In the late 70's, we went to a restaurant south of the San Francisco airport on the advice of the concierge at the hotel. We are in downtown San Francisco and this guy recommends driving 40 minutes to eat at what he said is the best Chinese restaurant in America. We decided to try it, called to get reservations and figured it wouldn't be crowded on a week night and out of town like that. We could have walked into any restaurant in the Bay Area that night because everyone was at Kee Joon's Restaurant.
The place was packed and I was surprised they took our reservation and the wait was well over an hour past our reservation and I hate waiting in restaurants but I would soon find out why there was this large a crowd and the people next to us told us you have to make reservations at least a month out on the weekends and at least 3 months out for the holidays.
The entire meal was memorable but the star of the show was the first course, Quail Packages. They're small birds to begin with I figured this won't even be a snack just using their packages but was used to the Asian habit of wasting nothing. The packages were the forerunner of Chang's Lettuce Wraps that put them on the map. They were pan fried tableside, the whole quail, not just their packages, deboned and this guy had several different sauces and vegetables in little bowls and he meticulously, like a surgeon, tucked everything into bibb lettuce leaves. We took one bite and just stopped in mid chew, this was the best combination of flavors my wife and I had ever put in our mouths and I immediately told the young man to double the order and would have just told him to stay there and keep stuffing those little packages until we were stuffed but we figured if this is the best thing we ever tasted, what's up next? The best Asian meal of our lives and the catalyst for getting us into Asian cooking at home. We tried the Quail Packages at home and they were good but not show stopping like at Kee Joon. Plus, I do not have that meticulous, like a surgeon, skill so the show was lacking as well, as my wife was glad to point out.
I don't know if they're even around any longer but if they are, I'd commit a capital crime just to get the death penalty to get that as my last meal.