So, it's my birthday and what better way than to go to PPQ! Stepping into PPQ, you get the feeling that you've just walked in to a beach front eatery! The island painting on the wall is refreshing; the fake coconut trees in the middle of the restaurant were added for an island feel. The last time I've been here must have been over a year ago, but after my discovery of the restaurant almost 10 years ago, I must have frequented it only a few times. Time flies, but their menu is still as good as ever. We started with some imperial rolls (fried lumpia-like things, Vietnamese style) and then ordered one baked garlic crab to share. An order of garlic noodles was sufficient to share, too! The garlic noodles were thick noodles sauteed in oil and chunks of garlic. It was garlic-ky, but does not leave you with garlic breath.
PPQ prepares their garlic baked/roasted crab exactly like Thanh Long, maybe better! PPQ's crab still had lots of juices intact and unlike Thanh Long's, the butter did not curdle up and making it gross to eat. At Thanh Long, patrons typically order a crab each at "market price" (read: arm and a leg price), but at PPQ, their crabs are big enough to share and at cheaper market rates, too! Go figure...
Because this is San Francisco, parking at both places are terrible, unless you get there early enough for street parking. As for price, well, if you're out for crab, don't expect to pay less than $40 per person, for good crab, side dishes, drink, and maybe a dessert, also to share.
If you're looking for Asian style cuisine, for me, PPQ outshines any other crab place. After having tasted the roasted crab at PPQ, one could almost tell the 70-year old ladies at rival restaurants that, that secret crab recipe is not so secret after all.
PPQ Restaurant, Outer Richmod in San Francisco, Tel (415) 681-6689
