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With eye-poppingly delicious Asian-French fusion cuisine, Chaya Brasserie presents spectacular Kobe beef crab sushi rolls and smashing meat dishes in superb accompanying sauces with equal aplomb. Japanese chefs are creating some of the most delicious culinary combinations imaginable with Masa having started the trend in his historic restaurant, but chefs like Shigefumi Tachibe pursuing the tradition. Superb Ahi tuna tartare stirred with cucumber, apple, pine nuts, quail egg in chili miso vinaigrette. Stunningly delicious lamb and beef dishes, beautifully presented with delectable sauces: outstanding New York Strip with peppercorn butter and accompanying short ribs, meltingly delicious in bourbon marinade; signature Filet Mignon Rossini with potato soba crepes, foie gras and sauce perigueux, masterfully drizzled with jus de boeuf. Catastrophically succulent desserts, butterscotch banana bread pudding and panna cotta couched in sabayone. Warm soliticitous service and incomparable view.
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Chaya Brasserie
Cuisine: French Asian
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Embarcadero |
5/2/2009
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After myriad Bay Area locations, Iranian Chef Hoss Zare returns triumphantly to the Fly Trap where he started cooking more than 20 years ago. His cooking adventures in the City, then in Napa have only strengthened his culinary magic and francophile mediterranean touches into creating marvelous ebloussiance. Exotic, enticingly generous cross-cultural taste sensations fuse powerfully from his passionate sensitivities. Archetypal crab cakes cooked to perfection, densely filled with crab on a bed of watercress and watermelon, delectably eye-popping bites of silken Dungeness crab linguini with tangy Chardonnay lime sauce, stunning lamb shanks and short ribs, poetry for starving taste buds. Fabulous Greek yoghurt honey panna cotta and fascinating deconstructed lemon curd pie. Eclectic wine offerings, including section of Lebanon/Israeli wines offered for detente. Superb service and outstanding cuisine make Zare's at the Fly Trap one of our most satisfying restaurants.
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Zare at Fly Trap
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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SoMa |
10/21/2008
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Epic architecture, epic views, epic prices featuring nearly epic cuisine risking eclipsing the tous ensemble. Exhilarating destination roadhouse, Epic Roasthouse epitomizes San Francisco gourmet dining for tourists. San Franciscans may delight in the feng shui ambience complimented by chef's creative flavor combinations. Old Timers may prefer the occasionally stale House of Prime Rib, but food at Epic steals the show. Stunning green pepper salad with just enough heat, delectable beef tartare prepared tableside, to die for delicious short ribs. Astonishingly huge and succulent pork tenderloin with the freshest of meat; unexpected side of enormous wild mushrooms, the consistency of steak. Obscenely priced baked potato for $10, unnecessary given otherwise gargantuan portions. Desserts include fabulous diverse flavors of homemade ice cream, enticing creamed corn and decadent caramel. Exorbitant wine list with few standout bargains: 2003 Laurel Glen Cabernet for $60. Solicitous service.
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Epic Roasthouse
Cuisine: Seafood Steakhouse
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Embarcadero |
7/28/2008
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From Citizen Cake to Orson, Elizabeth Falkner pursues commedia dell'arte culinary creations with artistic whimsy and innovative elan. Within spittin' distance of Coco500, an obvious gauntlet has been thrown down, upping the ante with irresistible small plates and hyperexciting flavor combinations. Who could resist a dish of duck fat french fries with brown butter bearnaise sauce, worth a trip alone. Foie gras bon bons dipped in grand marnier and cocoa, an unexpected combination, or a chocolate pizza, drizzled with melted chocolate onto a sinfully spiced pizza crust. Sensationally flavorful presentations include a buttermilk fried chicken slider, asparagus with black garlic sauce, a parmaggiano pudding, delectable in simplicity, halibut in green curry broth, roasted pig, short ribs in potato foam, a feast of cutting-edge delights. Not to be outdone, desserts cap the tous ensemble: a fabulous sundae with banana mousse and candied pecans, or astonishing Pigwich with maple bacon ice cream.
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Orson
Cuisine: Californian
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SoMa |
5/4/2008
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Chef Thierry Clement is set to rock the Castro with his charming new restaurant, L'Ardoise, at the corner of Henry & Noe. Opening week proved generic but, having honed his skills at Fringale and Elizabeth Daniel, Chef's offerings are bound to titillate. Service and ambience provide adequate warmth; extremely reasonable oenophile offerings augment daily specialties. Results are satisfying but Chef Clement needs to kick the tous ensemble up a notch. In good time, it could happen. L'Ardoise means blackboard in French, and offerings included a delicious braised lamb osso bucco served with crispy polenta highlighted by a rosemary tomato broth and a Crispy Skin Loch Duart Salmon with mashed potatoes. Appetizers included a Lobster salad with lemon olive oil vinaigrette and spectacular Tiger Prawn ravioli in a butter cream sauce. A 2003 Chateau Coufran Haut-Medoc for only $40 complemented the cuisine. Superior desserts included molten chocolate cake and exemplary bourbon cream brulee.
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L'Ardoise Bistro
Cuisine: French Bistro
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Castro |
3/17/2008
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Despite nearly universal raves, cuisine at Ducca seldom rises above standard hotel generic. The New Year's Eve prix-fixe menu lacked fireworks whatsoever: Beef crudo, best of lot, presented mouth-meltingly tender beef dressed in palate-titillating California Ranch olive oil, its accoutrement, however, bland and unappealing: slices of bare apple, cauliflower, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds, nothing rising to the level of the beef. Bland octopus salad tasting like portobello mushroom, no attractive dressing. Depressing tagliatelli purportedly dressed with minced pheasant but tasting like Hamburger Helper in a sickening sweet sauce. Bland lobster canelloni never even rising to the level of The Red Lobster, insufferably disappointing. Decent scallops with copycat foam; fair venison offering little scintillation. Generic pear on generic dough for dessert. Ducca holds no candle to such great places as Chapeau, 1550 Hyde, Canteen, La Ciccia, endless other places. Not worth a return visit.
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Ducca
Cuisine: Italian
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Downtown |
1/1/2008
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Iron Chef Winner Rodney Baca's marvelous new restaurant breezily renovated in the former Blue Muse digs delights with his innovative cuisine. Baca's delectable, inventive cooking captivates with enticing presentations: spectacular short-rib papillote, incredible destination dish, disappointing oyster salad with only 3 small deep fried oysters dressed blandly, a similar dish at 1550 Hyde would be sublime. Entrees include an unexpectedly sensational chicken stuffed with asparagus and Boursin cheese, superb breast of duck stuffed, wrapped in papillote featuring darkly roasted and rich duck meat flavored with a deliciously dark Chambord sauce. For the sweet tooth, a stunning banana caramelized in pate de feuillete, a destination dessert. Wash down the tous ensemble with a classic Napa Cab, 2004 Ladera, smooth, rich and opaque, an oenophile's delight. Bursting at the seams by the Opera/Symphony crowd before showtime, the joint empties en masse promptly at 7:45, so reserve accordingly.
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Breezy's Restaurant and Bar
Cuisine: Mediterranean Californian
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Hayes Valley |
10/22/2007
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Unique Bernal Heights Cortland restaurant where Chefs Warsham and Russell create boutique cuisine extraordinaire, showcasing unexpected flavor combinations in a warm, copper-hued ambience. Innovative and imaginative flavors, thoroughly unexpected and delicious, a panache of exalting treble flavors. Delectable popcorn flavored with dried mango, cilantro and lemon grass, sweet fig and beet salad showcasing delicate melted cheese puff, calamari lasagnette with flared elan of red sauce, sensational fried game hen with banana skin milk-poached garlic mash, kaffir lime leaves and banana chutney, slow cooked pork with blueberry mole, exquisitely seared black cod on stewed tomatoes, exaltingly tender with flakey flavors and textures, delicious cheese cannolo with strawberry mousse, spectacular chocolate cake with molten blue cheese center with pistachio gelato, a destination dessert. 2001 Santa Cruz River Run Cabernet with aromas of fresh blueberries. Boutique portions and prices.
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Tinderbox Restaurant
Cuisine: American (New)
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Bernal Heights |
10/7/2007
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Soaring cuisine and ambience, Mark Sullivan's extraordinary rich cuisine at Spruce climaxes to an absolute knock out. Urban sophisticated atmosphere, loving service and thrilling cuisine create a viscerally erotic dining experience. Every dish an archetype, You'll be ooing and aahing throughout the meal. Delicious charcuterie selection featuring head cheese, beef tongue, chorizo, house bologna, stunning duck mousse nearly rivaling Thomas Keller's in taste, richly subtle spearmint ravioli with citrus and parmesan, spectacular red endive and pear salad with roquefort and pistachios, simply stellar. Sensational entrees include slow roasted beef short ribs, literally shimmering in glistening effervescence, honey lacquered duck breast with cinnamon dusted foie gras and plum gastrique, incomparably divine and simply peerless rich essence. State of the art desserts, superb oenophile delights. Stunning San Francisco debut, fight Your way in.
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Spruce
Cuisine: Calfornia
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Laurel Heights |
9/22/2007
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Hot Ligurian Hot spot, simply stunning on all accounts. Authentic attention to wine and cucina, every delectable morsel carefully crafted to regale the most jaded palate. Housemade breads as delicious as any bakery, simply stunning pastas, pansotti al sugo di noci, handmade tortelli filled with ricotta in walnut cream sauce, cocoa-scented pappardelle with wild boar sauce, every biteful laden with wow factor, the equivalent of any pasta in Italy, fabulous tai snapper filet with tomato in a white wine sauce, state of the art roasted veal chop with butter and sage, eye-poppingly delicious desserts, crostatas, panna cottas and semifreddos. Genuine Ligurian dishes copiously presented by radiant service. Stupendous Italian wine list, spectacular full bodied Lagrein. Authentic joie di vivre exaltation with deafening decibels. Un miracolo.
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Farina Focaccia & Cucina Italiana
Cuisine: Italian Bistro Ligurian
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Mission |
9/8/2007
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Superb and unconventional Indian cuisine featuring lovingly hand-crafted, mouthwateringly flavorful dishes. Nothing pre-made here, waiting time rewarded with extraordinary culinary delights, some of the best Indian food available. Bide your time by pre-ordering some of the delicious appetizers including huge savory puffed triangle samosas accompanied by a perfectly-paired California pinot noir. Patience rewarded by leisurely dining on one spectacular dish after another, superb tandooris and royally delicious curries: sensational Mushroom Hara Pyaz Kashmir tossed in onion tomato gravy with rum and wine, fit for any holiday, unusual Tandoori Murgh chicken, irresistible curried Murgh Tikka Masala chicken flavored with ultra rich, smooth and fluffy sauce, delectable Ghosh Saag, cubes of spring lamb in spinach sauce or the stunning destination Murgh Hara Masala, fabulously tender cuts of chicken smothered in a green chilli sauce. Mop up every sauce with spectacular puffed-up naan bread.
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Ashoka Fine Indian Cuisine
Cuisine: Indian
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Marina |
8/5/2007
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Initial delicious appetizers unfortunately overshadowed by stunningly disastrous, catastrophic entrees: funky, putrid, rancid, rotten-tasting guinea hen, supposedly poached and fried, presented as hunks of disgusting, thawing watery chunks of meat literally bathed in repulsive, nauseating fish oil tasting like spoiled fish."You don't like the oyster immulsion?" asked the waitress after expressions of dismay and shock. Spoiled fishy guinea hen scooped away by obsequious apologetic service only to be replaced by repulsively unappetizing, disgusting duck drowning under a mountain of foam, totally flaccid, mucous-like meat, vapid, limp and watery; imagine tasting raw, used condoms, a whole new concept in gourmet culinary foam. (Chef is a supposed disciple of El Bulli). "I don't even want to know how you would know what that tastes like" remarked waitress in response to same. Adjoining table unable to decipher between their duck and lamb. “No charge for entrees.” A total disgrace.
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PlumpJack Cafe
Cuisine: Californian Mediterranean
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Cow Hollow |
4/7/2007
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Stunning ristorante di Sardegna, one of San Francisco's best Italian restaurants, a revelation from start to finish. Exuberant welcome featuring a unique menu of spectacularly authentic wine and cucina, supremely delicious and satisfying. Massimiliano Conti and Lorella Degan have established a charming neighborhood restaurant, a veritable sine qua non feast of delights, superb house-cured prosciutto bathed in delectable olive oil, irresistible pasta offerings including pasta with lamb stew or saffron couscous with carcioffe, enormous mussels in tomato bisque, incredibly delicious and stunningly spectacular pork loin, understated desserts and incomparable wine list. Try the superb Carignano Shardona, a gift from Bacchus to Olympus. This tiny restaurant is one of the City's great restaurants, the owners and staff bring their love of Italian food and joie de vivre presenting a cornucopia of delights, superb ethnic Italian giving pleasure beyond description. Viva Sardinia, Viva la Ciccia!
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La Ciccia
Cuisine: Italian
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Noe Valley |
3/31/2007
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Burning fire courses through the veins at this passionate stunning new Sicilian hot spot in San Rafael. Exotic offerings from the jaw-droppingly exciting menu, the highly charged erotic ambience, service and wine list combine for a spectacular dining experience. Stunning Italian wines, la Planeta di Sicilia, Brunello di Montalcino, noble divine liquids, simply unexpectedly delicious authentic offerings like pasta alla norma, superb al dente pasta with caramelized egg plant in a spectacular marinara sauce, mixed grill of diverse seafood perfectly showcased on a bed of perfect risotto, lemon prawns with lemon risotto so delicious it could be dessert, archetypal rack of lamb far superior to that offered at the multi-starred Michelin neighbor to the north, spectacular homemade cannoli will have you believing it's Christmas every night of the year. Warmth of superior service and stunning food will have you yearning to return. Simply sans pareil.
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Mezzo Mezzo
Cuisine: Sicilian Italian
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San Rafael |
3/24/2007
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Existential Parisian Bistro hidden in plain sight, a search for ancient memories, imagine a dancing Audrey Hepburn emerging from the shadows. Intimate Franco-American restaurant featuring authentic French home cooking, warm personal service from a delightful Father/Daughter team. Trip down nostalgia lane to a French restaurant that nearly no longer exists, La Cave's open kitchen fully on display from every table showcasing Pere's diligent and meticulous cooking, scents of every dish filling the air with enticement. Delectable half douzaine d'escargots deliciously archaic. Spectacular crevettes provençal with sparkling large prawns showcased in white wine, garlic, tomato sauce, delicious magret de canard perfectly rare and oozing with duck flavor, ultra gamey rack of lamb featuring tender, succulent meat, archetypal French desserts. Deliciously delightfully devoid of any pretense.
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La Cave
Cuisine: French
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Russian Hill |
3/24/2007
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Charming Russian Hill neighborhood restaurant whose exhilarating reception, warm ambience and enticing cuisine are a delight. Italiana Rustica reflected by hearty Italian food and the very rustic Italian reception by maitre d' Gabriele, constantly on fire, seduces into an enjoyable evening surrounded by an uproarious dining din. Enormous generosity impresses from the hosts on down to the food and wine with copious portions and exceedingly reasonably priced bottles. Amarena's take on rustica includes hot homemade bread served directly from oven to table, perfectly cooked jumbo prawns lightly battered couched on fried zucchini topped with delectable aioli contrasting with refreshing lipari salad of chunked cucumbers/tomatoes; irresistible, archetypal osso bucco in tagliatelle with meat mushroom sauce, falling off the bone and perfect to share; delicious saltimbocca lemon veal enveloped in cheese. Enormous dessert finales with Gabriele's perfect hospitality leaving you lingering for more.
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Amarena
Cuisine: Italian
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Polk St./Van Ness |
3/11/2007
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Simply stunning restaurant on historic Gold Street in San Francisco's original Assay Office which housed gold rush miners' gold, now housing spectacular food, fabulous service and incomparable ambience. 50 yards from the original waterfront, unquestionably the City's supperclub sans pareil. That fabulous ambience, Bruce Hill's marvelous cuisine and Bix's sensational cocktail bar will have you believing it's New Year's Eve every night of the year. State-of-the-art steak tartare prepared tableside, stunningly rich and irresistibly delectable, creamily rich torchon de foie gras, mouth-meltingly tantalizing cubed shortribs couched on a bed of succulent caramelized mashed potatoes highlighted by intensely flavored organic carrots, archetypal fabulous pork chop on a bed of stunning sweet potatoes so delicious they could be dessert. Speaking of which, an astonishing bananas foster with rum ice cream creating fireworks for the tous ensemble. Obsequiously scintillating service.
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BIX
Cuisine: American (Traditional)
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Downtown |
1/13/2007
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Sensational food start to finish, a new restaurant with soaring design simply defying the archetype. Stunning north/south renovation with spectacular élan, the eastern cafeteria addition less so, with low ceilings exuding hot air both atmosphere and decible-wise. Kudos to the establishment, however, for allowing grandly sufficient space between tables for two, maintaining the private dining experience, no intruding neighbors' space and vice versa. Simply superb frito misto, heavenly light and tender, spectacularly and delicately fried to bathe in stunning meyer lemon aioli. Succulent hamachi crudo lightly drizzled with citrus, spectacular gorgonzola ricotta gnocchi with nettles splashed with ground hazelnuts. Ultra tender mouth-melting short ribs and fabulous pork shoulder falling off the bone into your mouth. Eye-popping, taste-bud exploding desserts including state-of-the-art panna cotta with grappa-soaked cherries and irresistibly delicious lemon meyer semifreddo. Radiant reception.
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Perbacco
Cuisine: Italian
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Downtown |
1/9/2007
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Chef Proprietor Philippe Gardelle is a charmer. His effervescent charm and joie de vivre are vividly manifest in both cuisine and ambience at Chapeau, one of San Francisco's most delightful restaurants. A spiritual throwback to bygone American French restaurants, Gardelle has nonetheless raised the bar with his fantastic cooking. Each and every dish is revelatory from spectacular trio of salmon, scintillating oysters on the half shell, delicious foie gras, irresistible mussels mariniere segueing to eye-popping beef prime rib for two served with bone marrow yielding stunningly tender beef slices, superb and delicious rich duck breast with duck confit risotto, spectacular bouillabasse with supreme seafood saffron similar to that once reigning supreme at Farallon but alas long lamented. State of the art desserts including a succulent panna cotta and dessert of the year, orange soup with tangerine sorbet bathed in a martini glass of cointreau. Infinitely superior to the overrated Cyrus.
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Chapeau!
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Inner Richmond |
12/1/2006
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Stunning reinvention of La Folie has Chef Roland Passot at his pinnacle creating masterful cuisine of utmost refinement. His overly-hearty cooking has ingeniously metamorphosed into creations simultaneously hearty and refined eclipsing all that has gone before and attaining unimaginable culinary perfection. Chef Passot must now count as one of our most treasured chefs who creates masterpiece after culinary masterpiece, relentlessly rich, singularly unique celebration cuisine, no hyperbole can adequately describe his exquisite creations. Unbelievably delicious lobster bisque, City best flavorful and juicy snails encased in a dinner roll, luciously tender veal wrapped in sweetbreads, stunning roast lobster housed in a mini sugar pumpkin, stupendous foie gras with succulent reduction sauce, monumentally stunning duck breast with roast apple stuffed with duck confit, rare with crispy skin, simply a spectacular destination dish. Passot's cuisine attains Louis IV splendor and excess. Superb.
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La Folie
Cuisine: French (New)
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Russian Hill |
11/22/2006
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Singularly unique destination restaurant reminding for all the world of some Austrian Jaegerhaus, even in taste, tucked away along Shoreline Highway in Mill Valley offering unique ambience, unique food and uproarious service. The joint is mobbed and even with reservations at peak hours you'll still wait but the atmosphere and the food you receive here are just unlike any other in the Bay Area, multi-layered, hearty, featuring deeply rich flavors beautifully balanced in gargantuan portions. Spectacular oysters bingo served on the half shell roasted with cheese gratin, delectable warm spinach salad, fabulous crab cakes with housemade dill sauce. Enormous entrees featuring delicious chicken under a brick, gigantic lamb shank on a bed of saffron rice, smoked duck with orange glaze with an irresistible mushroom bread pudding. Avalanches of enormous desserts including delicious lemon pudding cake, tangy lime pie, fabulous butterscotch creme brulee. Rafanelli wines reign supreme. Stupendous.
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Buckeye Roadhouse
Cuisine: Steakhouse
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Mill Valley |
11/19/2006
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Marvelous Chef Shawn Paul in the superbly newly-remodeled Cafe Majestic is set to turn San Francisco's culinary world on its ear. Obviously a multi-talented chef, some of his creations border on the brilliant. From the moment you enter the Cafe, you're aware a delightful new restaurant has debuted, straight out of Thomas Mann's Zauberberg. The lovely European-inspired Cafe Majestic provides a perfect foil to Paul's inspired cuisine. Stunning bread made in-house. A butternut squash flan amuse bouche tasting for all the world like foie gras, the foie gras itself already rivaling that of Gary Danko. A crab salad itself sufficiently delectable to raise eyebrows. A delicious short rib entree with Tahitian vanilla flavors and a rare rack of lamb balancing between paysanne and refined. Desserts infinitely superior to those offered at the two-star Cyrus. Stunning rare 2004 Oakville Turnbull Merlot. Charming service, scintillating ambience and superb cuisine. Reserve now before it's too late.
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Cafe Majestic
Cuisine: American (New)
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Pacific Heights |
11/15/2006
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Food at Gary Danko's speaks for itself. Course after course of superlative culinary creations unquestionably attaining the equivalence of cuisine served at Michelin three-starred establishments in France. Superlative culinary masterpieces follow one upon another in rapid succession, including a stellar foie gras with heavenly rich vanilla flavors in caramelized red onions and fuji apples, spectacular roast lobster swimming in a stunning tarragon chanterelles cream sauce, superlative Moroccan spiced squab served whole and beautifully flayed, succulent rich and moist breast of guinea hen augmented by divine boudin mousse, superb lamb tenderloin, state-of-the-art cheese selection including such rarities as a stupendous Pierre Robert triple cream or a Tasmanian bleu. Archetypal spectacular desserts, each superbly crafted, irresistible and remarkable, delectable moist pumpkin spice cake with outstanding fruit compote, gorgeous peanut butter cheese cake, rare pear souffle. Divine sustenance.
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GARY DANKO
Cuisine: American (New)
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Fishermans Wharf |
11/14/2006
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Sizzling nightclub dining happening exemplary of the type of San Francisco Values that scare the hell out of the neocons. Remove your shoes, crawl onto giant banks of tempurpedic beds with comfortable pillows and join the show, an erotic fantasy meditation that brings the action to your bedside. Like dining and reclining on some Felliniesque or Kubrick futuristic set and being entertained by living erotic performance art, trapeze and massage artists, acquiescent and obsequious waitstaff dressed straight out of Bladerunner or Mad Max, dinner is almost an afterthought but surprisingly decent, carrot bisque to roast filet. Service nearly eclipses, however, with courses being passed along lines of dancing acrobatic clowns and mimes, up and down stair flights, sliding down the banisters. Diva Dan dressed as a Vegas Boudoir Mama entertains with scintillating birthday spankings. Surprising bargain wine list, delicious molten chocolate cake, a 20-Something pleasure palace dream come true.
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Supperclub
Cuisine: Continental Fusion
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SoMa |
11/12/2006
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Potential for any miraculous dining experience is sabotaged by over-regimented service obliterating the joie de vivre. Legions of cold sober-faced women dressed in dark usherette costumes bring and clear courses with the efficiency and charm of the East German Stasi. Stifled exuberance includes calculated explanations of measured wine flights in sharp contrast to free flowing superb wine flights at Manresa. During dining, one wine overzealously cleared before being finished, another wine served corked and moldy from a previously opened bottle, inexcusable. Certain superlative dishes, lamb chops and lobster, are unquestionably worthy of the recently-received Michelin two-star designation. Other courses not so, including a bland, generic duck and a disastrous so-called signature caramel popcorn soup, disgracefully featuring dry, old-tasting popcorn swamped with watery caramel. Such glaring gaffes in service, cuisine and wine should not be considered worthy of a solitary Michelin star.
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Cyrus Restaurant
Cuisine: French (New) Asian
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Healdsburg |
11/11/2006
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Epitome epochal global dining experience featuring sublime creations by Master Chef, David Kinch, whose celebratory cuisine is truly a cultural treasure. With European and Asian influences, Chef's 17-course tasting menu features a cornucopia of unique delicacies tantamount to a four-hour culinary theatrical event which will leave you wilted with stupefaction. Singularly extraordinary delicious wine flight perfectly compliments every unexpected course. From stunning amuses bouches, black olive madeleines with red pepper gum drop, spectacular autumn croquette exploding with intense liquid, stunning oyster in urchin gelee seemingly directly snatched from Neptune's grasp, spectacular spot prawn with Indian spices, an exemplary archetype, superb layered Arpege egg, foie gras with quince, blue fin, superlative abalone, squab, venison followed by countless radiant desserts, you will be delightfully overwhelmed by delectable excess. Simply superb. A nearby motel is exigent.
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Manresa
Cuisine: American (New) French (New)
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Los Gatos |
11/10/2006
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Delightful dining experience, Sociale is a charming Presidio Heights boutique restaurant that offers loving attention to food, wine and ambience. Talented Chef Tia Harrison creates delectable dishes, often spectacular and always delicious. Down an enticing hidden courtyard, Sociale offers a warm welcome tantalizing until the final climactic dessert. Obvious attention and care are satisfyingly paid cuisine and wine, the wine uncorked and tasted before serving, swirled to lubricate the table's wine glasses. Tia's splendid creations are irresistible, appetizers often outclassing entrees. A spectacular broccoli gratin will have you hankering to lick the plate. Stunningly fabulous parsnip gnocchi, the equal to any in the City, stupendous duck pappardelle or beef cheek ravioli. Delicious brick chicken, pork loin wrapped in bacon, a skosh dry, on a puree of butternut squash, richly flavored osso bucco which could have been more tender. Pumpkin gelato will have you turning orange with glee.
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Sociale
Cuisine: Italian
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Presidio Heights |
11/9/2006
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Already a smash hit, Rosenthal/Washington Town Hall savoir faire presents a scintillatingly spectacular new restaurant upgrading the whole of Soma Mission with gorgeous decor, old fashioned brick walls, warm wooden floors, high arched windows in the presence of Soma skyscrapers, but offering only passable food. Fatty veal breast, vomit-inducing mucous-like meat with only a few shreds of decent veal between fat globules and skin. Edible chicken roll tasting like it came out some nouvel Swanson's frozen concept, layered and squeezed between watery, fatty skin. Fair but small appetizers consisting of delicious boudin blanc sausage on a bed of overly-sauced, grainy mustard Kraut, nearly inedible overly-salted pastrami ribs with delicious apple butter, crispy shrimp, small portioned but acceptable tasting on a bed of spicy green beans. OK butternut ice cream, too pumped full of air but nevertheless with good flavor. Spectacular 2004 Girard Petite Sirah. Over expansion can be lethal.
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Salt House
Cuisine: American
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SoMa |
11/4/2006
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Sing an Ode to Hue L'Amour the ultra chic Vietnamese destination restaurant with understated elegance, warm discrete service and scintillatingly delicious cuisine. Chef Doanh Huynh shapes delectable family-inspired Vietnamese cuisine reminiscent of his native Hue combining the freshest ingredients with a passion for spices, creating indescribably delicious delicacies from outstanding Imperial rolls filled with chicken, shrimp, crabmeat, black mushrooms, clear vermicelli with fresh lettuce and fish sauce combined to irresistible taste, to unique flavors of Hue dumplings with shrimp and pork enveloped in delicate noodle wraps or fabulous spicy beef salad with celery, carrots, jalapenos and mint layered in a superb ultra rich and firey reduction sauce. Superb platters of marinated grilled caramelized chicken, pork, beef, prawns or delicious curried chicken with coconut milk served in a cast iron pot. A delightful return for superb, elegant Vietnamese cuisine along the Van Ness corridor.
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Hue L'Amour
Cuisine: Vietnamese
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Polk St./Van Ness |
10/22/2006
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$100 per person for the most disappointing meal out in recent living memory. Kati's Chef's website remarks claiming French cuisine to be too heavy rendered laughable by his overly hearty approach to asian/fusion where his overly heavy and overly sauced appetizers and entrees overwhelm every presentation. Overly battered crispy fried calamari with ginger, garlic jalapenos completely devoid of any calamari flavor drowning in heavy fried batter. Artificial Japanese dragon roll paling next to Okoze's ingeniously delicate chef's roll, heavy, cumbersome prawn avocado sushi wrap lacking any Japanese or Asian refinement whatsoever. An otherwise decently roasted leg of lamb buried in overly sweet reduction sauce with sour broccoli rabe. The worst entree imaginable: oxtails smothered in a pasty sweet sauce so sickening it reminded of childhood when one would scarf up something inedible to hide in chipmunk cheeks to spit into a napkin to later flush down the toilet when no one was looking.
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Cafe Kati
Cuisine: Asian Californian Fusion
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Japantown |
10/17/2006
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Legendary breakfast nook overlooking Washington Square serving copiously generous breakfast goodies for the past 45 years, a genuine San Francisco institution, consistently creating a cornucopia of superb omelets, baked delights, buttermilk pancakes, banana nut french toast with homemade banana bread slathered with bananas, delicious apple pan dore, french sourdough baguette covered with sliced apples and drizzled with a lemon-butter sauce, endless pancakes smothered in every conceivable seasonal berry. After breakfast, ample salads and sandwiches including the archetypal fabulous Monte Cristo sandwich, turkey, ham and cheese dipped in egg and grilled and served with homemade jams. Mama's has been in the Michael & Debra Sanchez family for almost 50 years with epochal long lines weekends proving their popularity, longevity and breakfast hegemony. San Francisco's favorite North Beach breakfast spot. A delice.
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Mama's on Washington Square
Cuisine: Bakeries Coffee Shops/Diners
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North Beach |
10/13/2006
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Not Your Mama's Nihonmachi, simply scintillating nouvel japonais with course after course of glistening sushi, sashimi, robata, tempura, zenzai, each dish more delectable than the next, offering pristine seafood so fresh it literally jumps off your plate. A tribute to the cultural diversity of Russian Hill, wall to wall diners enjoying simply stupendous bites like the glorious Chef's Roll, shiny sashimi wrapped in soy leaves drizzled with teriyaki sauce, simply shimmeringly delicious hon maguro, blue fin tuna, so dense, rich and multi-layered you'd thinking you were eating beef. Stunning spicy volcano consisting of succulent spicy yellowtail wrapped in cilantro, avocado and jalapeno. Special miso soup swimmingly full of little round mushrooms or clams, irresistible chef's special appetizers of snapper, salmon or yellowtail with a stunning moriawase combination, each delicate morsel a tribute to chef's creativities, disappearing lightening fast. Satisfy your seafood cravings at Okoze.
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Okoze Sushi Restaurant
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi
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Russian Hill |
10/13/2006
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Imagine a remote refuge where you can contemplate, write poetry, zone out, even dine. Leave cares behind and step into the trancelike Zen of Triptych, an otherworldly dimension beyond time and space, a hauntingly mystical place whose ambience and music drift to ethereal moods, a hushed theatrical performance bringing forth mystical Berkeley or the Haight, hypnotic dimensions escaping the urban hectic experience. Fortunately, the food doesn't disappoint. Delicious rosemary foccacia, warm, crisp with blue cheese dipping sauce. Enticing lightly fried artichoke hearts with arugula, scintillatingly delicious, delicately sauteed mushroom ravioli, a juicy saffron paella filled with mussels, clams, chicken and calamari in a delicate delectable tomato reduction, superb meats, pork and lamb, beautifully finished in caramelized reduction sauces, delicious light raspberry mousse cake in a white chocolate pyramid. Leave your cares behind and escape to Triptych's mystery zone.
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Triptych
Cuisine: Fusion
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SoMa |
10/11/2006
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Superb international dining experience, sublime destination cuisine featuring understated elegance with superlative flavors in the center of Old Mill Valley. Brilliant Tokyo French cooking by female Chef Keiko Takahashi who works culinary magic creating scintillatingly delicious dishes from start to finish. A gourmet spectacular with unexpected delights featuring marvelous ambience, dotingly attentive service and showcasing worldclass gourmet cuisine: simply superb chanterelles mushroom risotto, delectable foie gras, divinely delicious lobster ravioli in spectacular reduction sauces, seared scallops, stunningly unique state-of-the-art lamb loin, succulent shredded Kobe beef, irresistible apple tart with addictive caramel ice cream, uniquely intense sorbets and ice creams, simply exhaustive expert wine list. Metro talented Sommelier Chris Wright will guide you through spectacular and generous wine flights. A unique find in the Bay Area, simply a delightful hidden Bay Area treasure.
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El Paseo
Cuisine: Continental French
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Mill Valley |
9/17/2006
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New life has been breathed into L'Olivier where spruced-up renovations have created a Provençal spirit for the old institution nearly matched by the food. Chef Jason Toy creates a culinary refuge on the edge of the financial district luring locals and office denizens to welcome oublie with beautifully set tables with fresh linen against the provençal background enticing diners to tasty dishes, the freshest sweet French bread with sweet butter, a well-rounded wine list, attentive service and the freshest of food. Thoughtful appetizers include rustic smoked trout with lentils, pepper-crusted country pate, lobster bisque, traditional escargots followed by delicious entrees of delicate veal scallopini, grilled chicken, superbly flavorful frenched lamb chops, marvelously sauteed and presented perfectly à point supplemented by thin crisped french fries. Chef Toy continues a tradition of Asian chefs recreating delicious continental food at bargain prices. Signature destination creme brulee.
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L'Olivier
Cuisine: French
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Embarcadero |
9/8/2006
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One of San Francisco's great feast houses, astonishing unity of American cross-cultural influences with coast-to-coast cooking styles, New Orleans, San Francisco, you name it, providing high-end food for the sophisticated diner and the blue collar gourmand. As such, the joint's jammed day after day, virtually no discrepancy between style and substance, radiantly warm service, ambience, exquisite wines and scintillating cooking. Awesomely complete menu offering myriad delights including stunning tuna tartare with fried green tomatoes and curried aioli, simply spectacular veal meat balls couched on a bed of ultra smooth mashed potatoes and red wine garlic reduction sauces, superb Duo of Niman Ranch lamb with goat cheese potato gratin, delectable pork osso bucco with truffled corn pudding, state-of-the-art shoestring potatoes. Archetypal butterscotch pot de creme, royally divine decadent destination dessert. All American Ethnic Family Decibels. Spectacular 2003 Murrieta's Well Meritage.
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Town Hall
Cuisine: American (New)
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SoMa |
9/5/2006
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Chef Scott Drozd's delightful new Noe Valley restaurant with charming service, warm ambience and delicious food already exhibiting enormous potential, superseding the occasional gaffe. Inconsequential growing pains completely overcome by Drozd's made to order delicacies, unquestionably more delicious than many long established places. Chef's creativities include such delectable titillations as garlic butter escargots au gratin, perfectly delicious garlicky tidbits disappearing in an Augenblick, perfectly carmelized foie gras on cake with stunning fresh huckleberries, state-of-the-art short ribs perfectly greaseless & delectable served room temperature to heighten the flavors, couched on a bed of spectacular spinach and rosemary spaezle, a City best. Desserts include an imperfect goat cheese plum tart overshadowed by absolutely spectacular apple fritters with succulent fried apples to dunk in unbelievably delicious chocolate cointreau milk shake. Stunning 2002 opaque Counterpoint red.
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Bistro 1689
Cuisine: California French
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Noe Valley |
8/19/2006
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The Chef has departed, so unfortunately, the following review is defunct: Cuisine soars at Scala Bistro where the arrival in March, 2006 of Chef David Cohen has finally brought food quality up to the levels of its exalted ambience. Cuisine languished over the years at Scala but Cohen's creative cooking now has Scala's food matching the exhilarating interiors of Sir Francis Drake's brasserie. Scala Bistro can finally be considered a destination restaurant with destination food: simply stellar fat, juicy mussels from British Columbia steamed in white wine, lying irresistibly glistening in huge open black shells swimming in delectable and succulent juices, delicious & rich tuna tartare, flavorful tender poached halibut, wonderful roast chicken breast & wing drummette with seared crispy skin enveloping moist fleshy meat floating on a bed of pan-seared root vegetables, baby carrots, baby turnips and mushroom duxelles, infused with white wine reduction sauces.
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Scala's Bistro
Cuisine: French Italian
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Downtown |
8/18/2006
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Chef de Cuisine Jonah Oakden creates some of the City's most enticing food in this marvelous retro throw-back to bohemia with its dark, red walls, dark homey hardwood floors, warm, loving service and spectacular food. An epitome of astonishingly delicious comfort food with creatively inventive spins, truly enviable cutting-edge tastes from the 21st Century. One of our most stunning culinary gems, a triumph of radiantly delicious cuisine americana, an extraordinary must-visit landmark restaurant, a gift to San Francisco. Superb yellowtail crudo with nectarines, fried shallots & lime citronette, extraordinary padron peppers with laura chenel goat cheese & almonds, simply unique, delectable grilled chicken with prosciutto ravioli, the world's most stunning, incredibly delicious pork chop simply defying the archetype, moist, tender, succulent. Ravishing blackberry sorbet & creme fraiche ice cream, blackberry-nectarine pie like Gramma used to make. Superbly scintillating American Cuisine.
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Blue Plate, The
Cuisine: American (Traditional) Californian
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Bernal Heights |
7/29/2006
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One of the Bay Area's most spectacular view restaurants complimenting folksy, hearty Italian American food, warm reception and service. The ambience of the stunning view of Rockaway Beach will have you feeling like you've escaped urban madness for some remote California refuge. Dining while ogling crashing waves, flocks of seabirds, occasional fishermen or surfers provide instant balm for tired City bones. The fabu view together with ultra heaping portions of great Italian comfort food and wine make you feel like you're on some distant vacation. Giant mountains of fried calamari, steamed mussels and clams, enormous myriad pasta offerings, meat and seafood platters full of prawns, cioppino or traditional veal and chicken saltimboccas and piccatas will soon have you feeling like a beached whale stranded along Rockaway. Outstanding favorite spaghetti alla carbonara followed by delectable frozen desserts actually flown in from Italia. Find refuge along Pacifica's awesome hidden cove.
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Ristorante Portofino
Cuisine: Italian American
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Daly City |
7/21/2006
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Like a night out of Hell's Kitchen, devastating inconsistency. Immediate warm reception and exquisite ambience enhanced by initial spectacular appetizers, a delicious ahi tuna tartare presented on a bed of wasabi-drizzled guacamole with perfect crispy chips and sensational deep-fried calamari with three dipping sauces but ominous third appetizer: over-the-hill tasting mussels in a sweet coconut sauce. Downward slippery slopes with the entrees: miso chicken with freshness rising as an issue, disastrously dried-out overcooked and tasteless duck breast, covered with red canned pie cherries, long in the tooth, no reduction-sauce infusion showcased with bare unappetizing limp broccolini and a week-old withered orange slice. Ginger souffle consisting of old custard suffering from refrigerator burn. This restaurant should know better: exquisite heights collapsing to unacceptable and not deserving a return visit. Expensive to boot.
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SUMI
Cuisine: Fusion
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Castro |
7/18/2006
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Delightful symbiosis of American-French joie de vivre, uproarious decibel-deafening madness, warm enticing service and Chef Ross Browne's delicious Provençal cuisine featuring trays laden with oysters, meats that have been simmered forever infused with intense reduction sauces. Absinthe has become a San Francisco institution, a brasserie that has dominated Hayes Valley since its inception with fabulous food and scintillating ambience devoid of any pretense whatsoever. State-of-the-art french fries, superb caramelized onion tart with goat cheese, smooth as velvet chicken liver pate, succulent rich and gamey New Zealand lamb chops, incredible archetypal purple coq-au-vin, a marinated chicken infused with deep pinot noir reduction sauce, alluringly tempting duck confit, decadent desserts and rivers of drinks.
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Absinthe
Cuisine: French Brasseries
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Hayes Valley |
7/16/2006
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The best Chinese restaurant in San Francisco: seriously dilapidated decor but delectable recipes spanning the centuries. Spectacularly delicious Yunnan steamed chicken soup, steamed in a clay pot with boney chicken pieces simmered into the most stunning chicken broth. Absolutely reality-defying liquid velvet, a once in a lifetime spectacular soup, the sheer essence of chicken broth. If this chicken soup were served at any of the great three-starred Michelin Parisian restaurants like Robuchon, Savoy or Ducasse, le tout Paris would be a-twitter. Instead, here it is in San Francisco, an absolute must destination dish in an old-fashioned, unremarkable-looking Chinatown restaurant on Jackson Street. An archetypal soup for the pantheon of the gods. Irresistible myriad dishes including fabulous steamed pork dumplings, addictive fried chicken wings, incredible lamb hot pot dishes both Yunnan and Szechwan having you titillating your palate & licking your chops. Kudos to Unterman for her rave.
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Z & Y Restaurant
Cuisine: Chinese
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Chinatown |
7/13/2006
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An American "interpretation' of a French bistro disappointingly not fulfilling its promise. Exceedingly warm service and exaltingly fung shui room with high ceilings and beveled mirrors but menu creations consisting of only fair food. Definitely better than Roland Passot's disgraceful San Mateo Left Bank, but a cuisine which will not have you coming back. Rich beef tartare spoiled by pre-mixing with an overload of sweet cornichons overwhelming the beef nearly making it inedible, decent but undistinguished duck breast salad with arugula and figs, zealously over-salted and only passable entrecote with soggy frites completely diminished by memories of the now defunct Cafe de Paris on Union, fair lamb chops suffering from a surfeit of salt with poorly-blended spices. Forgettable desserts including an overly icy lemon sorbet and a dreary so-called lemon pudding cake with sour strawberry sauce. Unfortunately, nothing to merit a return and nothing remotely French about the food.
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Le Petit Robert
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Russian Hill |
7/11/2006
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Sublime dining experience, Pakistani-Indian cuisine reigns supreme. Like dining on Yellowstone Park with geysers of spices exploding in your mouth, fabulous bubbling pots of delectable tasting pleasure overwhelming your senses, Darbar joins sensational Pakistani-Indian restaurants taking the City by storm, revelatory salvation for the jaded palate. Maintain a bottle of wine, beer or water by your side and relish exalting and intense flavors synthesizing heaven and hell into scrumptious taste sensations. Spectacular chicken simmered in cream & butter, irresistible saag gosht, spinach lamb beyond your wildest dreams, tongue-exploding tandoories, possessively enticing beef shanks miraculously infused into tempting explosions, exaltingly spicy and sublime curries. A trip to Pakistani paradise, stunningly delicious culinary creations leaving you wilted with delight.
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Darbar
Cuisine: Indian Pakistani
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Polk St./Van Ness |
7/5/2006
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DANGER: FOOD POISONING/PARASITES. One disastrous dinner ruins a favorite restaurant forever: After several sparkling meals, a recent Thursday evening where nothing seemed up to snuff: fried calamari, before always fresh and light presented as chewy, heavy, disgusting and funky, pork cutlet, always scintillating, hardly worth finishing, but the final coup de grace, tainted shellfish with parasites causing a severe bout of food poisoning from Zarzuela's fish stew resulting in severe distress and lasting over month. Unfortunately, it would now never be worth risking a return to Zarzuela. What a pity. Absolutely inexcusable that a restaurant of this caliber would serve poorly cooked, infected shellfish resulting in severe food poisoning. Vibrio is a parasite which attacked after Katrina, but it was served right here in San Francisco in Zarzuela's fish stew. Disastrous and disgraceful.
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Zarzuela
Cuisine: Spanish Tapas
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Russian Hill |
7/4/2006
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Depressingly inferior Chinese food, amateurish and unappealing, shockingly surprising given recent accolades. Most entrees heavily sauced with dark, gooey, sweet and salty substances disguising poorly-prepared meats or vegetables, all dishes remaining unfinished on the table. Wonderful atmosphere and exuberant service but barely edible food. Unappetizing sesame chicken with miniscule chicken bits overwhelmed by watery squash slices, dinky shrimps portrayed as prawns swimming in chunked mangoes drowning in a watery dark sauce totally robbing all shrimp flavor whatsoever, overly-fried, tough won ton wrappers filled with plain cream cheese and fake crab masquerading as a supposed delicacy, avocado egg rolls devoid of any avocado, passable sweet & sour pork, repellently overly salted and overly sweet hoisin green beans, completely disgusting Mongolian beef consisting of thin, tough and dried out beef slices covered with some inedible tar-like substance, the entire horror left uneaten.
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Eric's
Cuisine: Chinese
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Noe Valley |
6/30/2006
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Instant destination classic, Joe DiMaggio's Italian Chophouse, the sensational new North Beach restaurant destined to become an absolute smash. San Francisco's very own Vegas-style rat pack restaurant with the ghosts of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe filling every nook and cranny, you won't believe your eyes. Lovers of Italian Americana will soon swamp the joint, the perfect tourist/date supperclub. Go now, because soon you won't get in. Absolute jaw-dropping, thrilling dark mahogany decor, viscerally erotic ambience, obsequiously solicitous service showcasing stunning food. Tantalizing Italian thin-crust pizze, superb linguine vongole, exquisite veal scallopini with exaltingly decadent lemon caper sauce, spectacular, meltingly delicious T-Bone steak with gorgonzola butter. Ambulance inducing desserts and drinks and featuring an exceedingly generous wine list. The most exciting new restaurant opening in San Francisco in a long time, not another like it. Go now, just sensational.
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Joe DiMaggio's Italian Chophouse
Cuisine: Italian American Steakhouse
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North Beach |
6/27/2006
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Superlative San Francisco neighborhood restaurant, the epitome of old Noe Valley, the antithesis of state-of-the-art high tech, shattering every preconceived notion. Food reigns supreme. Successor Chef Jan Henry Gray creates spectacularly delicious cuisine from superb hamachi fish sashimi drizzled with minced daikon and caviar, sensationally delicious state-of-the-art must-have shrimp & scallop pot stickers, delectable sauteed duck breast with cherries, chantrelles & orzo and an outstanding pork chop with juicy white meat crowning a bed of grits and white corn. Stunning desserts of sublime velvety panna cotta, superb watermelon lemon sorbet and spectacular strawberry-rhubarb tapioca egg cream float. Radiant reception and service with every staff member, indeed, glowing about the food. Think comfort. Think nourishment for the soul. Marvelous food takes center stage, totally devoid of pretense. A delightful repast from start to finish. The perfect climax to any creative day.
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Firefly
Cuisine: Eclectic
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Noe Valley |
6/24/2006
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Simply stunning price/quality value for budget gourmet dining for food at the level of Rubicon or Jardiniere, South Park Cafe's superior $32.00 prix fixe menu is one of the City's top bargains and Ward Little's simply astonishing presentations will have you clamoring to return. You will scarcely believe your eyes, your taste buds or your wallet at this delightful hidden treasure exploding into fireworks with sensationally delicious cuisine and countryside ambience. From unexpectedly delicious appetizer presentations including spectacular beef tongue with avocado potato salad, warm "pig" salad or fabulous yellowtail salad to delectable entrees including wild boar stew, stupendous sweetbreads with macaroni or exalting duck breast in red wine reduction sauce, finishing with any of the superb homemade desserts, South Park Cafe deserves landmark status. Absolutely everything is delicious. Hidden hard-to-find wine treasures like the superlative A. Rafanelli Zinfandel and Cabernet, too.
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South Park Cafe
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Pacific Bell Park/South Beach |
6/11/2006
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Astonishingly delicious food, uniquely fresh and soaring seafood presentations, amazingly price conscious and devoid of any pretense whatsoever, marvelously delectable. Test is in the Taste and it's nearly unbelievable that any chain could deliver a comparable appealingly delicious lobster/shrimp/scallop-based cuisine. But the Red Lobster consistently delivers satisfying bargains from succulent myriad lobster presentations swimming in butter, white-wine marinated shrimp poached in butter, creamy garlic white-wine marinated shrimp, superlative and addictive creamy cheese shrimp pasta, fabulous marinated sauteed scallops and numerous surf & turf offerings. Auspicious beginnings with cheese muffins and salad offerings throughout the seafood extravaganza presentations followed by enticingly fattening desserts, Viva Red Lobster crustaceans, worth a trip down anytime.
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Red Lobster
Cuisine: Seafood
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San Bruno |
6/10/2006
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Brilliant Pakistani Chef Zulfiqar "Guddu" Haider should be cooking in some gastronomic temple for the gods, so sublime is his mastery of blending reduction sauces, so spectacular his usage of exotic spices to create stunning delectable masterpieces. Yet, here he is, achieving unbelievably delicious delicacies in his Pakistani-Indian restaurant, Lahore Karahi in the heart of the Tenderloin at bargain-basement prices. Pakistani-Indian Cuisine is the most exciting trend sweeping the City and Zulfiqar Haider's shoots directly to the top. Whether dining in the austere location or competing with the brisk take-out, one taste will send you into wow-factor heaven. A bite of his brilliant chicken tikka masala for $7.00 will send you into gourmet frenzy with its superb, velvety, creamy tomato sauce. His butter chicken tandoori will have you ooing and aahing til the cows come home, his Bengan Bhaftha roasted eggplant cooked with onions, tomatoes & cream begging for more. Unsurpassed and superb.
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Lahore Karahi
Cuisine: Pakistani Indian
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Tenderloin |
6/1/2006
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Spectacular unfulfilled potential needing to get its act together. Scintillating ambience and radiant service unfortunately highlighting just variable food. Stupendous appetizers consisting of kobe beef in cannelloni surrounding by morel mushrooms, a stunningly delicious presentation. Veal gnocchi with sweet breads slow-cooked and marinated into fabulous reduction flavors, both appetizers served nearly cold but outclassing subsequent dishes. Superb short ribs falling off the bone and delectably melting in your mouth, a superb hit, but unremarkable mixed grill proving the kitchen can marinate and slow-cook but disintegrates when trying to present grilled meats, forgettable and not living up to the previous items. Interesting dessert consisting of rhubarb coulis in lemon cannelloni deserving high inventive marks, but barely passing grades for a rather too dry chocolate semifreddo with chocolate hazelnuts which should be royally delicious. A master chef needs to pull this together.
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Belden Taverna
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Downtown |
5/20/2006
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Obscenely delicious burritos, La Cumbre has set the standard for the archetypal San Francisco burrito experience for years. Carne asada, steak, chicken, carnitas burritos with mas carnitas, extra meat, will have you feeling stuffed and ready to call the fat farm. The super carnitas burrito with mas carnitas is so substantial and so delicious, it's enough to nourish an entire field of grape pickers. Widely unknown, it was actually California field workers who invented the burrito to take out to the fields for nourishment during bone-breaking days of hard labor harvesting. The everlasting result is a delicious, hearty, delectable meal which has become a scintillating Californian specialty. As it has for more than a generation, La Cumbre at 16th and Valencia in the heart of the Mission still produces the best burritos in the City sine qua non.
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La Cumbre Taqueria
Cuisine: Mexican
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Mission |
5/18/2006
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Behind the gruff exterior in the midst of the seemingly ever increasing tenderloinization of Polkstrasse exists a surprisingly decent diner where the food is really reminiscent of your hometown's mainstreet. Rather dour-looking asian women serving, but who really have hearts of gold when you chat them up. Breakfast specials include delicious pork chops with eggs and potatoes, exuberant chicken fried steak and eggs, specials including new york steak and eggs or grilled cheese, double egg and sausage/bacon sandwich. The Bob's Burger is actually an authentic-tasting hamburger with avocado and bacon served with large fries, one of San Francisco's best burgers. Thursdays are turkey day when you can grab your Thanksgiving meal any month of the year. Daily specials include hearty seafood, steaks and delicious omelets. A real San Francisco institution having weathered successive generations, but chat them up with a few words in Chinese, you'll have a friend and diner for life.
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Bob's Broiler
Cuisine: Diners
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Polk St./Van Ness |
5/18/2006
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Rudimentary decor, cordial service, holocaust bathrooms but some of the most delicious Cantonese cooking in the City. Extensive and varied menu includes succulent state bird of California, mahogany shellacked quail exquisitely tender and moist, a perfect per person appetizer. Specialties include a complex black pepper beef with delectable chiles and peppers, superb boneless duck cooked onto a layer of taro root, green tung choy watercress or pea sprouts sauteed in fuyu, spectacular and sensational fermented bean curd. The French use wine and cheese, the Chinese fuyu, a revelation, adding succulent flavor to Lichee's dishes. Green leaves like tung choy or spinach or chicken or pork sauteed in fuyu, all stunning and addictive. Fuyu, fabulous fermented beancurd available in Chinatown & Richmond district markets adds simply sensational flavors to your own cooking. Lichee Garden's authentic dishes rival all of Chinatown's best and the budget prices clinch the trip.
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Lichee Garden Restaurant
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese Dim Sum
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North Beach |
5/15/2006
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Old time Italian pastry shop in North Beach bordering on the legendary. Delicious Italian pastries and cakes: superb St. Honore cake, but spectacular Zuppa Inglese cake, the Italian "tipsy cake," a fabulous Italian pastry cream cake loaded with custard, cream and rum. Zuppa Inglese literally translated means "English Soup," it's the Italian version of an English trifle all done up in a cake. This Italian rum pastry cream cake is the perfect closure to any celebration. Order in advance, request extra rum as occasionally it comes too dry. They'll complain that the rum runs out the bottom if they put in too much, but that's the way you want it. San Francisco's archetypal celebration cake, a legend in its own right, delectable sponge cake dripping with rum, custard and cream. Dessert heaven.
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Victoria Pastry Co
Cuisine: Bakeries
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North Beach |
5/15/2006
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Exquisite new chinese restaurant along Cyril Magnin shoots directly to the top of quality dim sum locations in the City, the antithesis of San Francisco Chinatown dim sum. Sparkingly clean, scrumptious offerings will make you think you're in Hong Kong. Stellar steamed dumplings, har gow, siu mai, siu leng bow sine qua non. Glittering dim sum offerings arriving by the cart-load matched by the unusual view of glittering dim sum chefs perfectly sparkling in the open kitchen. Already the equal of any dim sum location in the Area, no lines yet, but they'll soon be forming. Absolutely worth being subjected to the hellish parking, but if you're downtown already, go.
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Tian Sing
Cuisine: Dim Sum Chinese
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Downtown |
5/15/2006
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Amateur cooking justifying neither the pretense nor the price, laughably poor. An expensive, wasted trip down. Abrupt incomprehensible service with such glaring gaffes as either being absent altogether or serving the chef's amuse gueule by just tossing it on top of the askew wine menu before taking the wine order: a dried-out cream puff shell injected with a strange fishy substance. Dried out duck, poorly blended sauces. Unfortunately, with the departure of supposed wunderkind chef Joshua Skenes, a total reorganization of the kitchen and concept is necessary. You can't charge exorbitant prices for this food. I had to spend the entire evening apologizing to my guest on what was supposed to have been a scintillating celebratory experience. Disgraceful.
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Chez TJ
Cuisine: French (New)
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Mountain View |
5/14/2006
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Firecrackers on your palate from this little Indian Pakistani gem, a true ethnic dining experience--definitely not dumbed down for the tastes of American whitebread. Where else could you find Nihari, a North Indian delicacy consisting of Beef Shank, fat removed and cooked slowly in mixed spices, garnished with ginger, pepper and cilantro cooked into mouth-melting deliciousness. The former breakfast spot for old-timers now morphed into Indian/Pakistani cuisine along Polk Strasse, Shalimar stuns with its authentic tandooris and curries sending your taste buds into delightful spiced apoplexy. The chicken tikka masala barbeque will have you licking your chops, launching you into ecstatic orbit. The saag gosht combination of lamb morsels slow-cooked to exalting tenderness will have you planning your next trip to the Punjab. Thank God for San Francisco where globalization aspirations can materialize to celebrate the reunification of Indian/Pakistani diversities through spectacular flavors.
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Shalimar
Cuisine: Indian
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Polk St./Van Ness |
5/9/2006
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Dumbing Down of French Cuisine for the American Provinces, Roland Passot should be ashamed. Quentin Topping, proudly proclaimed spectacular sous-chef from Mix and Alain Ducasse, non-existent. Five illegal immigrant chefs striving in vain to create anything remotely resembling French cooking rather more like take-out food along El Camino. With francophobic proclamation the Left Bank website proudly states: "Don't give us Paris, give us good food!" but from bland, tasteless escargots to barely adequate prawns and mussels, from totally forgettable shortribs to laughably poor lamb and watery, inedible duck, to totally unacceptable desserts featuring disgusting strawberry shortcake with slab of bland bread and one single sliced green strawberry, please reinstate Paris. That Americans can't create a brasserie remotely resembling anything in France might be forgiven. That Roland Passot has corporatized French cooking into an American chain of tasteless, bland, soulless cooking unforgivable.
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Left Bank
Cuisine: French (Brasserie)
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San Mateo |
5/5/2006
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Istria, Albona, Bruno, trifecta of names in Bay Area dining not to be missed. From radiant reception to delicious food, a must visit. Albona features Italian food with Eastern European influence. Istria, tiny India-shaped peninsula in the northern Adriatic connected eastern spice trade routes to Italy and Europe establishing Adriatic cuisine. The charm of old Europe couldn't be greater with Albona native Bruno Viscovi hovering over his guests, mothering them with creations from his family's delicious recipes. From superb gnocchi in spicy beef sauce, stunning peperonata featuring sautéed eggplant, peppers & onions, stuffed calamari in spectacular spicy marinara sauce, delectable hearty entrees featuring meats soaked in whiskey sauces, rich, divinely fattening desserts: fabulous crema de gelato, stunning mousse of espresso ice cream loaded with brandied cherries, your visit to Albona could not be more exquisite. European visitors abound as do civilized decibels. A Bay Area original.
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Albona Ristorante Istriano
Cuisine: Italian
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North Beach |
4/29/2006
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Unexpectedly warm and charming oasis singlehandedly gentrifying the corner of 17th and Mission offering friendly service, comforting ambience and cuisine americana taken to the heights, imagine 1550 Hyde at 3316 17th. With rustic red-brown walls and homey hardwood floors, Maverick offers immediate inviting refuge from its neighborhood brouhaha. Delicious food transports you immediately to another dimension: amazingly delicious frisee beet salad superbly dressed in scallion buttermilk, state-of-the-art babyback riblets, succulent moist and tender chicken with dumplings in garlic jus, standout pork tenderloin in delicious reduction sauces, unique and flavorful, Chef Scott Youkilis artfully turns American dishes into gourmet creations. Enticing desserts include a fabulous apple crisp and a seductive caramelized banana tart. Royally delicious 2002 Robert Perry Napa Syrah at a spectacular 50% reduction Monday evening when the entire wine list thus uniquely offered. You can't go wrong.
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Maverick
Cuisine: American (New)
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Mission |
4/4/2006
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Defining excellence for Italian cuisine on upper Polk, Antica Trattoria sets the standard for Italian rustic cooking in the City, nothing comparable in North Beach. Chef-Owner Ruggero Gadaldi, from Bergamo, Italy, creates hearty home cooking in a beguiling environment, totally bereft of Italian-American influence, immediately transporting to old Italia. Highly seductive, radiantly warm reception and service superbly augmented by Ruggero's spot-on home Italian cooking, appetizers to entrees, desserts and wines, the dining experience is marvelously San Franciscan: Divinely fattening pasta dishes, spectacular gnocchi in truffle sauce, second only to Da Flora's, succulent melanzane, outstanding pork t-bone, addictive breaded veal cutlet followed by state-of-the-art panna cotta, the festive party resonance will have you singing to the rafters. Sublime 2002 Planeta Syrah di Sicilia created by Bacchus himself, the essence of sun-kissed radiant wine. Italian family Joie de Vivre decibels.
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Antica Trattoria
Cuisine: Italian
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Polk St./Van Ness |
3/25/2006
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Simply stunning Joie de Vivre Dining in the Presence of Jesus. Hyper-exciting Food and Ambience. It took guts to put this earthy restaurant in the heart of Polk Gulch where O'Reilly's fabulous Holy Grail restaurant upgrades the entire street and where talented Irish German Chef Sean Canavan's Irish, French, German, Mediterranean-influenced culinary creations transcend every border. Marvelous warm atmosphere, brilliant jazz pianist creating improvisations and Jesus beautifully gazing down from stained-glass church windows transported from Ireland. Canavan's experiences from Chapeau, Kokkari, even La Folie richly in evidence: Oysters galore, superlative pork shank smoked in peat moss, cured, ultra tender and falling off the bone highlighted with immense pile of colcannon, succulent combo of mashed potatoes and black kale, a superb pollock white fish, fabulous guinness ice cream and divine rhubarb soup with grand marnier chantilly. Bargain Voss 2001 Sirah. Would Jesus approve? You bet.
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O'Reilly's Holy Grail
Cuisine: Irish European
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Polk St./Van Ness |
3/23/2006
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The Chef has departed and the following review is defunct: Cuisine shines by Max DiMare, who at 28 has something special, das gewisse Etwas, un je ne sais quoi ability to materialize spiritual cooking conceptualization into sensually enticing culinary creations, appealingly delicious, packing them to the rafters every night. Max's one-man juggling act fully titillates and radiates while he dances and juggles between oven, range and spices. Dining at Frascati makes you aware how rich our SF culinary scene really is. Great restaurants are all about the Chef as recent disastrous visits to Fleur de Lys, Myth and Isa illustrated: When the Chef is missing, disaster strikes. But with Wunderkind DiMare, the entire dining scene glows. Deeply rich cooking with subtly hearty reduction sauces, a foie gras trio rivaling Daniel Humm's version, succulent chicken and pork tenderloin second to none, the great Chef rules.
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Frascati
Cuisine: Californian Mediterranean
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Russian Hill |
3/16/2006
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Rabelaisian portions so gigantic as to satisfy the most ravenous Pantagruel, radiant reception, service and ambience, Brazilian Italian Valesca reminding for all the world that your joie de vivre justifies her entire existence based upon your loving the place. Addictive cheese bread, enormous appetizers: copious, giant, succulent scallops in huge portions, foie gras pared with Sauterne French style. Gigantic entrees, Steak Rechaud, order one for two unless your appetite is Gargantuan. Not your standard homogenized, pasturized tasting beef, but like genuine Montana tasting. Jumbo short ribs so enormous you'll need an ambulance. Superb dolce de leche ice cream ultra smooth and carmelized. Spectacular Mendoza Mas Malbec 2003 kissed by God, one of the world's great wines at a bargain $28.00. A welcome relief from the arctic chill invading the City. Latin cuisine from France, Spain, Italy, Amerique du Sud has hegemony. (Note: Avoid Reservation Blues by using www.opentable.com).
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Mangarosa Restaurant
Cuisine: Italian Brazilian
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North Beach |
3/15/2006
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"Critics are like Eunuchs, they KNOW how it should be done..." (quote from Dorothy Parker)...including apparently Patricia Unterman, one of San Francisco's most well known restaurant critics who has written restaurant reviews for San Francisco newspapers for years. Widely read and wielding lots of cultural power, Unterman's reviews tend toward the positivistic and they often lead astray. The official website of the Hayes Street Grill features Patricia Unterman as "Chef, Co-Owner" so the question remains, why is the food at the Hayes Street Grill so lackluster? Pedestrian, poorly seasoned, unremarkable dishes served in a cold environment that has long since lost its sparkle. Can you take an experienced, famous restaurant critic seriously when their own restaurant has gone to the dogs? Rather cold and supercilious service with interesting performance art photos on the wall, but frankly, if it weren't for the opera/symphony crowd, the Hayes Street Grill would have gone under long ago.
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Hayes Street Grill
Cuisine: Seafood
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Hayes Valley |
3/10/2006
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Gary Danko eats here, what greater recommendation. Charming, warm restaurant tucked away at Hyde and Green on the Cable Car line. Chef Ben De Vries takes advantage of his vast experience as sous-chef at such diverse locations as Lulu's, MC2 and Ecco, and Executive Chef at Andalu specializing in contemporary Mediterranean cuisine. At Luella's, he brings charm, warmth and good eats to the neighborhood where host Vietnamese Beauty Leah provides radiant welcome. De Vries entices with delicious flavor combinations: fascinating tuna tartare sprinkled with lime vinaigrette and mango tucked into petit taco shells; stellar mussels steamed in Pernod, wonderful pressed chicken mattone, but absolute showstopper: Coca-Cola braised pork shoulder so delicious you want to inhale it. Parking Complainers need to Get A Life. We Russian Hill Dwellers deal with this very parking on a daily basis; it's the price we pay for living in the heart of the action. Please don't blame the restaurant.
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Luella
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Russian Hill |
3/8/2006
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Unexpected and Unusual Understated Undercurrents Uncovered at Tablespoon where Chef Rob Riescher's delectable culinary creations unify feelings of sophistication and comfort. Rich with experience from New York, Barcelona, and even The Elderberry House in Yosemite, Chef Riescher combines international flavors with the homey heartiness of comfort food. His sumptuous cuisine exudes multi-layers of complexity with richness in unexpected flavor combinations unavailable elsewhere. Fascinating presentations include rich tuna tartare blended with minced beets, sensational warm asparagus with egg, hearty and deeply-layered, deeply satisfying bowl of hickory bacon clam chowder, pumpkin duck confit risotto in a rich espuma delighting the palate, spectacular ultra tender, juicy, succulent pork tenderloin, simply stunning delicate and rich salmon, delicious cassoulet. Fabulous desserts, archetypal mango soup. Warm and charming service. Stunning Mendocino and Santa Ynez Petite Sirahs.
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Tablespoon
Cuisine: American (New)
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Polk St./Van Ness |
3/7/2006
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Irresistible, Irrepressible, Unsinkable Joie de Vivre greet you at the threshold with enchantingly bubbling reception, ambience and service followed by delicious cooking to boot. Space is itself erotically charged with appealing wooden interior and large glass windows viewing the City. Then legions of ultra peppy waiters themselves bubbling over with smiles and warmth guide your every whim. Marvelous stand-out dishes include a delectable vol au vent containing scallops and lobster in a tarragon saffron sauce, ultra creamy and delicious foie gras, delectably rich and satisfying tuna tartare, fat and juicy steamed mussels in garlic white wine and cream spiced up with french fried shoestring potatoes in addictive aioli sauce on the side. Enticingly smooth meyer lemon panna cotta all washed down with a superb Napa bargain red, NV Cain Cuvee. Out for a snack or there to wash your blues away, within moments your very own spirits will be bubbling over like the most effervescent champagne.
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Chez Papa Bistro
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Potrero Hill |
3/5/2006
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Deliciously Decadent Delightful Destination Cuisine by New York Genius Black Chef Darrell McDaniel creating edgy Mediterranean Mid-Eastern specialties for Armenian Owner Paul K whose marvelous eponymous restaurant is superb from start to finish. From loving and warm host Amrita, formerly of the long lamented Emerald Garden, to uniquely virtuoso entertaining performance art service by Richard to McDaniel's superb culinary creations, the tous ensemble could not be more beguiling. A restaurant that defies categorization but like San Francisco marvelously comes together celebrating diversity. Destintation dishes include a spectacular lamb riblet appetizer with pomegranate sauce and yogurt, a City best. Stupendous pressed chicken sumac with exotic spices simply defying description, indescribably delicious. Chef McDaniel should be declared a national living treasure on the basis of his masterpiece trio sorbet, sensationally intense sorbet, exaltingly delicious and exhilaratingly spectacular
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paul k
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Hayes Valley |
3/3/2006
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Like drinking flat champagne with the fizz gone outta it, there was no sign or evidence of any "former" rising star chef. Justine Miner, who was named a rising star by the SF Chronicle in 2003 no where to be seen in the open air kitchen. She also apparently was "no where to be seen" as well in what arrived as far as cuisine since only pedestrian, unremarkable food appeared. Initial warm hosting immediately diminished by "attitude" waitperson scowling with every question about the menu. When asked for recommendations, the reply was: "It depends on what you like." Pre-sliced dried-out bread was brought. Forgettable appetizers. When asked about the foie gras mousse, the reply from the waitperson: "Well, it's chilled and I don't like chilled foie gras." Run-of-the-mill lamb riblets with overly-sweet sauce, totally forgettable; decent oversalted duck confit and funky rack of lamb, decent lemon tart. Nothing in evidence to indicate a "rising star chef" and nothing to recommend the joint.
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RNM
Cuisine: American (New)
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Lower Haight |
3/2/2006
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Like colors from a Velasquez painting, dark and fiery summernights reign at Winterland with passionate latin spirit. No cold winter in this cuisine, Vernon Morales apprenticed with Master Chef Adrian Ferra at El Bulli whose creative spirit emanates directly from Picasso, Guadi and Dali. Chef Morales is an artist magician who intends to beguile you in that artistic spirit with stunning unexpected culinary juxtapositions. He's Ferra's closest kindred artist on the West Coast. Spectacular dishes, on the level of Danko or Siegel, every dish is a potential three-star Michelin masterpiece. Stunning poached egg with El Bulli-style Espuma, exquisite state-of-the-art foie gras, sensational crab salad, marvelous braised lamb and short-ribs, knockout desserts with astonishing ingredient/flavor combinations: bacon ice cream, red chile pepper sorbet, avocado semifreddo, curried bananas in cream, awesome and unexpected dishes providing exciting culinary theater.
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Winterland
Cuisine: Californian Fusion
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Upper Fillmore |
3/1/2006
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Chase away your inclement blues at Clement's Charming Clementine, San Francisco's French bistrot par excellence, a touch of joie de vivre in the Richmond. Old fashioned French restaurant radiating French old world charm and delicious French cuisine, a French restaurant you still could find hidden in Paris tucked along Boulevard St. Germain des Pres or in The Marais. Clementine's Chef Didier Labbe, once sous-chef at L'Arpege, creates appealing and satisfying cuisine, enormously popular with Richmond locals without needing cutting edge provocation. Entire menu is wonderfully delicious including fabulous escargots de bourgogne, delectable garlic parsley butter snails baked in a deep dish like you'd find in Lyon, delectable mussels steamed in white-cream, tarragon vermouth, destination ultra gamey and delicious lamb chops, state-of-the-art magret duck breast with a butter bernaise. Well chosen wine list and desserts bring the joyful comfort of home French cooking to Clement.
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Clementine
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Inner Richmond |
2/28/2006
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Pace, Pace Mio Dio, Destino's Disastrous Destiny: A Flop. Stunning Service and Ambience, but after a succession of great Peruvian restaurants: Limon, Mochica, Mi Lindo Peru, Pachi's, so delicious you think you need to have your stomach stapled, food at Destino's is a flop. Decent tasting ceviche sampler platter tasting more like tartare than ceviche but miniscule compared to the stunning ceviche platter at Pachi's for $2 more. Disgraceful Papas a la Huancaina, old, browned, withered and cold potatoes so hard you could barely cut through them with your fork simply inedible after the stunning Pachi papas. Laughably poor Aji de Gallina chicken compared to the spectacular version at Mochica here tasting like second-rate chicken burrito filling. Disgusting Chile Rilleno equally poor as at Tres Agaves. Stunning Mendoza Malbec 2002 Navarro Correas Gran Riserva, but with service and ambience this scintillating, what a pity to encounter such inferior food. Destino should be a top destination.
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Destino
Cuisine: Nuevo Latino Tapas
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Castro |
2/25/2006
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Mi Lindo Peru, Mi Belly Gigante! Peruvian cuisine is excitingly taking the City by storm and every new restaurant, every new dish brings its own revelation. Japanese influence on Peruvian cuisine and culture is incalculable and Mi Lindo Peru's Japanese-Peruvian Chef Yuki Miyahira creates enormous platters of delicious Peruvian specialties which will have you later calling Jenny Craig. Fabulous Chicharron al Ajo, stunning fried garlic chicken; Papas a la Huancaina, sliced steamed potatoes in a velvety aji cheese sauce delectably counterbalancing superb ceviche mixto seafood marinated in lime juice. Lomo Saltado, strips of beef sauteed with onions, tomatoes, peppers, big enough for two and fabulous fish stews in cilantro broth regaling the most jaded palate. Exotic desserts and Argentinean wines. Sunny, warm service from Chef's son, handsome Carlos Miyahira, radiating both Peruvian warmth and Japanese nobility. Go for the garlic fried chicken tapas, make a meal of them alone!
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Mi Lindo Peru
Cuisine: Peruvian Spanish Tapas
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Marina |
2/23/2006
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Espetus Churrascaria, hyper-exciting, throbbingly pulsating Brazilian meat house hot spot at Market & Gough, exhilarating dining experience sans pareil. Singularly surprising, unexpected carnivore carnival ride tiltawhirling your wildest meat craving fantasies into unimagined taste adventures. Menuless tables laden only with wine list and green/red traffic director. Green go-ahead brings on sexy Gauchos offering limitless giant shishkabobs with every imaginable meat. Deliciously feast on delectable buffet appetizers including stunning saffron seafood paella, spectacular spinach leaves bathed in sesame oil, lovely minced mango salad, all giving countertaste to enormous cascades of skewered sirloin steaks, prime rib, roast pork, unsurpassable chicken, prawns, lamb, stunning roast pineapple. Sole Achilles occasionally somewhat oversalted, dry meats, but all forgivable given the sensational presentation, joyously exuberant dining experience simply unique in the City. Fight your way in.
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Espetus Churrascaria
Cuisine: Brazilian
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Civic Center |
2/20/2006
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San Francisco theater district's very own Mexican Hummingbird (Colibri) Bistro Cantina in front of the Curran along Geary featuring uniquely and unexpectedly delicious Mexican food with accents from Oaxaca and Yucatan. Enticingly warm ambience and service featuring view of open kitchen in back and mahogany bar projecting seductive black & white 1940's latino filmclips up front. Amazing culinary standouts include: Spectacular handmade Guacamole prepared to taste tableside with soft tortillas simply without peer elsewhere. Stunning chicken breast stuffed with huitlacoche, corn truffle mushroom fungus with stellarly delectable crystal sauce making it one of the City's most unique and delicious chicken presentations worthy of Ron Siegel. Succulent pork shoulder braised in mole and chiles; remarkable lamb shank marinated in a paste of muscat wine. Exceptional, unique and delicious Mexican tapas will have you rethinking the concept and yearning to return.
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Colibri Mexican Bistro
Cuisine: Mexican Small Plates
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Downtown |
2/19/2006
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San Francisco's Russian Hill has become the 8th Hill of Rome at Allegro Romano where Lorenzo Logoreci's stellar conviviality scintillates and his Cuicina Rustica Romana equally shines. Far different from typical North Beach Italian, Lorenzo's cuisine is deliciously dark, rich and hearty, authentically and surprisingly Roman. Incomparable folksy dining experience, personable, exuberant, warm & hearty, rich & delicious, teaming with life and joie de vivre. From the second you enter, you will be showered with love, warmth and attention until your final departure. Your tastebuds will be satisfied as well. Delicious standouts include the freshest mozzarella di bufala, fabulous caesar salad layered with crab meat, spectacular Roman Scaloppini con Porcini in a port-wine reduction sauce, succulent, rich and gamey Scottadito lamb chops, stunning ossobuco di vitello, veal shank over white truffle polenta. World's best tiramisu and carefully-selected wine list create a fun, satisfying evening.
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Allegro Romano
Cuisine: Italian Seafoood
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Russian Hill |
2/17/2006
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Rising Celebrity Chef Stuart Brioza's sensational cooking is worthy successor to such past luminaries as Traci des Jardins and Dennis Leary at celebrity restaurant Rubicon still owned by celebrities De Niro, Coppola and Williams. Brioza himself should be acclaimed landmark status for the richness of his culinary diversity. His sophisticated, hearty, devastatingly delicious cuisine is well matched by the warm atmosphere and conscientious service. First bite of Brioza's food entices to ecstasy: stunning duck liver mousse with tremendous wow factor, exquisitely frothy and intense, spectacularly rich and velvety creamless but ultra creamy duck-fat based chestnut soup, delectable perfectly sauted squid with mashed cod, dazzlingly decadent archetypal pork belly, epitome of rich, deep, dark, smokey, fabulously delicious, richly carmelized, marinated and slow-cooked for days, a masterpiece. State of the art wine list but inconsistent desserts which can be quirky instead of royally delicious.
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Rubicon
Cuisine: Californian French (New)
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Downtown |
2/1/2006
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Singularly delicious minimalist Chinese cuisine soaring to exalted heights by Nanjing Chef Nei' Chia Ji whose menuless hole-in-the-wall restaurant hides dazzling small plates which shatter every preconceived expectation. $55 per person for a party of 3 received 16 courses of deliciously and delicately marinated combinations of vegetable goose, cucumbers, smoked fish, jellyfish, radish, cilantro, cabbage, tripe, lotus, ginger showcased in exciting marinades with shark's fin, mushroom sprouts, tiny chiles exploding like firecrackers. Superb presentations of abalone in effervescent egg white, ultra delicious ginko shrimp, stunning winter melon, pork belly with masterfully blended root vegetable reduction sauces, unimaginably creative transparent chow fun noodles. Tantalizing beef with preserved orange; stunning carmelized eggplant, lightly dry fried, delicate and refined, simply extraordinary. A masterpiece whole sweet and sour fish, deboned and stunningly presented. Cash only, BYO wine.
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Jai Yun
Cuisine: Chinese
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Chinatown |
1/30/2006
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Grand Cafe in the spectacular former ballroom of the 1910 Hotel Bellevue is a must visit deserving national historical landmark status. The stunning room with its 4 columns and 30' ceilings decked with 8 art deco chandeliers and art nouveau mirrors is a cultural delight. This fabulous dining room and the adjoining Salvador Daliesque waiting room are truly unique. Cuisine at the Grand Cafe has endured multiple metamorphoses presented by multiple chefs creating inconsistent results. Latest sad departure is Chef Fabrice Roux who has been replaced by Ron Boyd recently of Domaine Chandon. Food still cannot live up to the unique decor: delectable seafood boullabaisse of mussels, clams, crab, shrimp and fish in a remarkable broth, but only decent foie gras with dry brioche; wonderful entree of braised short ribs in a delicous wine reduction, but a delicious cassoulet marred by an inedibly oversalted duck confit. Excellent desserts but the spectacular decor deserves a more exalted cuisine.
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Grand Cafe (Formal Dining Room)
Cuisine: French Californian
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Downtown |
1/28/2006
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Joshua Capone has considerably upgraded Moose's menu with global cuisine of French sensitivity "kicking up a notch" with attractive multi-course offerings. One occasion offered an exquisite Thai squid salad with perfectly flashcooked squid, tender and juicy, with just enough spicy vinaigrette, another occasion a remarkable lentil soup rising to the niveau of French haute cuisine with real wow factor, obviously couched in red wine, sprinkled with grated hazelnuts and showcased with a dollop of sour cream. A delicious chicken breast with wing drumette drizzled with a red wine reduction sauce over a bed of greens and mashed potatoes exhilarated. Creative desserts have also debuted, including a delectable pear poached in red wine with gorgonzola ice cream. Overlooking Washington Square from floor-length windows offers one of San Francisco's most satisfying restaurant views. Congenial, distracted service and institutionalized men's club atmosphere, but Moose's is still appealing.
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Moose's
Cuisine: American (Traditional)
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North Beach |
1/26/2006
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Incomparable San Francisco neighborhood restaurant elevating rustic cooking to the heights, delicious cooking in a warm ambience with loving service. Ever-changing imaginative seasonable menu drawing from organic Californian ingredients in a charming boutique restaurant: A velvety delicious, multi-layered butternut squash soup with parsnips and truffle oil followed by a superb calamari salad delectably blended with fennel, chopped olives, grapefruit sections and pea sprouts, every biteful exploding with wow factor. Obvious care and creativity are exemplified in every course, including irresistibly flavorful entrees such as the delicious signature chicken under a brick richly presented over a bed of spinach and polenta, oozing with reduction juices, or a spectacular breaded pork cutlet milanese, bone-in, covering the plate. Appealing desserts: Delectable Affogato to fabulous carmelized pear tart with Riesling ice cream, stunning panna cotta. Extensive oenophile offerings. Simply Superb.
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1550 Hyde
Cuisine: Californian Mediterranean Organic
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Russian Hill |
1/25/2006
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Hidden Treasure along a Bladerunner section of Harrison, scintillating
Peruvian cooking delicious enough to challenge the hegemony of any world
cuisine. Sparkling addictive ceviche heaven, succulent pristine halibut
marinated in lime dressed with onion slivers and corn, the crown jewel:
Mochica Ceviche platter simply extraordinario with marinades cilantro,
rocoto (red) and aji amarillo (yellow) glistening aji or mild Peruvian
chiles. Garden of earthly delights overflowing with treasures: Spectacular
prawns sauteed in garlic, tomatoes and Peruvian brandy, superb traditional
aji de gallina, shredded chicken in a fabulous creamy, orange aji amarillo
sauce, silky like a smooth egg custard. Contrast with a delicious 2002
Catena Zapata Mendoza Cabernet, exquisite dark, profound wine from
Argentina. Dessert, simply stunning Espuma de Maracuya, passionfruit mousse
drizzled with orange caramel surpassing my dessert at Aqua. Sophisticated, artistic
ambience and loving service.
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Mochica
Cuisine: Peruvian
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SoMa |
1/17/2006
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Limon, hyperexciting Dionysian dining destination along the Valencia food corridor, visceral Mission Fusion erotic hotspot par excellence. Peruvian Fusion provoking a tsunami mob scene of cultural diversity into sense-shattering temptation. Enormous popularity overwhelms both kitchen and service with limited failures and exalting successes. Overly-dry presentations of tuna tartare, fried chicken and fried calamari and disappointing duck breast followed by sensational standouts: pan-seared scallops and foie gras served over a creamy yucca puree with fig sauce and purple corn reduction, superb halibut ceviche with octopus, calamari and mussels marinated in lime juice served with yam, followed by a spectacularly spiced, carmelized double-cut pork chop, bone-in. Fabulous banana dessert carmelized in panna cotta custard. Stunning 2004 Patriota Tikal, Bordeaux style full-bodied red wine from Argentina, multi-layered, opaque and delicious. Attentive, distracted service. A Latin Celebration.
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Limon
Cuisine: Peruvian
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Mission |
1/16/2006
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Brilliant Chef Laurent Manrique from Gascony has brought the cuisine at Aqua to a new Renaissance. Three successive stunning courses prove the power of Manrique's creative artistry: A spectacular Tartare of Ahi Tuna with Morrocan spices, herbs and lemon confit centered by a single quail egg lovingly prepared tableside. Incredible Meyer lemon fragrances gently infuse and perfume the fragrant tuna with delectable results. Second course is Chef's signature artisan foie gras with almonds, smoked duck in a scrumptuously dazzling shallot sherry sauce skyrocketing taste buds with a glorious foie gras sans pareil. Combination of the deliciously tender warm duck liver combined with the crunch of almonds, the luscious smoked duck flesh and the shallot sherry reduction masterfully blended create a noble and succulent presentation. A stunning Scottish Salmon, the most delicious salmon since L'Auberge de l'Ill, delicately and exquisitely poached, superlatively rare and divinely infused. Genius.
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AQUA
Cuisine: Californian French Basque Seafood
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Downtown |
1/13/2006
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San Franciscans are blessed, indeed, to live in this Stadt Mahagony,
visionary El Dorado still striving to fulfill dreams and aspirations. Our
restaurant opulence is incredibly to be cherished. Range, a restaurant
without mythical illusions where every bite exudes inspirational wow factor.
Considerable artistic energies sublimate into: indescribably delicious
seafood shellfish stew, mussels, clams and shrimp delectably marinated in a
white wine parmeggiano sauce: extase. Stunning pears poached in wine
showcased with feta cheese, celery root and dandelion leaves: orgiastic.
Deliciously seared monkfish in a red wine reduction sauce, every bite
satisfying subliminal urges. An archetypal duck confit, in reality a scrumptious
cassoulet with white beans and sausages, iconoclastically superseding ancient memories.
Conscientiously bushy-tailed service, fabulous desserts and l'ambience sublime.
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Range
Cuisine: American (New)
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Mission |
1/10/2006
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I attempted in vain to order an $11.00 cheeseburger to take-out from Houston's at lunchtime today. Entering a completely empty restaurant except for two cashiers, a Maitresse D', a long line of short-order cooks and waitstaff all standing idly by, the cashier couldn't immediately respond to my take-out burger request. Instead, she left her post to formulate the question to the Maitresse D'. After some time, the cashier then returned, mumbling some concern that "We don't usually do take-out orders until between 2-5 when the restaurant is less crowded. However, since no one is here, you may be allowed to order one." I enquired if she had placed the order. "Oh, no, you have to sit at the bar to order." The bar, however, was completely empty with no one in sight. After an inordinate wait, I had to leave empty-handed, no 11 dollar burger in hand, with the long line of short-order cooks and staff still standing idly by. Apparently, someone wants me to diet, hee hee.
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Houston's Restaurant
Cuisine: American
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Embarcadero |
1/9/2006
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Glittering international food quality at the prestigious new cuisine
destination, Ame, San Francisco's newest Michelin three-star equivalent. A perfect synthesis of
Asian austerity and French opulence, the very embodiment of spirit and matter, soul and body.
Universe of rarified ceviches and sea tartares, sumptuous entrees. Amberjack
Crudo with meyer lemon, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil, exquisitely
delicious and presented, stunningly delectable hamachi, tuna and fluke Poke, voluptuously lightly fried
enveloped in seaweed, spectacular entrees of
Hokkaido Scallops layered with Chanterelles over Robuchon-quality mashed
potatoes, eye-popping taste-bud shattering Sake Marinated Black Cod with
shrimp dumplings in a Shiso sauce, THE dish of the year, two of the most
exquisite, copious entrees in San Francisco dining. Stunning desserts,
ambience and service. The talk of international gourmet critics, a new hit
that shoots to the top of our great gourmet dining experiences.
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Ame
Cuisine: American (New) Seafood
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SoMa |
1/8/2006
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Old Krakow, the warmth and charm from the hearth of Old Europe, the type of restaurant that used to fill our cities but is now as defunct as the memory of ancient immigrant dreams. A living anachronism, the perfect tonic to excessive celebration or a chilly San Francisco night. A quintessential American experience, the type of food your Grandma must have made. Such enticing middle European specialties as marinated vinaigrette mushrooms, cucumber salad in a sweet cream dill sauce, echt rot Kohl of memories long past, sauerkraut to rival a sophisticated Alsatian choucroute, scrumptious ultra creamy mushroom soup, breaded pork cutlet to rival any Wienerschnitzel, a stupendous meat ball stuffed cabbage entree swimming in a mushroom cream or tomato sauce. Banish your enormous appetite with a single, solitary visit. Radiantly loving service, a warm enveloping ambience and a bill that comes up enticingly preiswert. A San Francisco neighborhood experience no longer available elsewhere.
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Old Krakow Polish Restaurant
Cuisine: Polish Czech Eastern European
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West Portal |
1/7/2006
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The epitome archetypal restaurant discovery for the San Francisco Foodie who cherishes bragging rights, gourmet diner sans pareil. Dennis Leary's scintillating hot spot with the Chef himself onstage creating delectable dishes before your very eyes, delicious, unusual with tremendous integrity. The antithesis of corporate dining. A delicious beet tartare amuse-bouche with goat cheese, marvelous cassoulet-like squid marinated in a white bean Syrah, pheasant confit with a stunning warm salad of pinenuts, capers, saffron and raisins, inventive chanterelles in a chestnut puree with a delectable red wine reduction and sensational standout: a spectacular sea scallop ceviche in a cold lemon-scented reduction, wonderful shortribs delightfully carmelized outside and ultra tender inside and a superb pork belly with a celery root mustard sauce. Manic warm service and nostalgic ambience come together for a super hit. It's why we live in San Francisco.
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Canteen
Cuisine: Californian
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Tenderloin |
1/6/2006
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Epochally disastrous amateur gourmet airport food, you could be dining at the Denver airport, food and milieu. Disappointingly over-hyped, the discrepancy between spirit and matter remains unbridged. A businessman's date locale, the "hottest ticket in town" can't live up to its Myth: MacArthur Park on steroids. Amateur cooking, overly salty, sickeningly sweet. Despite the pretense to sophistication, a straight corporate date place reminiscent of a football bleacher sports skyroom or the old playboy bunny club, minus the bunnies. Masculine sterility lacking any irresistible feminine erotic sensuality whatsoever, the feeling of eating in a corporate lobby, matched by food and service. Undistinquished appetizers, over-salted forgettable pizza, over-salted dispiritingly sweet pork, tender but bland beef cheeks, laughably poor dessert, frozen cheese bombe worse than anything Baskin Robbins ever cooked up. A pathetic expensive flop. Any comparison to Gary Danko risible. Blisteringly poor.
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MYTH
Cuisine: French Californian
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Downtown |
1/4/2006
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Premier dim sum banquet hall in Chinatown tucked away on Commercial Alley between Kearny and Montgumgai, dim sum chosen to be catered at the Ritz-Carlton. Only open for lunch but you can fantasize that Cantonese dinner entrees cooked by these chefs would be delicious and authentic. Delectable dim sum served here from rolling carts and hand-held trays is superior, tickling every exotic dim sum fancy from myriad assortments. Stand-outs include Har Gow and Siu Mai steamed as translucent dumplings, delicious variations on familiar themes like Chicken Siu Mai, Siu Leng Bow (Little Dragon Dumplings or Shanghai Dumplings), Yu Chi Gow, succulent steamed shark's fin dumplings, even pork Siu Mai also containing shark's fin, sparkling white crystal honey walnut prawns or the delicious candied barbecue pork pastry puffs which literally melt in your mouth enticing you to throw caution to the wind and forget every dietary concern. Serious Dim Summer's delight, efficient service, sparkling ambience.
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City View Restaurant
Cuisine: Dim Sum Asian Chinese
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Downtown |
1/3/2006
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Brilliant tour-de-force by Chef Genius Ron Siegel, who stages his very own iron chef competition against himself with his fabulous 9-course prix-fixe dinner, the equivalent of any theatrical performance on the world stage today. Chef's creations include multiple succulent amuse-gueules and 9 courses for two become an 18-course festival where each course is prepared in contrasting fashion destined for sharing. Such contrasting delicacies, imagine Maine Lobster in red wine braised oxtail sauce, chanterelles and red onions competing with Maine Lobster in celery root, spinach, leeks, lobster cream and black truffles, chilled Foie Gras in pinot gris gelee, quince mache and candied pecans contrasted with Hot Foie Gras in huckleberry apple-pepper sauce, or cherry-crusted Sonoma Duck Breast compared to pomegranate cardamom Squab Breast, all boggling taste buds with masterfully blended flavor combinations. The Pinnacle of San Francisco Dining. IRON CHEF RON SIEGEL'S CUISINE REIGNS SUPREME.
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Ritz-Carlton Dining Room
Cuisine: French (New)
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Nob Hill |
12/23/2005
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Muy agravante you mean, amateur cooking and amateur service justifying neither the pretense nor the expense. Appealing appetizers with a spectacular Costillas de Puerco, succulent pork riblets, but the entire dinner crashed with disgraceful, inedible entrees, the result of over-extended restaurant empire building. A huge fan of Zuppa, Globe stunk at my last visit, but after glowing reviews, I wanted to visit Tres Agaves, the latest incarnation of Joseph Manzare. The ribs and the flan are spectacular, but the entrees such a disgrace, the entire evening was ruined: spit-roasted chicken overly dry and debilitated by a sickening, sweet lemon sauce, an artificial, inedible chile relleno, completely disgusting in a repulsive sweet sauce, and a totally dried-out burnt, super-salty Carnitas, far worse than Cala's take-out. El Faro with attitude would be unfairly denigrating El Faro. A huge money-maker, unfortunately. Stunning Soma ambience. Bushy-tailed amateur service. A shameful waste.
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Tres Agaves
Cuisine: Mexican
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Pacific Bell Park/South Beach |
12/17/2005
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Seriously Succulent Seared Vanilla Foie Gras proving hysterical animal rights activists are clueless. What a noble destiny for a duck or a goose. Foie gras is an absolutely natural developmental process for migratory fowl who stuff themselves on their own to enlarge their livers to be able to sustain themselves on long flights. Ancient Egyptians themselves discovered the delectable result. Foie Gras at Rue St. Jacques/St. Jackson with its red-wine vanilla reduction sauce and fresh raspberries is superb. Tuna tartar with sesame oil is unique, fabulous ultra gamey, lamby rack of lamb, a cassoulet spectacularly presented on two bricks in a cast iron skillet with sausages, duck and lamb, both City bests. Delicious desserts of chocolate mousse and nougat glacee prove this is a delightful, delicious fung shui addition to my neighborhood. A stunning 1997 LaGrange Saint-Julien Bordeaux nailed the tous ensemble. Warm and charming ambience and reception. What a neighborhood upgrade!
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Rue Saint Jacques
Cuisine: French
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Nob Hill |
12/7/2005
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Bright-eyed debut of a new French restaurant in an old Sacramento St. firehouse aspiring to understated elegance, gourmet cuisine, exceptionally warm reception and service. Lovely and understated, the kitchen is stunningly showcased through dark mahogany with spotlights on the chefs like a Marionettentheater. A luscious 2001 Bordeaux, Chateau Malartic Lagraviere, dark and opaque, skyrocketing with the appetizers: Kobe beef tartar with quail egg and fresh anchovy, brilliant butter lettuce salad spectacularly contrasted with roquefort torchon, sumptious foie gras with a quince puff pastry. Poussin glazed with roasted garlic rosette, contrasted with pureed spinach and delectable Chanterelles mushrooms, a Filet Mignon with Red Wine Braised Short Ribs. Fabulous trio of chocolates: mousse oozing with caramel, white-chocolate martini and a chocolate brioche with chocolate ice cream, delicious Orange Scented Laurel Chenel Chevre Cheesecake & Tomato Rose Confit. An auspicious beginning.
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Les Amis
Cuisine: French
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Embarcadero |
12/3/2005
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Recessionary times have Masa's now offering a $55 3-course early bird menu, 1,000 points on Open Table and no credit card required for reservation. Chef Gregory Short's $105 six-course menu will regale any three-star connoisseur. With stunning intense flavors and imaginative presentations, Masa's cuisine equals and often surpasses our best. Superb soups like fresh green pea broth or the spectacular puree of green onion, remarkable asparagus salad with tangy grapefruit mousse, superlative Hiramasa shabu-shabu, a tribute to the restaurant's eponymous origins. Seared foie gras, crispy & caramelized on the outside, shear divinity inside, true decadence. Tasty prime beef ribeye medallions with superb black barley and parmesan leeks, but the crowning glory, extraordinary Paine Farm Squab, a culinary masterpiece: exquisite breast of squab lined with squab mousseline topped with black truffle, a dish rivaling and surpassing that of the original Robuchon's Jamin in Paris. Simply astonishing.
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Masa's
Cuisine: French (New)
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Downtown |
12/2/2005
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Angioplasty Central, carnivore's carpe diem delight at the House of Prime Rib, San Francisco's extravagantly old-fashioned temple to roast beef which deserves landmark status. Gargantuan mountainous jumbo portions of mouth-meltingly delicious roast beef served tableside, including second portions upon request, augmented by such substantial sides as spectacular garlic mashed potatoes with horseradish, Yorkshire pudding, marvelous creamed spinach and a very special hand-twirled and spun archetypal chilled salad with red beets and hard-boiled eggs to fill your every nook and cranny. Extensive and reasonable wine list including hidden treasures and sumptuous desserts like the fabulous English Trifle will have you leaving the joint feeling like the King of the Jungle still stuffed three days later. Warm reception and manic ambience, a delightful time machine's ride to times past. Unlike any other place in the City and far superior to the place down the block.
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House of Prime Rib
Cuisine: Steakhouses
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Polk St./Van Ness |
11/17/2005
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"LIFE IS A BANQUET AND MOST POOR SONS-A-BITCHES ARE STARVING TO DEATH!" ...quote from Auntie Mame. Gerald Hirigoyen is a genius chef who shares his classic basque cuisine at his stunning Piperade and at his take on Basque "fast-food" tapas the "small bite" Bocadillos, perfectly bite-sized featuring Basque sandwiches at lunchtime and wonderful tapas plates for evening. Lunchtime Star is the incredible lamb burger, a signature destination dish. Incomparable dinnertime tapas include a stunning cured halibut with meyer lemons and herb crème fraiche brillantly presented and state-of-the-art lamb loin chops with a spectacular quince-date chutney, an exquisite foie gras wrapped in serrano ham and delectable prawns with garlic flakes and lemon confit. Wash it all down with a superb 2001 Allende Rioja. Stunning cheese plate. Marvelous desserts. Warm, loving service. Cutting edge ambience.
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Bocadillos
Cuisine: Tapas
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North Beach |
11/15/2005
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Traci des Jardin, our very own culinary icon, her delectable restaurant the fabulous Jardiniere. Nouveau art deco décor with two-tiered level like dining in an old movie theater or on the 2nd deck of the Titanic, I fully expected the band to break into Nearer My God To Thee and see rushing water engulfing the bar from below. Her creations achieve absolute perfection, a spectacular sea scallop appetizer in a sublime white-wine wild mushroom sauce foaming up in a sea mist that would do Adrian Ferra proud, superb state-of-the-art short rib entrée with a parsnip-horseradish potato puree that would be the envy of Robuchon, exquisite duck breast poached in a stunning red-wine reduction sauce with wild field greens, baby turnips and fig blended with a morceau of full-roasted duck for added richness and flavor, finished with a spectacular tarte tatin with orange cardamom ice cream and an automne tasting including superb gingerbread, poached pear with mascarpone and carmel ice cream. Divine.
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Jardiniere Restaurant
Cuisine: Californian
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Hayes Valley |
11/11/2005
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Tres, Tres Bon Restaurant Francais avec Cuisine Delicieuse et Service Exceptionel. Je suis au paradis. Quelle grande bonne reussite: le debut d'un tres bon nouvel bistrot francais avec une cuisine delicieuse et service exceptionel, c'est incroyable de trouver un tel restaurant a San Francisco, je suis tres, tres heureux! L'ambience est tres chaleureux et la cuisine formidable. C'est la vraie cuisine francaise! Une salade d'endive avec roquefort superbe et un confit de canard roti aux petits pommes de terre avec du lardon fume vraiment parfait, suivi d'une tarte tatin extraordinaire avec un tres bon vin et service merveilleux, ce nouvel restaurant Garcon aura bientot une reussite aussi extraordinaire. Ca vaut vraiement la peine car c'est tres, tres bon...vive la joie de vivre et encore, Je suis ravi et content, merci tellement beaucoup.
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Garcon
Cuisine: French
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Mission |
11/5/2005
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Wow factor missing. Knowing and loving extraordinary French home cooking, I was frankly expecting more from this charming neighborhood restaurant on Guerrero. Currently obsessed with mediterranean provence, I found few orgiastic flavors. With memories of morsels sending me into orbit and gourmet frenzy in the South of France, I wanted so much more. Still, due to enormous warmth from the French owners, the experience is positive. On the level of Chapeau or Baker Street Bistro, very good and enjoyable but lacking. As is the trend, entrees did not live up to the appetizers, though a burning, smoking rosemary branch in each entrée appealed to subliminal urges. Le terroir dans la Provence brule exceptionel but not in this food. My brioche with cream dessert dry and sous-normal but the owner's son's infectious delight at an overturned wine glass engulfing the table made up for everything.
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La Provence
Cuisine: French
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Mission |
11/1/2005
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QUACK, QUACK at Piperade. I am a huge duck fan, perhaps from my years of living in France where dining on duck is a national pasttime, but the rich, decadent flavor of duck sends me into orbit. My lastest experiences in duck dining have been real flops, having been served fatty, watery and unappetizing duck creations, even at top restaurants. As soon as I heard Gerald was serving confit at his wonderful Piperade, I waddled over as fast as my little webbed feet could carry me. It was sublime. Deep, Dark, Rich, Super Spectacular Duck with that warm, inimitable flavor, seared to perfection, sending me into orgiastic ectasy. I am basking in the afterglow. Duck cooked too rare often ends up tasting like veal, or worse, but Piperade's version has restored my faith in my duck fetish. Superb. Delightful butter lettuce salade beautifully presented and absolutely exquisite desserts, ultra creamy cream caramel and spectacular kefir cheese candied squash! Yum. Delightful Sainte Estephe.
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Piperade
Cuisine: Spanish
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Downtown |
10/27/2005
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WARNING: The Indian Oven is highly addictive and habit forming! I love dining at the Indian Oven where flames in the kitchen translate to flames on your tongue. Indian Oven's wonderful specialties include tantalizingly rich and creamy curries in exotic spices, delectable chicken, lamb and prawn tandoories which arrive piping hot and enticingly steamy to your table. Supplement the delicious entrees with some of their superlative breads, Naan, varied with minced lamb, fruits and nuts or goat cheese with green onion and bell peppers. Compliment your enjoyment with an Indian beer, King Fisher (light) or Taj Mahal in the big bottle (dry), or try a California pinot noir like I usually do such as the Saintsbury Carneros which goes surprisingly well with Indian food. A great place to take friends or out-of-town guests for consistently delicious and unexpected taste treats. Exuberant service and festive ambience. Reserve.
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Indian Oven
Cuisine: Indian
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Lower Haight |
10/26/2005
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Absolutely consistent, fresh and honest dim sum. I've enjoyed weekend dim sum at Yet Wah hundreds of times. Specifically order the Bolet (bo-lay or bo-nay) tea, the favorite of Chinese, with rich, dark, root-cellar aromas, perfectly complimenting the earthy, steaming dumplings which come constantly streaming out of the kitchen. My favorites are always the steamed items, but everything is good so don't be afraid to try some of the exotic offerings like the bowls of braised beef tendons, the cubed, boiled pork livers or the braised chicken feet, surprisingly tasty. A few weeks ago, I threw a 12-course banquet here which was superb, including such delectable rarities as double-roasted squabs, sea cucumbers and bobo-yazi, boneless, stuffed duck, incredible! Bargain prices and wonderful, unaffected service.
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Yet Wah
Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum
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Outer Richmond |
10/24/2005
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Stinking, alright. Stinking food. Stinking service. The food arrived within 30 seconds of ordering, obviously pre-cooked and microwaved. The appetizer arrived after the entrees. Name sounds great, but the execution couldn't live up to the concept. Pity.
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Stinking Rose
Cuisine: Italian Californian
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North Beach |
10/24/2005
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The unfortunate trend of superior appetizers offered before inferior entrees continues. I've had some big bloopers in my day, but the worst entree I've encountered lately was the duck/sausage cassoulet presented at Jeanty at Jack's (my most horrifying entree ever?: Tetes de Lapin Frites, fried rabbit heads once in France!). JAJ's appetizers, however, were delicious: delectable duck "foie blond" pate with port poached pear and steak tartare with frites, but my cassoulet was such a disaster it nearly ruined the evening. Presented was a half-foot volcano of bread crumbs and chopped parsley with submerged duck confit, sausage and beans. The crumb/parsley mixture was completely unappetizing, overly-baked, brown, dried out and inconceivable. Was this supposed to create infusion? Deep down inside I tried to dig up morsels which had not fared well, dried out and completely overwhelmed by the massive ocean of bizarre top mixture. Oive, Oive, Loretta, O, Where is Thy Cassoulet Now?....sigh
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Jeanty At Jacks
Cuisine: French Brasseries
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Downtown |
10/24/2005
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Dim sum for white people. Whoever put Ton Kiang on the Chronicle's top 100 restaurant list obviously doesn't know their dim sum. The last time I was at Ton Kiang, I was served shockingly substandard and expensive dim sum, including my favorites: har gow, steamed shrimp dumplings, and siu mai, steamed pork dumplings, so poor they were brown, shriveled and withered as though they'd been cooked a week before and reheated just before serving, this after waiting well over an hour to get in. The little hole-in-the-wall take-out joint called Broadway Dim Sum at the corner of Stockton & Broadway in the heart of Chinatown wouldn't get caught dead selling dumplings like these which wouldn't pass muster on the street. If you want refined dim sum, go to Yank Sing instead, or to Yet Wah on Clement, for honest, fresh and clean tasting dim sum.
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Ton Kiang
Cuisine: Dim Sum Chinese
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Outer Richmond |
10/23/2005
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A stunning flop. My worst apprehensions confirmed as I saw the Celebrity Chef LEAVING in his SUV Yuppie Buggie upon my arrival. None of the food up to snuff. Legions of "South of the Border" chefs in the kitchen trying to recreate Luke's recipes without success. You might as well be dining in Tijuana. Wunderkind Luke's exquisite cooking proves you don't have to be French to master the art of French cooking, but one of my enormous pet peeves is dining out only to find the famous chef MISSING with underlings trying to recreate the recipes. Gawd-awful inedible duck, fatty, raw and watery, quel desastre. Here, at $100 bucks per person, the overly-hearty re-creations did nothing to titillate the palate. That didn't stop enormous mobs of paris-hilton wannabees from swarming the joint en masse. Try Mel's or KFC down the block instead. Warm Sister of Sappho service, however.
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Isa
Cuisine: French
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Marina |
10/22/2005
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Anjou is a charming hidden restaurant down the alley from Campton Place off Union Square which offers an intimate ambience and delicious French cuisine. Though I have yet to find a bistrot or brasserie here that really duplicates the food in France, I do find Chef Pierre Morin's to be among our city's most authentic. A delicious meal for two would be to split Pierre's fabulous REALLY FABULOUS Three Mushroom Ravioli in Black Peppercorn Cognac Sauce and the succulent duck foie gras both which can be double-plated and shared, and then, for entrees: the steak/frites and duck confit are superb, but the cognac-sauced meats like the veal or the filet mignon are spectacular and mouth-watering. For dessert, the Anjou Loire Valley speciality of Warm Pears in a Cointreau Sabayon sauce is to DIE FOR! Wash everything down with one of the wonderful French wines and you'll have a scintillating, decadent dining experience. Expect warm and formal French accueil. Carpe diem et Vive La France!
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Anjou Restaurant
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Downtown |
10/21/2005
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The world's best breakfast prepared by Dottie's True Blue Cafe's Chef/Owner Kurt and his extremely sexy flying-machine stove. There is a tremendous air of erotic sensuality when you're perched at the counter at Dottie's watching Kurt prepare his magnificent breakfasts. It's an exhilarating visceral experience nearly without parallel in the City and it's then you realize it's not an accident that there's always a line out the door down the street. Kurt's highly disciplined and organized joie de vivre translates itself directly to every spectacular breakfast he creates, from his stupendous french toast, the best I've ever had, made from homemade loaves and slathered with a ton of butter, heaped with a mountain of sublime strawberries, or his stupendous, gigantic pancakes, even his homefries aux herbes fines are spectacular. Kurt's Dottie Café is just a dazzling San Francisco experience!
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Dottie's True Blue Cafe
Cuisine: Coffee Shops/Diners Breakfast
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Tenderloin |
10/19/2005
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An unexpected treasure lies hidden behind this rather ordinary looking schnell-Imbiss in Japantown, MISO CHA SHU RAMEN at Sapporo-Ya. After one particular late opera rehearsal, I ended up testing out this noodle soup at Sapporo-Ya in the Japan Center. I was totally stunned by the huge bowl presented filled with delicious noodles swimming in miso soup with cha shu, absolutely stellar thin slices of roast pork. The rich and velvety miso broth was enhanced by bamboo and a boiled egg and one sip will send you into delirium. It seemed like there was a ton of garlic, or something, irresistible flavors shooting out at you, and when I brought my opera colleagues to try this King of Soups, their eyes and gullets popped out as well. Miso Cha Shu ramen still remains a special late night treat, or for lunch or whenever. The California roll, the sashimi, the gyoza and the other larger dinner plates are delicious as well. Wash it all down with a delicious Japanese beer for a decadent treat.
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Sapporo-Ya
Cuisine: Japanese Noodle Shops
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Japantown |
10/14/2005
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Delightful Frothy Creations arrive at your table as irresistible delectable masterpieces, sweet or savory, at Jacqueline's little restaurant hidden on upper Grant. There is an essence of purety to Jacqueline's cooking which arrives directly to your palate and soul. A trip to the WC through the kitchen reveals the wonderous French artiste cooking in all her splendour with a mountain of eggs in a giant copper kettle. This marvelous little chef produces fabulous souffles which are truly secret culinary treasures of San Francisco. Simply choose a savory souffle for dinner (such as the spectacular salmon souffle with asparagus and gruyere topped with paper-thin lemon slices) and a sweet souffle for dessert (such as the incredible lemon custard so delicious you want to lick the bowl). While waiting for Jacqueline to create her masterpieces, try a delicious spinach salad and the state-of-the-art onion soup. Delicious wines and warm service will have you waltzing out of the place. A miracle
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Cafe Jacqueline
Cuisine: French Dessert
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North Beach |
10/14/2005
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Without Mark Franz, the cuisine at Farallon has absolutely no wow-factor with quality nosediving to Howard Johnson levels yet still costing $$$$. The once sparkling, unforgettable, uniquely Farallon tastes of Mark Franz have disappeared replaced by unremarkable and unmemorable dishes: a pumpkin soup too watery, a totally perfunctory calamari salad, a godawful tuna tartare whose taste was completely overwhelmed by pickles, infinitely inferior to anything at Ame or Aqua, every fish entree entirely bland and lacking any kind of subtle spicing or sauce with no standout quality whatsoever, certainly no better than any local deli, unacceptably lackluster beef dish with tender but bland slices served with semi-burnt, soggy fries; an astonishingly woeful dessert repeatedly offered at Farallon, simply unacceptable for a restaurant of this level and price: Whoever decided to serve angelfood cake with a single scoop of ice cream should be permanently banished to the Safeway deli forever. Sad.
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Farallon
Cuisine: Seafood
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Downtown |
10/13/2005
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Absolutely superb grilled chicken in North Beach made by Italians from Argentina. Eat there or take out (1 whole chicken plus a large salad and a generous bag of French bread make a delightful and affordable take-out dinner for two, one of the best in SF). The chicken is scrumptious. Once after complimenting the owner chef's daughter about their chicken, she jokingly told me it was the equivalent of any street vendor's in Argentina! In the City, however, I have found it to simply be our best. The congenial owner chef is from Calabria, Italia, his charming family from Argentina and they will charm you while you're there. If you do dine at the cozy Il Pollaio restaurant on Columbus, wash the chicken down with one of their delicious full-bodied South American REDS. Campai!
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IL Pollaio
Cuisine: Italian
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North Beach |
10/13/2005
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Faux City Diner, just imagine I foolishly ordered a hambuger to go from the Fog City Diner and it cost Over TEN BUCKS (10!) plus tip to go. It was BEAUTIFULLY, gorgeously, supremely packaged, cudda won the Macy's garland prize for holiday giftwrapping, all guzzied up in a glamour two-handled paper gift bag, the utimate form over content as it turned out because when I got home and unwrapped the glorious giftpack to my shock there was only a bare burger totally sans accoutrement with no mustard or mayonnaise whatsoever: and git this: NO LETTUCE OR TOMATO whatsoever, for over ten bucks (10!) plus tip. Waz eye happy? Crappy, soggy Frenchfries, too.
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Fog City Diner
Cuisine: American (New)
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Embarcadero |
10/11/2005
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MY ULTIMATE CONTEST WINNER FOR LINGUINE ALLE VONGOLE! For my personal clam fetish, I staged a linguine vongole tasting contest about town for me, myself and my over-developed carb tenor diaphragm. I sought high & low: THE best in town?...the North Beach Restaurant's version of LINGUINE WITH FRESH CLAMS waz ZEE BEST. (Runner up was Coppola's version at his American Zoetrope restaurant malheureusement no mo' 'cause Francis Ford mustta lost his chef and their L.V. is now caca...therefore, the North Beach Restaurant's version IS the GOLD PLACE WINNER...Da Ultimate...the reason why? Quite simply 'cause they mince a truck-load of delicious clams into the linguine with butter, garlic & white wine BEFORE adding the steamed clams in the shell on top giving you a double clam whammy...sublime. Get the Caesar salad split for two to start and the hot Zabaglione for two at the end. There is a great wine cellar, 2, famous. Old fashioned, yes, but THE BEST LINGUINE ALLE VONGOLE in town. Amen.
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North Beach Restaurant
Cuisine: Italian
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North Beach |
10/11/2005
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TOMATO sauce so fabulous I thought I was back in Italia...talk about Mediterranean...an archetype! I have only taken OUT pizza here and ordered well in advance, an hour even. The parking is impossible, so have a friend circle the block while you pick it up. Get the Little Star pizza or the chicken mediterranean and ask that tomato sauce be added as it doesn't otherwise come with the chicken pizza...eegads, such delicious tomato sauce is unheard of and I was stunned and delighted to find it free flowing here on Diviz. The pizza was so big I had some left over and this deep-dish pizza with the corn meal crust and stellar tomato sauce was still delicious 3 days later, a cold slice from the refrigerator, hmmmm. That tomato sauce is a unique taste I'm growing to hanker after and it'll keep me going back. (I secretly wanna taka bath in it, har har har).
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Little Star Pizza
Cuisine: Pizza
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Western Addition |
10/11/2005
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Once upon a time, May, the Thai Beauty Queen, met Chai, the Boy Wonder Cook, in Bangkok. They came to SF and opened Marnee Thai and the rest is history. I don't care what anybody says, it's the best Thai cuisine in Northern California--u go elsewhere it ain't as good. I went to Marnee's every Saturday night for over 5 years, it's a PARTY. U don wanna party, don go. May takes you under her wing, reads your fortune and conjoles you into delicious dishes. She may seem bossy but she has a heart of gold, she'll think nothing of screaming I LOVE YOU across a crowded restaurant to you. Chai's not always cooking (recently he told me of cooking yellow curry chicken for 1500 people at the Moscone Center!) but when he's cooking at Marnee's, there's sine qua non food barring none (satay with the best peanut sauce in the world, angel wings, garlic prawns (!!!) and the most spectacular GREEN CURRY anything). Wash it all down with Thai Singha beer and you've gotta scintillating evening.
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Marnee Thai
Cuisine: Thai
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Outer Sunset |
10/9/2005
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Bizou has been ruined and its replacement Coco 500 is just another small plates bar for the after-work screaming SOMA bar crowd. I loved Bizou, Loretta Keller's Ode to Alsace, a most feng shui restaurant with its wonderful service, uniquely warm and mellow atmosphere and incomparable food. Coco 500, Bizou's successor, is loud, crowded and definitely NOT feng shui. The bar now cuts across the room and replaces an area where open, roomy tables once stood. There is now a line of narrow seats too close together where diners must scruntch in and scream to be heard. The food seems to be dumbed down and some of Loretta's masterpieces will no doubt never be seen again: her spectacular cassoulet or the choux farcies...puleeze, puleeze, Loretta? Coco 500 no doubt will be a huge moneymaker, but eye'll 4-ever miss Bizou. To be fair, I have to admit that the duck confit I had at Coco 500 the other day was a masterpiece compared to the one I had at Café de la Presse last night. You just can't keepa Good Girl down.
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Coco 500
Cuisine: Californian Mediterranean
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Pacific Bell Park/South Beach |
10/9/2005
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Sorry but this just doesn't cut it. I was hugely hoping the new Cafe de la Presse would be fabulous: La Vielle Demoiselle has been glammed up, but the food sux. The old Cafe de la Presse really had decent food and I went often for the moules/frites, unfortunately now discontinued. The new ambience is fabulous, warm with wood all over, but the food wunt pass muster in France. All the hot dishes tasted flashcooked and warmed over with a faux sweet sauce. The salmon tartar was good. The escargots were warmed over and sweet (c'mon guys, sweet escargot? U've gotta be kidding). The skirt steak with a faux sweet reduction sauce tasted warmed over. The duck confit: a disgrace. Good confit is when the skin is crisped and sealed into the meat. Here the meat was precooked but the skin was left fatty and watery, inedible. The tarte flambee was sweet and warmed over, bacon and onions strewn onto a precooked cold shell, definitely not hot from the oven. But the Voss Sirah 2001 delish.
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Cafe De La Presse
Cuisine: French (Bistro)
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Downtown |
10/8/2005
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The Levende Lounge is exceptional. Chef Jamie Lauren was picked by the SF Chronicle to be named a rising star chef, and she is. A few bites of anything she cooks here proves that: Everything is delicious and the quality holds up on repeated visits, try anything. I recently had the delicious heirloom tomato salad, the delectable Indian-spiced mini lamb burgers (a meal in themselves and a signature dish), the remarkable sparkling marinated white prawns, finger-lickin' spectacular crab cakes with aioli, I got it all over, awesomely succulent braised beef cheeks (i know, i know) and the fabulous deliciously blended and moist cheese-stuffed chicken. The perfectly-prepared pommes frites are served in a paper cone and are thin and crispy like in France. All of the desserts are good, but the floral trio creme brulee is one of San Francisco's best. The atmosphere is wonderfully hip and warm and the overall experience one of decadence...GO.
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levende lounge
Cuisine: american (new) fusion brunch
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Mission |
10/3/2005
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Michelin Three Star Quality: Campton Place's Chef Daniel Humm's gift to San Francisco with stellar food. The shellacked roast duck for two is one of the City's top dishes, cooked to crispy moist perfection. Presentation is beautiful and everything I've had here is delectable from marvelous beef to succulent halibut: appetizers, entrees or desserts augmented with multi amuse-gueules courtesy of the chef, even featuring a spectacular lobster cappuccio. Every meal here has made me giddy with delight, savouring each and every course and palate cleanser like a 5-act play that ends in fireworks. The foie gras tasting flight alone is a uniquely fabulous dish, delicious and eye popping. I complimented Chef Daniel on this foie gras and his eyes twinkled. Unimaginable. Unbelievable. Brilliant service. Spectacular dining experience. GO for your most cherished special event or when you just need cheering up. Chef Daniel will come out to say hello. I want to be there right now.
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CAMPTON PLACE
Cuisine: Mediterranean
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Downtown |
10/3/2005
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Jeanne d'Arc is a charming hidden treasure, a unique old-fashioned San Francisco French restaurant featuring a bargain $29.25 menu including soup, salad, entree and dessert (outstanding lamb shank, rack of lamb, duck and pepper steak with cream cognac sauce and more). I took picky, price-conscious friends who were dazzled by the rapport prix/qualite and the marvelous ambience. Great place to take a special someone or out-of-town guests. Dessert choices include a wonderful Orange Grand Marnier souffle which was much better than the one I had at the much more expensive Fleur de Lys. Jeanne d'Arc is delightful, charming, delicious and a Bargain. NOTE: A recent vist had surcharges added to the entrees making Jeanne d'Arc not quite the big bargain it once was. You can't blame them with this economy and surging energy costs. I just hope some of our unique places survive.
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Jeanne D'arc
Cuisine: French
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Downtown |
10/3/2005
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Shockingly Bad: Skyrocket prices, mediocre entrees and indifferent service, "yuppie generic" food. As our meal began, the next table was sending back an appetizer clearly containing burnt black toast. Our Meal: fishy-tasting calamari and ordinary black mussels which were just smoky and bland. Next shock unappetizing entrees at over $30 a pop: short ribs that were gooey and oversweet and a completely dried-out duck breast seemingly cooked 3 days before, smothered in a sticky sweet sauce. Under the dried duck were hard, green items which seemed like hard bamboo but which I finally identified as asparagus! For dessert, mascarpone profiteroles, hard and dry cream puff rolls stuffed with vanilla ice cream, no mascarpone. Our waitress was mostly off socializing with other waitstaff. I truly regret the $200 I spent here, truly a shocking experience for a so-called 100 best restaurant which turned out to be just a loud sports bar with below average food. Good wine, tho....sigh.
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Bacar Restaurant & Wine Salon
Cuisine: American (New)
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SoMa |
10/3/2005
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My Worst SF Dining Experience: I took my 80-year-old mother and even with reservations we had to wait over an hour among a SCREAMING crowd. Never once did the Maitre d' or waitstaff offer her a chair. When we were finally seated, I immediately ordered an appetizer to try to "revive" Mama. Our snippy flippant NY waiter then brought her what Mama perfectly described: A piece of burnt toast with 3 limp asparagus, no sauce whatsoever--nada, niete, zip: $15 bucks, C'mon! Impossible to talk over the screams, we were also sickened by the smell of rotten fish cooking. We could not wait to leave this overrated place and will NEVER go back. Horrible. Rude Waitstaff, Unacceptable Expensive Food.
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Rose Pistola
Cuisine: Italian Seafood Pizza
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North Beach |
10/3/2005
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Wull, Bless My Grits, I thought I'd died and gone to Breakfast Heaven. This is the place you'd hope to find on a trip deep in the Heartland but rarely do. Immediately order a plate of exquisite, spectacular beignets with coffee while perusing the menu. Then pick some of their fabulous homemade bread slices to go with whatever entree. I picked cinnamon raisin bread, which was as good as my Mama's, along with the delicious pork chop, eggs and grits. Whoever cannot appreciate this place should just stick to Denny's. Others be patient, it's well worth the wait. (Wish I was there now). The Food Is Like Mama Made, Fabulous Meat, Spectacular Homemade Bread....purrfect breakfast. Dream of New Orleans.
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Mabel's Just for You Cafe
Cuisine: Coffee Shops/Diners Bakeries
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Potrero Hill |
10/3/2005
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Surprisingly delicious food with sophisticated West Coast decor, the food literally lives up to the hype and Mecca does deserve to be on the Chronicle's top 100 list. From the state-of-the-art foie gras to the superb crab cakes with aioli, the enticing roast squab and incredibly tender pork loin with sheep-milk ricotta, the sinful rich desserts, the food wins you over. A hidden bargain treasure on the wine list, the Turnbull Merlot, turned this evening into a delightful hit. To fully appreciate the decor and ambience, take a trip to the restroom around the central circular bar. This place seems more like Los Angeles or New York, but is a welcome addition to the SF dining scene. Great.
Beguiling Ambience, Well-Executed Menu, Unique Voyeur Scene.
NOTE: A recent return visit to Mecca showed higher prices and less sparkling food. The price of the Turnbull had risen over $10 a bottle and the food unfortunately less impressive. Hope new ownership doesn't mean higher prices and food decline
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Mecca
Cuisine: American (New) Eclectic
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Upper Market/Church Street |
10/3/2005
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El Raigon is a beef lover's delight where beef from Montana is on the menu. Having been born & raised in Montana, I was especially keen to try their charcoal-broiled steaks. They are SUCCULENT. I found everything delicious here, from the Gambas appetizer, the arrugula salad, the garlic spinach side and the steaks are, well, steak-of-the-art. The location in North Beach is superb; the service is appealingly warm; the unusual, unique Argentinian wines a delight, especially the marvelous red Crios Cabernet thick like oxblood. All in all, a delightful dining experience: Steak-of-the-Art, Scintillating Steaks, Xenophile's Delight
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El Raigon
Cuisine: Steakhouse Argentinian
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North Beach |
10/3/2005
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Food As Theater, Michael Mina's restaurant is a culinary delight and the food won me over. Halfway through the tasting menu with one dazzling course after another, even the stuffy ambience took on a softer twilight, with waitstaff dressed as ninjas swooping back and forth in perfect coordination. Our 8 courses included delectable Osetra Caviar, a spectacular Ahi tuna tartare with sesame oil, raw quail egg and hot peppers, a Black Mussel souffle with a "to die for" succulent Saffron Essence, Michael Mina's signature lobster pot pie, a marvelous Chilean sea bass followed by roast poussin with mac & cheese sauce, a steak rossini with foie gras and terminating with a divine chocolate cake, peanutbutter milkshake and fabulous espresso strawberry bonbons, an irresistible unforgettable experience totale. Tiny lapses in service didn't detract from Michael Mina's being one of the City's few potential comparable Michelin Three-Star equivalents. Can't wait for my next special occasion here.
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Michael Mina Restaurant
Cuisine: American (New)
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Downtown |
10/3/2005
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The Celebrity Chef was obviously MIA...so unfortunately highly overrated and overpriced, especially given such local luminaries as Gary Danko, Campton Place, Michael Mina's or the Ritz Carlton. I was extremely disappointed when taking a best friend here for a milestone birthday which I counted on being superb. Instead, the service was EXTREMELY tired and bored, jotting down our order on a scratchpad while staring off into the distance, full of ennui, offering no pointers or enthusiasm. When the food came, it was shockingly lackluster, especially considering the reputation and price. We chose the wine flight which turned out to be only from cheap, undistinguished bottles. An unfortunate trend is for a famous chef to showcase a restaurant, teach underling sous-chefs only to disappear elsewhere. If you go by most reviews, Fleur de Lys should be the "French Laundry" of the City but on this occasion with the celebrity chef obviously missing, the dining experience was not celebratory. :(
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Fleur De Lys
Cuisine: French (New)
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Nob Hill |
10/3/2005
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A16...my recent meal here was nothing short of miraculous at this spectacular state-of-the-art restaurant. Not usually given to hyperbole, this delightful restaurant makes one happy to live in San Francisco. Finally a cutting-edge restaurant where the food lives up to the hype which is definitely NOT generic yuppie. Be patient at dinnertime because with universal acclaim, A16 is busy. It's worth whatever wait. Try lunchtime which I just did again, having a marvelous dining experience. EVERYTHING is good: unusual, intense, delectable flavors that jump out at you (spectacular chicken thigh, homemade sausages, incredible steak, pizze, desserts), marvelous wine list (try the superb Tari). Warm nurturing service: Sommelier Shelley Lindgren is a rising wine star, incredibly gracious...let her guide you through A16's marvelous wines and have a great time. It's loud, raucous and crowded at dinnertime, difficult to get it, but with food this good, the joie de vivre just bubbles over.
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A16
Cuisine: Italian Wine Bar
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Marina |
10/3/2005
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Circolo is a cutting-edge Soma restaurant and Chef Patrick Kehler is the former chef de cuisine from Aqua who prepares delicious fish dishes...my Halibut was stunning. I love Circolo's delightfully engaging service, soaring decor with elan, and awesome, delectable food. This hopping SOMA Cal bistro is the type of place you'd expect to see in a high-tech Bond movie and the food and service live up to the decor. We had incredibly succulent short ribs and calamari, superb lamb shank in wine-reduction sauce and duck breast with foie gras, to say nothing of delicious breads with chipotle butter. Desserts are also spectacular including such creativities as Flan with Ginger-Lychee Granita and the eye-boggling Mango soup surrounded by home-made Ice Cream Sandwiches. Top everything off with an inventive wine list, and you'll have a delightful rewarding evening, and moderately priced! I could go back again and again.
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Circolo
Cuisine: Nuevo Latin
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Mission |
10/3/2005
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Cultural Jewel in North Beach: Da Flora is one of San Francisco's hidden gems with exquisitely delicious food and ambience. Maitresse d'Flora is Hungarian, having studied in Venice, she has made a delightful combination of the two cuisines. On a recent visit, Flora had just returned from Budapest with fresh paprika and had just made a delectable roast pork with spectacular paprika sauce. The pork I've had here is some of the best anywhere, including a supreme house-cured pork chop. Let Flora delight you with her exquisite, rare wines, many unavailable outside of Italy. Consider yourself lucky to get a table here, one of the City's great artistic gourmet experiences. Unsurpassed sweet-potato gnocchi and creme brulee. Delectable, Romantic, Loving Service and Sensational Food unlike anything else in North Beach or San Francisco. The food has tremendous WOW Factor and the entire dining experience has a civilizing effect. Focaccia and Gnocchi are the best anywhere, destination dishes!
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Da Flora
Cuisine: Italian
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North Beach |
10/3/2005
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(Very sad to report that a recent return visit showed the complete collapse of the sensational suckling pig entree to fatty, pedestrian, unremarkable. Panna cotta also collapsed. Very sad. Very Sad).
One of the best restaurants I've been to in a long time, in fact, since A16. Arriving early (Sat/5:30), we received immediate warm service and fabulous, exciting food in a charming environment. Starting with one of the best dishes I have ever had in San Francisco, the SPECTACULAR Afettati (Italian cold cuts) incredibly presented (get the grandioso for two), we ate our way through delectable appetizers: a superb vongole pizza with the clams actually baked on the pizza IN the shells (!), a wonderful tonno Italian lemon-cured tuna, delicious salsiccia fennel sausage and succulent mussels (cozze) steamed in garlic cream with black pepper, a superb unique entree of roast suckling pig, all washed down with a marvelous 2001 full-bodied Italian red Paternoster Synthesia from Campania.
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Zuppa
Cuisine: Italian
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SoMa |
10/2/2005
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