My one travel tip, if you’re flying out of SFO this holiday season. www.kqed.org/arts/1397835...

Located in the parking lot of a Santa Clara gas station, Vostok’s Kyrgyz-style shawarma wraps and wok-fried noodles are served piping hot, from noon to 11 p.m. daily. Latest from KQED's Midnight Diners:

Catch me, @ogpenn.bsky.social and @theluketsai.bsky.social on Forum this morning, from 9–10am. (Wish I could say we'll have dogs in the studio!) 88.5 FM / kqed.org

I'll be on this episode, talking about how bad I am at crossword puzzles! 😅

Did you know that there's a gas station food truck in Santa Clara specializing in Kyrgyz street food? We went for Midnight Diners, and it was even more delicious than we could have imagined. www.kqed.org/arts/1398504...

Did you know that there's a gas station food truck in Santa Clara specializing in Kyrgyz street food? We went for Midnight Diners, and it was even more delicious than we could have imagined. www.kqed.org/arts/1398504...

The area around Brown University -- which is also where I grew up and now live -- is quaint and picturesque. A postcard version of a New England college town. But I never thought "this can't happen here." Because there is nowhere in the U.S. where this can't happen.

Here's @tavos-kitchen.bsky.social on a San Jose bakery pop-up that sells 18 (!) different varieties of egg tarts, with more in the works. www.kqed.org/arts/1398489...

I wrote about the time I entered a crossword puzzle competition in Berkeley...and got absolutely smoked! 😭 www.kqed.org/arts/1398472...

I wrote about the time I entered a crossword puzzle competition in Berkeley...and got absolutely smoked! 😭 www.kqed.org/arts/1398472...

Words to live by.

friends! @coyotemedia.org is dropping our paywall for December so you can see what we’ve been up to even if you have none dollars. All of our posts are currently free to read. Come check us out & spread the word? www.coyotemedia.org

For KQED Arts & Culture food editor @theluketsai.bsky.social, 2025 was all about finding new favorites — from his favorite Peking duck house to a Lao restaurant inside a bowling alley.

For parents of students in West Contra Costa, I found this guide very helpful. richmondside.org/2025/12/02/w...

This late-night hand-pulled noodle spot in San Leandro is pretty great! www.kqed.org/arts/1398373...

Here's @tavos-kitchen.bsky.social on a new bột chiên stall at Lion Plaza in San Jose. Look at those rice cakes! www.kqed.org/arts/1398362...

I wrote about the Bay Area’s Filipino pie lady—back after a year-long hiatus with a fresh set of pies for Thanksgiving. www.kqed.org/arts/1398341...

We found excellent Lao food at the bowling alley. www.kqed.org/arts/1398324...

We found excellent Lao food at the bowling alley. www.kqed.org/arts/1398324...

The late-night dance parties at the Seafood City in Daly City are THE place to be. Our correspondent Rocky Rivera with the story: www.kqed.org/arts/1398311...

Local restaurants, already struggling, are stepping in to fill the gaping void of our federal government during shutdown. Read for a list of places giving free and discounted food to families who receive SNAP benefits: www.kqed.org/arts/1398295...

My favorite tonkatsu restaurant in the Bay Area had to shut down because of a fire. They're trying to fast-track a new location in Emeryville. www.kqed.org/arts/1398292...

Come hang out, tonight! 6:30 at Omnivore Books. I'll be chatting with the incomparable Bryant Terry!! We'll sign books!

Always read Rocky Rivera on Bay Area hip-hop and food. Her latest, on the new wave of health-focused, aspirational "salad rap." www.kqed.org/arts/1398279...

Come hang out, tonight! 6:30 at Omnivore Books. I'll be chatting with the incomparable Bryant Terry!! We'll sign books!

Don't miss Nastia Voynovskaya's sobering, in-depth report on the state of AI-generated music and musicians — and the avenues left to human musicians (because now we have to specify that): www.kqed.org/arts/1398257...

Stoked that my crab fishing influencer profile is featured in this year's Best American Food and Travel Writing, out in bookstores today! Bay Area folks, come see me chop it up with editor Bryant Terry at @omnivorebooks.bsky.social this Thursday! omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/collections/...

Here's an update on the new Cantonese barbecue counter coming this month to the Tenderloin, courtesy of the brothers behind the old Hing Lung Co. — one of my all-time favorite Chinatown spots before it closed last year. www.kqed.org/arts/1398223...

Here's my commentary piece on the Big Art Loop, and what it means to hand our public space over to a billionaire and his choice of 100 pieces of existing, large-scale art. And for god's sake: Send your opinions to the agencies/nonprofit/org involved, not to me! www.kqed.org/arts/1398217...

This month's Apple Maps update includes my new favorite Peking duck spot, excellent jjajangmyeon, and topnotch HK cafe–style noodles and rice plates. apple.co/LukeTsai

I made the NYT apple cider doughnuts.

I wrote about Club Waziema, an Ethiopian dive bar that serves really good sega wot and an all-you-can-eat veggie combo. www.kqed.org/arts/1398209...

I wrote about Club Waziema, an Ethiopian dive bar that serves really good sega wot and an all-you-can-eat veggie combo. www.kqed.org/arts/1398209...

I wrote about the teenage fashion designers who are spinning braided plantain peels and spray-painted pasta into high-fashion couture outfits, with the help of some of Oakland's top chefs. www.kqed.org/arts/1398191...

I wrote about the teenage fashion designers who are spinning braided plantain peels and spray-painted pasta into high-fashion couture outfits, with the help of some of Oakland's top chefs. www.kqed.org/arts/1398191...

“America is considered a coffee country. There’s millions of people who are tea drinkers. I really want to get chai to where coffee stands.” Here's @tavos-kitchen.bsky.social on the first Kerala-style chai shop in the Bay Area — and maybe the entire U.S.? www.kqed.org/arts/1398193...

Here's @jzigoris.bsky.social with a deep dive into the Chinese workers who basically built up Northern California's wine country from scratch in the 1860s and 1870s. I didn't know this history! www.kqed.org/arts/1398179...

The Bitter Cotyledons collective in Santa Cruz grows Asian crops to connect with their ancestors and help queer folks feel rooted.

Extremely excited to eat laksa and kaya toast at this new Singaporean festival happening this weekend. www.kqed.org/arts/1398143...

All the food at this African food festival in Oakland looks and sounds amazing! It's part of the second annual Bay Area African Restaurant Week. www.kqed.org/arts/1398131...

This Saturday, Oakland Chinatown is running back the very popular night market that debuted last year. www.kqed.org/arts/1398121...

I finally went to Toyose, and it was as fun as everyone said it would be. www.kqed.org/arts/1398103...

I finally went to Toyose, and it was as fun as everyone said it would be. www.kqed.org/arts/1398103...

Ashanty is my student, and this is her first-ever professional assignment! She’s a ridiculously smart thinker and writer — read her on AI in school instead of all the adults pontificating. 🤗

I'm sorry to report that Wah Jee Wah, one of the very few restaurants in the East Bay doing open-fire Indian barbecue, has closed. Fortunately—especially for folks in Fremont, Milpitas and South SF—it looks like they already have some pretty solid reopening plans. www.kqed.org/arts/1398082...

I'm sorry to report that Wah Jee Wah, one of the very few restaurants in the East Bay doing open-fire Indian barbecue, has closed. Fortunately—especially for folks in Fremont, Milpitas and South SF—it looks like they already have some pretty solid reopening plans. www.kqed.org/arts/1398082...

Highly recommend spending a morning gleaning backyard fruit — perhaps with these fine folks in Contra Costa County. www.kqed.org/arts/1398069...

Excited about this Indonesian coffee shop's comeback, now at a Berkeley museum—and, finally, a place where I can get my kaya toast fix. www.kqed.org/arts/1398046...

Wrote about a Chinese restaurant in San Bruno that promised "Texas BBQ," did not AT ALL deliver Texas barbecue, but I still kind of loved it?? www.kqed.org/arts/1398021...

Wrote about a Chinese restaurant in San Bruno that promised "Texas BBQ," did not AT ALL deliver Texas barbecue, but I still kind of loved it?? www.kqed.org/arts/1398021...