family and girlfriend. The distance and time zones will certainly make it challenging. The key will be to find balance at some point in the future.

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On a side note, one of my closest friends, Mark Smith, died last year around this time, and he left with me with a bit of sound advice, “get out of the rat game sooner than later”. He lived to 64 and worked until the day he died. As he got closer to retirement, he became a slave to his own success. He said that if he could do it all over again, he would have loved to get out by the age of 50.

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So, here I am on a plane, ready to start a new chapter. I hope that I look back one day and know that I made the right choice. I’d like to thank AddThis for a wonderful chapter. As I head west, I will take all the lessons you’ve taught me. As I step out of this small well, I hope to explore the world and blaze new trails.

Travelling Light

/ Cali, Me, Photo

I went to California recently and I tried taking as little as possible. In retrospect, it was the right decision, and truth be told, I could have subtracted more. In the photo above, you’ll notice a ton of things that are not included compared to the photo below. One of my priorities was to take my laptop and some camera equipment. As a last minute decision, I left behind the extra camera lens.

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In hindsight, I probably could have left behind the tripod, lens hood and car charger. By packing lighter, you can do so much more. It also forces you to be a little more creative with the equipment you bring. Packing light translates into being more mobile, which is a good thing for travel.

Hanging with Rudy

/ Cali, Food, Me, Photo

One word: Generous

While I was out in Cali, I had a chance to hang out with Rudy and his family. I’ve only known Rudy for a short amount of time, and I’m just astonished by how generous he is. It’s really rare to meet people that constantly give more than they take.

And when it comes to food, both he and his wife are off-the-charts generous.

Food Galore

The second thing you realize about Rudy is that he’s serious about food. It’s also just as rare to meet someone with similar tastes in food, and pretty much have a 100% hit ratio for good suggestions. I know a lot of people into food, but Rudy and his wife Laney are true afficionados. They are what you consider genuine “foodies”.

Yes folks, that’s a lychee bubble tea drink. Definitely interesting. Later that evening, we went out to one of their favorite Chinese restaurants.

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The food was spot on, starting with a roasted crispy pork belly. The pork was juicy, but not too fatty. The flavor was rich, without being too salty. Most importantly, the skin was crispy, consistent and delicious.

It was an onslaught of delicious food across the board. What was most impressive was that the dishes weren’t exotic, in terms of ingredients. The dishes were executed at a high level, and unquestionably won in spades when it came to cantonese cuisine.

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And just when I thought it was over, Rudy had to order these fried crispy bread sticks wrapped in noodle. The sauces delicious—at this point, I was pretty damn full, but I had to give everything a try.

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And for the grand finale, they ordered a mango pudding dessert. I had to say, it was tasty. I mean, I tapped out about 2 dishes ago, so I was at my limit. The food hurt so good. I literally had shortness of breath and the sweats at this point. Nonetheless, every bite was worth it.

On a side note

It’s also pretty refreshing to talk to someone who’s passionate about building products and stay in the sauce. I expect to see great things coming from Rudy soon. Cheers buddy! Thanks for such a memorable experience.

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Lunch with Philip

/ Cali, Me, Photo

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After SmugMug, Philip and I grabbed some lunch in the Mountain View area.



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After walking around, we decided on a Ramen restaurant.



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As we entered, you could smell the aroma of Ramen broth. However, as we walked towards the back, they just cleaned the floors… which was reminiscent of a semi-sterile bathroom scent.



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Despite the smell, the food was pretty good.



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And the ramen was actually pretty tasty.

Philip, thanks for the tour and making some time to catch up. ^_^