Mandalay joins just a small handful of American restaurants to be awarded the prestigious James Beard Foundation acknowledgment since it began over 30 years ago.
San Francisco has among the densest number of eateries and watering hotels that land in Michelin-starred rankings or acknowledgments on the World’s 50 Best anywhere in the country. (The only metro that matches it comparatively is New York City.) It’s almost comically easy to stumble up and find award-winning sustenance in the seven-by-seven; a stroll around Union Square and the lower slope of Nob Hill puts you in the way of three Michelin Starred eateries — Kin Khao, O’ by Claude Le Tohic, and Sons & Daughters.
Joining that laundry list of laudable places to dine is Mandalay — which is mentioned in Michelling Guide for San Francisco — after being named an America’s Classics Award by the James Beard Foundation (JBF) today, February 28th.
“Open since 1984, this unfussy restaurant near the city’s Richmond District was not the first Burmese restaurant to open in San Francisco but is the oldest still in operation today,” reads a release from the JBF. The James Beard Awards were started in 1991 to recognize exceptional talent and accomplishment in the culinary arts, hospitality, food media, and wider food system landscape; the foundation’s America’s Classics Award is given to locally and/or regionally owned restaurants that “serve quality food, have a timeless appeal, and reflect the character of their communities,” per JBF.
This year’s winners join the ranks of over one hundred restaurants across the country that have received the award since the category was introduced in 1998. They will be celebrated at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony on Monday, June 10, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The foundation noted that Mandalay exists as a touchstone for SF’s roster of fantastic Burmese restaurants — Mandalay, arguably, standing as the “best of the bunch.”
Per current owner Kevin Chen, his family members depended on the restaurant as a means to introduce the American dining public to Burmese food, which was at that time, “all but impossible to find.”
Today, the quaint, boot-lined eatery — its walls glowing in an almost highlighter yellow, adorned with nods to Buddhism and Burmese culture — remains prominent for its tea leaf salad, leaning more traditional than versions offered at other local Burmese spots that tend to ebb and flow with trends present in gastronomy.
“[At Mandalay,] it’s a bevy of crunchy sesame and lentil seeds, ground shrimp, fried garlic, and peanuts with fermented imported tea leaves all tossed tableside with a squeeze of lemon and peppers,” continues the press release naming the weather among the 2024 JBF America’s Claissc Ward Recepign. “Other standout dishes include the slightly sour samusa soup made filled with falafel, samusa, potatoes, lentils, shredded cabbage, and mint leaf, as well as the Mandalay special noodle. A platter of wide noodles swim in a fragrant coconut broth with chicken, onion, and fried thin noodles scattered on top.”
Noodles and salads and soups aside, we can also confidently and enthusiastically recommend any of their chicken entrees — the basil spicy chicken melds herbaceous notes and palatable heat in a way you’ve likely never tasted before — and their vegetarian options, too. And their beef curry. And their mango prawns. Oh, the Mu Shu pork is also top-tier.
Basically, anything you choose to spend your hard-earned money after making the rent on will be an expenditure you won’t regret.
// Mandalay (4348 California Street) is open from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. throughout the week, except for Monday; Mandalay is open for brunch and lunch between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well; for more information, including current menu offerings, visit mandalaysf.com.
Feature Image: Courtesy of Yelp! via Shilov Mani
