It took almost 10 years, but it’s now official: Charles Phan, the Mission High graduate and renowned Slanted Door chef, is back in the neighborhood.
His new two-story restaurant, Wo Hing General Store, is located in the original Slanted Door space at 584 Valencia Street. In 2002, Phan wanted to expand the restaurant but ran into trouble with neighbors and the permitting process, and moved downtown instead.
The Phan-owned properties — 580, 582 and 584 Valencia Street — sat mostly vacant, even though Phan promised that he would someday return.
When asked if he was happy to be back in the Mission, he laughed before saying, “Yes, so people can stop harassing me.”
Phan said he had always wanted to come back to the neighborhood where he grew up and where his mother still lives, but stayed away for financial reasons.
Finally, though, he was able to purchase the building in which Wo Hing General Store now sits.
Phan said he wants to expand the restaurant eventually, but for now, he’s starting with a small venue that seats from 70 to 90 people.
Wo Hing won’t open to the public until Oct. 28, but journalists got a sneak peek.
Phan said that the name of the restaurant pays homage to his uncle Wo and his father Hing, who migrated from China to Vietnam in 1951 and opened a general store.
The focus is Chinese street food. On the menu Wednesday night was a mushroom salad with yuba (tofu skin) in a sesame sauce, lamb skewers, pork porridge and fried calamari and squid, among other things. For dessert, Slanted Door Group pastry chef Chucky Dugo had prepared sheep’s milk yogurt with orange preserve and popped amaranth in a wheat beer, sugar and orange reduction. The other dessert item was a black sesame mochi with vanilla cream.
The cocktail list was surprising for its decidedly non-Asian vibe: pina colada, Iceberg Daiquiri, dry sherry punch and a 50/50 split made of Plymouth gin, Dolin vermouth, orange, bitters and a lemon twist.
As for the decor, a few items, such as the table downstairs, were brought in from the Slanted Door at the Ferry Building just for Wednesday’s event. If the glass upstairs looks familiar, it’s because the architect, T. Olle Lundberg, used old Muni bus shelter glass panels. The bar is also recycled, from a bowling alley in Hayward.