sf restaurant advice

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

@Charlie Fu

Leonard, the seating at Zuni is still $5 wooden chairs. It’s pretty uncomfortable.

Funny- I definitely remember that from visiting Zuni last year. I was fidgeting all night.

[John_Davis]

@Scott G r u n e r

@Charlie Fu

Leonard, the seating at Zuni is still $5 wooden chairs. It’s pretty uncomfortable.

Funny- I definitely remember that from visiting Zuni last year. I was fidgeting all night.

Me too. That and a terrible a-hole waiter have kept us from returning. But given the love by so many perhaps we need to return.

JD

[CFu]

@John Davis

@Scott G r u n e r

@Charlie Fu

Leonard, the seating at Zuni is still $5 wooden chairs. It’s pretty uncomfortable.

Funny- I definitely remember that from visiting Zuni last year. I was fidgeting all night.

Me too. That and a terrible a-hole waiter have kept us from returning. But given the love by so many perhaps we need to return.

JD

You should read our story from this weekend. They wouldn’t let us use spit cups because in consideration for the guests next to us. But… The guests next to us had a rat looking dog sitting on one of their laps (and alternatively standing) the whole lunch.

Huh?

[Scott_G_r_u_n_e_r]

Ha. Rat Dogs are an abomination to society. Nothing ticks me off more than seeing them in restaurants, grocery stores, airplanes…

[mark_rudner]

i think i had a rat dog on a corner in nyc one time
it definitely wasn’t beef

[Mike_Miller]

@Leonard Maran

Mike Miller wrote:Let me put in my pitch for Zuni Cafe. I just love the place. Part of it may be that there are no similar restaurants in Texas. But everything is simply prepared with impeccably fresh ingredients and very well done. The knock on the place is that “That’s not cooking, that’s shopping.” But I’ll take it any day of the week. Their roast chicken with bread stuffing and salad greens is a simple dish, but I could eat it once a week and never tire of it. I’ve literally never had a bad dish there.

They have a small, but nicely selected list of modestly priced wines. A few prize bottles, but there are probably not more than a dozen or so bottles over $100 on the list (though there may be a few WELL over $100, as I recall a Coche-Dury or two on it the last time I was there.) But just lovely bistro wines made for quaffing with a meal dominate the list.

Needless to say, I love the place.


just went. tasty. pizza aint too shabby. Food isn’t anything special but well put together. 2010 Coche Dury Meursault off the list. $240? Nice price, lower than current retail so we grabbed one.

Actually the “shopping not cooking” criticism has also been aimed at Chez Panisse as well.I’m long over both Zuni & Chez Panisse, but not because of that. Zuni used to have some very uncomfortable seating, I’m not sure if that’s still the case but when I am spending that kind of money it will now always be a factor. Chez Panisse just wasn’t all that good the last two times.

Interesting. CP just reopened just today after the fire. Last time I was there was last fall, but I thought it was as good as ever, at least up stairs in the cafe. I’m hoping to eat there in mid-July. I’ll be anxious to see how they’ve fared since the fire.

What “shopping, not cooking” type alternatives do you consider superior to ZC and CP? I’d be very interested in trying them out. I am a huge fan of the “superb ingredients, simply prepared” style of restaurant. We don’t get that here in Texas because we don’t have access to that broad a range of great produce, or artisnal producers of meats and cheeses.

[Eric_Newsom]

@AmiDIbarra

@Alan Rath

State Bird: kind of agree. We had a few dishes that were really outstanding, but some that were very ordinary. I need to go at least once more to form a better judgment, but at the difficulty level it is to get in, probably not any time soon. Its one plus was that the bill didn’t hurt my wallet as much as most places do.

Alan,
Agree on how mixed State Bird is. We just didn’t get the hype & thought it was overpriced for what we ate. Went to Korean after b/c we were all still hungry!

Totally agree. We were sort of shocked when the tab came. Add to that the fact that we gave healthy pours of BOTH 03 La Turque and 03 Alban Reva to TWO of our servers, AND bought a $75+ white off the list and they STILL charged us 2x corkage. Food wasn’t good enough to overcome the pique that left me feeling.

[todd_waldmann]

@Charlie Fu

You should read our story from this weekend. They wouldn’t let us use spit cups because in consideration for the guests next to us. But… The guests next to us had a rat looking dog sitting on one of their laps (and alternatively standing) the whole lunch.

Huh?

I’m still not sure the dog was real. Charlie’s hangover/sleep deprivation was bad enough that he may have been hallucinating. The part about the spit cups is real.

[Craig_G]

@Charlie Fu

You should read our story from this weekend. They wouldn’t let us use spit cups because in consideration for the guests next to us. But… The guests next to us had a rat looking dog sitting on one of their laps (and alternatively standing) the whole lunch.

Huh?

It was a Spitcup Chihuahua.

[ken_emery]

@Richard Leland

@mark rudner

i would like to know if rich food has a bar as well.

It does, but for my taste Rich Table is just another example of why Michael Bauer (SF Chronicle restaurant critic) is useless. In fairness I’ve only been once, but my friend and I had 6 dishes - two were terrific, two were quite ordinary, and two were just plain awful. On a more positive note - the best meals I’ve had in the last few months have been at Commonwealth, AQ, and Frances.

I’ve not been to Commonwealth yet (meaning to get there) but highly concur with Richard on AQ and Frances. Frances has an interesting wine program when we were last there, you can order the house wine and they bring you a graduated carafe and you drink as much as you want and they charge you by the ounce. The wine was pretty decent, nice quaffing wine. They have a red and white they have made for them.

I would also recommend Canteen. You will have to have reservations and there is a “bar” option (the place is more of a dinner style than bar). There are two seatings and the food was quite good the times I’ve been.

[Linda_Baehr]

Another pretty high profile restaurant that I never hear anything about in these threads is Incanto. I’ve never been. Any thoughts out there?

[Leonard_Maran]

I cannot refer to any recent visits to Incanto. I do know that they are big on offal which is not my thing and that they were removed from the SFChronicle top 100 list.

[R_Gaston]

Hit RN74 and AQ over the weekend. Both places were very solid with AQ just edging out. The pork dish at RN74 was great. AQ was more creative through out their courses.

Also enjoyed City View and Slanted Door for lunch. Great weekend all around!

[Diane_Kessler]

We had a very good dinner at Frances on Saturday night. Small plates of sautéed calamari and chickpea frites to start, followed by well prepare duck breast with figs in a duck jus, and sliced hanger steak and risotto atop gremolata. I brought a Chateauneuf du Pape that went well with the food and the wine service was very good with $20 corkage. It seemed most people take advantage of their special of a white and red house wines at $1 per ounce. I think I heard the red was a blend of Barbera and maybe Zin, and the white was Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. Fun place with friendly service.

[gene_keenan]

@Linda Baehr

Another pretty high profile restaurant that I never hear anything about in these threads is Incanto. I’ve never been. Any thoughts out there?

Incanto sucks.

Chris is too obsessed with TV and celebrity to pay any attention to his restaurant. Not that Incanto was ever that great…

[gene_keenan]

@Leonard Maran

Mike Miller wrote:Let me put in my pitch for Zuni Cafe. I just love the place. Part of it may be that there are no similar restaurants in Texas. But everything is simply prepared with impeccably fresh ingredients and very well done. The knock on the place is that “That’s not cooking, that’s shopping.” But I’ll take it any day of the week. Their roast chicken with bread stuffing and salad greens is a simple dish, but I could eat it once a week and never tire of it. I’ve literally never had a bad dish there.

They have a small, but nicely selected list of modestly priced wines. A few prize bottles, but there are probably not more than a dozen or so bottles over $100 on the list (though there may be a few WELL over $100, as I recall a Coche-Dury or two on it the last time I was there.) But just lovely bistro wines made for quaffing with a meal dominate the list.

Needless to say, I love the place.


just went. tasty. pizza aint too shabby. Food isn’t anything special but well put together. 2010 Coche Dury Meursault off the list. $240? Nice price, lower than current retail so we grabbed one.

Actually the “shopping not cooking” criticism has also been aimed at Chez Panisse as well.I’m long over both Zuni & Chez Panisse, but not because of that. Zuni used to have some very uncomfortable seating, I’m not sure if that’s still the case but when I am spending that kind of money it will now always be a factor. Chez Panisse just wasn’t all that good the last two times. There is a good deal of competition now, and I think more interesting places to check out. Slanted Door has no longer been a destination for this San Franciscan; I’ll leave it to the tourists, too loud, and a too precious wine list. Like i need to drink Gruner Veltliner. I am definitely interested in trying Bar Tartine again; when it was a Bistro it was ok but now, under a new chef it is Cal-Hungarian, and much liked as a result.

I guess you have not been to Slanted Door in a long while. Gone is the Gruner/Riesling only list. The wine list now has a lot of reds on it.

[gene_keenan]

@R. Gaston

Hit RN74 and AQ over the weekend. Both places were very solid with AQ just edging out. The pork dish at RN74 was great. AQ was more creative through out their courses.

Also enjoyed City View and Slanted Door for lunch. Great weekend all around!

I still like SD despite all the lack of love for them now. By far the best in the Phan empire.

The new Hard Water from Phan is just sad sad sad. Service is terrible, awful atmosphere, and who wants to spend $80 on a glass of good bourbon and try to enjoy it sitting on crappy hard wooden stools in a overly lit room?

[Alan_Rath]

@gene keenan

@Leonard Maran

Slanted Door has no longer been a destination for this San Franciscan; I’ll leave it to the tourists, too loud, and a too precious wine list. Like i need to drink Gruner Veltliner.

I guess you have not been to Slanted Door in a long while. Gone is the Gruner/Riesling only list. The wine list now has a lot of reds on it.

Funny, but one of the reasons I love(d) Slanted door was precisely for their interesting Gruner/Riesling list. There’s still a bit of that, but it’s definitely cut back, and rounded out now. Still one of my favorite places to go for pretty good food, view, and a nice time. Gene is a tough grader, so I’m glad he still has it on the “OK” list

[mark_rudner]

i leave in less than 2 weeks and have lots of great info here. will try to hit 3 places a day and taste as much as i can. i think i’m sold on zuni as one of my stops as i’ve always wanted to go and never have.
thanks

[Jay_Miller]

@mark rudner

def’ly giving bar tartine strong consideration
any other locals have some insight for me?

Not local, but I always enjoy Bar Tartine when I visit SF. Though I do miss the wonderful thyme and black pepper gougeres from the old menu. They changed the way I make gougeres.