Chinatown restaurant above S.F.A chronicle of the top restaurants in the Bay Area

The list includes fine dining restaurants, mom and pop shops and food trucks.

Chinatown restaurants top SF Chronicle fan list in Bay Area

The list includes gourmet restaurants, mom-and-pop shops and food trucks

The list includes fine restaurants, mom-and-pop shops and food trucks

The list includes upscale restaurants, mom-and-pop shops, and food trucks

The San Francisco Chronicle announces its annual Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area.

Food critics Mackenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez create the list throughout the year, and the ranking is based on how well each restaurant fits its purpose.That means the list includes fine dining restaurants, mom-and-pop shops, and food trucks.

Four Kings opens in Chinatown this year.Four Kings opened on Commercial Street about two years ago and serves Cantonese cuisine with a global influence.Mike Long and Franky Ho run the kitchen as chefs and owners.

Long and Ho both grew up in China and previously worked at Mister Jiu's, an upscale Chinese restaurant around the corner from Chinatown.

"Their childhood and work experiences inform the food here," says co-owner Lucy Lee.

Lee and Long are partners.Ho's partner, Millie Bukokua, is also a co-owner.

At Four Kings, nostalgia mixes with culinary innovation.On one side of the small dining area, wok flames rise above the bar.On the other side, the wall is lined with Canto Pop stars from the 90s.

"The playlist really comes first," Lee said.- That's why we called it Four Kings.The four kings of pop music of the 90s.

But the food is the star of the restaurant.Chronic food critics recommend the scallop vermicelli, which is tossed in a brown butter and garlic sauce.The XO escargot is also highly recommended because the French delicacy is paired with XO sauce, which originates from Hong Kong, and is served with homemade milk bread.

Li Mapo said that spaghetti may be an accessible dish;one waiter described it as Chinese Bolognese.

"It's just like this gravy-esque sauce, which is the mapo sauce, which has Sichuan peppercorns and then it's over the spaghetti and the sauce is well incorporated into the noodles," Lee said.

The rest of the top 100 list ranges from pizza in Berkeley to tamales in Sonoma and Laotian food in Concord.

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