The Coachman Cometh

Bar restaurants are in in San Francisco. And the hub it appears is the SoMa. Here, the current bar restaurant model--offering a voluminous list of wines, spirits, and cocktails accompanied by an abbreviated food menu--was launched five years ago when RN74 opened. Today, this drinking-eating construct is a sprawl, with haunts like Bar Agricole, The Cavalier, TBD, Alta, The Willows, Terroir, 21st Amendment. And something tells me the trend will remain epidemic.* (see addendum note below) Modern bar restaurants are disruptive, fun, needed, and great for the economy. Everyone's happy.

What has caused this drink-eat trend to evolve is the perfect storm of a young and gainfully employed (read tech workers) crowd, a liking for unconventional affordable wines from near and far (read hipster wines), the rise of craft beers and craft whiskies, and modern bar fare that borrows heavily from tapas, izakayas, osterias, and UK pubs, and yes, even American fast foods.

This past week The Coachman, a UK-inspired bar restaurant, opened at the former Heaven's Dog space on Mission Street. I admit I had a soft spot for Heaven's Dog, though its Chinese-inspired food was uninspiring, the exotic Pre-Prohibition and colonial cocktails were heavenly. Plus it was a different era then about three years ago; the SoMa wasn't such a hive yet for the young and mobile, though I miss the easier parking. Today, The Coachman's timing is right on.

Robert Burn's Hunting Flask--with Redbreast 12 yr Irish Whiskey poured tableside over a massive block of ice.

Places like the The Coachman are for drinkers, while those who sip more water than alcohol may not be as intrigued. At a table next to me of twenty-something couples I overheard intense scientific discussions of the precise recipe for the Robert Burn's Hunting Flask, a traditional cocktail from the Scottish Highlands that I also happen to be nursing.

The drinks list at The Coachman is as long as a novella, while the food menu hardly fills a page. The cocktail selection alone (all $11) runs a full page, then there's a craft beer section, a craft cider list, and the full-blown wine list, which I happily noticed include many wines sold at Vineyard Gate. Yay!

Yet, the super compact food menu performs and belies the prowess of the kitchen. Just four mains are offered, two desserts, a couple of salads, five or six apps and a soup. And in case you're wondering, there is no salmon, at least not on this visit.

Three things I tried stood out for me. Fried smelt served with an awesome tartar sauce took no time cleaning up. Then there's the skate wing prepared in classic bistro meunière in brown butter and capers. It is comfort food for me and rarely, if ever, have I seen this dish in SF resto menus.

The bottle of Jura Poulsard I brought went swimmingly well with the skate as words fail to elaborate the genius of the pairing. The corkage is $25 for which I believe I got my money's worth as the sommelier whisked away the generic wine glasses set on the table and brought Burgundy glasses, cut the foil precisely then cleanly pulled the cork and poured.

The third winner on the menu is, of course, the sticky toffee pudding. Not only proper British but also really, really good. I don't think I've ever been this excited about pudding.

The Coachman was only six nights old on this visit, so if it could mend its opening woes asap-- primarily the kitchen taking all night to get our orders out--then success is inevitable.  The last time I went to opening week of a Charles Phan restaurant, Wo Hing in the Mission, I thought it was so flawed I couldn't imagine it could survive. And it didn't. But the signs are more promising for The Coachman as it's not only a good spot, it's riding on a cultural milieu in San Francisco and beyond.


The Coachman
1148 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415. 813.1701
Open nightly 5pm-11pm


*Wine Yoda note: sure enough as of this writing, at least two more bar restaurants are reported to open soon in the SoMa area: True Normand on New Montgomery and Dirty Habit in the Palomar Hotel on Fourth Street between Market and Mission.

Back to Skool

After some absence I was lured back to Skool a few times last month. Every month the pastry chef and co-owner, Hiroko Nagano, features a new dessert special. The one for November was a real surprise for me as it was a version of ginataan, a traditional Filipino sweet snack of sweet potatoes, purple yam, banana, tapioca, sago, and jack fruit stewed in sweetened coconut milk. Street eateries in the small towns and metropolises of the Philippines offer this sweet treat every day

Hiroko's ginataan had a more refined and elegant presentation compared to what's hawked along the alleyways of Manila. She uses only a few ingredients--sweetened black rice, purple yam, tapioca, and jack fruit--in a pool of medium-sweet coconut milk sauce. This more simple medley nevertheless channeled the soul of this humble snack, bringing food memories growing up when I would have it for merienda. Skool featured the dessert to raise funds for UNICEF to benefit Filipino children who are victims of typhoon Haiyan. One hundred percent of the price were donated to the charity. Way to go Skool!

Skool's uni flan topped with ikura and spread on mini crostini is the most killer app in the city. It's quite rich, so best to have a glass of Champagne or Chablis with it. I tried it with a Manhattan cocktail and it rocked.

It's sneakily listed on the menu as "squid ink spaghettina" but one slurp and you know it's clearly a seafood ramen. And it's terrific! A simple meal for me at Skool would be to start with the uni flan, then this "spaghettina".

I always bring wine to Skool, but one quiet night I went there without wine as their attractive bar has always intrigued me. I ordered a Manhattan, my favorite cocktail. My waitress asked me what Bourbon, but I said I'd have Rye. She suggested Redemption but I opted for Templeton. But where I break with tradition is I like it in a lowball glass instead of a cocktail glass. But this was a very good Manhattan, just a low dose of vermouth so the aggressive taste of the Templeton comes through.

Just a few of the wines I've enjoyed at Skool. After Beaujolais Nouveau Day friends and I opened a couple of cru Beaujolais and Thomas Pico's Pattes Loup Chablis. All wines were gorgeous with the food. Jean-Claude Lapalu's 2012 Brouilly Vielles Vignes showed graceful, rustic charm, while Pico's Chablis never fails to blow me away every time I have it.


Brouilly "Vieilles Vignes", Jean-Claude Lapalu 2012


Skool Restaurant
1725 Alameda Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.255.8800
Open for lunch Monday through Friday, dinner everyday, and brunch Saturday and Sunday

The Summit's Start-Up in The Mission

San Francisco seems to be getting smaller. The more I go out to the city these days, the more I realize that if it's not in The Mission then it's not really happening at all. The Mission is what defines San Francisco right now: it's the "new" San Francisco.

And in The Mission, you can't get any newer, both literally and conceptually, than the eclectically named The Summit.

So what is The Summit? Well, I went to the private soft launch a few Saturdays ago (public opening is scheduled on Sept. 30) and I walked away still not entirely sure if I got it. Maybe Desi Danganan is just light years ahead that I'm still about a year away from fully comprehending his start-up, er café.

Desi, arms stretched out, in the universal gesture for "I did it!"

So let me take you through what I observed from Desi's quick tour. Essentially, The Summit is part of an integrated café and crib for tech start-ups known as i/o ventures. Okay, you with me? Only in San Francisco, or more pointedly, in The Mission.



The cavernous 780 Valencia space is shared between The Summit (the café) and i/o ventures (the tech start-up incubator business). i/o ventures is the angel funder for The Summit, but curiously I find it hard to tell which of the two is the tail and which is the dog. Just seems a little blurry, especially because of the porous physical layout. Time will tell, I guess, then again, this might be the genius of the project. A vision of a "third place" for everyone, particularly hipster folks.



So when are we going to eat? Enough of the start-up talk and let's turn our attention to the café. Service is cafeteria-style. You walk up to the front counter. Read the wall menu. State your order. Pay. Take the table number handed to you. Settle down on one of the communal tables, sit in the couch in the lounge area, pull a stool at the counter, or just stand around while you wait for your order to be brought to you. At times I felt like being a guest in the living room of a very large house. The minimal decor of concrete floor and wood stain counter and tables create a contemporary, sleek look.



Eddie Lau, the chef, prowled behind the counter, stepping in and out of the enclosed kitchen and the open prep area and drinks bar. There is no gas running in the kitchen so it's fully electric. Desi pointed out that the advantage is that the kitchen cooks cleaner with less smoke and burning odors--very key in this integrated café/office environment, I guess. I asked Eddie if cooking all-electric pose any limitation, and he confidently replied, not at all. Except that he does prep some dishes off-site, like his slow-smoked pastrami. More on this later.





The Summit menu perfectly fits the format. Delicatessen cuisine-inspired, updated with local ingredients and good, honest cooking. Servings are moderate, not heaping, so I got an almost spa-like feel, especially with the tea and chai selection. One thing my friend, Max, noted about the service is that the order is not coursed out--everything comes out together, the salad, soup, sandwich or mains. Maybe he's right, coursing out the order could be a key refinement.



I started with the Summer Corn Soup ($5) that was slurpalicious! Eddie said it was just corn with some dairy. But this is why it's so good!



My Red Pastrami Sandwich ($7.50) was also very good, though the slaw topping was under-seasoned. Eddie slow-cooked the pastrami off-site for 3.5 hours using cherry wood at a downright glacial 130-155 F. My teeth just sank in to it with each bite.



Max opted for the Hot Pork Sandwich ($8) with melted Gruyere on grilled toast. He scarfed it down before I even had a chance to ask him for a taste bite. It did look good, and Max said, indeed.

No alcoholic drinks were on the list but my Iced Lychee Black Tea ($2), perfectly sweetened, was refreshingly delicious! A classic pairing with my pastrami.

Eddie said he's working with Alex Fox (ex-Myth sommelier) on a wine list. I can't wait to see what they'll come up with. Maybe I can nag Eddie and Desi for a Vineyard Gate wine dinner soon.


The Summit
780 Valencia Street (cor. 19th)
San Francisco, CA
(target opening is Sept. 30th)

Dry Lambrusco and Salumi. Yumm!

I was really enjoying myself the other day at Bar Bambino in the Mission District of San Francisco having one of the most heavenly pairings that's a tradition in Emilia-Romagna, a cool glass of dry Lambrusco and Prosciutto. But the latter was not from Parma but La Quercia Farm's superb American Prosciutto.



Similar to Spain's Jamon Iberico de Bellota, La Quercia's Prosciutto is from acorn-fed, free-range pig (100% Berkshire not the black-hooves of Spain). Robert Parker (yes, the wine guy) compared it favorably to Spain's best Jamon de Bellota, Joselito's Gran Reserva. I've had Joselito's Gran Reserva a few times, but to my taste Sanchez Romero Carvajal's Cinco Jotas Jabugo is the best jamon. But I digress.


Bar Bambino also features house-cured salumi, which totally surprised me by how good they were. Even next to the La Quercia Prosciutto, I found myself picking on the house-cured salumi more. I was told they're made from scraps of meat! Goes to show that left-overs taste better.


But what really enhanced the salumi and elevated my nibbling was the spectacular 2008 Lambrusco-Emilia IGT from Mauro Zini. So it is not your grandfather's sweet, mass-produced Riunite Lambrusco. This is the dry Lambrusco made from Lambrusco Salamino di Santacroce, with a bit of Malbo Gentile. Appropriately, the tiny berries of this particular Lambrusco is said to resemble a salami, hence Salamino. It is made with skin contact for over 72 hours for a deeper extraction of color and flavor. Served on the cool side, not chilled, this Lambrusco's distinctive scent of iron and rust, slight fizz, bright black cherry flavor, and hints of mineral and plums marry so well with the assortment of salumi.


Watch for the arrival of the 2008 Mauro Zini Lambrusco-Emilia at Vineyard Gate soon!