The Lazy Gourmet

RN74

Last week, the HLP took me to RN74 for a little belated birthday dinner.  I know; life is good.  I had been excited to check out this joint since I had read it was a Michael Mina creation.   Fashioned as a wine bar, RN74 shows commitment in the name itself (apparently, RN74 is the name of a highway running through the Burgundy wine region of France).  But it's a bit more formal than the average wine bar and features the traditional 3-course menu versus small plates for sharing, for example.

The shape of the restaurant is also quite interesting: a long dining room with an arched ceiling, coming together like an elegant dining car on a train, highlighted by a train board at the far end of the room.  But instead of train stops, the destinations listed are special bottles of wine.  The letters flip just like a regular train board but instead of schedule updates, you see new wines listed as the previous bottles get consumed.  It's cool.

And the food: it's Michael Mina, y'all, so it was tight.  I had the hamachi sashimi with Hawaiian hearts of palm, asian pear, and toasted pine nuts as an appetizer and it was delicious, all the flavors came together as greater than the sum of their parts.  Todd went with the the Italian yellow cornmeal and mascarpone agnolotti with Chantrelle mushrooms and Castelmagno cheese and from the taste I had, it seemed a solid choice. 

RN74

For my entree, I had the sauteed Maine sea scallops with buternut squash, caramelized endive, pumpkin seeds, and truffle vinaigrette.  The scallops were amazing, so tender and succulent and their generous size made me question if these scallops had been "juiced".  Todd finished with the duck cassoulet with barley, shitake mushrooms, sweet carrots and spinach.  I have to acknowledge I am not a huge duck fan but regardless, this dish was a bit underwhelming.  The duck was a little dry and there was no savoriness to the cassoulet, the ingredients didn't really blend well together.

Service was professional and attentive, never overbearing.  Solid.

All in all, I highly recommend RN74 for wine buffs or otherwise, it's a great new restaurant.  Michael Mina has not broken stride yet.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Service: ****
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

Radio Africa & Kitchen

I had heard about Radio Africa & Kitchen, a nomadic restaurant, last year and was really intrigued.  An Ethiopian chef who had worked at Bay Area restaurants for the past 20 years began serving meals for 15-20 friends at his home.  Radio Africa was born and the buzz about this underground supper club spread and he was soon serving his meals at a local cafe.   He's since migrated to Coffee Bar in Portrero and serves some of the most heavenly Mediterranean and Red Sead fusion dishes on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. All the dishes are made with locally-grown fruits and vegetables, as well as meats and fish produced with sustainable practices.

Meera and I are pursuing our own little underground Sri Lankan supper club so decided to check it out for "research".  Man, the food was just amazing.

Radio Africa & Kitchen

We ordered the "Mezze" to share; the combination of all five appetizers:
- Radio Africa house smoked rainbow trout shrimp cake with pistachio romescu and herb salad
- Seared ahi tuna and wild rice rolls with harissa and mixed radishes
- Heirloom tomato and arugula salad with sumac and manchego cheese
- Spinach and wild nettle soup with saffroned kefir and mustard blossoms
- Edamame hummus with green olive oil and Tartine bread

All five were fantastic, bursting with unique complements of flavors and textures, really exceptional.  For $30, it's quite a bargain, too.

That would have been more than a sufficient amount of food but we also split an entree: the artichoke encrusted Californian halibut with potato-summer squash tagine and toasted pine nuts.  The fish was melt-in-your-mouth cooked-to-perfection goodness and the tagine was savory and delicious. 

Our server was friendly, attentive, and charming; in step with the casual mood of the low-lit, spacious upstairs that serves as RA&K's dining room.

I highly recommend you check this place out, it's a unique treat.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Service: ***
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

The Blue Plate

Last week, I finally checked out The Blue Plate, a cozy comfort food restaurant nestled in the outer Mission.  What surprised me was how large it actually was.  From the street, it looks like the restaurant is packed into a modest Victorian home.  But after crowding at the tiny single door entrance for a few minutes, we were led through a small front room accented with eclectic, well-placed design to a modest back room.  Just as we sat down, we realized there was a sizable and beautiful garden patio area below us, sitting under a canopy of trees, where diners enjoyed their comfort food in the most ultimate of comfort. 

The food was pretty damn good.  We started with the gnocchi made with braised rabbit, english peas, baby carrots, and pea leaves.  It was savory, sop-up-the-final-bits goodness.   For the main course, we shared the house special meat loaf and it did not disappoint, .  Last but not least, their macaroni with drunken spanish goat cheese just melted in your mouth, though it didn't match the flavor of the gnocchi or the meat loaf.

Service was OK, slow at times and not super-friendly but professional.  All in all, recommend you checking this place if you dig comfort cuisine.

Overall: ***
Food: ***
Service: ***
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

Chez Papa Resto

Chez Papa Resto

Walking into Chez Papa Resto, you feel like you've entered a uber-chic European lounge.  There are long dark walls with trippy wallpaper; subtle, out of focus patterns.  Large and ornate black chandeliers, some encased in sheer lace cubes, hang low and light the polished wood tables with almost an orange glow. In the end, the aesthetic provides both a sense of elegance and mystery.  It is a departure from the cozier bistro setting of it's sibling restaurant Chez Papa in Potrero.

I was there Friday with Beth and Stas & Lauren, and we really enjoyed our meal there.   We started with a caramelized cippollini onion tart with goat cheese, it just melted in your mouth.  I wasn't a big fan of the other appertizer: the grilled Monterey sardines with shaved fennel, roasted pepper, and oranges and fennel pollen but Stas really loves his sardines.  Our entrees were fabulous: filet mignon with with potatoes au gratin and asparagus, the grilled New York steak with pommes frites and bearnaise, the Liberty Farms duck leg confit with parsnip puree, swiss chard, apple and sherry jus, and last but not least the Chateauneuf du Papa braised lamb daube with vegetables and rosemary oil.  You've heard me say any meal that ends with sopping up stuff with bread is a great one and there was definitely sopping up.  Our desserts were less than remarkable but by that point, we were just being greedy; we were more than sated after our entrees.

Services was friendly, polished, and attentive.  Ladies, all the waiters there were ruggedly handsome French men if that provides added impetus.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Service: ***
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

Serpentine

Slowly but surely, the restaurant scene in the Dog Patch is blossoming.  You may recall (I am sure you do) that a couple of months back, d took us to Yield, a wine bar on 3rd Street which we all really enjoyed.  Well, wouldn't you know it, right across the street was Serpentine, a newish New American restaurant that is a sister restaurant to Slow Club.  The vibe is both cozy and stylish with leather booths (I love booths) offset by tall ceilings in this modern extension of a red brick warehouse space.

Serpentine

Featuring a limited but solid menu, Serpentine's offerings surpassed my expectations.  We started with a house favorite: the savory bread pudding with fennel, baby spinach, roasted garlic, and swiss cheese.  It was mouth-wateringly good.  We also had the little gems lettuce with hazelnuts and shaved red onions but let's get real, it was the zoe's bacon and blue cheese dressing which made this a little stand-out.  For my entree, I had their Prather Ranch hamburger with greens, pickled onions, and blue cheese on an acme roll.  For $13, it was a solid burger, one I can't wait to try again.  Dessert was so-so (I can't remember what we had) but overall, a really enjoyable meal.

Service was friendly and more than compotent, on par with Slow Club.  Check this place out, it doesn't hurt that you have to spend zero time finding parking in the Dog Patch.  For now, anyway.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Service: ***
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

Ad Hoc

Beth and I finished our Napa visit with dinner at Ad Hoc, also in Yountville. 

How good can a restaurant be that was opened purely as a stop-gap until a more long-term venue broke ground?  Well, if it's Thomas Keller's stop-gap (hence the name Ad Hoc), it can be pretty good. 

As the SF Chronicle predicted a couple years ago, this restaurant which was designed to be a 6-month blip on the Bay area restaurant timeline has become a permanent fixture in wine country.  Maintaining the casual ambience aimed for during its inception, it has excelled in serving family-style rustic French cuisine in a very spare setting.

Open 5 days a week, it features a changing nightly 4-course menu.  We started with sunchoke empanadas with currants in a red pepper sauce.  They were OK.  The main course was flank steak with cauliflower &marble potatoes dressed in sherry vinegar with a touch a citrus butter.  This was a home run.  The third course is always an artisan cheese plate which I skipped and Beth thought she should have done that, too (not too great).  Last, for dessert, we had lemon bars with hazelnut bisco.  Again, they were OK. 

Service was friendly, attentive but at times suprisingly amatuerish.  Also didn't dig that they served wine in tumblers; you have to request a stemmed glass.  I think they're being a bit stiff about keeping it casual.

All in all, it didn't quite meet expectations.  It's worth definitely checking out but our experience at Bouchon a few hours earlier was leagues ahead.

Overall: ***
Food: ***
Service: ***
Vibe: ***
Price: $$$

Bouchon

Last weekend, I took Beth away for a little surprise getaway in Napa.  It was a little pre-Valentine's day stay at a B&B.  I know: I'm sweet.  But there was a selfish aspect to this visit as well; I was set on having us dine at a couple of the Thomas Keller joints in Yountville during our stay.. 

We started with lunch at Bouchon, his homage to the rich and relaxed tradition of the French bistro. 

Bouchon has an amazing balance of stylish sophistication and causal ambience.  The single, open dining room has tall ceilings with bold maroon walls cut by brass fixtures, railings and other elegant touches.  And it bustles with the movement of the shuttling staff and the conversation of its patrons.   Combined with the warm, polished service of its professional staff, it made for quite a backdrop for our meal.

Bouchon

I ordered the Croque Madam, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich on brioche with a fried egg on top and lathered with some rich mornay sauce.  It was sublime.  Beth had ordered a salad to save room for our dinner later.  It was good but I sensed some regret in her choice as she took a taste of my sandwich and just melted with pleasure.  Fortunately, she had preceded the salad with "the best soup ever": a creamy sweet garlic soup accented with pickled red onions and candied walnuts.

I loved this place and can't wait to go back there, one of my all-time favorites.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Overall: *****
Food: *****
Service: ****
Vibe: ****
Price: $$$

Yield

 

Yield

d organized a little gathering at Yield a couple weeks back, a new wine bar in the latest "up and coming" neighborhood in SF: the Dogpatch.

The former industrial wasteland is slowly being transformed by the familiar incremental steps: gut warehouses and build loft space, open up mid-range restaurants, cafes, eclectic stores, and last but not least: add public transportation.  We went there on a early Saturday evening and while it was dead empty then, by the time we left around 10, it was packed.  Good sign for a new place in a still developing area.

Yield features a nice, balanced assortment of organic wines, including some well-priced ones.  They also have some small plates of course to accompany your wine selection.  We tried several items over the course of the evening: the Sunchoke Parmesan Dip with Toasted Pinenuts was served warm and quite savory and delicious; the Parmesan-Crusted Tartine with Eggplant Confit, Goat Cheese, and Mint was its equal in satisfaction; and the Smoked Fish Trio and the Pcoc Dolce Chocolate Tiles were solid as well. 

Service was friendly and generally attentive.  Nice place to check out if you're in the mood to explore something new.

Overall: ***
Food: ***
Service: ***
Vibe: ****
Price: $$

Jack Falstaff

Man, this place just flat out sucked. 

I could spend several minutes (like the amount of time we waited for our server to first acknowledge us) trying to craft some elegant prose to say the same thing but I going to pay the same amount of attention to Jack Falstaff that it did to us.  Beyond the 15-20 minutes it took before the waiter even come over and greet us and get some bread & water to the table, the whole evening was a case study in terms of how a waiter could fuck up his tip (and your dining experience).  He then took our wine orders and proceeded to mix up our wines.  Finally, it was at least 20 minutes before our plates were cleared once we finished waiting.

Oh yeah, the food.  It was so-so.  Priced high but extremely underwhelming; it was all downhill from the white bean soup and scallop crudo appetizers.  The poussin with roasted beets and herb ricotta ravioli was bland and uninspiring. The kobe beef shortribs with brussel sprouts were dry and lacking basic seasoning (like fucking salt -get a clue.)

For a place that presents itself as a premiere dining venue in the city, Jack Falstaff fell way short of expectations.  Skip this one.

Overall: *
Food: ***
Service: *
Vibe: ***
Price: $$$

Gitane

If you can imagine a place where secret agents would go to dine and exchange tales (or briefcases), Gitane would be it.

Gitane's mystique begins with it location.  It's tucked away in an alley off Sutter between Kearny and Grant in Union Square, awaiting to be discovered but never calling out for attention.  Inside, it's an explosion in eclectic design that dazzles the senses but still remarkably maintains a sense of balance, like a ballerina on a high-wire.  Wildly ornate and intoxicating, you truly feel you've entered another world where you'd just as likely overhear stories of espionage or torrid affairs as you would the mundane.  Nothing will come close to a first-hand impression but I encourage you to visit the web site and check out the gallery of fotos.

Gitane

But beyond this marvelous combination of sensual, sophisticated design, Gitane offers a limited but equally indulgent, menu with some expertly crafted small plates and entrees.  The menu includes the Mediterranean (Portuguese fish stew, sardinas en escabeche) and North African (tajine, taboule).  We savored the bacon bon bons (figs stuffed w/ goat cheese, wrapped in bacon - amazing) and 4-cheese pizza (the chef is a certified pizzaioli).  

And the desserts were just heavenly.  We ordered a trio (pictured to the left): the pan con chocolate, beignets with three delicious dipping suaces, and a rich fondant au chocolate.  I am still dreaming of them days later.

All this bold style and Gitane still attends to you with friendly, genuinely warm service.  It is truly a remarkable find and one I plan to visit again quite soon.

Overall: ****
Food: ****
Service: ****
Vibe: *****
Price: $$$