Ginger & Scallion

Ginger & Scallion knows poultry and grains like Bruce Springsteen knows New Jersey. This bare-bones Phinney Ridge spot with just a handful of tables has quickly become a great casual weeknight dinner option, and that’s thanks to their juicy poached hainanese chicken and schmaltzy rice. 

Having a strong hankering for chicken and rice from the get-go is a prerequisite for enjoying a meal here, but if anything’s going to get us in the mood, it’s this place. Not one morsel of meat is dry—cold-on-purpose hunks of drunken chicken are plump and tart from a rice wine soak, while shreds of moist white meat sauced with tangy curry take a sizable slap of heat from chili crisp.

photo credit: Nate Watters

photo credit: Nate Watters

photo credit: Nate Watters

photo credit: Nate Watters

photo credit: Nate Watters

Stick to the chicken, because things go south with everything else—like tofu braised (read: absolutely assaulted) in five-spice, cucumber salad more boring than middle schoolers performing Shakespeare, and little teacups of flavorless broth that you can go right ahead and ignore. Prioritize poultry, and poultry only, and you’ll be in good hands.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Nate Watters

Cucumber Salad

There’s not much to it—cucumber rounds, rice vinegar, a touch of toasty sesame oil, and exactly two goji berries for garnish. Go forth if something light and cold to crunch on sounds good, but these are not the kind of cukes that younger generations will read about in the history books.

photo credit: Nate Watters

Mary's Chips

Crispy fried bird skins with a bit of sweet chili sauce for dipping can have their place on the table as a little snack, though you don’t totally need them.

photo credit: Nate Watters

Drunken Chicken & Rice

Here’s where things get good. A rice wine marinade gives the chicken a low-ABV bite. You get to choose between dark or white meat, but you’ll want it with dark—the koji flavor cuts through extra fat nicely.

photo credit: Nate Watters

BBQ Chicken & Rice

If you’d rather chaperone a seventh birthday party at Wild Waves than mess with floppy chicken skin, opt for the BBQ, which features roasted five-spice-rubbed skin that manages to infuse just enough white meat beneath with a hit of cloves et al.

photo credit: Nate Watters

Chicken Curry Rice

The best dish here, there's just enough marigold-tinged curry sauce on this pile of pulled white meat to moisten things up without turning the whole plate into stew. That, plus some frizzled shallots and a spoonful of chili crisp, add a ton of variety in texture and heat.

Five-Spice Braised Tofu

These cubes of tofu are completely overpowered by liquified five-spice, leaving you with a mouthful of wet cinnamon and not much else. If you’re vegetarian or not in the mood for chicken, just eat somewhere else.