Claws of Mantis, chef-owner Kevin Tang’s buzzy Vietnamese Californian mash-up, has popped up in more places than perhaps any other burgeoning restaurant concept in San Francisco.
In addition to countless borrowed kitchens throughout the city, Tang has cooked in dive bars, delis, a museum, a sake bar, a pickleball court and even a bathhouse. For the latter, Onsen in the Tenderloin, he went for a soak to develop the perfect menu.
“I always ask myself, ‘What energy does this place provide and what do I want to eat here?’” Tang recently told SFGATE. The answer? “After, I felt almost dehydrated, like I just did drugs and I’m melting.” His cure: herbal tea, Viet oysters Rockefeller and chicken roulade with miso-whipped tofu, of course…