Try Anchovy Bar again when you get a chance, I feel like they keep getting better as well!
I went a couple of months ago. And went to the Penny Collab.
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My local buddy says he only goes to Anchovy bar when the anchovies are in season.
Went to Ox &Tiger again (7th time maybe).
EJ is just making amazing food.
(Just learned that he worked at Rich Table years ago)
Highly highly recommend.
Very reasonably priced, and such a fun experience.
Also, their menu rotates every 5-8 weeks depending on month and their travelā¦
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Annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference grind.
Sunday - Private dinner at The Atomic Workshop for 35 people at The Progress. My 4th time hosting a Sunday night dinner here and they do an outstanding job. If you need a space for 12-40 people I would highly recommend this. It is set up like an apartment with food from The Progress
Monday - The Progress. The Sunday night dinner was great but given I was the MC I did not really get to fully focus on the food so I went back to The Progress. And as I have said many times before The Progress is really firing on all cylinders. The Rabbit stew was one of the best things I have eaten this year.
Tuesday - Was going to hit The Progress again with a friend but they were closed for a buyout. Tried State Bird and they were so packed it was an hour wait. The sommelier walked us over to The Anchovy Bar and set us up. Which turned out to be fantastic because Chef Stuart had told me the night before how excited he was about the crab dish. The crab pasta was excellent. The chicken schnitzel and smoked trout dip dishes were also excellent.
Wednesday - Made it State Bird and it did not disappoint. As great as ever and the classics like the State Bird were really on point.
Going to hit Angler for lunch on my way outā¦
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Finally went to Fu Hui Hua with a friend I had randomly met at Sushi Yoshizumi (where we connected talking about restaurants we went to in Japan). Also joined by his other friend.
This is very much worth going to (though it is a very difficult reservation). Primarily Huaiyang/Jiangsu Chinese cuisine with the use of a lot of Japanese seafood (as well as never-frozen seafood flown in from China). A very high-level use of vinegars, conveying a really nice brightness and tang to most of the dishes.
Some dishes have subtle use of French/Western technique (the Liberty Farm duck breast being the primary case in point, and one of the less interesting, if still very good dish), but, thankfully, it is otherwise resolutely Chinese-driven technique here.
Service though has a very Japanese feel: kappo-style with the father and son chef team preparing and serving the food to us directly (the father spent quite a bit of time in Japan). Wine list is small, but well chosen for the cuisine. I actually much prefer the sake selection here (and Iām not a sake guy, though that might be changing). It just works much better with the food.
Standout dishes were the shirako with hot scallion oil (very clean and creamy with nice acidity to the sauce); the ji-kinmedai in spicy, fermented tomato soup (umami bomb soup that upstaged that extremely high quality seared kinmedai (Splendid Alfonsino)); uni on top of ādrunkenā raw Botan-ebi (Botan Shrimp); stir-fried mirugai (Geoduck); fish maw and daikon radish; and an excellent claypot rice with kegani (Hairy Crab) and a Chinese-sourced āknifefishā which is basically tachiuo (Largehead Hairtail).
Excellent food and definitely better value than almost any of the 2 or 3 star restaurants in San Francisco.
To be honest, Iām personally getting pretty exhausted by the impersonal, multi-hour, marathon tasting menus at most of the Michelin-starred restaurants in the city. Places like this and Noodle in the Haystack where you have a personal connection with the staff, where there is no front of the house/back of the house, where you feel like a guest in someoneās home rather just another seat that needs to be shaken down and then turned, are refreshing.
Others are more than welcome to chase seats to have the āprivilegeā to eat at French Laundry or Atelier Crenn or the other supposed gastronomic temples. You have one less person to compete with.
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Stopped by kitchen Istanbul for dinner. Great service and a lovely wine list. Went for a Sandlands 2023 Lodi red table wine, was a great pairing with the variety of flavors/spices. Would definitely recommend others stop by, an extensive list and great menu.
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Landed in SF at 8:30PM and went straight to Kin Khao for a quick dinner. Very tasty food, would go back.
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Enclos looks impressive. I have not been yet but it is now firmly on my list.
Itās excellent and fully worthy of 2*. Certainly comparable to 2* experiences Iāve had in Spain/France/Portugal/England.
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Iāve been to Sirene several times recently. Good food and a well-priced wine list (which makes sense, given the ownership). They also do great pastries for breakfast and a chartreuse latte.
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Donāt we all?
One menu item stops my wife and I from having lunch there. The Angler Potato isnāt served then, only at dinner.
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That is truly the greatest potato Iāve ever had in my life. Shockingly good.
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Had a quick but absolutely perfect meal at The Progress. Started with a Mushroom, green onion and Yuba dish and one of my favorite dishes the Rabbit stew that paired wonderfully with a 2024 Lapierre Camille.
Tonight State Bird!
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We may need to do the same in May. I prefer The Progress and my wife prefers State Bird.
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Has anyone visited TBD Izakaya? Going tomorrow night and donāt know what to expect (wine wise).
Had a pretty poor experience at Cotogna today. We went for lunch with a one year old and apparently they are so afraid that our child may annoy the other guests, they sat us all the way at the end, in direct sunlight and behind glass on an 80ĀŗF day. There were three empty tables next to us, all in the shade and we were told those were āreservedā (no kidding, we obviously had a reservation as well, in fact I made it on the day it became available online a month ago). The silverware on the table was so hot from the sun, you couldnāt touch it. It was absolutely miserable. After an hour, they re-seated us to one of the (still empty) tables in the shade and comped our dessert. Delicious food, good waitstaff, stupid management. I used to recommend Cotogna as the number one spot for lunch in SF, but probably no more.
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Not the first complaint about Cortana if i recall. Shame we had a wonderful lunch there years ago, but gunshy about going back.
Ugh. The place is pretty casual, and (as I remember it) noisy enough. It would be hard for the average child to disrupt anyone. I probably would have insisted on taking a shady table, and walked out if they couldnāt accommodate.
We havenāt been there in years, used to go for their Sunday Prix Fixe lunches.