what’s cookin’
Howdy, friends! HAPPY PRIDE! Yeah, it’s Thursday, and I’m hopping into your inboxes a couple days later than usual. I was away this past weekend at my sister Erica and her friends’ big round birthday DECADES campout at the Deloro Valley events venue in Tuolumne (in the Sierra Nevada foothills). It was a truly epic, transformative, and over-the-top experience—this wildly creative, visionary, hilarious, hard-working, and big-lovin’ crew (with over 150 people!) totally brought the lightning and the bass, the love and the laughs. The commemorative party sticker said: “We’re a lot!” (Way to own it! I felt right at home.)
And, my sister married the vintage disco ball I gave her for her birthday. (Of course she did.) I even got to walk her down the aisle and give her away to her true love! What an honor. They have such a bright future together. On Funkfull Friday, she rocked the best DJ set I have ever heard her lay down, go Wrecka go! Pure fuego! I loved watching her blow up the dance floor that night—everyone went wild. The entire weekend, she was riding a Mavericks-level wave of love and joy—it was really something to behold. Way to throw one helluva party for the decades!
It was like Burning Man compressed into four days of adult summer camp—let’s just say I came home Sunday night utterly exhausted, with a bunch of random bruises and an aching body. I’m still recovering. I had a restorative soak with sis and friends at Onsen on Tuesday—it’s so good to have that peaceful oasis back open in the Tenderloin! We booked two hours to enjoy the dry sauna, the steam room, the soaking pool, the cold shower…it’s such a beautiful space, and yay, it’s only a 20-minute walk away from me. Maybe after this upcoming Pride weekend, you should go soak, too! (Stand by for some updates about the upcoming food program there soon.)
On Monday, I flipped open my laptop to over 500 unread emails, which didn’t leave much time for catching up on new stories and writing this week. Since last week’s column was one of my biggest ever (over 6,800 words, oof), I decided to do something a little different this week.
Trying to keep up with the relentless pace of reporting the news doesn’t leave much time for writing about unique and tasty food experiences from cool people. So, in honor of Pride, today’s newsletter has a detailed feature on Rasa Rasa Kitchen, a (partly) queer-owned, homestyle Indonesian restaurant with a huge heart. We need to support the places pumping out the good vibes right now—I need it, you need it, the world needs it.
Since it’s SF Pride Week, I also want to mention a few recent stories I have written about queer-owned businesses that you may have missed: check out my piece about the trans-owned Lobby Bar and the new lesbian-owned Rikki’s Bar in the Castro, and my deep dive on the history of The Cinch, the last gay bar on Polk Street. Supporting subscribers can also look at a couple past archivist entries on Finocchio’s (here and here)!
I’m trying to rest up and get ready for a joy-filled SF PRIDE this weekend—I can’t wait to see and hug and reconnect and dance and laugh with all our amazing friends and fam in our magnificently colorful community, and make new connections, memories, and shared moments. It will overflow with the big heart medicine I know we allllll need right now. Remember, this year’s theme is: “Queer Joy Is Resistance!” Shine on. Be expressive. Take good care of each other! Check in. Be kind. Show up. Love up everybody.
On Friday, I’m planning to head to the rally in Dolores Park before the Trans March, and then on Pink Saturday, I’m so happy to see The Dyke March is officially back (donate here!), and I’ll be shaking my booty at the always-rowdy Polyglamorous Pink Block party at Great Northern (with DJ Harvey and Crystal Waters, yesss!). And then it’s time for our Sunday best at Juanita MORE!’s Pride Party at 620 Jones (benefitting the Transgender Law Center, and the 21st year of this iconic party). Will I make it to the Juanita MORE! + Mighty Real Pride Afters at Halcyon? Only time and my jenky knee will tell. I’m leaving everything up to the cosmos and kismet.
Last night was the 2025 Michelin Guide California Awards in Sacramento, and after last year’s debacle, I honestly had no desire to make the effort to get back on the road and report on this year’s awards show (trust, I was fine watching the livestream while at home in my caftan). BUT I would have loved to see Christopher Longoria (West Bev) walk on stage to accept the Michelin cocktail award for leading the bar team at Eylan in Menlo Park! This recognition is so right on and well-deserved—he’s one of our industry’s most thoughtful bar talents, and has been at it for a while (here’s to the long game 🥂!). Read more about Christopher and the incredible West Bev team in my recent profile here.
As for the stars, big congrats to Oakland’s Sun Moon Studio on their new star, to Kiln on jumping to two stars, Enclos in Sonoma came in hawt with two stars and a Green Star, and to Sons & Daughters on getting a Green Star. And tremendous kudos to all the restaurants who maintained their stars—it’s such tough work in this current hellscape.
I’m taking next week off to recharge and catch up with my damn self and my never-ending list of work things to do. I need a week off from writing. Things have been too intense and full-on, across the board. (I know you’re with me.) And then yesterday, my laptop decided to start acting like a punk-ass again, and after two hours on the phone with Apple Support, I’m like, okay, fine, I get it, I give up! No more writing. Take my computer. Please. It’s going in for a full wipe and firmware update tomorrow, light a candle for us.
I’ll be back in your inbox on July 8th (if you’re a supporting subscriber) and the 9th if you’re on the free plan. Catch you on the flip side. And now, it’s time to power on the rainbow lasers! 🌈⚡️ Pew pew!
With LOVE!
~Marcia
fresh meat
At Rasa Rasa Kitchen in the Mission, You’ll Find Indonesian Cooking with a California Touch and a Whole Lotta Kindness
There’s nothing like getting a group of friends and family together over a shared meal, especially when you’re in a place full of authentically warm hospitality, with the smell of spices and grilled meats in the air. With everything happening in our world, now is the time to get your gang together for a heartfelt culinary experience and head on over to Rasa Rasa Kitchen in the Mission.
Back in early 2024, I wrote about the opening of this Indonesian restaurant (one of our City’s few, recently joined by Fikscue) in the former Rhea’s Cafe on Bryant Street. Rasa Rasa Kitchen is from business partners Joe Sutikno-Sharp and Peggy Tang, who first launched the Rasa Rasa food truck together in 2020. Joe moved from Java to New York in 1999—where he was a photographer—and it’s where he met his now-husband Chris Sharp 19 years ago (they’ve been married for 10 years).
Flash forward 20 years, and one of Joe’s Indonesian friends from New York mentioned his wife, Peggy (who is non-Indonesian) wanted to open a homestyle Indo restaurant in SF, so Joe came to California to partner up with Peggy on the project. They decided to try things out and launch with a food truck first before opening a restaurant. And then, the damn pandemic began just two weeks later, can you imagine? But, they persevered and made it through one of the most challenging times for a new food business. Joe and Peggy would cook together in a commissary kitchen for the Rasa Rasa food truck, and eventually hired a kitchen helper—Peggy now oversees the truck, which is a permanent vendor at Spark Social/Parklab Gardens in Mission Bay.
Exactly four years later (to the day!), Peggy and Joe opened their first restaurant, Rasa Rasa Kitchen, on March 5th, 2024. This 30-seat corner restaurant has a casual, fun, tropical style. It’s centered around an open kitchen in the middle, and the back of the dining room has an awning that makes it feel like you’re dining in front of a street stall. (And just wait until you behold the bathroom signage!)
When you walk up to the restaurant, you’ll see a Pride rainbow flag, an Indonesian flag, and an American flag hanging in the front window facing the street. Something that really touched me is how Joe shared that back home in Java, he said he likely wouldn’t hang a rainbow flag at a restaurant, and even here in San Francisco, he doesn’t want to alienate devout members of the Indonesian community. But, it’s important to him to reflect his journey and identity while being welcoming to all, so they proudly hang rainbow flags in the restaurant.
Whether you’re coming by solo for a bowl of soup, or dinner with friends, you’ll quickly note how thrilled they are to feed and host you. It’s like being invited to their home for a meal. I wish you could hear my voice recordings with Joe excitedly talking about the dishes and how he makes them and what their names mean (so, no need to be intimidated by anything unfamiliar on the menu)—he wants to share so much about his culture and culinary traditions! Joe even responds personally to every single review on Yelp, so you can see how deeply he cares about their guests being happy. You’ll also meet his husband, the kind Chris, who runs front of house.
Rasa rasa means “flavor flavor,” and while they have dialed down the spice levels a bit for us West Coast folks, you can always crank things back up with the feisty sambals they make (like the ijo green sauce and the red belacan made with shrimp paste), and with some of the spicier sauces on the side. They describe their food as: “South East Asian cuisine, primarily Indonesian dishes with the Californian ‘tweak’ to suit the American taste,” so don’t come at them for not blowing the roof of your mouth off with spicy chile and funky shrimp flavor. But, you will taste many complex and aromatic dishes here, made with so many spices and garlic and onion, and an approachable amount of heat.
Joe explained to me how they decided to tweak some dishes due to ingredient availability, as well as what it means to be in California. Since he couldn’t find the traditional green chile for his ijo green sauce, he uses serrano and habanero peppers, which he says give almost the exact same flavor profile. He also mentioned how much Indonesian cuisine uses peanuts, but their Californian twist here is to use roasted corn in some dishes.
Another example of their individual culinary style is their laksa, an aromatic and lightly spicy shrimp and coconut curry noodle soup with tofu, beansprouts, cilantro, and lemon. Joe adapted the recipe from its original Malaysian style, adding some Indonesian tweaks—he mentions some of the deep flavor in the broth comes from the shrimp heads he uses in the base of the curry and cumin. It’s a big hit on their food truck, and you’ll find it at the restaurant on Mondays.
The next time I have a cold or hangover, I’m totally picking up a bowl of their “soto Kediri” ($18), a homey chicken rice soup with sliced chicken breast, tofu, and half of a hard-boiled egg, nestled into the most transportive clear broth redolent of lemongrass, turmeric, ginger, and lime leaves, plus shredded raw cabbage, scallion, and fried onions on top. It’s so comforting and pure love in a bowl—Joe shares it’s from his hometown region (Kediri) in East Java.
But the most memorable thing to do here is to get a group together, ideally four friends, and order their tumpeng tray, a family-style presentation that’s typically served to honor big moments and celebrations, like graduations, weddings, and significant birthdays. I did more reading about this beautiful tradition, and it’s full of meaning about the journey of life and food symbolism, it’s very touching.
It’s traditionally centered around a tower of cone-shaped rice (the tumpeng)—our two-tone tumpeng had both jasmine rice and their lovely yellow coconut rice with lemongrass, turmeric, and spices. We learned that you present the top of the tumpeng tower to whoever you’re celebrating for good luck and as a sign of honor. Joe told me that when it’s your wedding day, you offer the top of the tumpeng as a gift to your parents. He mentioned that for Father’s Day, they had a table with two generations of fathers, so he made two tumpeng towers for them.
At Rasa Rasa, Joe has expanded upon the traditional tumpeng dishes, and is adapting it as a way to share an abundant meal with your beloveds—it comes to the table as an artfully composed and jaw-dropping spread on banana leaves, with curries resting inside of banana leaf bowls. He wants to bring this tradition to San Francisco and replace birthday cake with this family feast! (I’m actually here for both.)
Since we were Joe’s guests, he put together an assortment of Rasa Rasa’s best dishes for our tumpeng platter: their delicious spring rolls; sweet and sour deep-fried wings (you can also order them with green chile/cabé ijo sambal); their signature beef rendang (the most tender beef stew slow-cooked with coconut milk and a magician’s array of spices); turmeric fried chicken (the chicken is braised in spices and then fried until crispy—it’s so dang tasty); gado gado (which means “mix mix”—a salad of cabbage, beansprouts, potato, tofu, and more, topped with peanut dressing); balado jumbo shrimp (we went wild for the sweet and spicy chile-tomato-red pepper sambal that coated the shrimp—you can also order balado eggplant); rica rica (typically this dish is made with other meats, especially in the predominantly Muslim Indonesia, but here, you should order the tangy, sweet, gingery, and gently spiced pork belly); chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce (truthfully, I preferred the dishes with more spice and complexity); pan-fried noodles (mi goreng); and diced tofu deep fried with peanut sauce. Ba-damn!
It was an absolutely bonkers spread, a total flavor journey, and such a delight to eat with my friends and discuss each dish and which one was our favorite. The tumpeng tray is $99 and serves up to four people: it comes with yellow coconut rice, beef rendang, turmeric fried chicken, gado gado, pan-fried noodles, gulai green (collard greens), four spring rolls, and garlic crackers.
In our spread, Joe added the wings ($14), satay ($20), and the can’t-miss rica rica pork belly ($18). They offer many vegan options, so don’t worry about all the meats mentioned in the platter above. (Some may want to know that the menu is non-halal.) Your bill will come with an automatic 18 percent service fee, but I imagine you’ll want to tip even more.
Another thing to note is they don’t serve beer and wine, so you can BYOB. Take a look on their Instagram account for their monthly happy hour deal, which usually has some kind of rad BOGO deal that runs from 11am–12pm and 5pm–6pm. They also run some creative specials to celebrate different occasions, like some Mex-Indo crossover dishes they made for Cinco de Mayo. And they do some pretty awesome catering with beautifully presented platters, so if you have an event coming up, you should give them a try.
I know so many folks depend upon delivery, and if you’re home illin’, go ahead and get that soto Kediri/chicken soup delivered, but the many charms of this place are revealed when you’re sitting in the dining room, learning about the dishes, and come on, the only way to eat fried fish is right out of the kitchen. The true kindness and warmth you’ll experience here has to be in person.
Open Mon and Fri 11am–3pm and 5pm–9pm; Tue–Thu 5pm–9pm; Sat–Sun 11am–9pm. 2200 Bryant St. at 20th St.
Happy Pride to everyone, and thank you to all immigrants who share their beautiful stories and traditions wherever they go. 💫
In honor of PRIDE, this week’s newsletter is a free for all! 😍
