Suggestions for a Visting LA Chowhound!
To start, thank you for any help you can provide. I am looking for suggestions for any where from San Francisco city, Nappa Valley to San Jose.
I'm very interested in some great lunch and dinner distinations. I'm really not a morning person so breakfast won't work for me;) I prefer French, Fusion, and New American.
1. Best Foie Gras:
2. Best hole in the wall
3. Best seabass
4. High end French
5. French Bistro
6. Fusion (Japanese/French)
7. Peruvian
8. gastropub
9. Celebrity Chef restaurants (worth trying and that I secure reservations within a week)
10. Food events such as DineLA between Dec. 21 to Dec. 28.
Thank you for any suggestions and taking the time to answer any portion of this wide list! Happy Holidays!
By issey
on Dec 17, 2009 11:23 PM
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The best Japanese fusion is Ame. We don't really have anything like DineLA during the dates your are wanting; our DAT is in January. San Francisco is still grasping at creating a great gastropub, I'm sorry to say and I would also say that our Peruvian isn't nearly as good as Los Angeles.
Hole-in-the-Wall is subjective: What type of food?
For a French bistro, I would head to Cafe Claude or Café de la Presse. For high-end French, I would suggest Fleur de Lys.
And for seabass, you can't do better than Sam's Grill or Tadich Grill.
Celebrity Chef restaurants do nothing for me, so I'm going to leave that one alone. Well, except for maybe Jeremy Fox at Ubuntu. He was on Martha before Thanksgiving and is on the way to celebrity status. Go to Ubuntu.
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Thanks for the rec's Carrie. I'm really looking forward to Fleur De Lys. I also heard about the Burger bar by the same owner. Have you heard if the froie gras, truffle hamberger lives up to the hype?
In regards, to a whole in the whole in the wall, I'm looking for something I should try that is cheap, huge, and not fufu.....pretty broad. In LA, the roaming roach truck is really popular such as the kogi truck which serves Korean tacos. I can get really good low priced Chinese or Vietnamese food in LA and frankly a bit OD on those right now.
I appreciate any other suggestions you have. Thanks
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We have all been reading about the Burger Bar and how over-rated and over-priced it is so I have not bothered.
My favorite hole-in-the-wall is Larkin Express Burmese Kitchen. There is nothing like it in Los Angeles and is one of the best bargains in the city in that you can get a TON of food for not much money. I lived in L.A. for 18 years and wouldn't bother steering you towards something that you could get in Los Angeles -- Burmese is definitely worth checking out!
452 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
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French / fusion: Manresa, Commis, Coi, Canteen, La Folie. Unfortunately Mission Street Food is closed for the holidays.
Peruvian, I like Mochica (don't miss the halibut tiraditos) and the happy hour at La Mar.
Bistro, Jeanty in Yountville.
Lers Ros is arguably a hole in the wall. Larkin Express Burmese Kitchen surely is (closes early). Old Mandarin Islamic for hot pot.
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Robert, have you been to Jeanty in Yountville recently? It has had the most horrible reviews for the past year or so and many think it has jumped the shark. My last meal there (about five months ago), was atrocious.
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We were there in late June and had a wonderful lunch -- as usual -- along with great service.
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Manressa isn't entirely French fusion, he is also influenced by Catalan cuisine, which is more apparent in some dishes than others. It's the best meal I've had in the area. Definitely a must try.
You will also find one of the best foie gras bites at Manressa in his little foie gras croquettes.
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Manresa's Web site says "contemporary French cuisine with modern Spanish flair," by which I think he means El Bulli and the rest of the avant-garde.
Of the 20(?) dishes I tasted, not one had a recognizable Catalan influence, and the same goes for the current sample menu.
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The home page also mentions "French and modern Catalan cooking." The restaurant is named after a Catalan town. They are definitly counting that as an influence. I don't think it's totally accurate to call Manressa French fusion.
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I always thought Manresa was named after the Santa Cruz beach. Catalonia makes more sense.
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Actually, both:
"The restaurant's name comes from the medieval town in the Catalonia region of northern Spain famous for its Gothic basilica and monastery as well as from a beautiful stretch of beach south of Santa Cruz, which the Jesuits of early California named Manresa."
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What you call it doesn't matter so much as that the mention of foie gras, high end French, fusion, and celebrity chef in the opening post immediately made me think of the place.
That said, and whatever the Web site says aside, I can't see the Spanish or Catalan influence.
The techniques are very French. Many of the dishes are variations on French dishes with a twist from some other cuisine, e.g. "Roast breast of duck, braised winter vegetables with our exotic spice" (i.e., vadouvan), "Beef bavette roasted in its own fat, spring alliums, toasted quinoa with arugula," "Roast squab with crushed farro grain, fennel, parsnips with argan oil."
I don't know what's wrong with calling it French fusion. Those dishes sound pretty similar to things that chefs in Paris are doing these days.
Per the blurb in Kinch's bio, "His philosophy is fostered by the terroir or 'sense of place' of the California Coast, and the kind of ingredient-driven cooking and modern technique he studied in France, Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States." But the modern techniques in all those places came from France.
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Well, this is silly. If you want to be right than okay. Yes, he is a self described "francophile" and his cooking reflects that in technique for sure. But he goes beyond that and works in many other angles. You'll find Japanese as well as other influences. I think understanding that helps one appreciate the breadth of David Kinch's talent. I just think that "French fusion" is too simplistic a description when you mention Manressa.
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I found the Japanese influence significant at Manresa. To me it was as much as the French. I'd call Manresa Cal cuisine with more technique, sort of a cross between French Laundry and Chez Panisse.
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The original post mentioned "high-end French and "fusion (Japanese/French), and I said "French / fusion: Manresa, Commis, Coi, Canteen, La Folie," since they are all strongly grounded in French technique and style and they all show Japanese influence in some dishes. I wouldn't try to pigeonhole any of those chefs.
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I enjoy the specificity of your list, but it leads to category arguing.
One of the hottest joints right now is Commis. Go while they still have their edge. It's a category you didn't mention - modern, which maybe you call New American, which you've mentioned you like but left off the list.
I think Monk's Kettle might be categorized as a gastropub - and it's in SF. Reports are mixed. Luka's is in Oakland, The Refuge is in San Carlos. All are focused around Belgian beer. There's no a clear SF rec.
But reading between the lines, the classic recommendation of the Toranado (best beer bar ever) + whole in the wall (rosamunde's sausages next door) might be a winner.
Add a serious +1 for ubuntu. My socks were knocked off. They exist in the category "ubuntu" - there's nothing like their tasting menu.
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