She and her family were waiting in line to enter the new, 75,000-square-foot Korean food complex in Daly City, as were my colleague Cesar Hernandez and I. You, too, will almost certainly wait in line ...

Japchae (also spelled "chapchae") is a Korean dish that is based on slippery, resilient sweet potato noodles (sometimes mung bean noodles are used, but they have a more tender texture).