Mission Chinese Overhauls Menu For First Time Ever

Ever since Danny Bowien decamped for New York City, it’s felt a little like Mission Chinese SF was his forgotten child. Until now. Bowien’s been on a press tour for MCF’s cookbook release, including an epic all-day stop at his first-born restaurant. And following right on the heels of that is a menu overhaul at the original location. "Danny is the one who pulled the trigger on the changes. He's been really focused on his New York restaurants, and so he wanted to take this opportunity while he was back in town for his book tour to go big and do a big refresh," co-founder Anthony Myint told Eater. "I think he's continued to evolve his palate and move toward basically brighter, higher acid, lighter fare. When we first opened it was a lot of fatty meat, and there still is — that’s all stuff we love — but I think he basically has been moving in a slightly more contemporary direction." New menu items include cumin lamb larb, matcha & ginger scallion noodles, tea fragrance rice, stir fried celery & hazelnuts, beef tartare lettuce cups, kombu-cured scallop sashimi with grapefruit and sweet & sour pork jowl. Don’t worry, favorites like thrice-cooked bacon and kung pao pastrami are still in rotation.

Part of the changes is onboarding new chef de cuisine Frank Mitchell, who joined six weeks ago from Mission Bowling Club. "Part of the new change is actually because of Danny recognizing that there's some ambition and enthusiasm and someone who wants to push for things," Myint said. "These are all Danny's dishes, but Frank has a lot of ideas, too. Frank has total authority to put specials on the menu, but we wanted to get this [new menu] in place and run with it for a couple months and then see what's next." Via the web site's quirky reservation tool, there are a ton of prime slots available to try this new menu out. Get after it, after peeking it in full below.