Mission Chinese Food Takes A Breather

Danny Bowien in front of the temporarily closed Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco

By Meesha Halm

While the rest of the world (aka New York) is getting their first taste of 30 Under 30 hot shot Danny Bowien’s mad and magical taste of Mission Chinese Food, San Franciscans are about to be denied their late-night, free-delivery kung pao pastrami goodness.

No, the Mission Street original is not closing for good, as some of us anxious types feared when Bowien headed East last summer to unleash a Big Apple outpost and then subsequently announced plans to open more outposts in Brooklyn and his hometown of Oklahoma. It seems as if the Lung Shan owners, who own the cult Mission storefront are just heading to China for a little vacay, and are closing the joint for a few weeks. The restaurant will be closed from now until June 13.

Mission Chinese Food will be back in business after that, but don’t be surprised to see a few changes to the menu when it reappears. Danny Bowien recently shared in an interview with the Inside Scoop that since visiting China, he’s had a come-to-Jesus realization about certain dishes conceding, “I’m backing off the heat a little, getting lighter” after discovering that “mapo tofu in Chengdu is not even spicy!”

Read more from that interview and all the hoopla relating to the new New York Mission Chinese branch here. Oh, and let us know in the comments section where you’re gonna get your Chinese fix in the meantime.