Chinese New Year Banquet at Great Eastern

I've been volunteering for the San Francisco Writers Conference since its inception in 2004. After the conference ended on February 17, Board Member Harvey Pawl took all the volunteers out for a magnificent Chinese New Year Banquet at Great Eastern restaurant on Jackson Street in Chinatown. 

When we arrived, the table was set up for everything. After we were seated, the soup bowls and rice bowls were removed, as we weren't having either of those. No egg rolls or other tourist food, either!

View from my place setting.

The dishes arrived one or two at a time, so our food didn't get cold before we could get to it.

Fried starchy appetizer with cabbage "salad" and plum sauce

Vegetable Chow Mein

Honey Walnut Shrimp and
Tofu With Mushrooms and Baby Bok Choy

Chow Fun With Vegetables

Spinach Sauteed With Garlic

And a whole fish for good luck in the coming year.
Our waiter de-boned it for us.

Chicken buried under multi-colored shrimp chips

Dessert was orange slices and fortune cookies. I didn't take pictures--you know what those look like.

Gung Hey Fat Choy!