San Francisco’s China Live Is Building a Massive New Asian Food Complex in the South Bay

Eight years after chef George Chen opened his massive food emporium China Live in San Francisco’s Chinatown, he’s expanding the popular brand. This fall, Chen and partner Cindy Wong-Chen will open Asia Live at Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, a multi-purpose space that will highlight not just food from Greater China, but also Southeast Asia, India, Korea, and Japan. The ambitious project will be a mix of restaurant, cafe, bar, lounge, and retail offerings, spread across two stories and a rooftop.

Asia Live will take over the 12,000-square-foot space left behind by the closing of the lavish restaurant iChina, which shut down in September. It’s the first in a series of expansions that the Chens are working on; George Chen told Eater SF that deals are in the works for a New York location and an Asia Live space in Paris’s Carrousel du Louvre, the mall area below the famous Louvre Museum. “I’ve seen too many people expand too quickly, and that’s why we waited so long to do it,” Chen says. “I think [Asia Live] being in proximity to the Bay Area, I can control the quality really well and change the offerings — and create some more excitement.”

True to the original China Live experience, the new complex’s restaurant will feature an open kitchen concept where diners can watch the cooking action. There will be China Live staples, of course, such as the sheng jian bao, or pan-fried pork buns, plus the signature Peking duck pockets, but now diners will also be able to experience more of Chen’s background of cooking and traveling in Asia. This means the new kitchen will include tandoori ovens, an Indonesian rice table, plus charcuterie, sushi, and robata stations.

It’s a chance for Chen’s China Live team to “stretch their legs,” with a new menu, he says, as they become involved with the new location and as the company expands. “We’re not trying to be all things to all people,” Chen says, “but I think because of my background from [former restaurant] Betelnut, we can execute it, and I think it’ll be good for people. It’s not a food court by any means.”

Other familiar features of China Live will make it to the South Bay location. Namely, there will be another retail space for Asian ingredients and goods, as well as a bar with a cocktail program meant to rival Cold Drinks Bar that Chen promises to be a “mind blower.” But there are new features that should entice even the most frequent visitors of the San Francisco flagship. Paired with the retail space on the ground floor is a cafe that features grab-and-go items, such as the duck pockets, plus new offerings such as Taiwanese mango shave ice and black sesame soft serve, perfect for the warmer Santa Clara weather. A staircase will connect the shop and cafe to the restaurant area on the second floor as well as the bar, which Chen says will have views of Santana Row. But another offering that Asia Live has over its sibling emporium is the addition of a rooftop lounge, something which Chen has wanted to add to the San Francisco location but hasn’t yet, as the building has been embroiled in rent-related lawsuits over the last two years.

Asia Live (2855 Stevens Creek Blvd #1891, Santa Clara) is expected to open in Fall 2025.