Famished Girl
Bar Tartine, The Mission
If you’ve had the pleasure of visiting Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bakery, you can understand why I was looking forward to trying their three-month-old restaurant, Bar Tartine. Since the bakery is one of the best in the city, I walked into the full-service eatery with very high expectations. And I’m happy to report that those expectations were exceeded.
With its dark wood floors, marble-topped bar and walnut tables, Bar Tartine has a stylish yet comfortable feel. Like the bakery, the restaurant has a large communal table in the front. Upon checking in with the hostess, we were led to a corner banquette in the back of the dining room — the perfect spot for spying on the open kitchen as well as taking in the very busy bar scene.
There were four of us at the table. Rather than ordering one starter and entree each, we opted for sharing various dishes. This decision was largely based on the fact that there was a plethora of small plates on the menu, but only four entrees.
We sampled the butternut squash soup; asparagus salad with a sunny-side-up egg; arugula salad; manila clams with grilled bread; house-smoked sable with creme fraiche and caviar, served on top of potato salad; serrano ham with dates and almonds; lamb with creamy polenta; and the guinea hen. Although we finished off every single item, the soup (I loved the bacon and chestnut in it), sable and lamb were my favorites.
Given the restaurant’s pedigree, desserts were a must here. The sticky date cake was hands-down my top choice of the evening’s selections. (An Australian diner at my table said it reminded him of the sticky date pudding that is so popular in his homeland.) The vanilla pot de creme with lemon curd was also quite tasty.
The service was good throughout our meal; our waitress was friendly and knowledgeable. The complimentary bite-size meringues that arrived with the check were a nice, sweet ending to a wonderful dinner.
TIP: The restaurant has no exterior signs boasting its name. Look for the antler chandelier in the window, and a sign for the Curtis Hotel is just above the entry to Bar Tartine.
Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 487-1600
