Feast Blog

Despite an interesting cocktail menu, I was drawn to a three-glass Riesling sampler, what they call the Butterfly flight; Domaines Schlumberger “Les Princes Abbes” Alsace 2004, Gainey Vineyard Santa Ynes Valley 2003, and Saint M Dr. Loosen Pfaltz Germany 2005.

These went reasonably well with the two appetizers I ordered; Duck Confit Spring Rolls served with a Chinese hot mustard & honey dipping sauce and Kahlua Pig with Butter Lettuce Cups served with hoisin sauce and toasted cashews with green onions.

For Asian-inspired bar food, the spring rolls were quite good – very light, crispy wrappers, perfectly fried. Honestly, the meat inside could have been duck confit or pork or chicken. It really didn’t matter. The sauce was interesting in that accompanied with the rolls, there was an obvious sweetness which I thought might overwhelm upon entry, but which expanded in the mouth to a pretty decent mustard spice.

The Kahlua Pig with lettuce cups was very ample and between the two dishes, far more food than one person could possibly eat. The butter lettuce was a nice change from the classic head lettuce used in lettuce cup offerings. The pork was riddled with a fine dice of assorted bell peppers; orange, yellow, and red. both the pork and the hoisin was topped with toasted cashews which were so finely chopped as to actually look like finely grated cheese or Brazilian yucca powder.

Not bad for an afternoon interpose because I stumbled on it, but hardly a destination restaurant for me. Mostly mediocre and unmemorable.

In all honesty, I’m not sure why this received a Michelin star…

There were two omakase offerings on the menu; one with meat and one vegetarian. I was intrigued with the vegetarian until I was told it was two courses with a dessert. That’s it? I’ll take the meat omakase which was five courses.

An amuse was brought out – a sandwich of tuna rillette between two crunchy crackers which were actually toasted slices of their house bread. Putting *some* rillette on a single slice would have been sufficient but an amuse (which in my mind should be taken in one bite) of two dry hunks of bread with not-enough fish just made for too big of a mouthful.

Sadly, there is no wine pairing with the omakase and so I was on my own in determining wine pairings for dishes that I had no pre-knowledge of. Big mistake. The waiter did tell me the first few courses were fish so I was fairly certain a white would work and ordered a Riesling (sorry, lost my notes on which one specifically). Also, this wine was served in a Pinot Noir glass… Bad.

The first course was a layered monstrosity of a giant wasabi leaf, champagne-poached oyster, blue fin tuna tartare, some coconut-based hollandaise, fresh uni, and American sturgeon caviar. I say it was a monstrosity as there was far too much going on and either the oyster or the tartare (or both?) could have been entirely left out. The flavor of the uni, caviar, and coconut was predominate so something as delicate as a champagne-poached oyster (which couldn’t be seen so maybe it WASN’T there!) was irrelevant. As was the tartare.

The next course was a composed salad of fresh heirloom tomatoes, topped with dressed frisée, and surrounded by slices of sashimi of Arctic Char. Recalling my disastrous visit to Valentino in Los Angeles, I wonder why chefs insist on pairing tomatoes with raw fish — the textures and flavors are so disparate and I’m curious if there exists any good examples of this sort of pairing as my two sojourns into that particular pairing have been exceptionally bad.

The Riesling finished and not remembering what was coming next, I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir (standby knowledge – it usually goes with everything).

The next course was a hot fish dish of grilled Red snapper with crispy skin on ratatouille and hollandaise. This was a real hollandaise but there wasn’t quite enough of it to pair well with the grilled vegetables and dry fish.

The last savory course was American Wagyu, perfectly rare, served atop sliced Yukon Gold potatoes and baby shiitake mushrooms. There was a very good sauce with it but I’m afraid I don’t exactly recall its components. Regrettably, the sauce did not make up for whatever was done to the mushrooms which were stridently sharp and peppery. I didn’t bother finishing this course.

Dessert was an Orange “parfait” which was actually a scoop of creamy orange sorbet in some orange soup and topped with a small tuille cookie. This was paired with a sparkling sake which was a relatively nice pairing.

Overall, the service was very good but I question many things about the menu. For starters, in reading through the standard offerings, there doesn’t seem to be any evolution in the menu. Similar to my Gary Danko complaints, nothing is different than what I read when I first visited, 18 months ago. The addition of the omakase is week in its lack of wine pairings and I found the dishes overall to be ill-conceived although well-prepared.

I don’t need to go back.

Many of my friends know that I am on the continual hunt for the budget $10 lunch. I like those lunches that are either so filling that a modest dinner is all that is needed or one that is so ample as to provide left-overs for a supper snack. When a friend recently came to town and ended up in Hayes Valley, I advised her to pick some place that looked good for her for lunch and that I would join her. I admit that Cafee Della Stella had never attracted much attention as it lies across the street from the far more desirable (and expensive) Absinthe. And the fact that during the day, it is mostly empty.

But they had a sign out front that they had been open for twenty years and there was an economy lunch, so I didn’t mind too much. Besides, I was here to see an old friend and ended up being fairly surprised — not overwhelmed — but reasonably satisfied. While we perused the menu, a bread offering was presented; an herb-topped focaccia and classic Italian roll with a spicy, red pepper dipping sauce. The bread was probably day old at that point, but having two different kinds with an accompaniment (instead of butter or oil) was nice. Rose and I agreed to stick to the $10 menu which included a dozen different choices of mostly pastas, but a few sandwiches, larger salads, and a pizza. The pasta dishes came with a side of green salad or cup of soup.

Both of us were craving pasta and knowing we would be sharing, decided on a pappardale with fennel sausage Bolognese and an orecchiette with ground veal, herbs, and tomato cream sauce. The salad was simple and fresh – just lightly dressed greens and no extra frills or accompaniments. The day’s soup was minestrone and while flavorful, was mostly just a fairly thin broth and lacked any of the expected ingredients of beans, pasta, or hefty vegetables. Granted, there were some vegetables, but they were finely diced and far from substantial.

The pasta servings were larger than expected and not that bad. The pappardale was relatively thick had a nice tooth and the fennel sausage was surprisingly spicy and rich. Stuck-together orecchiette cradled thick, creamy veal-laden sauce. Both proved richer and a higher quality and larger portions than I was expecting for the price. Left-overs of both pastas were brought home and enjoyed later that evening. We both opted for glasses of wine which drove the price of our budget lunch higher than we should have spent, but I would not hesitate to return and refrain from the alcohol, keeping to the table-served bottled water.

395 Hayes St
(between Franklin St & Gough St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 252-1110

I am certainly a lucky person this week; a variety of visiting friends are insisting on taking me out to eat so I will have lots of reports this week…

Monday’s adventure was (finally) experiencing Zare’s Monday Meatball Madness with the Divine Miss Spieler. We got to experience a variety of tastes before the meatball arrived, including several appetizers;

Smoked trout on cucumber “linguini’ with dilled creme fraiche. This was an early favorite, both Miss S and I adoring the coolness of the dressing with the smoked fish and lovely cucumber strips (we are both cucumber fans).

The “pistachio meatball” is a small appetizer but with a huge taste; a harrisa/honey/pomegranate glaze which is just divine in its sticky sweet-spiceness.

The cinnamon-braised lamb’s tongue with apple chutney and chestnuts. God, I love this dish…. Perfectly tender tongue and the flavors of fruit and spice juxtaposes what becomes umami in the chestnuts. Lovely.

Spice-roasted marrow bones served with bergamot preserves, Persian baby pickles, fresh greens and toast. You know, Bix’s marrow bones used to be my favorite, but these have surpassed that. The spice is very subtle and the bergamot preserves, which could be sickly sweet is just a great, clean taste that helps cleanse the palate to the Persian pickle which has quite a bite.

One entrée we shared was the Moroccan-spiced Salmon with toasted fregola, seasonal vegetables, and cucumber raita. Again, the brightness of cucumber and dill complemented the ras al hanout compote with some of the best Salmon I’ve had in ages. I admit to saving a rather large portion of this to have for breakfast the next day and was not disappointed.

Then there was The Meatball. Six- or eight-inches in diameter, ours was stuffed with two small lamb chops. Barely swimming in a light broth, the meatball was surrounded with a few slices of oven-roasted tomatoes and wild mushrooms. The Meatball had pinenuts, spices, and was so tender and flavorful. There was obviously going to be leftovers and the neighboring table advised eating it cold, on a sandwich. They were right.

Two desserts were shared; a goat-cheese cheesecake and ….. wait for it ….. Fried Dough! Hoorah! Sing praises to the heavens…. What are called “fried milk torrijas” these long, rectangle delights might be the second best hunk of fried dough I’ve found in the city (Piperade’s is a nudge higher on my Fried Dough Scale of ecstasy, but not by much).

What a grand night — and what encouragement for me to get there more often.