A Nail-Biting Classic

The Dodgers celebrate (LA Times photo)

The Most Valuable Player of the 2025 World Series was a pitcher who was born and raised in Japan, but he wasn't Shohei Ohtani. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the complete game winner of game two, was the starter and winner of game six, and was the closer and winner of game seven.

The seventh game of the World Series, often a letdown, was a nail-biting classic decided in the 11th inning, but it didn't start auspiciously.

When Bo Bichette hit a three-run home run off of Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the third, it looked like Toronto was well on its way to a World championship; the Dodgers' anemic bats throughout the Series made a comeback a heavy lift. However, their relief pitching held the rest of the way as the visitors clawed their way back. The Dodgers were trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning when their number-9 hitter became an unlikely hero.

Miguel Rojas became the first player to hit a tying home run in the ninth inning of a Game 7...Toronto was two outs from its first championship since 1993 when Rojas, inserted into the slumping Dodgers lineup in Game 6 to provide some energy, homered on a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman and stunned the Rogers Centre crowd of 44,713.

“I’ve cost everybody in here a World Series ring," Hoffman said.

Rojas hadn't homered since Sept. 19.

The Dodgers finally prevailed in the 11th:

In the 11th, they finally won it, taking their first lead of the game on a Will Smith home run with two outs in the top half of the inning, then watching Yoshinobu Yamamoto — in his third inning of work, a night after throwing 96 pitches in a Game 6 win — close it all out on a double-play grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts.

The fans and even some players are talking about the Dodgers repeating as champions for the third year in a row. Los Angeles is not as dominant as the record indicates--just in the World Series there were a half-dozen plays where Toronto could have won the whole thing. Just appreciate what we just saw in Games 6 and 7 and let next year take care of itself.

Ramen Surprise

Three months ago we wrote about how the tonkatsu ramen purchased at Nijiya Market had soup that came in a plastic bag.

Perhaps enough customers complained to cause the supplier to eliminate the plastic bag; when I emptied the contents into a bowl, the gelatinized soup was on the bottom. (The soup was no longer liquid; the formula obviously had been adjusted.)

The other change was a 30% increase in the ramen price, from $9.99 to $12.99. I thought food-price inflation was over!

Declaring Independence....From Grilling

The July 4th traditions notwithstanding, it was too hot to do backyard grilling--or any cooking for that matter--so yesterday we headed to Nijiya Market where there was a broad selection of take-out Japanese dishes. There were dozens of other shoppers, mainly of the Asian persuasion, who had the same idea.

We threw sushi, ramen, salads, and barbecued chicken into the basket. We watched the fireworks from a mile away and went to bed right after. On this Independence Day we were free to engage in as much tradition as we wanted.

Not the Caveman Diet

Bedrock architecture (Chronicle photos)

The last time we posted about the "Flintstone" house was five years ago.

In its latest iteration the Hillsborough home is a high-end sushi restaurant:

Stoneage Omakase will launch July 12 with a 15-course, $230 omakase menu inside a dimly lit, cave-like private dining room at the Bay Area landmark. A temporary pop-up run by a catering company, it’s the first time the Flintstone House, which sold in 2018 for $2.8 million, has been open to the public. (It was available to rent on Airbnb in 2016.)

The acclaimed chef behind the sushi is Masa Sasaki, who previously worked at the Michelin-star Maruya in San Francisco and his own restaurant Sasaki, both now closed. Sasaki was also slated to open a sushi bar as part of a splashy project at the Salesforce Transit Center rooftop before the plan fell apart. An Instagram video shows a menu with dishes like kurodai (black sea bream) nigiri and akami zuke (marinated tuna).

This is an inspired use of the property. Patrons get a Michelin-quality dinner along with a tour of the house.

I'd sign up, but Stoneage Omakase has stopped taking reservations. Here's wishing Chef Sasaki a successful, extended run.

Hot Take

20 years ago there was only one ramen offering on Costco's shelves. Today I counted at least a half-dozen Asian dried noodle products.

Unfortunately, my increasingly sensitive digestive system won't allow me to sample most of them, especially Samyang's Buldak Ramen: [bold added]

Now, [Kim Jung-soo] is CEO.

Behind the 59-year-old’s rise is the unlikely success of a brand of instant ramen she created herself. The noodles are so spicy that many people can’t eat them. Today, packages of the company’s “Buldak” noodles—literally “fire chicken” in Korean—have landed on the American shelves of Costco, Walmart and Albertsons. They will soon arrive in Kroger supermarkets, too.

Kim Jung-soo developed the spicy ramen after observing the popularity of spicy fried rice in Seoul. Her product development skills helped make Samyang become one of the 100 largest companies in Korea and relegated its 1998 bankruptcy to the past.

In a society where it's rarer to find a woman CEO than in the U.S., the 59-year-old Kim looks much younger than her years and will likely lead the company a long time.

All the Time in the World

Market City is one of the larger neighborhood shopping centers on Oahu. A mile from the family home, it's your humble blogger's regular destination for supermarket shopping and picking up dinner.

The restaurants are busy, but rarely do the lines go out the door and never do they stretch 50 feet. The lady at the Korean barbecue said the new Kamitoku Hot Pot restaurant was charging $5 for a $15 meal. It was a "soft opening" pre-celebration of the "grand opening" in March.

Yelp reviewers already have cautioned that the wait for a table could be well over an hour. That didn't seem to deter the young-ish crowd that was happily chatting away, texting, and taking pictures.

I ordered take-out, bought a few items at Foodland, and returned to the car. After 30 minutes the line had barely moved. When you're young, you have all the time in the world.

Back in Rhythm

Marugame Udon, first visited in 2012

The eye test told me that Waikiki tourism is almost back to normal. It's early November, when there aren't a lot of families with children; yet at 8 p.m. there were lines outside popular stores and restaurants.

The ramen and udon restaurants were especially popular. They're not as pricey as the steak and seafood places, and many are rated four or five stars on Yelp.

Cheesecake Factory

The Waikiki Cheesecake Factory is a hit with local patrons.

There is free 2-hour validated parking at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.

Nevertheless, the fact that kama'aina's are willing to put up with the hassle of Waikiki traffic attests to the restaurant's popularity. (I do like the Northern California version of CF, but I don't love it that much.)

Though it was only eight p.m. on Thursday, it was past my bedtime in California. I'll walk back in the morning for a shot of espresso at one of the Starbucks so I can get back in rhythm.

Too Much to Swallow

Ebi Shio Ramen (Chron photo)

Like many starving students back in the day, I got through a few all-nighters with the aid of a hotplate and 25¢ packages of ramen.

It required a major psychological adjustment to pay $10-$15 for a ramen bowl when restaurants began offering them in the new century, but the quality of fresh noodles, freshness of ingredients, and complexity of the broths eventually won me over to the price differential. The fare that was being served in the restaurants was completely different from the packaged version.

However, I'm going to have to draw the line at paying $175 for a ramen dinner in San Francisco:

the ticket price at Noodle in a Haystack, opened by married couple Yoko and Clint Tan in San Francisco’s Richmond District in the spring, can seem shocking: $175 for a ramen tasting menu.

Not just ramen: chuka soba (wheat noodles)

The Chronicle's food critic effusively describes the uniqueness of each dish. (Note: I have italicized food-critic prose that I find particularly pretentious praiseworthy.)

...a deviled egg, made from the typical marinated egg you’d see floating in a bowl, repurposed as an hors d’oeuvre. Its yolk was whipped with Kewpie mayonnaise, concentrated fish powder and pickled daikon radish juice and topped with garnishes of fried chicken skin and boba-like marinated salmon roe. Like Willy Wonka’s three-course chewing gum, that single half of an egg seemed to contain a full narrative in itself.

That course has since been replaced with a coat button-sized brown butter financier topped with a fluffy dollop of creme fraiche whipped with smoked soy sauce. The morsel was scented behind the ears with dabs of garlic oil, and it was all finished with a briny plop of black caviar. It’s not so obvious an act of foreshadowing, but it got everyone at the counter cooing with pleasure.

The new menu has also leaned harder into the seasonal produce conventions of California cuisine. A delightful miniature ramen came disguised as a pomodoro pasta, complete with a potent Early Girl tomato jam, a kelp-tomato broth and even some burrata topped with chile crisp oil. The Tans also got on the corn train: For a scallop and sea urchin dish, they pureed Brentwood sweet corn and turned it into an airy, whipped version of corn potage, the French-influenced cream of corn soup that you can buy from vending machines on the streets of Tokyo.

From the description of the hours, knowledge, and skills that go into this dinner the price is merited, I suppose, if one subscribes to the labor theory of value.

Although it's not my cup of tea, things can't be that bad in the City dining scene if there are enough customers willing to fork over $175 for ramen, or $72 for fried rice.

Unique Menu

Sushi rolls

Five years after our first visit, we were pleased to see that Tugboat Fish & Chips had survived the pandemic.

The franchisees, an Asian couple, were still offering a unique menu: sushi plates, other Asian dishes, and English seafood & chips.

When we entered the dining room, eight middle-aged Japanese-Americans were chatting amiably at a large table in the corner. It's always a plus to see locals eating in an establishment that one is about to patronize.

Lunch special

I ordered the lunch special: deep-fried cod, french fries, onion rings, tempura zucchini, and pot stickers. My companion ordered a couple of sushi rolls. The ingredients were fresh, and the deep-fried dishes were crisp and moist inside.

The bill was $30 before tax and tip, about 25% below comparable Bay Area restaurants. We'll be back, and the interval will be a lot less than five years.

Just Because You Can Do It Doesn't Mean You Have To

The WSJ takes a look at future tech on display at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Some I could see myself using, others appear derivative, and a few are cringe-inducing, a subjective feeling to be sure.

Case in point: the Amagami Ham Ham Finger-Nibbling Robot Toy:

“Most people like the nibbling sensation but know they need to teach their children or pets to stop it,” reads the press release. This robot “frees humankind from the conundrum of whether ‘to pursue or not to pursue’ the forbidden pleasure.” The robot uses an algorithm—a “HAMgorithm”—to cycle through two dozen “nibbling patterns” so you won’t get bored using it.

As a toddler I learned not to stick my finger in strange places, and I'm not about to start now.

Good, Albeit Biased News

L to R: Anthony Robinson, Derje Blanks, Cameron Moody (KRON4)

The hate-crime articles usually start with the history of racism against Asians.

First is the mention of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943), and next the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. After these two indisputable and shameful examples, writers often add the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, who was killed by Detroit auto workers who thought he was Japanese, or the difficulty of the Vietnamese "boat people" in being accepted in America.

The history always ends with President Donald Trump and his accusations that the COVID-19 virus originated in China and the alleged scapegoating of Chinese people by President Trump and/or Republicans.

From these articles one would have thought that the violent attacks against Asian-Americans were perpetrated by MAGA-hat wearing, white supremacist trogolydtes, but one would be wrong.

Asians, at least in the Bay Area, have learned to ignore these politicized narratives because they're useless in ascertaining who is originating the current attacks (let's just say that only a minority are white, and the most violent are not).

The police finally caught a group of men who have been targeting Asians (photo at the top of this post): [bold added]

Two men have been charged with robbery in connection to dozens of purse snatchings targeting Asian women throughout the Bay Area, the Santa Clara County district attorney said Saturday.

The men — Derje Blanks, 23, and Anthony Robinson, 24 — were also charged with hate crime enhancements. The office for District Attorney Jeff Rosen said the suspects “used ethnic slurs to refer to their victims,” who were almost all of Asian descent.

“We will hold these defendants and anyone who worked with them fully accountable for their ignorant and destructive behavior,” Rosen said in a press release.

Blanks and Robinson were arrested by San Jose and Hayward police on September 8. Robinson fled in a vehicle and ran a red light, colliding with another car and injuring a two-year-old and her father, according to police.

A third suspect was arrested on Thursday, ending what SJPD called “yearlong, multi-jurisdictional investigation” into the “prolific robbery crew.”

The crime spree began in late 2020, according to the district attorney’s office. The pattern was nearly always the same: The men would follow women in parking lots to their cars, wait until the victim was inside her car and either smash a window or quickly open the door to steal a purse off the passenger seat.

Sometimes, the incidents became violent. There were “numerous incidents where victims were pulled or wrestled to the ground,” and some were injured, according to the district attorney.

Evidence shows that the defendants targeted the victims because they “believed that Asian women don’t use banks.”

“We are sensitive to the hate aspect targeting Asian females,” San Jose police chief Anthony Mata said in a release. “I commend District Attorney Jeff Rosen for pursuing hate crime enhancements.”

The Chronicle has published numerous articles and opinion pieces of the sort discussed at the top, that is, they strongly imply that Donald Trump and his followers are responsible for the recent spate of attacks on Asians.

This article, reprinted in its entirety, never discloses the race of the men arrested. (The photo of the suspects, not a MAGA hat among them, was pulled from the KRON4 website.) For many of the people in the media, if the facts contradict their politics, don't disclose the facts.

Quixotic Endeavor

From 1964 to the turn of the century the store at 801 Kaheka St. was called Holiday Mart.

It hawked a variety of items in keeping with its description as a "full-line, one-stop discount department store," but the retail economics that would lead to Costco, Walmart, and Amazon gradually strangled Holiday Mart. A date with the wrecker's ball seemed inevitable; Holiday Mart had a single-story structure in a highly desirable location with commercial and residential multi-story buildings all around.

Daiei, the Japanese supermarket chain, showed that retail could still survive in the location by appealing to the tastes of Hawaii's Asian population.

Don Quijote, another Japanese company, acquired the property in 2006 and doubled down on Daiei's approach. Don Quijote seems to be succeeding by embracing the over-the-top colorful displays popular in Japan and Korea.

It's a pleasure walking down the aisles, and it keeps one from noticing that the prices are well above competitors'. Don't get me wrong---I'd rather have Don Quijote there than another condo highrise. Long may it tilt at windmills.

Support Your Local Merchant

Though continuing to shop at Amazon and Costco, I have diverted more spending dollars toward supermarkets, drug stores, and other physical retail outlets. Sure, the latter is more expensive, but while saving money is the most important thing, it's not the only thing.

The stores provide local employment, immediate availability of goods, and a larger selection than Costco. I want to keep them in business; the negative externality of a half-empty mall detracts from our happiness and well-being.

And so it was that I found myself picking up a package of Hello Kitty toilet paper at the local 99 Ranch. Neither the brand nor the store has a national presence.

30 rolls for $20 wasn't an outrageous price. In fact the same quantity of Charmin costs $20 at the local Costco ($27.99 at Costco online).

I still give the nod to Charmin for the combination of strength, softness, and absorbency, but Hello Kitty TP was perfectly adequate.

And that's the bottom line.

In a Small Way

January

September

Not far from the neighborhood, we stopped by Marugame Udon at the Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco. It was our first visit since the lockdown began in March. Like everywhere else, most tables and all the chairs were stacked in the corner, and sit-down service had been eliminated.

The way it used to be

The menu had not changed, but business was down. There were a half-dozen bags on the table for pick-up by delivery services. Three patrons, including ourselves, waited for their order. The food was nearly as good as we remembered---the tempura and udon cooling off by the time we got home detracted from the experience--but we're glad we went.

Supporting businesses we like is important.

most restaurants are following the rules, working their butts off and doing their best. In turn, some diners are doubling-down and ordering out with intention.

Amy Dumas, a retired wrestler and vegan, considers takeout as a way to help San Francisco. “I don’t want to see this city become a shell of what it was!” Currently, cravings aren’t what dictate dinner in her house. “It’s ‘Where do we want our dollars to go? Who are we going to support tonight?’” She skips the delivery apps, with fees that cut deep into a restaurant’s bottom line, and instead zips around on her Vespa, picking up pizza at Beretta; dumplings from Golden Era in the Tenderloin; mushroom skewers from her friends at the Kebabery across the Bay Bridge.

It's a sure thing that not every one of the people and businesses we like will be here after normalcy is restored. We can't keep them afloat by ourselves, but we can help in a small way.

Yellowflake, and I Don't Mean Tuna

I suppose it takes someone of Chinese ancestry to say this to some Asians: quit whining about the "racism" in "Chinese virus."

The plague broke out in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. The Chinese government covered up the burgeoning catastrophe, and the result is a contagion that has triggered a worldwide recession, and 11,000 deaths so far.

Large swaths of the U.S. are under lockdown, including two of its biggest States:

No state is completely preventing people from going outside or to work, but some measures were more drastic. California Gov. Gavin Newsom effectively banned residents from socializing outside their homes, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo went further in cordoning off the elderly and sick populations.

Now China is suggesting the virus' origin was really a U.S. biowarfare project. Here's the tweet from diplomat Zhao Lijian.

2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020

China through its diplomat just threw the accusation out there with no evidence. The not-made-in-China falsehood needs to be stamped out now by political leaders, journalists, and anyone with a platform. If calling it the "Chinese/China/Wuhan virus" in the daily news conference makes them stop, then good, we all can focus on the real enemy, COVID-19.

A few more comments directed at the young Asians who are triggered by "Chinese virus" and its variations:

Get your priorities straight; if some of the many thousands who are working the problem are racist, so what? Sticks and stones.

Use this time to toughen yourself. Your parents, grandparents, and ancestors endured far worse discrimination--some of it was the law of the land--and you complain about words, especially words that are not epithets?

Report on really offensive speech, if you must, after the crisis has peaked. No one wants to address complaints that are not helping to put out the fire, but the post-mortem phase is the time to go over bad decision-making and morally reprehensible behavior.

"Kung flu" is mildly racist, mildly funny, and is far, far from the worst thing I've ever heard. The journalist refuses to name names, btw, so we're not sure the story is even true.

The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is the most well-known example of modern discrimination against Asians. Despite having their assets seized, their families imprisoned, and their good names sullied, Japanese-Americans responded by giving their lives for the country that mistreated them. To this humble blogger the Nisei soldiers of World War II are the shining example of how to respond to unjust treatment and how to change hearts and minds.

To the aggrieved Asian-Americans of today: no one's throwing you into internment camps, and one's asking you to die in the Vosges mountains. Help out however you can, share your complaints with friends and family, and never repay evil with evil.

Lastly, physical attacks on Asians should be fully prosecuted, but isn't that one of the dumbest things you've ever heard? Are there really people who beat up those who they think have a deadly, highly contagious disease?

Seize (Cease?) the Reservation

Starting a restaurant is always uncertain, but in this fear-filled environment, the risks may be overwhelming:

Easy to get a table at pricey Mr. Jiu's
in SF Chinatown (Chron photo).

San Francisco Chinatown restaurants have seen the neighborhood’s streets empty out because of misplaced concerns and suspected xenophobia. Other restaurant owners aren’t sure exactly why business has dipped, but mounting fears around the coronavirus as cases emerge in Northern California could be the answer...

Christopher Kostow, executive chef at the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley...said some cancellations stemmed from international tourists who opted out of their vacation plans, while others were domestic visitors newly nervous about coming to the Bay Area after San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency.

We walked into a popular Japanese restaurant last Friday and were seated immediately.

We had our pick of tables. Service was prompt, the sashimi was fresh, and the presentation was attractive (right).

As the Good Book says, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow...

Do-ne Japanese Food

The "seafood set" is more than just a poke bowl
and includes salad, miso soup, and 3 small dishes

Honolulu is no paradise with its traffic congestion, high cost of living, homelessness, and crime. Every time I return the problems seem worse. In the Bay Area, however, living conditions are getting worse faster, so if one grades on a curve Hawaii scores well.

Related note: when dining out in the Islands I've found that, from fast food to fine dining, one obtains the same degree of quality but at a lower price than back on the Peninsula.

The seafood set ($15.95) is about the
same price as a bento box in SF

Relatives insisted that I join them for dinner at Do-ne Japanese Food, a mile and a half from the center of Waikiki. Do-ne has only six tables; if one fails to get a seat when the restaurant opens at 5:30 p.m., then the wait can be an hour. Arriving at 5, I put our name on the sign-up sheet, and we were the first party seated.

I ordered the pork belly set ($15.95), but the kitchen had run out of the ingredients during lunch. No worries, the seafood set was excellent. The fish was very fresh, and we took our time savoring and sharing our dishes. The waitress--who is also one of the owners--never rushed us despite the line building outside. I told my hosts that I'll stop by on my next trip, if for no other reason than to sample the pork belly.

Do-ne was a pleasant experience; the downside is that a poke bowl in California will never taste as good again.

The salmon surf bowl ($13.95) at Shiki, Foster City

Not Too Affordable

Grateful it's not closer: the nearest Jollibee is 15 miles away.

Rule to live by: “I’m very healthy, but when fried chicken is there, I eat it.”

The WSJ reports on New Yorkers' latest food craze: Asian-style fried chicken.

Dining spots specializing in fare from South Korea, Japan and other Asian countries are offering their version of the fowl favorite—and they are finding a hungry market....But it is the Korean iteration of fried chicken, known for its extremely crispy exterior, that has become the true sensation throughout the city over the past decade. Dozens of Korean restaurants offer it.

Chinese-style fried chicken-as well as chicken karaage and katsu in Japanese restaurants--has been available in the Bay Area for at least 40 years. I do remember New York's Cantonese restaurants serving such fare when I was in college, so the WSJ article seems belated. Undoubtedly the Internet has helped generate these rapid ascensions in popularity; back in the 1970's there was a paucity of publicity for all but a few non-Continental restaurants.

The chicken from KFC is now too greasy and salty for your humble blogger. My chain of choice is the Philippines' Jollibee, which has several outlets in the Bay Area. Jollibee serves only crispy drumsticks and thighs, spicy or mild, with a side of gravy. Once every three months is all that I can afford, and we're not talking about price.

One Hand Snacking

Another example of markets responding to a need---snacks that you can eat with one hand: [bold added]

Cleanliness-obsessed consumers are fed up with soiled fingers gumming up smartphones, computer mice and other electronica. “I used to eat with my hands and lick my fingers when I was small,“ said Tomoki Yoshino, 19 years old. “But one day, my game controller got all greasy, and it was really gross.” ...

Tokyo snack-maker Koike-ya Inc.,... One Hand brand features a line of splintered potato chips and other snacks that can be consumed like a bottled drink. It’s marketed with a jumbo-size premise—“a new snack style humankind has been waiting for.”

But it's more than the packaging, it's the content, too.

Old-school grease avoider: chopsticks or "chip tongs" (WSJ)

The idea originated with the observation that customers like the mix of potato chip crumbs and flavored powder left at the bottom of the bag. Some eaters tip the chip bag into their mouths to dump the delectable detritus...

The research and development finally cooked up a hand-held package with an angled opening. The company doesn’t release sales figures, but the line has been successful enough to add a “super salt and nori seaweed” flavor. More may be in the works, the company said.

Of course, human ingenuity knows no bounds, and one can devise one's own method of greaseless snacking.

The gentleman pictured on the right can inhale his popcorn without soiling his hands.

The only drawback is that he'll have to wash his hoodie (right?).

Reasons to Come Back

Waikiki last July: we skipped it because of the line.

We discovered Waikiki's Marukame Udon in 2012, and the combination of freshness, cafeteria-style (select the udon, tempura, and spiciness that you want), price, and location made it a favorite stop on every trip back to the Islands. Apparently it's become a popular destination for other tourists, as well as locals, and recently we've had to forego visits.

Our lunch at Marugame Udon

No worries. We discovered a Marugame Udon while checking out the remodeled Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco. It's nearly identical to the Honolulu branch, whose ambience we prefer slightly, but the lines are much shorter here. Advantage: San Francisco.

(Why the Honolulu outlet is spelled with a "k" instead of a "g" is a slight puzzle.)

Perhaps competition is the reason the lines are shorter at Stonestown: it has become a culinary destination.

In recent years, the 66-year-old mall in the Outer Avenues has quickly and quietly become a top culinary destination in San Francisco, thanks to a flood of new restaurants that have brought crowds ready to line up for freshly made noodles, fruity boba tea and, most recently, Japanese souffle pancakes.

There are plenty of reasons to stay away from San Francisco, but places like Gram Cafe & Pancakes and Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks are reasons to come back.