Intimate Dining…

Review of: Canteen

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Flipping through the 1961 Michelin Italy guide (the Red Book) while pondering what to have for dinner, I already felt that there was something special about Canteen, and I was right. From the simple decor to the amazing food and better than average coffee, Canteen is a force to be reckoned with if you’re looking for modern interpretations of comfort food.

Dinner started with a drink, which tonight would be beer – a $6 bottle of Pilsner Urquell (yeowch!), followed by a challah dinner roll and a heavenly creme of green onion soup with prawns. I haven’t had a cream soup this good since leaving Munich.

The main courses were all in the mid $20s. I elected to have the poached duck breast with lentils and a mustard crust – rich and flavorful without the grease that accompanies most preparations of this tasty bird. I finished with the vanilla souffle and a cappuccino.

Unlike many restaurants, Canteen selects two different sets of beans: Jeremiah’s Pick for the drip coffee and Mr. Espresso for the espresso drinks. Both were well selected for their purpose.

The wrap up:

Service: 4 of 5. The waiter was knowledgable, friendly and truly interested in everyone’s dining experience. The service was prompt but professional, considering they had a strict 90 minute seating policy. Providing a bottle of water at every table to reduce the load on the staff is brilliant. The only rub is that the bus-woman could have been a little more personable.

Food: 5 out of 5. Exactly what you expect – reinterpreted classic American comfort food.

Prices: 4 out of 5. The beer was outrageously priced, but the food was appropriately priced based on the great portion size and overall quality of the daily-changing menu.

Perfect Omakase Menus

Review of: Kiss Sea Food Japanese Restaurant

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

I hate to pass along a recommendation, because with only a few seats available and no chance for walk-ins (they only get enough of certain items for their expected seatings), every person that goes there makes it harder for me to get a reservation. Order the omakase menu, and take the time to have a few extra pieces of sushi during that course.

Amazing food and perfect sake selections – if you think Ebisu is the end-all for sushi, spend a night at KISS and learn about the true depth of traditional Japanese cuisine.

Great Dim Sum in the Valencia Corridor

Review of: Big Lantern Dim Sum

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Finding good take out Chinese food in San Francisco has always been a challenge. After cutting my teeth on Boston and New York Chinatown food, something about the local Chinese seemed, well lacking. Maybe it was the fact that every chinese place here seems to sell the same Hunan cuisine that there’s not much to distinguish it. Even the venerable Henry’s Hunan has lost its luster.

So, when friends from Tampa said we should have Chinese tonight, I hit the reviews online and decided on Big Lantern.

The restaurant – clean and bright with an open kitchen. We were shown a table by someone that we assume is the owner. The menu was unexpected – focusing on special dishes with only a small selection of the typical Chinese standards. After talking to the owner about their best dishes, we went with a selection of dim sum, meat dishes and a noodle dish.

The dim sum ranged from excellent to good. The stuffed crab claws and hargow were excellent. The siu mai, siu long bao and the shrimp toast were very good, and the pan fried pork buns were good. Nothing bad, and the crab claws are the best any of us have had in ages.

I asked if they had pork belly for twice-cooked pork, but unfortunately they didn’t have any – but he offered a similar dish with roasted char siu, which fit the bill. As of their next printing of the menu, real twice-cooked pork with pork belly will be on the menu. We also had Kung Pao Chicken, very well made, but I am not a fan of zucchini in this dish. The surprising dish was an excellent spicy “numbing” noodles – lo mein covered with a ground pork and shiitake ragout.

All of this, Pu Erh tea and two beers ran us $60. Plus, they deliver out to the ballpark, meaning that we have a good delivery option in SOMA/Mission Bay.

Highly recommended for dim sum or main courses.

Chicago’s Finest

Review of: Clark Street Ale House

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Local beer guru Ed B. brought our motley crew from San Francisco here one night after dinner and we pretty much closed the place down. A great selection of beer, all served at the appropriate temperature with knowledgable and friendly bartenders willing to help guide you in the ways of these mystical mid-western beer.

Dark, lots of seating at the bar and a great jukebox too. What isn’t to like?

Three Levels of Alcoholic Goodness

Review of: Jade Bar

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 4

Read review on Judy’s Book.

Listen to James… he knows his stuff. Not only did he turn me on to the amazing cocktails at Sauce, but he pointed me in the direction of Jade for $2 beer and well drink happy hour that runs until 7:30 during the week and all night on Sunday.

And the beers – it’s the first bar I have been to where every one is a winner in my book: Alaskan Amber, North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner, Deschutes Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Scwerk Hefeweisen and Bear Republic’s amazing Racer 5.

It’s big, yet small… Yes, it’s three levels – but the upstairs loft and main floor with the bar are small and cozy (I didn’t check out the basement).

Sure, around 7:30 on a Friday it started to get crowded, but as I sat back with a good book in my hand at one of the bar level tables, the people just turned into a quiet din. It’s a great place if you want a balance of being in the midst of everything while simultaneously being a little detached.

A Perfect Raw bar

Review of: Bar Crudo

By: Avery Glasser

Rating: 5

Read review on Judy’s Book.

This week, we’re entertaining friends from Belgium – trying to convince them that there really are great examples of well thought out restaurants serving phenomenal food at fair prices. In our wanders we’ve introduced them to good chocolate (Recchiuti), pizza (Amici’s), pastries (Tartine) and coffee (Ritual) – so we had to find somwthing better than average when we were asked to find a good place that served dungeness crab. We chose Bar Crudo and were rewarded for making that choice.

The restaurant is a (not so hidden) gem – a few seats at the main floor bar, and a few tables on top. Arriving on time, we were seated upstairs at the edge of the loft, giving us a perfect view of the kitchen area and were promptly brought cucumber water (and later a carafe of it) and the menus.

The first thing to notice is the fairness of the prices. A perfectly prepared half of a dungeness crab was $15 and ranked almost as high as the fresh-from-the-boat crab we had last weekend. Four well sized pieces of crudo ran $10, and the amazing fish chowder another $10. The wine averaged in the mid $30 range and the restaurant also sported an excellent selection of Belgian beer.

The crab, as I mentioned, was perfect and served with clarified butter, a spicy sauce and a large crayfish. The crudo sampler had some amazing pieces (the arctic char) and some that were simply great. Then again, we’re hard to impress with just excellent quality raw fish based on the amount of sushi we had. The joy of crudo is in the flavors that bring out the best quality of the seafood. I’m happy that I did the sampler as four pieces of even the most excellent char would have been too much.

As is appropriate, the cooked or more heavily flavored dishes followed the simpler ones. For our friends who started with the crab, a tuna confit followed. For my wife and I, our crudo was followed by the best chowder I have had in a decade – a perfect bisque with expertly boiled potatos and morsels of seafood (the cod and squid were perfect). We ended with the cheese plate – three well selected cheese balanced with honey, dates and perfect slices of walnut toast – lightly buttered and grilled. The toast was so good, we had to ask for more to end the meal. A final offering of mint and truffles and we walked back into the winter drizzle, our wallets only $40 lighter per person for the experience.

Highly recommended.

Visit Date: 1/25/2006