Okay, it’s time to put the San Francisco trip reports to bed. As I think I mentioned before, a full half of our meals in the city involved Chinese food. Only one of these meals was planned: dim sum at Yank Sing on our first full day. Our brunch/lunch at 606 came about mostly because our evolving plans put us right by it on the second day. On the third day we started out with a visit to Alcatraz Island (highly recommended) and the original plan had been to eat at Hog Island Oyster Co. in the Ferry Building right after. But as the older boy had not been able to enjoy dim sum at Yank Sing (on account of a blessedly mild and brief bout of food poisoning), he asked if we could go eat a full-on dim sum meal again. And so we ended up at City View at Walter U. Lum Place.

We almost didn’t end up there. We walked from the ferry terminal at the pier and Google Maps took us to an address on Commercial St. with no restaurant. It turned out this was the original location of City View, from which they’d moved not-so-very long ago on account of lease issues. Thankfully, the current location was not terribly far away from there and a little more walking meant we arrived with a good appetite. We didn’t have a reservation (I’m not sure if they take them) but we got a table right away in their attractive dining room (which is not tiny but is quite a lot smaller than Yank Sing).

Unlike Yank Sing, City View does not have any cart dim sum. You order from the menu at the table and everything comes out freshly made from the kitchen. We ordered some tea and got down to business quickly. The dim sum menu includes all the classics as well as some dishes we don’t see in the Twin Cities and we ordered across the spectrum.

What did we get? First to arrive was an order of their Snow Mountain Baked Pork Bun. Obviously not as good as the versions at Tim Ho Wan in either Hong Kong or Seoul but very good indeed. Next to arrive were a large vat of Century Egg and Pork Congee and Garlic String Beans. Both also very good. These were followed by a trio of Har Gao, Chicken Feet and XO Pan Fried Noodles. The chicken feet and har gao were exemplary and the sweet and crisp pan fried noodles were rather good as well—though they got a little cloying finishing them all. The next round brought Scallop Siu Mai, Pork Siu Mai, Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf and Black Bean Spareribs. The siu mai were both quite good but the spareribs and sticky rice were even better. We were already pretty full at this point but given the high quality of everything we’d eaten I couldn’t resist getting an order of their Turnip Cake and for dessert, their Steamed Custard Lava Bun. We did not regret this.

For a look at the restaurant, the menu and everything we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

The total came to just below $150 with tax and tip. This is more than we paid at Yank Sing but we also got quite a bit more food here. At any rate, while I concede that we may not have had the best possible experience of what Yank Sing can do, we liked this meal quite a lot better. I highly recommend City View for high quality dim sum that won’t break the bank—especially if you are visiting San Francisco from somewhere like the Twin Cities where dim sum options are significantly poorer (no matter what local critics/boosters may tell you).

Alright, that’s San Francisco in the books. We ate very well in the city (see also my reviews of State Bird Provisions, Copra and Del Popolo) and look forward to hopefully coming back again soon to eat some more. It’s not the end of my California trip reports, however. I still have three more reports to come from our last few days in Los Angeles (including two more Chinese meals) and also one more Bay Area report: on another Indian meal, this time eaten in a more humble setting in Menlo Park. I hope to be done with all of them by the end of the month. My next Twin Cities report will be posted on Tuesday and will be of a couple meals eaten over the summer at Godavari in Eden Prairie.