Gina Mariko Rosales, Part 2 (S8E17)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up right where we left off in Part 1, with Gina’s first official address in San Francisco. In talking about finding a place to live in The City, Gina mentions that all her friends either live in rent-control apartments they’ve been in forever, or they’re able to live in a place that someone in their family bought and has kept in the family. When she tells me where that first apartment in SF was, I let her know that my first place here, back in 2000, was less than a block away. As we’re name-dropping hotspots on the block, I have a brain fart and can’t remember the...
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Gina Mariko Rosales, Part 1 (S8E17)
Storied: San Francisco
Chances are, you’ve been to one of Gina Mariko Rosales’ events, even if you weren’t aware. In this episode, which kicks off our Asian-American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming, meet Gina. Born in Daly City, she’s lived most of her life on the Peninsula and in San Francisco. But let’s talk about how she got to where she is today. Gina was born at Seton hospital in Daly City and her parents raised her in Pacifica. In her words, Gina “grew up with a bunch of skaters and surfers.” Sounds fun. But she was one of only a few Filipinas in her hometown. She was...
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415 Day 2026 (S8 bonus)
Storied: San Francisco
Listen in as I chat with guests at 415 Zine’s 415 Day celebration at last week. Find the guests of this bonus episode: Mackenzie C Kirk Carrie Cotini Mike Bruno Allison/If n Wendy Stephanie (no online presence) Spike Fredo Laine Find 415 Zine on IG and . We recorded this podcast at Art Bar in April 2026.
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Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck, Part 2 (S8E16)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Todd has just learned the process of importing automobiles into the US. He had one under his belt. He was ready for more. He’d learned about older Japanese fire trucks and set his sights. He was still going to Japan frequently, and began to make “car friends” over there. As could be expected, there’s quite a subculture around cars in many countries, and Todd had found his in his home away from home. He found a tiny Japanese fire truck on an auction site, but the going price went out of his range of comfortableness. Normally, he’d...
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Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck, Part 1 (S8E16)
Storied: San Francisco
There’s a little red Japanese fire truck rolling around all over San Francisco. But instead of putting out fires, Kiri the Japanese Fire Truck is spreading joy and inspiring smiles. In this episode, meet and get to know Todd Lappin, the human being who brought Kiri from Japan to the US—Bernal Heights specifically. We start with Todd’s life story in Part 1. He has lived in the 94110 ZIP code for 34 years. But he’s originally from New Jersey. “Even after 34 years, New Jersey is like a stain that doesn’t wash out,” he says. He grew up in what he calls the “Ohio part” of the...
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Soleil Ho, Part 2 (S8E15)
Storied: San Francisco
For Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Soleil was working in restaurants in Minneapolis, both front-of-house and back, and also starting writing about food around this time. There was a new food publication in Minneapolis at the time called Heavy Table, and Soleil offered to intern for them. At first, it was a lot of looking around for events for the publication to cover. Eventually, there were opportunities to do some writing, and Soleil pounced. That led to other chances to write, and the proverbial ball was rolling. They were also on food stamps at the time, which doesn’t...
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Soleil Ho, Part 1 (S8E15)
Storied: San Francisco
The story of Soleil Ho starts with their grandparents. In this episode, meet and get to know the food writer and member who’s been on my radar since they replaced longtime Chronicle food writer and mysterious human Michael Bauer. In Part 1, we dive into Soleil’s family story. It begins two generations back, when their grandparents came to the US from Vietnam in the Seventies. They were refugees from the US war in their homeland. On Soleil’s mom side, the grandparents brought Soleil’s mom and seven other children from Vũng Tàu to Freeport, Illinois. They had first ended up in a...
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Rae Alexandra and “Unsung Heroines,” Part 2 (S8E14)
Storied: San Francisco
In Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. We’re talking about Mission bars, and I share a story about the backroom at Delirium. Rae brings up similar stories of her own at places like Thee Parkside, and we agree that Parkside owner is the best. Rae shares a story that confirms it. She looks back on the years before she got her SSN grateful that Kerrang! allowed her to work. She says and I agree—those jobs don’t really exist anymore. The industry itself was misogynistic, but there was also a freedom to the job. They flew her to shows all over the place. And they paid her enough...
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Rae Alexandra and “Unsung Heroines,” Part 1 (S8E14)
Storied: San Francisco
Rae Alexandra has 35 stories to share with you, plus her own. In this Women’s History Month episode, meet and get to know Rae. She recently published a book with City Lights Publishing called Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area. It’s of course available at City Lights, but you can also find it at your local independent bookstore. I read the book and could not put it down. Only toward the end of the 35 essays did I start to recognize the women Rae features. I love history and I love learning and I have mixed feelings about the fact that there are so many rad women whose...
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What a Creep’s Sonia Mansfield, Part 3 (S8E13)
Storied: San Francisco
Part 3 picks up right where we left off in Part 2. While she was still working that real estate job, Sonia was treating dating like a part-time job. She signed up on several dating sites (this was before swipe apps like Bumble). She went on many awkward coffee dates. Then a friend introduced her to a guy, and the two hit it off right away. They were inseparable from the moment they met, in 2008. They moved in a couple months later. In 2010, they got married, and had a kid shortly after that. But in the middle of all this amazing life shit, Sonia was smacked with a breast cancer diagnosis. She...
info_outlineIn Part 2, we pick up where we left off in Part 1. Kathy left her hometown of San Francisco for the first time to go to college at USC. Originally, she wanted to major in science. There was and perhaps still is a prevailing expectation in her culture to go into some sort of lucrative career. Surely, no one would want to go into the food business intentionally, so the trope goes. So Kathy set out to make her parents proud.
Soon enough, though, she realized she doesn’t like science, and switched to becoming a business major. She earned a bachelor’s in entrepreneurship and operations and soon got a job in the corporate world at the stock brokerage Merrill Lynch. A short time later, not too happy, she moved to Johnson and Johnson, another job that ended up boring her. Despite this, she was getting more and more used to LA and wasn’t thinking necessarily of coming back.
Still in her Twenties, the idea of joining her parents at their restaurant started to grow on her, and she took the plunge. She moved back to San Francisco and lived with Lily and Peter for a time. She’d been bringing college friends to her hometown for a while, parading them around to ride cable cars or eat at places like Taddich Grill. They’d explore San Francisco neighborhoods and restaurants with Kathy as their guide. Her friends loved it here. Duh.
Returning home felt good for Kathy. Her husband had lived in Hawaii and Georgia and would sometimes urge to go other places. But Kathy is a city girl, an SF girl. “It’s always good to be back.”
Her first year back, she worked with Peter and Lily at House of Nanking every day. She aimed to prove to her dad that she was serious about restaurant work. After that year, Kathy went to culinary school. When she graduated, Peter lovingly let her know that three is a crowd at his eatery and asked his daughter what she wanted to do. “I kinda wanna open another restaurant,” she told him. He’d resisted opening a second location for House of Nanking. The idea of Kathy branching out, however, offered an opportunity to do a second restaurant, but have it be unique and distinct from his own place.
Because the new joint would be father/daughter (vs. the husband/wife structure at House of Nanking), it provided space for Kathy’s dishes, Peter’s dishes, and menu items featuring collaborations between the two. The scaffolding was there, and it was solid. But right away, Kathy found herself the victim of outdated stereotypes of what it means to be a chef. Some even felt that the operation was nepotistic, that Kathy was just riding her dad’s coattails. They couldn’t imagine that she’d because a great chef in her own right. People, amirite?
I ask Kathy whether it’s an apt metaphor to say that House of Nanking gave birth to Fang. She agrees. She uses this topic as a springboard to describe physical differences between the two restaurants. House of Nanking feels older, more disheveled, with dim lighting. Fang is newer, cleaner-feeling, brighter. I was sitting there that day at House of Nanking, talking with Kathy, and I couldn’t help wonder whether Anthony Bourdain had eaten there. She wasn’t sure on the spot that day, but I looked it up. I’m almost certain he did not, but I can’t help but believe he eventually would’ve made it. House of Nanking is just “like that.”
Kathy seizes on the opportunity to share celebrities who have been to her parents’ restaurant, and tells the story of a recent mention by comedian and writer John Mulaney. She was in London when Mulaney performed in SF. On stage in The City, he mentioned loving House of Nanking and wishing it was open after his show. Kathy made a few phone calls from across the Atlantic and had food delivered to him. The next night, Kathy Griffin basically said the same thing. And Kathy Fang once again came through, having food brought to the comic actor. Griffin let it be known that House of Nanking is on an unofficial “comedy circuit,” meaning a group of comedians who share tips about various cities and what to do and eat there.
We start to wind down the conversation by talking about the book that Kathy wrote. Along with her dad, Kathy’s new book, The House of Nanking Cookbook, is something that’s been in the works for a while. Folks kept asking them to share their recipes, and Peter resisted. But then the show Chef Dynasty: House of Fang came out on Food Network. After her dad saw the show (and he’s in it, mind you), he changed his tune. He wanted there to be a record of everything they’d accomplished. Kathy convinced Peter that a book was the best way to do just that.
The book is written in both Peter’s and Kathy’s voices. So it’s got the story of opening and carrying on all those years. But it also has Kathy’s perspective, growing up in the restaurant and eventually becoming a chef in her own right. After doing research and seeing a dearth of Chinese-American cookbooks, getting her family’s recipes out there became even more important for Kathy.
The House of Nanking Cookbook is available at local bookstores.
House of Nanking, 919 Kearny Street, @houseofnankingsf
Fang restaurant, 660 Howard Street, @fangrestaurantsf
Find more about Kathy on her website, kathyfang.com.