I Ate Balls!! (not)

(And they weren't too 'Offal')

For our Bay Area readers we have a Capsule San Francisco Restaurant Roundup for November 2005, featuring:
Pizzeria Delfina | Tres Agaves | Garcon | Oola | Les Amis | Couleur | Q (illustrated by the picture of one of their table sculptures on the left) | The Flower Market Cafe...



I finally got to try Pizzeria Delfina the other weekday afternoon when it wasn't packed. I am not going to write a full-on review but suffice to say, Fred and I shared a Margherita and absolutely loved it. Fred was raving about the crust, whilst I had a bit of a crush on the mouth-watering tomato sauce. A side of roasted cauliflower proved to me that this previously most wretched of vegetables can be made quite tasty, though I would have preferred less salt. For more info, visit the Pizzeria Delfina Website.

Pizzeria Delfina blogged: Vinography | Food Musings | The Restaurant Whore | Bay Area Bites | Scowl Nu?

Some very good friends of mine are venturing into the restaurant business. They are part of the team that have launched Soma's new Mexican & Tequila restaurant, Tres Agaves. I was sceptical, cynical and quite sure I wouldn't care for the frat-boy atmosphere that comes from being such a large eaterie so close to the Ball Park. I was part of a group of 8 friends (all paying our way) who shared several of their dishes, family-style, for dinner. I had to eat my negative words. Succulent, slow roasted pork carnitas, tender spit roasted chicken, tasty fresh fish, juicy wood-grilled skirt steak, salsas, guacamole, chips and melt-in-your-mouth corn on the cob. There wasn't anything that disappointed me, although please note that our hosts did recommended the pick of what they believe to be the best choices on the menu. All the food was delicious and having such a large selection of tequilas to wash it all down with didn't hurt either. For more info, visit the Tres Agaves Website.

Tres Agaves blogged:
Bbum's Weblog-o-Mat | Scowl Nu? | Aldoblog

There seems to be no stopping our other restaurant-owning friends who are fast building a little French empire, here in San Francisco. Barely 24 hours since flying in from Paris the week before last, and to celebrate the Beaujoulais Nouveau, we tried their new mission Bistro, Garcon. It's a really nicely designed spot, buzzing and homely with a welcoming French atmosphere. The food is traditional and hearty with items like roasted Mussels and frisee salad with a soft poached egg, on the appetizer menu. All four of us tried Duck Confit as our main course. It was good, but not quite peaking at the level of Oola's version which, a few weeks ago, raised the bar to best duck confit I have ever tasted. Don't leave Garcon without trying the Tarte Tatin. It's well worth the calorie splurge. More info about Garcon can be found here.

The same restaurant friends have just launched Les Amis, a high-end, down town eaterie headed by Plouf chef Thomas Weibull. We were lucky to be invited to a complimentary test tasting of part of their dinner menu last week. The food shows much promise and it looks like Weibull is relishing the creative opportunity he has been afforded by heading a more upscale restaurant than the mussel-lovers favourite on Belden Lane. Delectable amuse geules, crispy sweetbreads (which I thought were balls when I wrote this article, but actually they are not) and succulent rabbit wrapped in prosciutto plus accompanying rillette carbonara crowned with a little raw quail egg are the type of dishes you might expect to find on the menu. I thought the most delicious item, by far, was a delicate, crispy bass with duck crackling, jeruslaem artichoke and a mild ginger-orange beurre blanc which has since been haunting me with an insatiable yearning for more. The pastry chef has been allowed to go to town too, desserts were quite ambitious and we were sweetly surprised. In the interests of transparency, please be aware we did not pay for any food or wine on this occasion, neither were we asked to write about the experience. More details can be found on Opentable.

Talking of Plouf, my very favourite restaurant manager in town, Thierry, has left Belden Lane to head up Jocelyn Bulow's latest venture, Couleur at the bottom of Potrero Hill, at 17th and De Haro. And guess what - that's in my neighbourhood, so I can't wait. Well I won't have to hold out much longer - the last I heard, they open this coming Friday, December 2nd, next Monday December 5th. But call and double-check first. They left the following number, for enquiries, on their door: 415 255 0387.

Not Quince, not Quiznos, just a simple letter Q. Read all about this quirky, friendly Amercian Comfort-food Diner in the Inner Richmond right here, in my latest review for SFist.

Finally, if like me, you have wondered every time you have been at the lights at Townsend and 6th, waiting to leg it onto the 280 Freeway, what The Flower Market Cafe is all about, I can assure you it's not worth the parking fee. The food is mediocre, the setting isn't pretty and although the staff are really sweet and friendly, there is nothing about this 'mainstay' that will appeal to people who are the slightest bit interested in good food.

Happy Dining!

Food | Restaurant | Review | San Francisco | Dining

I Ate Balls!! (not)