the tablehopper | 11:45 am | July 1, 2009 | Foodie 411 | Add a comment
What is touted to be the City’s greenest café, The Plant Cafe Organic just opened in Pier 3 on the city’s waterfront, just north of the Ferry Building. It’s a spacious one: 4,600 square feet, and 112 seats, with some of them outside and in the back with a lovely view of the water. CCS Architecture/Cass Calder Smith designed the space (La Mar, Perbacco, Delica rf-1, Terzo, Restaurant Lulu, and the Plant Cafe Organic’s Steiner Street location are other CCS-designed spaces). There is plenty of natural light, views of the Bay, natural wood furnishings, a private patio on the waterfront, and a live-fire pizza oven. Flora Grubb will also design and install a living green wall, made with air plants in the dining room. The south space features quick-service organic coffee, pastries, lunches, dinners, and grab-and-go items (like soba noodles, quinoa, etc.), while the north space provides a full-service lunch and dinner menu (items are $20 and under). Both spaces are lined with sidewalk seating on the Embarcadero.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Marina location, The Plant Cafe Organic (formerly known as lettüs) serves an almost purely organic (95%) and primarily locally sourced menu—but to clarify, it’s not just vegetarian. There will be fresh juices and smoothies, soups, salads (like one of avocado, ruby red grapefruit, arugula, and creamy black pepper and macadamia nut dressing), and sandwiches (like BBQ chicken or tempeh with chipotle BBQ sauce, roasted red onion, cheddar cheese, and garlic aioli), plus organic appetizers (how about some oysters, or spicy fava bean and cherry tomato bruschetta?), entrées (including my favorite vegetarian burger), pizza (there’s one of roasted chicken, caramelized onion, Point Reyes blue cheese, fennel soubise), organic beer and wines, cocktails (like the honeycomb colada with coconut milk, organic pineapple juice, rum chilled with local honeycomb, garnished with toasted coconut flakes), and house-made desserts.
Here’s more on how green the project is: the sustainably designed restaurant space utilizes non-toxic, natural, and in many cases recycled building materials plus solar panels on the roof; take-out packaging is either recyclable or biodegradable; all paper materials use recycled paper; and all biodegradable waste will be composted. The Plant also serves free, filtered water (both flat and carbonated). Café hours are 7:30am–10pm, with the sit-down menu served from 11am–10pm.
Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.
the tablehopper | 11:16 am | | Foodie 411, Happy Hour, South of Market | Add a comment
Lunchtime in SoMa just keeps getting better: Town Hall kicked off their first lunchtime BBQ in the courtyard flanking the restaurant, serving fried chicken sandwiches for $9 (they do some of my favorite fried chicken in SF), a smoked and grilled andouille po’ boy for $8 (look for other kinds of sausages in the future), and their St. Louis spareribs with sides, plus cookies and Town Hall’s famous butterscotch pot de crème for dessert. In the future, Mitch Rosenthal said to look for some quirky specials, like BBQ baloney or a Taylor pork roll, a Jersey-style sandwich he remembers from his childhood. (Follow menu updates on their Twitter feed.)
The Town Hall folks have been trying to work out a take-out concept for a while, so it seems they have found it. The first day was all hands on deck, since over 150 people showed up. You can enter the courtyard either off Fremont or Howard—it’s just north of the restaurant. Hours are Mon–Fri 11:30am–2pm, and there are high hopes to do a happy hour in the future.
Meanwhile, over at their sister restaurant, Anchor & Hope, it looks like the already-popular beer selection is seriously ramping up. They brought on Eric Cripe from The Jug Shop to consult on the list, and are putting in 16 taps, plus they will have a beer engine to hand pump beer from casks (how British), and eventually will have 60–80 bottles. The menu is already quite beer-friendly, so this is going to be a fun program to see take shape.
The new beer list will be in place on July 8th, when Anchor & Hope kicks off a happy hour with $1 oysters, and chef Sarah Schafer is making some sausages (she’s actually using the first smoker Town Hall bought since they are now on their third).
Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.
the tablehopper | 3:54 pm | June 30, 2009 | Foodie 411, Noe Valley | Add a comment
A few more details about the place that is opening in the now-closed City Grille: it’s called Bistro 24. (This is a project from Stefano Coppola of Lupa.) The chef is Pierre Mangé (how’s that for a last name for a chef?), formerly an opening sous at Contigo, a lead line cook at SPQR, and a sous at Chow. The new contemporary American comfort menu (with some international and Mediterranean influences) will include 10–15 small plates ranging from $5.50–$11, plus main dishes. Look for a rotating menu of dishes like lamb sliders, grilled oysters, and mac and cheese, all made with quality and sustainable products. The wine list is getting revamped, with up to 50 international wines, and 15–20 by the glass. The place is also getting repainted, with new artwork, and candles on the tables. The opening should be around July 1st or so.
Also in Noe Valley: a La Boulange will be opening in the Noe Valley Pizza space, probably late this fall. No word on when Noe Valley Pizza will close since it’s hard to tell when permits will go through. I spoke with Bay Bread’s Thomas Lefort, who mentioned they are going to be putting some outdoor seating and benches on the sides of the corner building.
Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.
the tablehopper | 11:28 am | June 26, 2009 | Deals, Foodie 411 | Add a comment
Palio d’Asti is now open on Saturday nights again, from 6pm–9pm. (They haven’t been open on Saturdays since 1995.) On Saturdays only, they will also throw in a complimentary antipasto platter. And one thing to note: there’s plenty of free street parking around there after 7pm, so you can actually go out in heels without the hike. A few other enticing details: every night, including Saturday, the first martini is only $1 with a three-course meal ($37/head, no matter what you order). And if you’re doing the three-courser, there is no corkage either (every night)! That makes for one heck of an inexpensive meal: a $1 martini, $37 for three courses, and you could even bring your own wine. Plus a free antipasto platter if you’re comin’ in on a Saturday.
Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.
 |
 |
 |
