{"id":289806,"date":"2026-04-28T14:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289806\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T14:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T14:58:18","slug":"good-morning-san-francisco-a-rich-table-veteran-is-opening-a-hong-kong-style-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/289806\/","title":{"rendered":"Good morning, San Francisco: A Rich Table veteran is opening a Hong Kong-style caf\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gizela Ho hopes to open her first restaurant, Good Morning 96, in 2027. | Source: Geloy Concepcion For The Standard<\/p>\n

For a decade, Gizela Ho helmed the kitchen at one of the hardest-to-book San Francisco restaurants, creating playful, global-inspired dishes that married her Cantonese roots with the tenets of California cuisine. Now, after leaving Rich Table in November, she is ready to step into the spotlight and open her debut restaurant, Good Morning 96.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though she has yet to finalize a lease, she envisions a restaurant that reflects her experiences growing up on Guam and summers spent in Hong Kong \u2014 a modern version of a Hong Kong-style cafe. She hopes to open in mid-2027. \u201cI want it to be a fun, energetic space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ho has secured about 40% of the funding needed for the restaurant and has brought on A-Frame Hospitality, a consultancy that worked on the opening of The Happy Crane last year. She expects the menu to lean heavily into seafood and vegetables. \u201cThat\u2019s what I really loved eating growing up, and I want to bring a little bit of that excitement to the menu,\u201d Ho says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A\"Two\"A<\/p>\n

The name refers to \u201cgood morning\u201d towels, which are ubiquitous and affordable in Hong Kong and across Southeast Asia. Often used by working-class laborers and in cha chaan tengs, or Hong Kong cafes, they\u2019re easily recognizable by their red stitching reading \u201cgood morning\u201d in English and Chinese. The year 1996 refers to when Ho\u2019s grandfather opened his restaurant in Hong Kong after being a street vendor for years.<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s working on the restaurant, diners can get a taste of what\u2019s to come through monthly collaboration events. Ho has partnered with restaurants in San Francisco and Oakland, including Nisei in May, Ox & Tiger in June, Prubechu in July, and Peony Seafood Restaurant in September.<\/p>\n

In April, she collaborated with baker Jessica Little Fu on a pastry pop-up at On Waverly in Chinatown. Boxes included a Hong Kong sausage cocktail bun, black sesame cookie, milk tea, berry cream puff, and a char siu puff pastry.<\/p>\n

Ho has been busy testing recipes, from crudos and ceviches \u2014 \u201cI\u2019m really hoping to have an extensive raw menu,\u201d she says \u2014 to a mapo schnitzel. It was on the Rich Table menu, and Ho is excited to bring the dish back, but with a twist: She\u2019s trying out a Hong Kong-style pork chop.<\/p>\n

For desserts, she plans to partner with a local creamery on custom flavors. She\u2019s also experimenting with her own items, including a cookie made with black sesame paste, Okinawan crushed brown sugar, and roasted golden sesame seeds sourced from San Francisco\u2019s Japanese Pantry store.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to show people food that I\u2019m most passionate about,\u201d Ho says.<\/p>\n

\"AUpcoming Good Morning 96 pop-upsBakers and Makers Fair at Nisei, (opens in new tab)<\/a>May 3
Good Morning 96 will sell a Hong Kong-style Laotian sausage bun, mochi madeleine, Hong Kong milk tea crepe cake, lapcheong scone, and black sesame cookie at the marketplace, highlighting a superstar lineup of AAPI bakers, artisans, and makers. Admission to the the event, which runs from 3 to 8 p.m., is $5. Dinner with Nisei and Angler (opens in new tab)<\/a>, May 18
At this Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month event, Good Morning 96 collaborates on a menu with chefs from Nisei and Angler on a multicourse meal. Good Morning 96 will serve several dishes from the set menu, including a salt and pepper veal schnitzel with mapo tofu. The menu costs $248, and reservations can be made on OpenTable. A portion of the proceeds will go to the nonprofit Asians Are Strong.Collaboration menu with Ox & Tiger (opens in new tab)<\/a>, (opens in new tab)<\/a> June 5-8
Ho will collaborate with the Japanese-Filipino restaurant in the Tenderloin for a multicourse set menu. Reservations will be available on Tock.\u00a0Guam\u2019s Liberation Day at Prubechu, July (date to be determined)Mid-Autumn Moon Festival banquet-style meal at Peony Seafood restaurant in Oakland, September (date to be determined)\u00a0\u00a0