Secret Bao Divulges All

Consider the bao. Chinese in origin, it’s most easily described as a steamed bun filled with something savory. Yet, like the American concept of a sandwich, the bao exploded into a flexible format of untold bounds — served at any meal, filled with you-name-it, completely closed or wide open, with endless regional variants from across Asia and far beyond.

“We like the idea that it’s generic because we can do whatever with it,” explains Peter Lee, co-proprietor/chef of Secret Bao, which he just opened with his fiancée, Felicia Medina, on the corner of Anapamu and Anacapa streets after nearly a year of pandemic-prompted pop-ups. “Our bao itself is kind of Chinese-style, but the inside is everything.”

“Everything” on the intentionally modest menu currently runs from the maitake bao (a crunchy tempura mushroom amped by ginger, scallion, and sunomono cucumber) and the fried shrimp with sweet chili and sesame slaw to the six-hour roasted pork belly with pickled pineapple and the KFC, a Korean-style fried chicken with dragon sauce that would draw lines if that were all Secret Bao ever served.