For the past 12 months, James Yeun Leong Parry has been out of his comfort zone. The talented San Francisco chef, who never went to culinary school but learned to cook at Michelin-starred restaurants like three-starred Benu, was no longer in the kitchen — his sanctuary. He had gone to the project management side, where staffing, construction delays and liquor licenses were part of his daily repertoire. But none of these tasks excited him quite like perfecting a tender roasted quail or lacquered ibérico pork jowl.

At times, he felt discouraged, like most chefs who take on the challenging burden of opening a small business in San Francisco. And yet, to open his first restaurant — The Happy Crane, one of the city’s most highly anticipated restaurants so far this year — Parry learned to live in the discomfort. He had no choice.

“Until you’re in it, you don’t realize all of the intricacies of putting it all together,” Parry recently told SFGATE. “I’m not a control freak, but a lot of it was outside of my control, and that was difficult.”

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Chef James Yeun Leong Parry poses for a portrait during service at The Happy Crane; at right, the restaurant’s pea dumplings.

And here we are. After 12 months of anxiety, Parry opened the doors of the modern Chinese restaurant in the heart of Hayes Valley. At The Happy Crane’s grand opening on Aug. 8, Parry finally returned to his comfort zone: the kitchen.

Located in the former Monsieur Benjamin space at 451 Gough St., The Happy Crane is Parry’s laboratory for elevated Chinese street food, dim sum and roasted meats. Even though the exterior has no signs, awning or designs on the floor-to-ceiling windows, the restaurant is hard to miss. It’s packed, and every passerby stops to peek in and seriously consider what they are missing. Inside, the restaurant is sleek, with rounded lamp fixtures, cement pillars and warm wood accents.

Booked out solid for the next 30 days, the menu highlights Parry’s childhood in Hong Kong, his culinary studies in Beijing and Chengdu, and the California flair of highly seasonal and local ingredients. The classic “smacked” cucumber dish with chili oil is paired with smoked figs, chinkiang-based vinaigrette, diced avocado and cherry tomatoes, while a popular Hong Kong street bao called the Golden Coin swaps out the traditional char siu with thinly sliced coppa and an airy red wine chicken liver mousse on top. The pillowy-soft bao bun is made in-house.

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Diners enjoy the food and atmosphere of The Happy Crane, in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley on Thursday, Aug. 14,........

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