The wife-wife team at Good To Eat restaurant in Emeryville—Chef Tony Tung and General Manager Angie Lin—has created one of the best Asian cuisine destinations in the Bay Area that is clearly a labor of love in all respects. As they describe it, Good To Eat is a: “women, queer, and immigrants owned and operated restaurant set out to define Taiwanese cuisine in America in our own terms. Inspired by the traditional Taiwanese roadside banquet, we believe in the importance of delivering craft, thoughtful food with the intention of connecting each other in the community.”
Roadside banquets (pān-toh) are a unique cultural tradition deeply rooted in Taiwan’s history. These banquets were once the pinnacle of fine dining, hosted outdoors with temporary kitchens to mark life’s most significant celebrations. Master chefs would craft elaborate multicourse meals, pairing abundant dishes with thoughtful menus to showcase Taiwanese hospitality at its finest.
During a visit to Taiwan a few years ago, Chef Tony had the opportunity to work with Master A-Càn, one of the most celebrated banquet chefs in Taiwan. She learned from Master A-can and assisted his team in preparing a banquet for over 400 guests. This experience brought back vivid childhood memories of helping at similar events, but now, as a professional chef, she gained a deeper appreciation for the techniques, teamwork, and philosophy behind the dishes.
Chef Tony also realized that this tradition is at risk of disappearing. Many of the skilled chefs she worked with are nearing retirement, and the knowledge they hold is at risk of being lost. She is working to help make sure that does not happen.
Both Chef Tony and Angie are originally from Taiwan, and when they first came to the U.S., Chef Tony did not speak any English. As Lin told the organization Taiwanese American, “Food has become her way to express herself. Our food has become our way and her specific way to express her heritage and her passion for local ingredients and community. My job is helping her express the story behind the dishes, and building a dining environment that we want to share with our friends. We don’t even feel it’s our customers, we feel they’re our friends.”
That welcoming atmosphere carries through the inviting space that includes a popular outdoor dining area. Set amid the mix of lofts, converted industrial spaces, condos, biotech campuses, and other buildings characteristic of Emeryville, Good To Eat offers a relaxed urban retreat where the food and service shine.
A star on the menu as of this writing is their Stir-Fried Dungeness Crab, served Taiwanese seafood harbor style. All of their Dungeness crab comes from the exceptional Monterey Fish Market (that is actually based in San Francisco at Pier 33 with a retail store in Berkeley). Chez Panisse and other fine restaurants in the Bay Area have long-standing relationships with the Monterey Fish Market, which remains a leader in sustainable fishing practices.
Each dish on the menu reflects an enticing balance of flavors and seasonal, creative touches. Consider that the full spectrum of Asian flavors consists of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, numbing, spicy, nutty, sharp, and smoky. When several of these flavors combine, the result is often satisfying harmony. The “Pepper Numbing” Chicken Cutlet, for example, has a Taiwanese sweet pepper numbing sauce (it is more like a tingling sensation) served with a light and crunchy cabbage slaw. Umami-rich Taiwanese Soy-Glazed Eggplants features this sometimes tricky-to-prepare vegetable at its best, lightly fried and then finished in a blazingly hot pan with garlic and a savory soy paste glaze.
The quality of the ingredients is evident, from the farmers’ market fresh vegetables to the meats, such as pork from Snake River Farms. The latter’s Kurobata pork is considered to be the pork equivalent of American Wagyu beef. Pantry items often are fine imported goods from Taiwan, like black vinegar in the Stir-Fried French Green Beans, fermented bean paste from Gangshan, Taiwan, which is in the Taiwanese Minced-Pork Noodle, and the charcoal-roasted dong-ding oolong tea from Nantou, Taiwan, which is in the Roasted Oolong Tea Basque Cheesecake. Many other ingredients and sides are hand-crafted in house, such as the addictive GTE Chili Oil Crunch and Good To Eat’s Taiwanese-style BBQ sauce.
Here at the San Francisco Bay Times, we had a few different reasons for exploring Good To Eat now. One is that the 2026 San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, following days of Lunar New Year festivities, will take place on Saturday, March 7, and has many of us thinking of Asian cuisines. The “reason for the season” is tied to the lunisolar calendar, which marks the weeks leading to spring. Traditionally, farmers would take this time to rest and prepare for the coming farming cycle. From a cultural standpoint, it is a time for families and individuals to “cross the year” (Guo Nian) to symbolically ward off the cold and other winter challenges in anticipation of warmth. This time of year is very important in Taiwan, seeing a flurry of food shopping, restaurant visits, and more.
Another reason is that Good To Eat was recommended to us by Boichik Bagels owner Emily Winston. When recently asked to name a favorite East Bay destination, in a flash she said, “Good To Eat in Emeryville.” Winston is a martial arts expert who enjoys many aspects of Asian culture outside of her deli know-how. She is also no slouch when it comes to knowing quality food and a well-run establishment. The New York Times declared Boichik as having the best bagels in the U.S. Thinking of honors, it would not be a surprise if Good To Eat earned at least a Bib Gourmand distinction from Michelin, helping bolster not only this great restaurant but also the expanding dining scene in Emeryville. For now, it remains somewhat of a gourmet secret for foodie insiders: IYKYK (if you know, you know).
Repeat after us: “Hào chī!” (How chee!) That means “delicious,” “tasty,” or “good to eat” in Mandarin Chinese, which is one of the languages spoken in Taiwan. It is a phrase worth repeating at the aptly named restaurant that is well worth the trek to Emeryville from San Francisco or other parts of the Bay Area. https://www.wearegoodtoeat.com/
Bay Times Dines
Published on February 26, 2026
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