Lev O.'s Profile

903 takes the Japanese bakery concept of nearby Sandbox to the next level, offering a diverse list of Asian fusion sandwiches in a communal table-style space. If you like Sandbox's small offering of preciously composed savory comfort foods, you'll dig 903.

903 makes good use of the awkward space formerly occupied by the previous occupant, a thoroughly mediocre ice creamery. Freshly remodeled, the small timber-paneled room is dominated by several large woodblock tables and benches that invite separate parties to join up at a common table. The place was crowded and I sat at the counter, a good place for a quick nosh.

I came for lunch during the first week of operation, and the service workflow was still rough around the edges, with difficulties in communicating my order between the cashier and line cook leading to a delay. They'll iron this out, as their format lends itself to quick service and rapid customer turnaround.

My sandwich-- smoked brisket on a seedy, crumbly rye bread and a spicy spring green salad--- was rich and flavorful, though too heavy on the horseradish/mustard sauce. I got a fairly ordinary bento box to take home to the Mrs. Other attractive options include a burger-like sandwich with rice patties for buns (familiar from Sandbox) and a two-egg and vegetable bowl.

The business is cash only (a minor annoyance) and the enticing Sapporo beer tap proved a tease--- I imagine that the liquor license kicks in next month. Dinner service will be offered eventually.

903 is pricey ($7-$10 for most items) and the servings are small, but the unusual menu and stylish presentation make it a worthwhile lunch stop.

Move over GFC, Melody Cafe is here and it's off the chain. I've had quite a few Middle Eastern meals in my day, but this was hands down the best Middle Eastern food I've ever eaten.

I stopped here for my Friday "lunch at a new Scoutmob place" foray. There wasn't a soul in the large, freshly renovated but mostly featureless room except for the cook, a pleasant Iraqi Palestinian man named Jihad.

I ordered the chicken plate and watched Jihad prepare the entire dish from scratch, expertly skewering the bird flesh plus a quartered tomato and a halved onion then dropping them into the tandoor, followed by a naan-like flatbread. Usually, Middle Eastern food is prepared on a grill, but the tandoor is the preferred Iraqi style, according to Jihad.

I could tell by the way he moved and discussed the food that Jihad had a lot of cooking experience and passion for the food. For example, the dish I ordered came with rice but he decided that rice didn't turn out quite right, so he substituted in a skewer of keftah (lamb). I magine that Jihad learned his chops at an Iraqi street food stand or under the tutelage of a food-loving relative--- he's the real deal.

The chicken was superb--- golden from a saffron, yogurt and cardamom marinade, it melted in the mouth. The keftah, generously dusted with zatar, was rich and intensely sheepy, just the way I like my meat and my women. An assortment of side dish salads were the perfect counterpoint, including a tzatziki-like yogurt and cucumber concoction and a light zesty tabouli lacking the ubiquitous soggy bulghur that weights down most taboulis. Also, the baba ghanoush was intensely flavored, smokey and fresh, with intact pieces of creamy eggplant--- perhaps the best that I had.

My one complaint is that the bread came out a bit undercooked and doughy in places, but I suspect this was because Jihad was in a hurry to serve me since I had waited a long time. Still, the bread was tender, fresh and delicious--- lighter than Punjabi-style naan, more of a wrapper for the chicken than the hearty, chewy bread typically served in Palestinian places.

The meal ended with home-made baklava (properly moist and buttery) and a rich, velvety cup of Turkish-style coffee with cardamom.

I felt very privileged to get individual attention from a superb short order cook like Jihad, but I don't know what this place is like when there are more people. I get the sense that the owner (who is apparently a musician who jams in the garage next door on some nights) may be aiming for a more casual, lounge ambiance, so evenings may be a different experience. But at last there's a neighborhood gem where I can proudly take my more discerning foodie friends.

Went here with the Mrs. for our Thursday night dinner, which we relish  as our chance to get out of the baby parenting grind (kiddo sleeps like the baby that he is at every restaurant we take him to).

The room was smartly appointed in a contemporary industrial look, a bit severe but with natural touches, like the tables made of large distressed wood planks trapped in acrylic plastic. Unfortunately, the hard concrete and metal surfaces combined with a full room of mostly 40ish professional types chattering at the bar made for a really loud environment--- we had to shout across the table to be heard.

Service was quick and efficient almost to the point of being rushed, but they were doing pretty well for being short-staffed.

We both liked the starters. We started with the frito-misto like fried mushrooms, which resembled small king trumpets. Crunchy on the outside, juicy and flavorful. The star was the uni-ikura flan, served as like pate de foie gras in a little jar with tiny baguette toasts. Creamy, briny, rich.... perfect.

I had a glass of perfectly ordinary grüner veltliner that cost too much for what it was.

Entrees were a bit of a let-down, a fairly pedestrian Asian/Mediterranean fusion style that is all too common in SF at the moment. The Mrs. had the panko-breaded salmon on a bed of parsnips, carrots and cabbage--- a good flavor and texture contrast, but the vegetables seemed undercooked and underspiced to the point of crudity. I had the squid spaghettini, which came in a super spicy lemongrass and tomato broth. In general, I like it hot, but here the liberal use of cayenne overwhelmed whatever else was going on in the dish.

The dessert of flourless chocolate cake with kumquat relish was nicely done--- classic citrus/chocolate pairing, not too sugary or rich.

All in all, this was a fine meal at  30% discount (thanks, BlackboardEats) but I would have been disappointed at the full price. Perfectly adequate food, but the loudness of the room really marred the evening for me.

Took my family there for a casual Thursday night meal, with a discount courtesy of BlackBoardEats. Despite the lovely view and clement sunset weather, this was a bad meal from start to finish.

The menu is extremely limited--- one starter, two mains and one dessert. Usually this is a mark of quality, but not here. Everything except the started salad consisted primarily of bread. It was good bread, but an all-starch meal is bad news.  

We were seated at a table without cutlery and didn't receive it until about ten minutes after the arrival of the starter salad, which was billed as spinach salad but in fact lacked in so much a single leaf of said vegetable.

The waiter didn't know what kinds of wine were on offer, nor their price. Instead of bring out a wine list, he went back to consult with the kitchen but only learned the varietal and price, not the label.

The savory bread pudding main was quite tasty, but the other main, described as an asparagus and cheese flatbread, turned out to be stale baguettes with melted mozzarella-like cheese and a single diced asparagus spear.

The dessert (a strawberry and lemon curd bread pudding) was also pretty good, but again we didn't get cutlery for a while after it came out (one at a time instead of together for the whole table). And the spoons we got were giant soup spoons, completely unwieldy for the dainty dessert.

Compounding the absurdity, the waiter didn't get the memo from the maitre d' about the BlackBoardEats discount so I had to go through the unseemly business of bargaining with him. I left a painfully low tip and an extensive critique of all of the meal's failings written on the menu.

Altogether a wretched, amateur effort by the kitchen and staff. Hugely disappointing considering the excellence of Daniel Patterson's Coi.  Most definitely will not return to this dog of a restaurant.

EDIT: The next morning I got a contrite note from the manager acknowledging that this was an off night and offering a complementary followup meal. I will accept the offer and will hopefully be able to write a better Yelp note.

Went on a Thursday night with the Mrs. The terrine was adequate but unremarkable (the Mrs.' sweet potato soup was yummy). The haddock and parsnip puree was bland and inadequately cooked through. The salmon entree had bolder flavors. Desserts were lackluster--- almond pound cake with indistinct and re-frozen ice cream. Overall, a lackluster, overpriced meal. Won't return.

We stopped here on a lark last weekend, and it turned out to be their first week in operation after acquiring the place. Formerly it was the local foodie fave Seaweed Cafe. The new owners, a pleasant young couple, welcomed us into the mostly empty room-- despite a very quick conversion from the old to the new, business was slow.

The menu was small, mid- to high price and clearly catering to a locavorous foodie segment of the market (the old "Slow Food" sign on the side of the building still applies). Asian-inflected California in style. A short but well-chosen wine list, with a standard 3x markup on the familiar wines. We both had a glass of the excellent house cab (Pellegrini Cloverdale Ranch '05)

Our appetizers were fish-based: yellowtail sashimi for her, a sardine and bean combo for me. The sardines were braised, not brined, just the way I like 'em.

Entrees were a rather pedestrian chicken pot pie for me (compares unfavorably with Liberty Cafe) but a superb black cod fillet for her. Black cod is a tricky fish, often times coming out soggy and poorly cooked through. Not here, though. Lia, the chef, has clearly mastered this dish.

A dessert of local cheeses hit the spot for me... note that the "compote" on the menu is in fact everyday apricot jam, and that the accompanying apricot slices were insipid. She had a standard issue ramekin-sized chocolate cake.... perfectly good, but not my thing.

Andrew, the proprietor, chatted amiably about the complexities of opening a restaurant. We promised him a good Yelping. Here it is.

Pros: probably the best game in town if you're in Bodega Bay (we haven't yet tried the Tides Restaurant, though).

Cons: a wee bit too pricey, portions are a wee bit small, but this is forgivable.

Conclusions: I can't quite give it 5 stars, but it really deserves 4 and a half.

Went there on a Thursday night with Snorri and Dr. Monika, fairly late in the evening without having made reservation.The place was packed, and we milled aimlessly in the tiny bar area waiting for a table. As always, I brought a bottle of wine-- the corkage fee was a modest $10. The place was absolutely swarming with Mission District hipsters! The mellow vibe of the waitstaff bordered on indifference-- it was hard to figure out who was working and who was hanging out. Eventually, we got a table and ordered, but sadly the food was lackluster. My $10 hamburger was smallish and fairly ordinary, while Monika's salmon and fiddlehead fern saute was overly greasy. Only Snorri seemed to dig his meal, which consisted of a pair of passable but pedestrian antipasti. Although dinner for three only set us back $70, it just wasn't all that great. I'd rather go to Chez Papa a few blocks up the hill.

Wandering through downtown Petaluma on a quiet Sunday evening, we chanced upon Central Market. One of my friends, visiting from Chicago, was unclear on the concept of California cuisine, and this seemed like a good opportunity to show it to her.  As we through the window and considered the menu, the maitre d' popped out and said "Where else are you gonna eat in this town?"  He was right (he was also Tony, the owner)--- Central Market is a regional gem. We hit it off with Tony by praising his rustic white bread, which apparently he himself bakes. A small but well-focused wine list emphasizes affordability--- we had the seldom-seen Ravenswood Gewurtztraminer, an excellent floral but not over-sweet specimen (turns out that Tony worked at Ravenswood for many years). We were clearly on Tony's good side, as a complementary dish of hamachi on guacamole appeared shortly thereafter. My bison tartare on a bed of eggplant was piquant and buttery (mmm.... raw exotic ungulate....) and the roasted butternut and shitake thing my friend ordered was extraordinarily rich and concentrated. Excellent entrees all around--- mine was the seafood boudin, a sausage stuffed with a spicy, jambalaya-like mixture of shellfish and rice. Desserts were more conventional but right on target--- the usual girl-pleasing chocolate bomblet, creme brule, and, for me, a fruit cobler/crisp thingie. To sum up--- laid-back atmosphere, fantastic service and a first rate seasonal menu made this my go-to spot next time in that neck of the woods.

Went here on Fat Tuesday night with Jessica, not expecting much from the menu but intrigued by the weekly 1/2 wine bottle special. A pleasant enough space with contemporary lounge fixtures and a prominent bar, but the even on a supposedly mellow night the music was too loud and the ambiance was schizophrenic (bar? lounge? restaurant?). Our server was somewhat distracted by other customers, but proved attentive and knowledgeable about their wine offerings (we had the excellent Gundlach-Bundschu Mountain Cuvee, a Bordeaux-style red blend with a characteristically California fruit emphasis).

Food: perfectly pedestrian but mercifully inexpensive for places of this style. We shared the beet and green salad (a nicely presented, wholesome dish) but my entree of filet mignon was bathed in an unappealing sticky sauce resembling something from a bottle labeled "Heinz." The Mardi Gras dessert special, however, was a worthy, well-turned panna cotta with blood oranges. Portion size was rather large, aiming toward larger groups of small plate-wielding nibblers. Which brings me to my next point....

What is this place doing in the Mission District? It's like a little embassy from the Marina or Walnut Creek--- all of these super skinny office girls out for a night on the town and creepy guys in ridiculous "f*** me" shirts. Jess mentioned that the ladies roomed smelled like mouthwash... bulimia strikes again! Maybe it was a Mardi Gras thing, but definitely not our crowd.

Summary: come here for the Tuesday wine special or with a group of friends, but don't come for the haute cuisine or an intimate date.

I was treated to a meal here on a Wednesday night by a pair of friends. We had late reservations but the place was packed and we waited about 15 minutes before a table cleared up. The atmosphere was laid back but stylish--- the clientele appear to be hipsters with $. The cute waitress knowledgeably decanted the relatively fancy wine I brought and agreed to have a sip--- this trick works very well to get the servers on your side. We shared a dish of fresh local sardines on a bed of celery and herb salad (superb!) and then proceeded to the main event, ribeye steaks. Damn, that was probably the best restaurant steak I've had in San Francisco. My arteries will no doubt pay the cost at some point, but hopefully the red wine will dissolve those sclerotic plaques. Anyhow, my dessert was a glass of exceptional Juranon Petit Manseng while my friends had the deliciously malty chocolate sundae. I'll definitely be back to try other items.