A recent fast run to northern California left us with more than a touch of tan and pleasant memories of sun and sand, food and wine. As always, there were discoveries to share with friends. Some of our old long-time favorites have thrived, one seems to be sagging, and there are, of course, always new tastes, new sensations, new subjects to write about. We also discovered that May is a particularly fine time to visit, especially since so many flowers are blooming, with roses making a particular statement with a riot of color. Vineyards looked healthy and happy. We’re not sure if it was the general economy, or the particular time of year, but San Francisco was quieter than we’ve seen in it in summer and autumn.
One fast reminder: Smoking is not allowed in any of the city’s restaurants.
On the food front, we had a fine dinner at a hot new spot, Bar Tartine in the Mission District south of Market Street. An offshoot of the Tartine Bakery that’s a couple of blocks away, this is far more than one would expect a bakery-based eatery to be. It’s a serious restaurant, serious without being grim, with first-rate service, even on a weekend evening when things were busy, carrying on without grimacing or eye-rolling when a couple at the table next to us sat for more than an hour waiting for friends to arrive. (Not an excuse, but parking is awful in San Francisco, even for those on whom the parking gods usually smile.) Be aware that the restaurant has no sign – look for a dark green front – and that the neighborhood is a duke’s mixture of haute and humble.
Good wine list at moderate prices, from a collection of small producers, most of whom don’t send product east of the state line, and a sort of aperitif du jour, which on our visit was prosecco with rhubarb syrup, quite pleasant, and obviously popular with the mostly young clientele. We decided on an all-appetizer meal, not only because they looked the most intriguing but also to leave more room for dessert. All these dishes are way out of the main stream, and probably that’s why they appealed. We don’t go to restaurants to eat what we can easily make at home.
And that’s why an onlooker would have seen us enjoying tender slices of braised beef tongue, rich and slightly gelatinous in a wondrous brown gravy that hinted at more than the chef’s "carrot/celery/onion/red wine" combination, the whole atop some mashed salsify and garnished with batons of Asian pear. The house’s peasant bread, toasted, was the base for a dish of sea urchin poached in butter and served with gently scrambled egg, asparagus tips, and circles of roasted red jalapeno, the flavors dancing around the mouth. These were two terrific appetizers, excellent with a local rose wine.
The next round was equally decadent. Pork belly, browned and braised with much of the fat cooked away, was tender and succulent, with a superior contrast from a few leaves of salad with a tart dressing. And marrow bones from an organic farm in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, had been roasted, to be served with a gremolata of parsley and lemon rind sprinkled over them, and a handful of baby arugula, along with more of the toast, here for spreading with the rich, buttery marrow. A serving was three two-inch bones, generous and really enough for an entree.
The end of the meal came with a coffee pot de creme, deep in flavor and exquisitely smooth, and a Meyer lemon pudding cake. Meyer lemons are sweeter than other varieties, and some claim that the flavor is more well-rounded. We’re not sure about that, but the pudding cake turned out to be more like a layer of cheesecake under a layer of sponge cake, the lemon note in this relatively pale dessert so pronounced we just gasped with delight.
If most of this seems too exotic, do check out the online menu; we acknowledge that we chose from its extremes. But it was a remarkable meal, and easily the best of the trip.
Bar Tartine
561 Valencia St., San Francisco
415-487-1600
www.tartinebakery.com/bartartine
Dinner Tues.-Sun, Brunch Sat.-Sun.
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $18-$30
Much less fancy and much less fashionable (we seemed the only non-locals there) was PPQ Dungeness in the Outer Richmond neighborhood, a Vietnamese spot that specializes in its namesake. The vast majority of diners were eating the crab, sometimes supplemented by other dishes, and we can see why. For $49, we had the dinner for two, which featured just what we were in search of, steamed crab and garlic noodles. The meal began with chicken salad, a cool and crunchy Asian slaw that includes a little chicken, and what the menu calls imperial rolls, lightly deep-fried rolls filled with a little meat and lots of rice noodles seasoned with black pepper, the whole a tad greasy but tasty with the traditional dipping sauce.
The crab can be steamed or roasted with additional spicing; we took the simple road to a meaty crab, cut up but not cracked, its shell studded with minced garlic, the dish all fragrant and alluring. Heavy nutcrackers were an invaluable tool. More garlic, of course, on the noodles, but they were superfluous after making the most of the good-sized crab. And yes, there was dessert, too, deep-fried banana with a scoop of coconut ice cream. Great value for the money and worth the trip out to a neighborhood not usually visited by outsiders. And there’s a parking lot one block east, making PPQ even more irresistible. This is a huge bargain, as far as we’re concerned.
PPQ Dungeness Island Vietnamese Cuisine
2332 Clement St., San Francisco
415-386-8266
Lunch & Dinner Wed.-Mon.
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $10-$15 (seasonal prices on crab higher)
We also had a fast casual supper in the Inner Sunset neighborhood, right on the N Judah Muni line at PJ’s Oyster Bed. The theme is New Orleans, although the oysters are, happily, from the Pacific Coast. A dish of rock shrimp in garlic butter, a superior batch of crawfish, fresh from the steamer, a mixed shellfish pan roast, and an oyster poor-boy with a slice of good tomato and some spicy mayonnaise kept us happy. Another very local spot, but apparently quite popular, especially with large family groups.
PJ’s Oyster Bed
737 Irving St., San Francisco
415-566-7775
Dinner Tues.-Sun., Lunch Sat.-Sun
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $12-$23
The Zuni Café, owned by former St. Louisan Judy Rodgers, always has been one of our favorite places. Service is of a very high order, the space itself, with lots of nooks and crannies, quite intriguing, and the constantly changing menu always leaves us with painful decisions since we can’t order everything we’d like. One offering always on the menu is the roast chicken with bread salad, a real signature dish. It’s served for two, and we’ve never been able to give up the chance of tasting two dishes to share just one, so good is their food. This visit, however, we brought a friend who was interested in tasting it, and we finally were able to indulge.
This is a remarkable dish. The whole chicken is roasted to order (there’s an hour wait) in a wood-fired oven, cut into pieces and placed in a serving bowl with sturdy greens (ours were red mustard greens) tossed with a vinaigrette, and torn chunks of bread toasted in the oven and dressed with juice from the roast chicken and a little more vinaigrette, along with pine nuts and currants. The chicken itself was worth the price of admission, succulent and juicy and full of flavor, with superbly crisp skin, the sort of chicken people eat in France and then search for in the U.S. ever after. The warmth of the chicken and the bread softened the greens just a little, and the interplay between savory, salty and tart was a delight. The rest of our meal (portabello soup, marinated anchovies with celery and Parmigiano, halibut cheeks cooked with shellfish, and a bread pudding with rhubarb) was good, but it was the chicken that made us gasp.
The sparkling wine aperitif that night was done with an elderflower cordial, with a marvelous aroma and noticeable sweetness that went down nicely.
Zuni Café
1658 Market St., San Francisco
415-552-2522
Lunch and Dinner Tues.-Sun
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $16-$27
Loking for breakfast in the Union Square area? Investigate Luques, a real sleeper, tucked into the ground floor of the Chancellor Hotel. Right next door is Sears, a breakfast spot that often has a line going out the door to wait for its no-longer-great food. Forget that, and come to Luques, where an eager staff and a menu with hints of New Orleans will let you relax. We knocked back scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, organic cream cheese and chives, and a killer eggs Benedict, with a hollandaise sauce that was good enough to eat with a spoon. Nobody seems knows about this place yet; but that condition won’t last long.
Luques
Chancellor Hotel
433 Powell St., San Francisco
415-248-2475
Breakfast, Lunch and tapas-style Dinner daily
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $7-$10 (breakfast)
We discovered that it’s against the law to visit San Francisco without a detour to the California wine country, so we did our duty as part of a one-day wine orgy (more on that in 
a subsequent posting) in St. Helena. On the way back, on a crisp, beautiful morning in Napa County, we stopped in the county seat of Napa and found another bakery that offers superior food and an absolutely delightful breakfast. It’s called the Alexis Baking Company, or ABC and besides, any place that serves Maida Heatter’s Best Damn Lemon Cake gets our attention straightaway. We went for non-pastry items like excellent chilaquiles, scrambled eggs with tangy salsa and fresh tortilla chips, first-rate thick-cut bacon and gorgeous golden cornmeal pancakes with blueberry compote and real maple syrup kept us smiling. Coffee cups were refilled frequently by friendly, efficient servers.
The ABC erased the disappointment we’d had at one of our favorite San Francisco breakfast spots, Home Plate on Lombard Street. The house-made breads were listless and the French toast tasted as if it had been friend in sausage grease.
Alexis Baking Company
1517 Third St., Napa, CA
707-258-1827
Breakfast and Lunch daily
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Good
Smoking: No
Entrees: $6-$13 (breakfast)
A Few Random Sightseeing Notes:
We can never speak of San Francisco to food lovers without heavily emphasizing the necessity of visiting what we think is the finest farmers’ market we’ve ever seen in this country, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at the Embarcadero Ferry Building. California being what it is, the variety is wide and astonishing, the quality is good to great – and the prices are high, of course. Both in front and behind the building (inside are high-quality food-related stores and restaurants, plus great ice cream), it’ll make you wish you had a kitchen. Good noshing, too, from Aidell’s sausage, the Hog Island Oyster Company and the Hayes Street Grill, who all have stands, plus lots of samples from vendors. It’s operated by CUESA, or the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. Great people- and pet- watching, too. Open Tuesday and Saturdays.
The new DeYoung Museum is not going to be the favorite building of a lot of folks. "A beached aircraft carrier" was one description. But the copper exterior will eventually oxidize to verdigris, and in the meantime, the interior is wonderful, spacious and bright, with some interesting exhibitions and a good permanent collection. The museum’s tower, which apparently doesn’t require an admission ticket, gives a marvelous view of the city that’s different from any other.
And speaking of new spots, the old Cliff House on the beach has been torn down and replaced with the new Cliff House. There are two restaurants, The Bistro, on the upper level, and Sutro’s on the lower, named for Adolph Sutro, the visionary who first put an indoor swimming pool on the spot. We were between meals, but Sutro’s Bar was a perfect stop for a drink and a break from San Francisco traffic. The view from the 30-foot windows is blissful, particularly on the sunny, windy day we visited, with surf crashing on the rocks below and para-sailers soaring on the currents above. Not cheap, of course, but deeply relaxing, and the website, recognizing the classic name, offers the sound of the surf, plus menus.