Canteen - A study of contrasts [San Francisco]
I finally made it over to Canteen last nite – delighted to snag 2 seats at the counter on short notice. After wending our way over as the evening rains began, I was pleasantly surprised not so much by how tiny a location it is, but by the “library reading room” motif of bookshelves on the wall. Nice!
We started off with the chef’s offering of an amuse-bouche of duck confit that raised the bar: delicate, yet flavorful.
For appetizers, we chose seared sea scallops with sweet corn puree and a Muscat vinaigrette. Yowzah! It was an incredible medley of flavors and textures. We also shared the “Rabbit salad” (more of a “salad compose”) of peppered rabbit loin, with peas, mustard and aspic. It was enjoyable, but paled in comparison with the scallops. And the warm brioche and butter was delicious.
As an entrée, I opted for the lamb loin with faro, along with roasted peppers and raisins. The lamb was extraordinarily flavorful, juicy and tender — and best of all, it actually tasted like lamb, and had some kind of dusting of cayenne that gave it a bit of a kick. Among the best lamb I’ve had in the U.S. The faro tasted like it was spiced with a smokey Spanish pimenton. Loved it. My dining partner chose the yellowtail with potato crust, fava beans, spring onions, artichoke hearts, and a sauce “gribiche” which is like a tartare sauce. The fish was a smidgen over-cooked for my palette, but it had a wonderful flavor.
Chef Dennis Leary is playing with sweet ingredients added to the appetizer and entree, yet not cloyingly sweet -- rather, used as a complement and to attend to the other flavors of the dish.
So what’s the contrast? Dessert.
Simply put, the chocolate hazelnut custard was a tasteless disappointment, as was the
almond torte with rhubarb and citrus. As impeccable as we found the apps and entrees, is as disappointed we were in the desserts. That said, all around us, folks were “inhaling” the vanilla soufflé. Next time I visit Canteen – which I hope will be very soon -- I will opt for that crowd pleaser.
ps- Service was attentive, helpful and enjoyable. Our server led us to an enjoyable Cote du Rhone that only got more full-bodied and rich in flavor throughout the meal.
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free sample addict aka Tracy L
Jan 3, 2013 08:52 PM
Has anyone tried the prix fixe menu yet?
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re: free sample addict aka Tracy L
grayelf
Jan 4, 2013 06:59 AM
Tried it in early November. Very good but a bit too filling at four courses, although he is modulating size for the soup and salad. There is a veg choice available nightly for each course, which I went for in the soup course as the regular one had crab in it. And the night we went there were two choices for the main, red meat and fish, and two dessert options, including the vanilla souffle (phew). And of course you still get the brioche at the beginning :-).
The second dish pictured (salad) had an awesome piece of duck confit on top -- so crispy and perfectly cooked. The beef was wonderful also, a one-two punch of tenderloin on a bed of short ribs. Limited wine choices were a bit of a problem this time -- neither of us liked the ones we picked.
Here are some bad pix of our meal, minus a shot of the crab soup and plus a picture of the steak knife and the shellfish fork which made me chuckle. The fish course was supposed to have mussels with it which didn't arrive because of a miscommunication on my part:
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re: grayelf
mariacarmen
Jan 4, 2013 11:12 AM
it all looks beautiful (esp. the beef and duck!). my sister and i are going to have to check out this new Frenchiness.
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re: grayelf
free sample addict aka Tracy L
Jan 4, 2013 08:06 PM
Thanks, this really helps. No worries about the pix, it still looks good.
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Robert Lauriston
Dec 8, 2012 06:13 PM
Canteen made a lot of changes recently. No more brunch or a la carte. ~$50 prix-fixe dinner only, seatings at 6pm and 8pm, menu changes weekly. They're cooking their way through
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re: Robert Lauriston
Ruth Lafler
Dec 11, 2012 01:17 PM
r.vacapinta Nov 6, 2012 01:06 AM
I am on Canteen's mailing list and just received this:For the remainder of the year Canteen is serving a sequence of
Prix-Fixe dinners - 100 of them - all based on Robert Courtine's 1971
book "The Hundred Glories of French Cuisine". Dinners will be four
courses (excepting Tuesdays), with two seatings: 6 and 8pm.
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re: grayelf
grayelf
Dec 11, 2012 10:23 AM
Souffle was there when we went (woot!) but as the announcement on the website says, don't count on it. I was able to do a veg option on the soup which had crab so the prix fixe does offer some choice albeit not in the number of courses. This was not superproblematic for us though we don't usually do all four courses at a meal. Will post full report at some point.
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grayelf
Oct 17, 2012 07:40 PM
More changes coming at Canteen: in addition to 86ing brunch, they are going to be serving prix fixe dinners only starting Nov 5, with seatings at 6 and 8 pm. We've booked in to give it a try for our November trip but prix fixe meals always concern me a bit as I am kind of a picky eater.
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re: grayelf
mariacarmen
Oct 17, 2012 09:47 PM
please, grayelf - it's Dennis Leary! you know you can't go wrong!
my BF doesn't like fish, and the one time i took him, they had THREE kinds of fish. and while he didn't love, he liked, and appreciated how well prepared everything was. and he actually liked the mackerel!
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re: mariacarmen
grayelf
Oct 18, 2012 12:13 AM
Three kinds of fish would be awesome. Thanks for the virtual slap in the face, I needed that :-). I waited too long to make some reservations, notably no Rich Table for us, and had gotten into a bit of a tizz. But Canteen is in the bag and AQ too so it's not all bad.
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re: grayelf
I am on Canteen's mailing list and just received this:
For the remainder of the year Canteen is serving a sequence of
Prix-Fixe dinners - 100 of them - all based on Robert Courtine's 1971
book "The Hundred Glories of French Cuisine". Dinners will be four
courses (excepting Tuesdays), with two seatings: 6 and 8pm.
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Melanie Wong
May 1, 2012 07:27 PM
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8451...
Sounds like we had some overlap in menus from my dinner there a few days before you. I didn't love the scallop app. I liked the scallops alone, seared very well and sweet with freshness. And I liked the corn puree tasted alone as well. But putting the two sweet elements together with a sweet saucing gagged me. That said, I enjoyed reading your take on Leary's way with adding sweetness. We also ordered the rabbit salad and the avocado tartar.
The lamb dish knocked us out. I believe the menu description mentioned smoked chile as a component. One of my dining companions had just returned from Turkey and he agreed with me that the chocolate-brown flakes tasted and looked like Urfa pepper to him too.
Besides the lamb, we felt the desserts were the other highlight. I think we had the chocolate hazelnut creamy thing, a strawberry cake, and the vanilla souffle.
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re: escargot3
Melanie Wong
May 2, 2012 10:14 AM
When you find the urfa biber, pick up some maras biber too for a study in contrasts. I love both as a finishing pepper flake and for table use.
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mariacarmen
Apr 30, 2012 10:40 AM
that vanilla souffle is dreamy. I've only had a couple dishes at Canteen (over maybe 10 visits?) that weren't outstanding, but not outright disappointments. it's been awhile, and as Grayelf, your review is making me want to go again - soon.
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grayelf
Apr 26, 2012 10:47 PM
Sob, we missed our reso at Canteen this trip because of plane delays, so your writeup is making me really sad. The only things we've ever had at Canteen that disappointed were a fish dish (slightly overcooked) and a dessert (that wasn't the souffle which BTW is perfect to share one between two). He does really well with red meats and bivalves, we've found. Glad you finally got to try it out.
