San Francisco Vietnamese: Tu Lan

I spent the weekend in San Francisco, reacquainting myself with the city itself and old friends. While some things appear to have changed in the past ten years since I last lived there, other things remain steadfastly the same, namely the Tenderloin. Nestled blocks away from the tourist destinations of Union Square and the tony neighborhoods of Pac Heights and Nob Hill, the Tenderloin is, to put it mildly, "colorful". Unless you are a law student, have business at a nearby courthouse, or happen to be a frugal hotel guest who somehow, unluckily, ended up booked at the Renoir Hotel under promises that it is "Union Square adjacent", then you have no reason to go the Tenderloin. That is, until now.
On Sixth, a half a block south of Market St., resides a hole in the wall bearing the name Tu Lan. While it certainly looks sketchy, with the people loitering outside, the not so pleasant stenches rising from the street, and the random convenience store on the corner, you would be hard pressed to find better, cheaper, faster, or more delicious Vietnamese food. Score. Enter the restaurant and you are greeted with a few tiny dilapidated tables and chairs and people seated at a long, bustling counter where the food is being prepared at lightning speed. Smoke and steam is rising in great clouds and you may wonder if the place has ever passed a health inspection. Who knows? A drawing of Julia Child eating with chop sticks graces the menu (she was a fan of the restaurant back in the day) and her endorsement isn't given with health code contingencies, so don't overthink it. If you don't get a spot downstairs you'll be ushered up some rickity stairs to an overheated attic area with some tables and chairs. To get over the heat and any misgivings you might have at this point, order a cold beer and peruse the menu. Anything you get will be delicious and fast and reasonably priced, so settle on something quickly. It's too hot up there to loiter! Plus, if there's an earthquake (or maybe even a firetruck going by), the floor is surely to collapse, so minimizing your time up there is probably a good idea.

Although it'd been ten years since I'd been to Tu Lan, nothing has changed about the place at all - not only has it not been painted, but the food is still, happily, the same. I remember the shrimp dishes being very good but since my lunch companion couldn't eat shrimp we settled on the fried pork sausage rolls (No. 2), a bowl of beef pho (No. 7) and a chow mein dish with chicken (No. 19). All of them delish. And huge. There was no way we could finish it all, even with large (and we thought were bottomless) appetites, but with the whole bill ringing in around 20.00, it is worth it to try a few things. The sausage rolls were a huge splurge (in calories, not cost), but so worth it. Seasoned pork sausage covered in a crispy wrapper of goodness and fried to perfection, sliced up, and presented to you on a plastic plate with a bowl of dipping sauce containing vinegar, fish oil and chilis. Oh, artery clogging yumminess, how GOOD can you get? There were two rolls, each about six inches long, and further sliced into three very large pieces. There was no way we could eat all of them, so we rested, before plundering on. Next up in the efficient delivery system was the steaming bowl of pho containing a broth that was really clean and light, and instead of being presented with a plate of fresh basil and bean sprouts and such to season your own soup, it came pre seasoned. Normally this would be a disappointment, but the soup was so well flavored, with just the right amount of peppers and fresh basil, perfectly cooked rice noodles and nice cuts of lean beef tenderloin, the novelty of throwing a bunch of things into your bowl and watching it wilt with the hot broth was soon forgotten. I did decorate my portion with a bit of Siracha sauce, but it hardly needed it. At this point we were about to burst, but up from the bowles of the dragon emerged our server, unceremoniously throwing a huge plate of chow mein on our table along with the bill before she bustled off. And, oh, it was so, so beautiful, what could we do but eat? After garnering some admiring looks from some nearby diners and questions about "what is that?", we dug in.
A gigantic mound of slightly crispy chow mein noodles sauced to perfection with garlic, soy, and other delightful goodness and stir fried with crispy crunchy broccoli, moist and well seasoned chicken and spring onions, it really was to die for. There was a bunch of other veg in her too, but since I was in a food and heat coma at this point I can't remember what they were. Suffice it to say, if you settle on this dish (definitely enough for two on its own), you'll be happy.

Leaving cash to cover the bill (plus tip) on our table, we finally ducked out of there, carefully picking our way down the rickety stairs, past the busy counter and out onto the street where we were reminded once again that we weren't really having an exotic Vietnamese cultural vacay but instead we were in the center of "Traffic". Ah well. So worth it. And, if you venture a few blocks past Powell and you're not in the mood for Vietnamese, Market and Sixth just around the corner from Tu Lan (on Market) you'll find Taqueria Cancun which used to the best burritos ever. I wasn't able to reconfirm their quality this trip around, but they are still in business, so hopefully that's an endorsement to their continued quality.