Great Food with Soul
by Kathy Nguyen
       
Like any artistic creation, great cuisine comes from the heart and is fueled by passion. At its best, it offers a feast for the senses that thrills and delights.

Deep-fried salmon rolls with Chinese hot mustard. Grilled Chilean sea bass with garlic ginger soy. Tender, oven-roasted chicken in a creamy shiitake mushroom sauce. Australian rack of lamb with fiery Korean spices. And flourless chocolate cake topped with rich red raspberry sauce. These are just some of the inventive dishes that have people raving about Larry and Angela Tse's restaurant House in San Francisco's Inner Sunset District and its sister establishment in North Beach.

The Tses, both in their 30s, have reinvented traditional Asian cuisine, using local ingredients and streamlined American techniques. They've mastered the art of creating a harmonious palette of flavors that has brought the restaurant to the forefront of evolving Asian American fare. The menu at The House reflects a thoughtful marriage of ingredients, rather than the slapdash mixture of seasonings typical of much fusion cooking today.

These days, it's not unusual to find tuna tartare on a menu next to grilled hamburgers, but less-inspired fusion cooking often leaves diners feeling more confused than delighted. At The House, you won't find any fancy renditions of sweet-and-sour pork or hamburgers with wasabi mayo. The emphasis is on reinterpreting dishes that an Asian American family might prepare at home, using top-quality ingredients from specialty food purveyors, local markets and produce stores.

"Eighty percent of the items on our menu are things that we make at home, such as crispy garlic chicken wings or pork loin with cilantro sauce," says Angela Tse, a native San Franciscan of Chinese descent.