Mission Chinese Food has officially taken over the world.
Not only has the humble restaurant become the hottest thing to happen to San Francisco in years, but last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Danny Bowien's Chinese-nouveau restaurant will be opening a new location in New York's Lower East Side.
"We could have opened another one here in San Francisco," Bowien told the New York Times, "but I love New York, the way it pushes you. It inspires me so I wanted to come to New York."
Since opening in 2010, Mission Chinese Food has become quite the sensation, winning Bowien an Eater Award, a spot on the Martha Stewart Show, a page in GQ's food feature I ♥ San Francisco and all the buzz the small restaurant can handle.
But beyond the accolades, Bowien has also shaken up the comfort of our sometimes stifling dining scene. Neither a member of the David Kinch nor the Alice Waters oligarchies, Bowien proved that, with enough talent and work, a Skrillex-style hipster with no interest in our food norms can change our dining landscape landscape forever.
And soon, his baby will be bicoastal.
So forgive us for our lackluster excitement over the news, but the Times also reported that Bowien will be moving to New York. Like San Francisco fashion designers before him, Bowien has succumbed to Manhattan's siren call.
Is this the start of an empire? Or is this the start of a breakup? After all, there can always be more than one Mission Chinese. But there can be only one Danny Bowien.
Check out Bowien's appearance on the Martha Stewart Show in the clip below: