The Wok Shop is a unique specialty store located in San Francisco's Chinatown that deals in Asian cooking tools. A family-owned and operated business that's been around for over three decades, it has the wok, a round-bottom bowl-shaped pan used for centuries in Chinese kitchens, as its centerpiece. The wok permits the rapid tossing of several ingredients with a minimum of oil and maximum heat efficiency. It is perhaps one of the most versatile cooking vessels in the world -- with your wok, you can stir-fry, steam, braise, sauté, simmer, deep-fry, stew, and even smoke. -- Nirmala Nataraj