Farmer Brown - SF - Report

[Dave MP]

Tonight I ate w/ three others at Farmer Browns - it was my first visit. Overall, I thought it was good but not great. Some things were better than others.

I liked the space more than I thought - it was dark and a bit loud, but also warm and spacious. Service was also very friendly and professional.

Water (w/ cucumber) was served in glass carafes. We started w/ complimentary mini cornbread muffins - served w/ a slightly jalapeno flavored butter. Good, but nothing to write home about.

We shared one appetizer - shrimp cakes. I thought these were just OK, though other people at the table really enjoyed them. They were deep fried (as opposed to pan fried) and reminded me a bit of fish sticks. They didn't taste particularly like shrimp. They were served w/ two sauces that overlapped each other on the plate: one tasted like Russian dressing (ketsup and mayo) and the other was spicy (horseradish and/or chili?). Not that interesting, but fine.

The four of us ordered 4 different main dishes.

1 person had the fried chicken w/ macaroni and cheese and collard greens. I didn't taste any of this.

2nd person had pulled pork sandwich. The pulled pork was nice and tender, but had a flavor that I couldn't quite identify and didn't quite like. Almost reminded me of 5-spice or some other sweet spice (nutmeg?). This was served with BBQ sauce and chips, which I did not try.

3rd person had Jambalaya, which I tasted and thought was very good. Good flavor, nice presentation, generous portion. I was a bit jealous I didn't have his plate. He paid an extra 5 dollars to include andouille sausage (which was a bit dear for just one sausage) but I bet it made the dish better.

I had the fried catfish, which was a disappointment. The piece of catfish itself was big and tender inside, but the outside crust was bland and under-salted. I was wishing for a dipping sauce, but there wasn't one. Since the crust was bland and there was no dipping sauce, the swampy catfish flavor wasn't as masked as I wished it would be. My plate had 3 sides: the fried okra were bad. Way under-salted, basically flavorless. I could have been eating fried cardboard and it would have tasted exactly the same. Candied yams were pretty decent - nothing special, and not particularly pretty presentation, but flavor was fine. The sauteed green vegetable (not sure what kind of vegetable it was - southern greens I think?) was really excellent! By far the best thing on my plate, and maybe better than the Jambalaya. Good balance of acidity (lemon?) and garlic and some other flavors I couldn't quite identify. But I really think this one sidedish redeemed the entire restaurant for me.

We opted to skip dessert, though the menu looked pretty decent. Overall, I thought this restaurant was better than some of its competition (Sauce in Hayes Valley comes to mind) but still not fantastic. This seems like a great place to go for drinks (nice cocktail menu) and some appetizers for sharing with friends. Or maybe an order of Jambalaya and a side of southern greens.

Dave MP

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Farmer Brown
25 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

[budnball]

My reaction to Farmerbrown is pretty much the same. Great drinks and more comfortable space then I expected.Good bread but then comes the food. My chicken was dry and the mac and cheese was inedible. My partner had the pan fried meatloaf which was just ok but had to feed us both. I'd have drinks there anytime but eat elsewhere.

[suebette]

For the most part I have been happy with my experiences at Farmer Brown (I think I have been there 5 times). I think it is excellent value for an organic/seasonally themed menu so it is a great spot to meet up with friends. Everybody is right on with the coctails - they are solid, interestingly the bartender at Cantina told me that the Cantina's owners did a consult for Farmerbrown.
More than any critique of the food I have had problems with the service at Farmerbrown - after spending a looooonnnngggg time in the service industry I don't like to be too nitpicky or cruel, but two times the service has been a bit dismissive and lacking.
Final Verdict: Go to the bar, have some apps or go late night.

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Cantina
580 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94108

[gbsf]

I ate there last night as well. I had the seafood Jambalaya and thought it was delicious, but not sure the sausage addition was worth the extra $5. Someone else got the fried chicken. I ate her drumstick and really liked the tenderness of the meat and the breading - nice flavor. As for desserts, the bourbon pecan pie was definitely worth it, if not the highlight of the meal.

[JasmineG]

Thanks for the report. I like the space at Farmer Brown a lot, and the drinks are great, but the undersalting has been a consistent problem in all the meals that I've had there (and other reports have commented on it as well). It's a shame, because there's a lot of promise there, and the prices aren't bad.

[ChowFun_derek]

I usually prefer that salting be left up to my taste..since it is so subjective.....at least one can always add salt...it cannot be removed once it has been "oversalted"

[rworange]

Yeah, I'm with you on oversalting. When I eat out a lot, I get numbed to the taste of salt. But if I'm eating at home for a while, going back to eating out is like ... yuck ... too, too salty.

Anyway, thanks for the report Dave. I'm interested in the fried chicken since Farmer Brown has a special after 10 pm for the chicken.

What annoys me about Farmer Brown is that the real name of the restaurant is Farmerbrown (no space) ... but who thinks that. Anyway, thanks to the way search works, that's why you didn't find the record for it. Someone changed the title to Farmer Brown which is probably for the best since that's how most people think it is spelled.

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Farmer Brown
25 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

[Dave MP]

What's strange is that I *did* find the record for it, and I didn't notice until now that it said "duplicate." Hmmm.

I agree that oversalted isn't good, but I am not a huge salt fan, so when I notice that something is undersalted, it is definitely a problem - I rarely have to add salt to anything when eating out. When I did add salt to the fish, it was a good improvement.

Dave MP

[rworange]

There's a post on either site talk or technical help about this because I was getting confused about what was happening. Sometimes someone notices a duplicate record in a post and flags the record as a duplicate so it won't come up in future searches. So at the time you posted, it didn't say duplicate.

[JasmineG]

Right, but adding salt to the top of fried chicken does not make it as flavorful as it would be if the chef added the correct amount of salt in the seasoning process.

[ChowFun_derek]

That's true...which seems to be the reason Kosher Chickens (which are brined) always seem to win taste tests......but oversalted means many things to many people, and I would rather augment the salt that is there with additional salt if that is what my taste buds require...also I often like the imported salt flakes (Maldon is my present favorite) used in moderation that adhere to freshly fried food, adding an additional little bright salt explosion!