Comedian Ali Wong stars in an upcoming Netflix movie that did some of its exterior shooting in San Francisco, all about a jilted, newly single celebrity chef who rekindles a romance with a childhood friend.
The movie — which takes its name, Always Be My Maybe, from the Mariah Carey song "Always Be My Baby" — drops on May 31, and this is the first we're hearing about it! Wong plays chef Sash Tran, who is shown in the trailer on the cover of Food & Wine magazine, and attending a star-studded fundraiser with fiancé Brandon (played by Lost star Daniel Dae Kim). She then gets dumped and "comes home" to San Francisco to open a new restaurant, and ends up bumping into a childhood and teenage best friend, played by Randall Park — who's best known for TV roles on Veep and as the dad on Fresh Off the Boat.
It looks like a standard romantic comedy with the addition of Wong's extra-dirty mouth, but seeing SF sights is always fun. The trailer includes glimpses of the 4-Star movie theater in the Richmond, the UN Plaza farmers' market, the deYoung Museum, as well as what appears to be a shot of downtown Vancouver that's been re-labeled "Clement Street."
Wikipedia tells us that principal photography for the film began in Vancouver in late May 2018, and San Francisco shooting happened over two weeks in late July.
Incidentally, the fictional restaurant Wong's character opens is called Saintly Fare, and Chronicle food editor Paolo Lucchesi screen-shotted the menu, noting it's very pork heavy.
Upon further investigation (and very important screen shot captures), it appears that Ali Wong's fictional San Francisco restaurant is named Saintly Fare.
— Paolo Lucchesi (@lucchesi) May 16, 2019
The menu is pork-heavy, seems a bit like culinary Mad Libs, but: crab-garlic noodles!
(Also, no "SF Mandate" charge.) pic.twitter.com/owIhSQa8bG
That also makes two SF-set Netflix releases happening the next three weeks, with Tales of the City debuting on June 7.
Previously: Netflix Drops Gorgeous Trailer For 'Tales Of The City' Featuring Bob the Drag Queen