Gil "whoo hoo" S.'s Profile
DateSouth Lake Tahoe, CA 96154
(530) 544-1233
The Cantina Bar and Grill
Category:
Mexican
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 341-9000
AQ Restaurant & Bar
Categories:
American (New),
Bars
Neighborhood: SOMA
I already had dinner somewhere else, and knew only that a new restaurant opened up, so I ordered a few appetizers and I didn't know what to expect. The cured local sturgeon played up this year's "two ways" intertwined protein trend. One was jerky-like, another was sashimi, and there were some accompaniments and drabs of sauce that worked with both. The theme was California-med fusion local ingredient with an innovative twist, extra bold ideas and flavors and creativity rather than molecular gastronomy or trendy silliness. A solid if somewhat meta-food dish that made me happy I came but...
The second, charred avocado with (raw) calamari, sesame paste, quince, and lots of tiny random stuff, was a slap across the head, holy *#$@#, somebody here knows how to cook! Like walking into your local bar and finding Jonny Greenwood sitting in on guitar, do you know what I mean? The avocado was propane torched like a marshmallow in a fire, where the surface was crackling and burnt but the inside still creamy and cold. The squid was still soft, slimy in a good way, and thin. The sesame was tying it all together, but completely unexpected. The juxtiposition was amazing, unexpected, new (for San Francisco), and most of all, just plain tasty at the same time. It was all very sophisticated, tastes you never had before that really worked. Bottom line, it made me think on many levels about cuisine and culture, but I could enjoy it on a simple fork-chew-swallow level as very satisfying food.
Back to earth now, the interior is an old brick building, cleaned up, decorated, and modernized. The floral arrangements were edgy and cool. The staff knows what they're doing. The bar was turning out incredible drinks that were dishes unto themselves despite not having a hard liquor license - it was all herbals and homemade stuff in soju, and wine, and aperitifs. Overall it felt like an epic restaurant that had been open for years - there is a rightness and timeless quality to it that you might feel at Perbacco, Zuni, Salt House, or Town Hall.
With those expectations I'm almost afraid to try a full meal, but of any new restaurant, I think they'll deliver. Highly recommended for a date, business dinner, treating yourself at at the bar, power lunch, etc.
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 397-6742
After Osha - Thai Grab N Go
Category:
Thai
Neighborhood: Union Square
I've been to many restaurant openings, but this one was so well executed - the vibe was fun and upbeat. They served the full menu, flawlessly, for free, to a roving crowd of 200 at a time and nobody had to wiait in line for anything. There was a searchlight, DJ, and endless bubbly. Staff, managers and owners were there dressed to the nines and beaming with pride. All for a fast food cafeteria style version of Thai food. Quality wise the taste and presentation of the food was as good as their sit down restaurants, which is near fine dining... Just minus the giant sculptures and mood lighting.
I live nearby and will surely be a regular. If I were a tourist looking for decent no fuss food and found this, a block from Union Square, this would be a rescue.
More when I can get to a real computer.
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 775-8500
Quince
Categories:
Italian,
Mediterranean
Neighborhood: Financial District
I messed up my opentable reservation for a special can't miss dinner tonight, accidentally booked for next week. Totally my fault. When I asked what they could do they said they had something at the end of the evening but they wouldn't hold it for me even a few minutes while I checked around to see what I could do. I had to leave a credit card right now and there would be a cancellation fee. Then they unceremoniously cancelled my reservation for next week. No encouragement, no offers to help, zip. I learned about it by email.
I wrote before before that this restaurant approaches perfection in food and service, and no doubt that's true, very high level. The presentation, taste, ambiance, and professionalism are all first rate. You can have a magical time here. That makes it sad and I'll miss them all the more, because I don't think I ever want to set foot here again. The trouble broke the spell, no longer enchanted. Sometimes even when it's you who made the mistake, you hope a gracious establishment can extend some warmth and kindness even (and I'm dubious here, having been in the business) when there's nothing they can do.
1 Previous Review:
-
6/13/2011
Quince is a memorable, enchanted special occasion restaurant. The cuisine, served as a choice between a four course fixed price with 2-3 choices on each dish, and a tasting menu, is inventive, delicious, and meticulous, though perhaps a step below spectacular or revelatory.
Presentation was extremely detailed without being fussy. Things were chopped into very little bits indeed, at the edge of being tasteable, with tiny herbs of a few leaves each strategically arranged, but in a naturalistic way. Swooshes of sauce and pureed vegetables swirled around the dishes. A lamb dish described as having fresh green chickpeas had exactly six chickpeas, each about the size of a regular pea.
The setting is elegant, clean, and dramatic. There are no scratches or scuffs on the walls, no careless glue holding anything in place, nothing out of place. The artwork are giant photo prints that you can stand and gawk at as if it were a museum. The two tiny unisex bathrooms (for which there can be a wait) are finer than any bathroom you will ever own, with glass bottles full of lotion.
Service is a highpoint. It is formal East Coast style, everything is formal, precise, and correct, without being intimidating or snooty. They pour your water or wine from a certain exact angle. If you make the casual dining mistake of lifting your glass they'll silently contort to pour it just so. If you leave the table you come back to a napkin folded just right, or a new napkin, in just the right spot. If you spill something they'll figure it out. They don't miss anything, you don't have to ask. But unlike California style service, they won't describe (unless you ask) where they live, what they had for breakfast, the last restaurant they worked at, their roommate's new bartending job, or how much they love their chef.
Highly recommended for any significant occasion when you want things to be flawless - parents in town, meeting to open or close a deal, a second date when it's time to get serious.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 771-1280
Katana-Ya
Categories:
Japanese,
Sushi Bars
Neighborhoods: Union Square, Civic Center/Tenderloin
On my latest visit everybody I knew was gone, there was a whole new crew that had more than a little trouble paddling the oars in terms of what was on the menu, what fish they had, and other basic stuff.
Thanks to Yelp and all the tourist guides there's still a long line out the door in prime time, I hope to heaven they honor all that attention but based on my experiences they don't. To me this i the equivalent of an all night diner, cheap, basic food (with a Japanese bent in this case) at an affordable price if you're willing to lower your expectations.
Listed in: Eating after eleven, Noodles!, Wifi coldspots
1 Previous Review:
-
7/2/2006
Good late night sushi in San Francisco? Inconceivable.
1:30 AM snacking on a recent Sunday. It's sweet, earnest as all get-out. Everyone's speaking Japanese. If the Great Pumpkin ever appears, it's here next Halloween.
Basic sushi + appetizer + ramen + comfort food menu. Priced higher than average. Portions moderate to large. Spicy tuna hand roll and hamachi toro nigiri were among the best in this town: perfect temperature, texture, flavor, freshness, presentation.
Decor was a few South Asian trinkets, plastic candle holders taped to large mirrors, supplies in haphazard locations, a folk art painting of a New Mexico sunset against the VLA, a half moon, some kind of nebula, stars against a black sky -- more celestial events than your average sushi house.
Service is kind and real.
2007 UPDATE -- still good. Gets better and better. They now have inexpensive take-out sushi rolls and bento boxes.
2007 UPDATE #@ (after 15 more visits). They are downplaying what they do best, cheap noodle soup, in favor of expensive but good sushi. Their cheapest line of food, the how-do-we-get-rid-of -our-leftovers, is the very best. Think odds and ends of sushi stirred into "seafood fried rice" and random pieces of fatty salmon skin in their $5 take-out rice box. You guys can take their fancy stuff, I'm eating the leftovers. Yummmmmm.
Lahaina, HI 96761
(808) 669-6286
Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar
Categories:
Japanese,
Sushi Bars
To start, it's a very popular, line-out-the-door fusion sushi kind of place. The staff is competent, informally friendly, and doing their best to handle capacity crowds. If you're part of the 5:30PM rush line that fills the entire dining room from the unshaded golf course resort entryway, you might get your meal in 5 minutes if you order instantly, or 30 minutes later, or some random combination, depending on kitchen conditions. Basically, a madhouse.
The food is all over the map, many traditional Japanese things that only a real Japanese chef would know (miso buttefish was delicious but very standard fare), but also lots of fusion things. It's not fair to discount all fusion American sushi, some of that stuff is really good. But I have an extra high standard, and many of the flavor combinations are a minus, the muddy the taste of the fish. Judged on that standard, the execution here is flawless, if something is deep fried in panko batter, it's perfectly deep fried. But the flavors blend together, they don't all add up. So we get to their signature and most popular dish, a deep fried ahi sashimi roll. Quite delicious and clever actually, a fat maki fried so quickly that the fish inside is still raw. But no better than ahi sashimi without the roll. Other combinations were not so good.
Prices were very high, even with the happy hour discount. You can spend an arm and a leg here.
One big complaint that may not be unique to Sansei. There's very little fresh local seafood. Only a few fish from the island. The rest may be from Japan, or the mainland. Their uni is from Santa Barbara. When asked the explained quite sincerely that the California uni is better than Hawaii uni, and they'd rather serve the best than the most local. I respect that. But if you have a vision of totally fresh local seafood from fishermen and boats, not here. You have to go to Japan for that.
Service was prompt, informal, friendly. The staff here were very nice and kept it all going despite a huge crush. Very professional.
Overall, a solid restaurant, I just didn't feel the magic.
Four stars, and an extra star just so I'm not so rude as to drag down the average rating.
You have to know where this is, at the far end of a little road going through a small old town, nearly everyone here is a local.
The poke is on par with the best I've ever had and that includes very expensive restaurants. Every one under the counter - sesame octopus, kimchi octopus, ahi, people say "fresh" so often it's a plattitude but this is fresh with a vengeance. Fishwise, it'se a cool breeze blowing off the ocean. Tako is normally a chewy acquired taste, here it's a first kiss. The seasoning is just right, and what's more the price would be low even for a discount mart on the mainland. I mean, $8.50 a pound for Ahi? Get out of town!
There's lots of other prepared dishes, ingredients, and stuff. You could make a picnic or snack or home provision here. I'd give up my San Francisco parking space if I could have a market like this near my house.
The minus is mostly typical island stuff. Like many places in Hawaii, it's a little disorganized, basic, not organized or spotless. The place is a bit of a shack. To make up, all the staff I met were friendly and real.
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 989-7300
Park Tavern
Category:
American (New)
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
Gorgoues location. Inside is epic and outside is perfect if you have a dog or kid or noisy monster.
It's only been open a few weeks and I've had half the menu. Let me tell you, it's all delicious. Perhaps the best so far is the pork chop (sorry, Jewish ancestors). It's a double thick, moist, smoky tender lump of deliciousness. Seriously, one of the best pork chops in my life.
Other random stuff is inventive, inspired,and tasty, without breaking the basic idea that it's all comfort food. The heirloom baby carrot salad, the most giiry thing on the menu, was pickled and salted and delicious. On the other side of the coin, the caviar style fried oysters were like five po' boys without the roll, days later I'm still fantasizing over that.
The service? It's what I call "your hand been shook" service. Back when Bill Clinton was President people met him and they all said, when Bill Clinton shakes your hand, your hand has been shook. That's what I think about Park Tavern. When you eat there and you get service, youv'e been served. These people are professional career waiters, with that perfect combination of skills, weird semi-snarky cockiness and teasing, loving concern over you and your food, and just plain interesting personalities that makes for an experience you come home and to to sleep with. I can't say enough good things, it's like an hour and a half experience with a personal food guy and you leave smiling all the way home.
The main reason for four stars instead of five is they need a little more work to polish it up, and way too much salt and butter. Nevertheless this has the potential to join the pantheon of great SF restaurants. I'll definitely return for the second half of the menu.
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 392-1700
North Beach Restaurant
Category:
Italian
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
Having said that, the bridge-burning behavior of the valet the other night makes me never want to patronize the place. After circling many blocks my friend had finally found a legal, metered parking space right across the street and was backing in. A valet in uniform, a medium short stocky guy with crew cut hair, ran from across the street, motioned for someone he seemed to know to make a U turn from in front of the restaurant, bumped my friend's car, and announced that it was his spot. When she initially refused to leave he said he was going to call the police. I've seen these situations before and if the police aren't on somebody's pay they'll tell the valet to go to hell, you can't claim a parking space by playing zone offense, but when you have a new car with a nice paint job you don't want to challenge people over a parking spot.
Who the $%# do they think they are letting their valet treat the neighbors like that? This happened to me once before, a well known steakhouse, and guess where else I'm never going to return?
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 829-7766
Campanula Kitchen and Bar
Categories:
Bars,
American (New)
Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
The decor is spare, casually elegant in a modern European way, and has a nice view of Washington Square. The menu is mostly small plates, a few large ones, salads, and all. It's New American, meaning they pull out all the stops to make every possible mouth watering comfort food from several European traditions.
The standout dish as everyone says is the lamb meatballs: some nice mouth feel, a depth of flavor that pork and beef balls usually don't have, and a rich delicious sauce. The roasted marrow bones were delicious, but I'd recommend you know what you're in for before you order this dish anywhere. Roasted beet and goat cheese salad was exactly what you'd think, and they did a great job. Nice presentation and good beets. Boar sliders were meaty, salty, heavy, and delicious. The gnocchi-like "gnudi", stuffed with spinach ricotta, were wonderful. The only miss was the ceviche, one-dimensional taste of a single type of white fish, very vinegary, with a dabble of odd sauce on butter lettuce. Cocktails were also nice, they were making fruity mixed drinks out of Hangar One chipotle at a ridiculously low happy hour price.
Yet after all that nice food, what was wrong? The staff this night were extremely inexperienced or else just didn't have a knack. They didn't know the menu or the ingredients, they weren't very effective, and missed all kinds of obvious stuff - when we spilled a full cocktail they had just delivered they didn't even think to ask if we wanted another. A diner spilling alcohol all over the table is as sad as a kid's first goldfish dying, it's such a mood killer and it leaves you kind of devastated. The only solution is to get another one, quick. We would have paid... Whatever it was, the mood wasn't right. With a little more ambiance and attention, the place would easily merit four stars from me based on food quality and setting.
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San Francisco, CA
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The bad started at the door, a blast of 65-degree air at noon in the summertime, like the entrance to a cave. The restaurant was mostly empty except for a few elderly couples and, a few booths back in the dimly lit dining room, some large families with fat parents. The host came and left several times, acknowledged us, then said it would be just a little while for an outdoor seat. He came and left several more times, seating a party that had come in later. I idled my time eying the plastic coated margarita menu full of corny names for different combinations of cheap alcohol. After ten minutes, he walked us to the back door, handed us the menus at the door, said we could sit wherever we wanted, and left.
A food runner came with the aforementioned chips and a tasty but completely not spicy salsa. After prodding he brought the "hot" (same sauce, only spicier) and "nuclear" (a yellow creamy liquid that wasn't particularly hot or tasty, and seemed to be sour cream based). Nobody came for quite a while and when we flagged the food runner down to say we wanted to order, he said the waiter would be by shortly. He wasn't, so we left half an hour or more after entering a nearly empty restaurant. Nobody noticed us on the way out.