Unicahome hits San Francisco by Max Jacobson
I love Vegas as much as the next guy, so I don’t mind all the hype when it comes to our being ground zero for the American dining scene. The fact is, we do have a disproportionate number of terrific places for fine dining, rivaled in this country only by New York City.
But when it comes to having a food culture, a short visit to Fog City, please don’t call it Frisco, and you know that Vegas is closer to Two Dot, Montana than it is to America’s Favorite City not to mention Paris, London, Tokyo or even Oakland, the stepsister across the Bay.
Let’s not forget that Gertrude Stein once famous comment about Oakland when she said, “there’s no there there.” Too bad she didn’t live to visit Oliveto, Fra Mani, Le Cheval Vietnamese restaurant, The Bay Wolf, or Market Hall in Rockridge. If only Vegas had a wine shop as hip as Paul Marcus Wines. Sigh.
Across the bridge, however, and you truly are at ground zero for foodies, San Francisco’s Ferry Building. It is located at the foot of Market St., marked by a huge clock tower. In my misspent youth, I was once a waiter there, at the World Trade Club, where I was abused by a coterie of pre-Reagan cabinet members, like Schultz and Weinberger.
Today, though, the building has morphed into the world’s best Food Court. Occupants include Acme Bread Company, maker of the best levain in America, Cowgirl Cheeses, which sells its own cheeses as well as artisan creations from around the world, Boccalone, makers of nduja, a hot Calabrese salami paste, and Blue Bottle Coffee, where your morning Joe is dripped to order.
There are restaurants in here, too, such as Boulette’s Larder, where the menu changes daily, Taylor’s Refresher, for one of the best burgers in N. America (and great garlic fries as well), and the subject herewith, The Slanted Door, undoubtedly one of the best Asian restaurants in the country, and one of the hardest reservations on this food mad city.
The Slanted Door belongs to Vietnamese-American chef Charles Pham, who had a smaller version of this place in the city’s Mission District. If you remember the original location, there really was a slanted door but now the name is just for nostalgia. This clean, modern room fronts the Bay; tables afford views of the ferries from Tiburon and Sausalito.
Eat this food, though, and you won’t go anyplace. Start with an appetizer like crispy Imperial rolls, the champagne of egg rolls, stuffed with shrimp, pork, peanuts and glass noodles. Then try Niman Ranch shaking beef, cubed filet mignon tossed with watercress, lime sauce, red onion and garlic. It’s obscenely delicious, Noodles are better than anyone has a right to expect, such as North Vietnamese style grouper with vermicelli, fresh dill and pineapple-anchovy sauce.
Even the lowly shrimp and pork wonton soup is elevated by chunks of five spice pork and homemade egg noodles. Call 415-861-8032 for the reservations, and good luck. Your best shot is lunch, on a non-Farmer’s Market weekday. (There is a killer market out front, some weekdays.) (editor’s note: all food is served on almost-locally made Heath Ceramics.)
Unica Home visited my favorite San Francisco restaurant for dinner, and used a little juice to get a table. Zuni Café, at 1658 Market Street, was opened in the mid-seventies by Billy West. I ate there frequently in those days, sitting on serapes, nibbling on proto-southwestern cuisine.
Later, this cuisine was refined by people such as Mark Miller, who had Coyote Café both in Santa Fe and Las Vegas. But Zuni fell into a better incarnation, acquired by seminal Berkeley chef Judy Rodgers, who has turned the restaurant into an institution.
Perhaps Rodgers would prefer that her restaurant was known for more than her famous roast chicken, which takes an hour in their wood oven and comes to the table on a Tuscan bread salad known as panzanella.
Everyone, it seems, hates their chef d’oeuvre. Rachmaninoff wouldn’t play his Prelude in C # Minor unless you put a gun to his head, and the shy Rodgers would rather you tried other dishes on her menu, I’m sure.
Fuggedabouddit. This is, quite simply, the best chicken dish anywhere. Order it the minute you come through the door; at $48 for two, a steal.
Other dishes here are of, in my opinion, of equal distinction. We sat on the balcony, staring down at the wood ovens, which also expunge fish, Paline Farm squab with quince-apple charlotte and curly endive salad, and the occasional rustic dessert.
Comfort foods like polenta with mascarpone or ricotta gnocchi from a producer called Bellwether Farms cannot be faulted, nor can salads like an irresistible chickory, Fuyu persimmon and pomegranate seed creation doused with sherry-shallot vinaigrette.
The food aesthetic in northern California demands that products be fresh, local and artisanal, and the farm to table interval, never more than a day or so in a restaurant of this caliber, assures that the taste will be amazing. That’s something that we, in our desert community so far from many producers, can only equal in part.
Reservations can be procured at 415-552-2522. And by the way, even the airport here has wonderful food, such as Harbor Village, a Chinese restaurant, among others, in the airport food court. Food, around here, is taken with the utmost seriousness, so no jokes, buster.
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Unicahome.com was founded in 1998 by Hugh and Bonnie Fogel. Featuring over 65,000 products, Unicahome.com is a complete lifestyle store for home, office and contract use featuring Bridal Registry, Furniture, Lighting, Accessories, Barware, Food and Great Gifts from noted designers and top brands sourced worldwide. Our 18,000 square foot store is located in Las Vegas, Nevada, just minutes away from the world famous Las Vegas Strip. We hope you enjoyed your visit to Unicaworld!
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