Bodega SF Brings Upscale Vietnamese Food To San Francisco’s Tenderloin

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Earlier this summer Matthew Ho opened Bodega SF, an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. This modernized, fine dining restaurant is the latest iteration of his family’s previous restaurant, Bodega Bistro which served traditional Northern Vietnamese cuisine from 2003 to 2017. With his ten years of experience in fine dining restaurants, Matthew launched Bodega SF as a series of pop-ups in 2019. These successful events eventually evolved into weekly lunch meal kits during the height of the pandemic.

Today, his first brick-and-mortar restaurant is serving authentic Vietnamese during lunch hours with dishes that include Banh Cuon (Vietnamese rice rolls, ground pork, wood ear mushrooms) and Shaking Beef with potatoes and Maggi butter, and Pho Ga (free range chicken, fresh wide noodles, chicken bone broth).

On the dinner menu are more modern, upscale dishes that include Oysters with Yuzu Coconut Foam and Banh Khot Caviar with turmeric, shrimp and perilla. Larger dishes include the Whole Fish Cha Ca with dill, turmeric, and galangal and the Bo Luc Lac with grass-fed tenderloin, Maggi truffle butter, heirloom tomatoes, fingerling potatoes and pearl onions.

We chatted with Matthew Ho on his journey to opening Bodega SF, his family’s support, the Tenderloin neighborhood and more. Here’s what he had to say.

Talk about what the journey for Bodega SF was like through Covid and how you ultimately pushed through the unforeseen difficulties to open your first brick and mortar in the Tenderloin.

During COVID, I wasn’t 100% certain that I was ready to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant. With the fluctuation of restrictions and minimum seats available for outdoor dining, I didn’t think we would be able to draw a crowd. In the early days of the pop-up, I decided to keep it open until 11pm on certain days, since there weren’t many options, and it would be less competitive for business.

Since we were sharing a kitchen, we were only able to make a limited number of items. Once I was furloughed from my full-time job, I didn’t have a choice. I put together a team of like-minded individuals that wanted to work towards the same goal— a successful restaurant group that we can all call our own.

Is it similar to your previous restaurant, Bodega Bistro? What’s the inspiration for the menu?

The feel of the restaurant is the same. Warm, comfortable energy that makes you feel like you’re at someone’s home. The idea of the menu was to keep it simple while still having variety. We wanted to showcase other Vietnamese dishes that you may not be accustomed to. There’s so much more to Vietnamese food than just pho and rice plates.

There aren’t a ton of elevated Vietnamese spots in the city. Talk about how you took the cuisine and elevated it, while still keeping the dishes authentic.

When you look around the city, there are quite a few unique restaurants that elevate Asian food, whether it be Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or even Filipino. Everything is authentic in our own interpretation. As my family and I created the menu, we wanted to keep the dishes to our taste profile and what feels authentic to their memory. I personally believe the food feels elevated because of the type of service we provide, from the cocktail menu to the spiels when we deliver your dishes.

What are the standout dishes? What’s on the tasting menu.

We try not to do too much. We wanted to do our best to perfect what we do have. My personal favorites depend on the mood I’m in, and a few must-haves include the Bo Tai Chanh, a Vietnamese style beef carpaccio, that just hits all components of flavor and texture; and the Banh Cuon, a Northern Vietnamese specialty that is extremely labor intensive. When I was growing up, we would have to buy it from a woman out of her home in the Richmond district, only for special occasions.

Bun Cha and Cha Ca also highlight the traditional items on our menu, which are super refreshing with all sorts of smoky, charred flavors. Bo Luc Lac with Maggi truffle butter and Chilean Seabass with ginger nuoc mam is one of our newer-age dishes that others might not call authentic, but is delicious with white rice or garlic noodles. Don’t forget to save some room for the mini pho. I can honestly go on forever about the menu.

The tasting menu highlights our must-have dishes so that people don’t have to stress on what to order. The tasting menu is eight courses: six items from the menu, a mini pho, and dessert.

What are your hopes for the Tenderloin as a whole? It’s gotten pretty rough these past few years; do you think this will affect business at all?

My hope is for people to support the business no matter what time of the day it is. I don’t think the Tenderloin will ever change. It’s very interesting that five years later, I’m now on the opposite side from where we used to be.

Business owners can’t do anything about it – that’s their neighborhood, and not only do they work in the area, most likely also live there as well. I’m not sure what the city can do to make citizens feel safe when they go, but additional policing is not the answer.

How has your background prepared you for this opening?

Nothing will prepare you to be a business owner. My character has grown from my experience with Bodega Bistro and Nobu University. Bodega made me feel a sense of accountability. If no one was going to do it, it wouldn’t get done. Nobu taught me the game: how a successful restaurant stays consistent and what it’s like to uphold standards. We all know the price point of dishes, so if customers don’t feel the food is worth it, the service better be.

Is your family still a part of the business at Bodega SF?

My family is very much still involved. Hot Sauce, Marinades, and Banh Cuon flour just to name a few are all made by my mother and aunt. My dad is there daily with us grinding it out, even if we have enough staff to help. My uncle will come in and help if he knows we’re busy. They were all involved in the menu process as well. Without their help and their own unique way of encouragement, there’s no way any of this would have been possible. This allows my partners Eugene, Adrienne, and I to focus more on FOH operations and what we envision Bodega SF to become.

You’ve done pop-ups and OSL two years in a row. What role do events play in the Bodega SF model?

OSL has been great to us. I’ve always wanted to do it since I was at the original location. Looking back at it now, I don’t think we would’ve been able to handle the volume. Now, there’s a team behind me that share the same goal. Working an event like that really pushes us to our limits and reminds us at the end of the day that the job has to be done. Even if we’re prepping till 4 am and then waking up at 7 am, it is very fulfilling every year for our team.

Follow me on Instagram at @cheycheyfromthebay for all things San Francisco dining and fun!

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