First Look - TWO - ex-Hawthorne Lane Restaurant location reopened tonight
Just walked by today and noticed that the Hawthorne Lane location has reopened as TWO at 22 Hawthorne Street. Turned out it is their opening nite so I stopped in for a drink and a bite.
The place has been completely remodeled, new lighting and shades, the central bar has been replaced with something bigger and you can see thru to the other side. The music is more modern and the restaurant menu reflects a more casual restaurant. The front of the restaurant is done and sits about 100 people. The back area is not complete and won't be complete until April, but there are ample bar seating and tables for dinners. They are serving dinner now and lunch in two weeks.
The menu:
The menu looks like it could change since it has a date stamp on it. For tonight, the menu was in 6 sections:
Soup and Salad
Ranging from $7 to $9. Spicy Onion Soup with Poached Egg, Fish Soup Rouille, chicken livery dumplings in boullon, iceberg wedge salad, chopped veg salad and Deer Island Scallops
Appetizers
Ranging from $8 to $15
Roasted Sardines, smoked salmon, duck liver pate, grilled half dungeness crab, herb crepinettes, and slow roasted marrow bones
Pasta
They do small plates as well as main course pasta, $8 to $10 for small pltes and $9 to $18 for large plates.
Fettuccine with sausage, farfalle with cauliflower, mushroom agnolottie, spaghetti with sea urchin, bacon and egg raviolo.
I had the spaghetti with sea urchin, very creative approach to bind the sea urchin with spices to keep it from disintegrating.
Meat, Fish and Poutry
Ranging from $16 to $36
Braised lamb cheeks, roasted pork, prime NY strip, grilled swordfish, roasted striped bass, cast iron Half chicken on cast iron pan
Roasted half duck on the bone.
Veg Sides
Ranging from $6 - $7
Potao garlic purre, fried potato skins, french fries, creamy polenta, caramelized broccoli, grilled radicchio, caramelized brussel sprouts, and braised escarole.
Dessert $7.50 each
Root beer float, Margarita Sundae, Banana cream pie brulee, 3 mini icecream sandwiches, two cupcakes
Definitely planning to stop back by to try different foods. I understand most of the staff from Hawthorne Lane is working at the new place
TWO
22 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco
-
Robert Lauriston
Sep 10, 2007 01:31 PM
Found out the hard way that TWO is now closed Sundays.
-----
Two
22 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105 -
-
re: uninvitedsaint
singleguychef
Jun 14, 2007 08:45 PM
my friend tried the cilantro martini and I sipped and have to say it's not a favorite. Very very strong cilantro taste, but not perfumey as much as it was medicinal. Pretty though.
My friends and I had fun checking this place out. Two is a lot more casual but the menu is interesting so it makes it fun to try different dishes and share. However, it's really hit and miss. I think someone mentioned the spaghettini with sea urchin (which is deep fried in pieces) and I have to say that's my favorite too. They also have this great raviolo with a raw egg yolk inside, so it's like eating eggs benedict but with a ravioli.
The messes were the pizza (the crush was too chewy) and the half duck was adequate but straightforward with nothing special about the taste.
The dessert list is very diverse and I really loved the Two cupcakes, a chocolate mousse and a peanut butter one. Both were so moist and creamy.
I photos of the spaghettini and cupcakes but more photos can be found in my full review here: http://singleguychef.blogspot.com/200...
-
-
Robert Lauriston
Mar 16, 2007 08:43 AM
The whole back room, unchanged from the Hawthorne Lane days, is available for private parties.
-
-
re: Bay Gelldawg
davina
Jun 11, 2007 02:43 PM
Lunch there is pretty good, though I'd recommend reserving a table. Their menu changes often -- there seem to be quite a few new spring ingredients on there now, since the last time I went.
http://www.two-sf.com/eat/menu.html
I agree with Robert that the marrow bones are good, as is the spaghetti with sea urchin. The place still feels a little corporate, but certainly not as bad as the old, stuffy HL.
-
-
-
-
Robert Lauriston
Jan 19, 2007 06:47 PM
The marrow bones, spaghetti with sea urchin, and caramelized broccoli were really good. Wouldn't order the chicken liver dumplings or roasted pork again.
-
If you remember the old place, they basically haven't opened the back area. They told me the seating capacity is about 100 and they think it is fine for now. I think you should call ahead just to make sure. Since the layout and seating and menu is changed, I am sure they will be doing some tweaking of the place in the next 3-4 months.
-
-
-
-
The pasta dish is spaghetti was interesting. The uni is deep fried I think (I have never cooked uni so I don't know how the chef cooked it, but there were crunchy pieces of uni flavor with parsely embedded in it that I initially thought were croutons) and the sauce is uni colored and spicy from chili and parseley. I can taste the uni, chili heat and garlic flavor in the sauce.
I like raw uni and putting it in a pasta sauce is very unique and you can call it a brilliant idea or waste of good uni :-) I enjoyed the dish when I was eating it, I will probably order it again just to figure out how the chef prepared it.
Since it was first nite I didn't want to test the bar, I am more of a food person. I didn't see any specialty cocktails ordered, and most people ordered wine. From the conversations I overheard last nite was mostly old Hawthorne Lane regulars and vendors coming in to check out the opening.
I had two Grey Goose and Tonic with the small plate for pasta and it was $34 plus tip.
-
-
adroit_minx
Jan 12, 2007 07:13 AM
Thanks for your post, I've been wondering when the official change was going to take place. Can you describe the uni-pasta dish a bit more? I've been foaming at the mouth to try that. And what did you have to drink? Do they have any interesting cocktails and/or a good wine list available by the glass?
