Brunch at B Star (Inner Richmond) (review)
A friend who is a reasonable person except on the topic of brunch convinced me to join his plans at B Star Bar in the Inner Richmond. The sister restaurant of Burma Superstar, B Star focuses on casual fusion cuisine that spans the map from Mexico to Burma.
My brunch grump doesn't want to pay for someone to scramble an egg for him, says that pancakes make him sleepy, and through many other critiques, has indicated that he only likes a non-brunch brunch: no lines, not interested in coffee, favors savory over sweet, and isn't arriving before 11:30 for any reason.
B Star was both perfect and delicious. The menu featured standard favorites like blueberry pancakes (and the perfectly portioned "1, 2, 3" breakfast, which includes one pancake, two eggs, and three strips of bacon) and salmon benedict to the interesting and savory like jook, stuffed azuki almond banana french toast, lentil ragu, and a few carryovers from Burma Superstar, like veggie samosa soup, tea leaf salad and rainbow salad. Reviewing the menu, I was a little afraid that the kitchen might not handle every cuisine with equal dexterity--huevos rancheros and ochazuke?--but our food was great.
We started with a split portion of tea leaf salad, which was exactly as I remembered it from Burma Superstar--nice fermentation, good amount of crunch. When my dining companions visited before, he had a fresh banana milkshake, which he said wasn't great, and she had the azuki almond banana french toast, which she liked a lot. This time we ordered pork tocino with garlic fried rice, a viet style soft shell crab po' boy, and pork and white beans.
My pork tocino was unbelievable, and you should stop reading this review and go eat it right now. Tocino is grilled or fried pork fatback--it has the appearance of thick-cut bacon with the chew and sweetness of jerky. The pork was served under two bright yolked sunny-side-up eggs and on top of a mound of garlic fried rice over which were sprinkled a few halved cherry tomatoes. Whatever is your problem in life, this will fix it.
The soft shell crab sandwich looked pretty good, but I think I would have preferred the shattering, crackly quality of a rice flour baguette--the bread it was served on was a little too substantial for my taste. Side dish was lotus chips seasoned with chili salt; the grump didn't think they had any flavor beyond "fried."
The pork and white beans sounded simple, but was gorgeous and well executed. This was served with bok choy and a plate full of jasmine rice.
We didn't go for any of the sweets, but from spying on the tables around me, it looked like all of the dishes were composed with the same care and attention to quality as ours--I saw a baby eating a bowl of lovely fruit, a couple sharing a steaming bowl of jook. It was a little hard to believe that anyone was standing in line for 45 minutes to get a pancake down the street. So I guess the grump was right (although ordering well is the best revenge).
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B Star Bar
127 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118
Burma Superstar
4721 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA
By pane
on Mar 27, 2011 02:47 PM
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You had me at tocino, pane! Thanks for the lovely and evocative writeup. I adore savoury things for brunch and for many years was unconvinced that anything should be ingested prior to 11:30 on weekends so I think I fall into the grump category too.
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oh my god, grayelf is right, that review is wonderful, and i want tocino and soft shell crab sandwich (albeit not crunchy enough bread) and tea leaf salad NOW. but they're closed right now, i'm pretty sure. and i had just about decided to be done with burma superstar, but hadn't tried b-star ever. GE, you were looking for a brunch option....... hmmmm?
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After a lukewarm chowdown at B Star Bar a few years ago,
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/533053 , those non-Burmese inflected brunch offerings might draw me back. Yet I need to ask, did the tea leaf salad have more lettuce than tea leaves?
And yes, tocino and variously topped silogs (eggs with garlic rice) are among The Philippines greatest culinary contributions. Now I'm missing my days of Filipino chowing in Vallejo when I used to smoke out my cubicle mates at the client's offices with the scent of grilled meats and fragrant fried garlic from my take-out breakfast.
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B Star Bar
127 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118
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