chairman bao

sf bay area, ca

link to twitter

i've seen this food truck featured on numerous tv shows and in numerous magazine articles, but it's usually parked up north, in san francisco. i was thrilled to find out last week that it would actually be parked right outside my office building in palo alto. it's so much easier when good food comes to me rather than vice versa. their menu has steamed buns, which are small white mantao pockets (pictured on the right). the menu also offers baked buns, which are much larger (as you can see on the left).

not that you can tell from my blog, but i'm trying to eat a little healthier. when faced with chairman bao's amazing menu, i decided to order the steamed bun with pork belly (smaller portion of pork belly) and the baked bun with tofu (larger portion of healthy tofu). what i actually received was a steamed bun with spicy chicken and a massive baked bun with ridiculous amounts of pork belly. i did not discover this discrepancy until i had already walked the 20 yards back to my office. clearly too far to turn back, right? the pork belly was crispy and fatty, the baked bun was slightly sweet, and the pickled radish balanced the flavors - very very good. i hope they come back.