655 Jackson St, San Francisco CA 94133
(415) 981-8988
Parking: limited street parking, pay parking lots
Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm
http://zandyrestaurant.com/
Last Visited: April 8, 2006
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 2 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Price: $ to $$$
Brenda brought us to Z&Y Restaurant. It’s been around for a bit, and seems to be acquiring a reputation for its Yunan Traditional Noodle Soup. It’s especially known for its rice noodles (which it turns out are packaged and not homemade). The restaurant’s layout looks typical of Chinatown restaurants. They have large wooden chairs and each table is setup rather close to its neighbor. There are smaller tables in front and larger ones in back. This visit was for lunch.
- Yunan Traditional Noodle Soup (Crossing the Bridge Noodles) – In the Yunan area, you receive piping hot soup containing the rice stick and a plate full of raw ingredients. Then the server pours the plated items into the soup. At Z&Y, the procedure is the same, but you receive a large bowl of piping hot soup with plated ingredients that have been gently cooked. The reason for this is likely that the soup isn’t hot enough to sustain the ingredients’ temperature, and this method may be more sanitary. The soup broth is boiled over several hours to develop flavor. The plated items included tender chicken breast, sliced preserved radish, greens, Chinese chives, tofu skin squares, and thinly sliced beef kidneys. It’s a light soup that changes flavor once the ingredients are added. With this and other menu items, Z&Y has a uniqueness that isn’t found at other places, so the restaurant distinguishes itself from the competition in the area. The rice noodles, which are thicker than those found at most Cantonese restaurants, remain intact and don’t fall apart despite the heat of the soup. Good. $6.95
- Beef Stew Noodle Soup – Although the menu has a star next to the beef stew noodle soup to indicate that it’s hot and spicy, I wasn’t ready for this heat. The bowl of soup comes out red. The soup contains the rice noodles, Napa cabbage, tender beef stew, dried chili, and chili sauce. I had a little trouble eating this one and had to call for ice water, something that I rarely do. Usually the tea helps me through spicy dishes, but this one was even fiery for my taste. It’s a spiciness that I don’t find when eating pho even after adding hot sauce and jalapenos. The beef stew melts in your mouth and the noodles take on the flavor of the broth. This is a difficult dish for those who can’t handle spiciness, because you’ll have no control over the heat, you won’t be asked whether you want mild, medium, or spicy, and you can’t separate out the chilis from the rest of the ingredients. By the time I finished eating a couple bowls of this, my taste buds took a long time to recover their ability to taste anything else. Great for those who can take the heat. $5.95
Other items available include seafood, braised string beans, chilled rabbit, and more. The two noodle dishes were extremely reasonable for their price considering the large quantity provided. Two bowls of noodles were filling enough for three people. I would probably skip the beef stew noodle soup the next time and opt for one of the fried noodle dishes. As noted above, the noodles are not homemade, but the dishes still taste good. Service is okay, but nothing to get excited about. Note that there’s a $20 minimum to use a credit card. Great value.
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