SF chef fed Keanu Reeves the same meal 20 times

Since opening the restaurant at 919 Kearny in 1988, the Fang family name has become highly respected in the city’s storied food scene. Kathy not only ended up joining the family restaurant business, but she’s carved her own path in the culinary world. 

On Food Network, Fang has made many appearances across popular cooking competitions such as “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Guy’s Grocery Games,” and “Alex vs. America.” She’s also a two-time “Chopped” champion. 

Now, Kathy and her parents are anticipating the premiere of their very own Food Network show, “Chef Dynasty: House of Fang,” airing Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. It’s also streaming on Discovery+. The six-episode docuseries follows Peter and Kathy’s father-daughter relationship as they operate as chefs and co-owners of the family’s second restaurant, Fang, at 660 Howard St. Kathy said the show also focuses on her push to modernize the restaurant and further expand the Fang name.

“The core of the show is the dynamic that I have with my dad and the story of how all of this came to be. Not just for people who are Asian, but any immigrant family who saw their parents toil,” Kathy said. “People, they may look at me, and they may think, ‘Oh, she’s American-born Chinese. Totally westernized. Very American.’ But, I’m like, very, very traditional, even in the relationship with my dad.”

The little colorful sign on Kearny Street 

In 1980, Peter and Lily Fang immigrated from Shanghai, China, to San Francisco. Knowing minimal English, the two worked several restaurant jobs to make ends meet — until Lily proposed they open their own business to establish themselves in the bustling city. 

Eight years after their arrival, they opened House of Nanking, with its iconic rainbow-lettered sign, at 919 Kearny St., right where Chinatown, the Financial District and Little Italy intersect. 

But steady lines of customers, a sight the restaurant is now well-known for, didn’t happen overnight. 

With two hard-working parents pouring their hearts into House of Nanking’s success, it meant a lot of late nights for little Kathy. She described sleeping in the restaurant often, being carried out at midnight on school nights by her dad before he’d wake up early the next morning to do it all over again. It was rough.

Clockwise from left, Peter Fang and Kathy Fang outside of House of Nanking; Kathy; chef Kathy Fang and her father chef Peter Fang of House of Nanking.
Clockwise from left, Peter Fang and Kathy Fang outside of House of Nanking; Kathy; chef Kathy Fang and her father chef Peter Fang of House of Nanking.

Still, Kathy said she wouldn’t change her past, and credits her parents for grounding her with family recipes, while also introducing her to the vast array of cuisines from San Francisco late-night eateries during the ’80s and ’90s.

“On weekends, it would be like a treat. I got to stay up late and go have exciting food,” Kathy said. “Back in the day, San Francisco was actually quite exciting in Chinatown, North Beach, that whole Broadway Street was kind of like the red-light district. But that whole area was like popping back then.”

They’d go to Calzone’s and North Beach Restaurant in Little Italy, where she’d order her favorite linguine in white wine sauce with sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes. At a nearby Chinese restaurant, they’d eat lightly battered salt and pepper lobster with plain bowls of warm congee. 

“There was also this tiny hole-in-the-wall place that had the best Vietnamese pork chop over rice. To this day, I still remember sitting on the counter and it’s like this one lady grilling the pork chop, putting it on the rice,” Kathy described. “Then, she had this peanut-scallion oil that she’d drizzle on top of the rice with like pickled carrots and radish that you eat all together. I would skip dinner and just wait for that to eat at like midnight.”

At a young age, Kathy said, her excitement toward eating these late-night dishes really sparked her interest in food. Now, she sees families who visit House of Nanking experience their own positive food memories through tasting her father’s wok-fired dishes. 

Some even drive thousands of miles just to savor the taste of her father’s famous pot stickers with homemade peanut sauce, piles of sesame noodles, orders of fried calamari and other Fang originals.

“The peanut sauce is something that put House of Nanking on the map. No one was really doing that at the time in Chinese restaurants,” Kathy said. “He was putting this peanut sauce over fried pot stickers, over pan-fried veggie buns and onion cakes.” 

She recalled one family of four in particular who each ordered their own set of pot stickers, which comes with six large dumplings. 

“They were like, ‘We drove 5,000 miles to go to San Francisco, see the Golden Gate Bridge and have some pot stickers,’” Kathy remembered. “And they would come three days in a row.”

Kathy estimated that House of Nanking has served at least 4 million people on Kearny Street. If you’ve never dined at the restaurant, however, there is a certain unspoken rule when it comes to placing orders.

“The best thing to do is to not order,” Kathy said. “Let us order and choose for you and put it together. House of Nanking is really small, hole in the wall, most of the time you’re sharing tables with people. It’s very loud and it’s very go, go, go. It’s very no-frills.”

In 2020, the city of San Francisco recognized House of Nanking as a legacy business, an institution where customers from all over the world have dined for more than 30 years. Kathy said for her parents to receive the honor was humbling, especially for two people who first stepped into Chinatown with $40 and a dream.

“When people used to do sketches of Chinatown, you’d see these landmarks that make you think of a certain place. And that little colorful sign on Kearny Street is part of that,” Kathy said. “In our wildest dreams, we would never think that this was something we can accomplish, that we could make such a mark in a city that initially was not their home. Now it is our home and we were able to create this.”

‘The Fang gene’

From a window seat inside Fang, the family’s second restaurant on Howard, Kathy watched closely as a server poured freshly whisked eggs onto a cast iron dish where a mound of fried rice was plated. 

Instantly, the satisfying sizzles and aromas of rice, eggs and red bell peppers being mixed tableside were enough to draw the eyes of neighboring diners. It’s one signature dish at Fang, along with barbecue-glazed pork buns with pickled veggies, crackling beef short ribs on a stick, and the most tender five-spice white fish I have ever eaten. 

Clockwise from top left, honey apple shrimp; blossom flower tea; house sizzling fried Rice, five spice white fish and crispy honey chili short rib at Fang; Fang’s pork belly bao.
Clockwise from top left, honey apple shrimp; blossom flower tea; house sizzling fried Rice, five spice white fish and crispy honey chili short rib at Fang; Fang’s pork belly bao.

Kathy and Peter opened Fang in 2009, and it’s a completely different dining experience than House of Nanking. Fang has a full bar, three levels of dining space and tables draped in white fabric. 

And although the napkins are nicely ironed and the placements are uniform, every single dish on the menu is created by Peter and Kathy. 

“It comes from the Fang gene,” she said, laughing. “My dad, I think the way he thinks about food and flavors and textures is specific to him. And so, when he creates recipes and dishes, it always has his interpretation on it, even traditional Chinese dishes. And that’s how I grew up. Seeing the way he approached all of it, highly influenced the way that I also look at it.”

Standing near a wall inside Fang, Peter quietly surveyed the dining room. Customers filled each table during a recent Tuesday afternoon lunch rush. Slowly, he walked from table to table, checking on diners, but mostly he stood back, quietly observing the buzzing front of house as customers slurped large bowls of dumplings in a light curry broth with clams, or sipped from glass mugs filled with piping hot tea with real chrysanthemums floating. 

“Not all restaurants you would actually expect to see the chef or the owner come out to take your order, or bring you your dishes and drinks, or seat you,” Kathy said. “That’s something that happens quite regularly here.”

She pointed to a framed photograph that hangs in the restaurant. In it, she’s standing next to actor Keanu Reeves. It turns out, Reeves is a big fan of the Fangs’ food. So much so that during the filming of “The Matrix Resurrections,” House of Nanking was featured as Neo’s favorite noodle shop.

Clockwise from left, Keanu Reeves and Kathy Fang; Kathy Fang, Keanu Reeves and Peter Fang; “Matrix Resurrections” filming Feb. 4, 2020.
Clockwise from left, Keanu Reeves and Kathy Fang; Kathy Fang, Keanu Reeves and Peter Fang; “Matrix Resurrections” filming Feb. 4, 2020.

“The scene is actually him eating noodles and he had to do that 20 times,” said Kathy, who’s a longtime Reeves fan. “I was responsible for the noodles that Keanu was eating 20 times.”

Reeves has been a customer of theirs for decades. Kathy recalled first meeting the star when she was in middle school. The two took a picture together and it still hangs inside House of Nanking to this day. 

Those snapshots in time, she said, remind her of just how far the family has come, measured by countless late nights and the many sacrifices her parents made to build the Fang legacy. 

Clockwise from left, exterior of Fang; detail of the bar; interior of Fang.
Clockwise from left, exterior of Fang; detail of the bar; interior of Fang.

“I would not be anywhere close to this, if it wasn’t for the foundation that my parents have created,” Kathy said. “This is a family business and if we’re going to grow and do things, we’re going to do it together.”

House of Nanking, 919 Kearny St., San Francisco. Open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon-9 p.m. Fang, 660 Howard St., San Francisco. Open daily, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch; and 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. for dinner.