Wowed at Boulevard in San Francisco

Thanks to the friendly posters at Chowhound, I made my way to Boulevard in San Francisco Friday night for a special and wonderful meal. Their web page says this about Boulevard:

"Chef Nancy Oakes is San Francisco's most beloved chef. Since its opening in 1993,
Boulevard has been hailed as one of the best restaurants in San Francisco.
Created in partnership with designer Pat Kuleto, the elegant, yet warm and welcoming
interior of Boulevard is the essence of the Belle Epoque style. It is a glorious setting for Chef Oakes hearty, flavorful, beautiful cuisine. American regional flavors, French influenced style, enthralling design, form the entire experience at Boulevard. Located in the heart of the San Francisco's revived waterfront area, the historic Audiffred Building is the ideal home for Boulevard."



I apologize for the sub-par photos in this review, I couldn't find the charger for my camera's batteries, and took all these pics on my iPhone. The interior of Boulevard is so stunning, I took loads of photos. Unfortunately, due to the soft lighting and lack of contrast in the decor, most of these were worthless. And they don't really do justice to the beautiful food either. In most cases without photos, I might not bother with a review. But this meal was so delicious, so satisfying, so artful, I couldn't let it pass by without thorough commentary.



We arrived early and started with a martini at the bar. If this was as fabulous as reputed, I wanted an opportunity to soak in the feel of the restaurant before eating. I cannot say enough about the beauty of the interior. From the brick vaulted ceilings, to the sparkling peacock in the mosaic tiles in the floor, the atmosphere is celebratory yet comfortable. There are several places to dine. In the front which has a brasserie feel, the rear which is a more formal dining room, and at the counter in front of the kitchen watching the food assemblage. I adored the look of these cozy love seats nestled against the windows facing the restaurant. Ideal for people watching.



We chose these cute dime store ice-cream counter stools in front of the kitchen and watched the cooks' every move.



The person who was the most fun to watch was the expediter. He got his paws on nearly every dish that came through the kitchen. It was wonderful to see the beautiful array of dishes passing through on their way toward patrons' tastebuds.



We tried to share out appetizers. We really did. But it turns out we ordered correctly because we were both most enamored with our own choices. I chose the roasted stuffed calamari. The tubes were stuffed with ingredients classic to a Manhattan clam chowder, clams, potatoes, onions and bacon. Upon serving, a broth resembling that from a Manhattan chowder was poured on top. Not enough to cover the squid, just enough for it to take a shallow dip. I wish the picture did the russet red broth justice. Le sigh. I loved this. LOVED.



D ordered the highly recommended golden beet and fresh goat cheese ravioli. These were huge and looked more like dumplings. They were covered generously in shaved summer truffle and roast hazelnut. I didn't think the flavors stood out strongly enough from one another in this dish. But apparently it is highly popular, and D thought it was awesome.




We both ordered fish for mains. Here, the kitchen puts the final touches on OUR plates. How cool is that?



I had a halibut served over summer squash risotto with roast chanterelle mushrooms. On the side were two beautiful squash blossoms stuffed with brandade, battered and lightly fried. Nom.



D ordered the black cod with lobster mushrooms and shrimp served over a yellow corn nage. On the plate was the much dreaded and feared foam, but this time it was used to good effect. It tasted like it was made from the broth of a thick chicken noodle soup, and added some lovely flavor to the dish.



I had read somewhere on the internet that desserts here are a force to be reckoned with, so D ordered a beautiful individual chocolate ganache cake with bourbon ice cream. He said it was good.



I busied myself with one slice of a firm goat cheese. I love seeing what restaurants pair with cheese courses. This was a winner. On my plate was a small square of honeycomb (my favorite paring), apricot jam (so lush), whole wheat bread slices and a little bunch of baby grapes. They look and tasted like baby concords, but I am not sure.



I will definitely want to be eating here next time I am in town.

5 Nights in Bakersfield: Night #4, continued

After prepping my tummy and my liver at Prime Cut Meats & Eats, we strolled across the 105 degree tarmac of the outlying strip mall over to The Orchid, Thai restaurant and wine bar.

The concept here is seriously cool. We had a great time. They have wine, good wine, installed in this customer-run wine bar. You prepay at the cash register, then you take a card to the bar, choose the glass size and hold your glass under the spout while the wine pours out.



There is a white side with old and new world whites, that shockingly did not rely overly on California chardonnay. Impressive. The red side was even more so. Chateau Montelina cab was a stand out. There were many excellent choices.




FYI, D! You need to hold the glass under the right spout or the $20 glass of wine spills on the floor and the deaf busboy has to mop it up. Just saying.



I was loving the Singha patio, for cooler days.



The above two fellas must be of heartier stock than I, to enjoy a long supper and red wine in that heat out of doors. That, or they are cold blooded lizard men.

The menu looks promising at The Orchid, but does not deliver. We ordered a few small plates and just took them as they came out of the kitchen. When I get the chance, I order crab rangoon because it is rarely on menus in Los Angeles. It is a decadent little dish, something people from the US without exotic tastebuds can enjoy. These were meh. The sauce tasted like something out of a bottle or jar, and the rangoons themselves were not particularly crabby.



D ordered the naked shrimp salad. This was the stand out, and we gobbled it up.



Bakersfield Life is an online magazine. Their restaurant critics are two ladies called the "Dining Divas". Their commentary reads like the script from "Bronx Beat" on SNL. They raved about the lobster truffle mac and cheese. Well, lobster? Truffles? One martini and a glass of wine down my gullet? Try and stop me!



This was a sad disappointment. There was no lobster. There was no truffle. In place of the lobster were chunks of prawn. In place of the truffle were shavings of some large type of dark mushroom. Sad, sad, sad. And a gut bomb.



The last dish was a little salad with shrimp (?) and avocado underneath a tidal wave of creamy dressing. The dressing was not as gross as it looked because it was miso rather than cream or mayo based. But still. Why not just serve me a saucer of dressing? Just asking.



The benefit to having eaten prior to arriving at The Orchid is that I wasn't that hungry. We tasted bits here and there, but truly didn't eat much. It wasn't that good, and the calories were not worthy of consumption. I might go back, though. I love the concept. I love the wines. And our server was charming despite mentioning that his "heroes" in life are Mel Gibson and Christian Bale. A gay Christian anti-semite? He seemed to have no problem with D. Maybe he found D attractive. This bears further exploration. LOL.

Cafe Stella Al Fresco

There has been a minor remodel at Silverlake's Cafe Stella, and I thought this weekend was the perfect time to have a late supper with friends, enjoy the summer night and see if they have improved their service. Last time we were there the service was abominable. So poor I e-mailed the manager, described it to him and he offered to buy us dinner if we came in again. I never took him up on it because a) I don't need free dinner, and b) I don't want to be the identified as the woman who complained about the service at a restaurant in my own neighborhood. But it was enough to make us stay away from Stella for over a year. It was nice to be back and despite a few minor glitches we had a great time and good food. A recent reviewer on Yelp mentioned that Stella probably pays $500 a month for rent and wonders why their prices are so high. I had to laugh out loud at this. Clearly this person has very little knowledge about the east side neighborhoods. Silverlake is the new West Hollywood of Los Angeles, and Cafe Stella is situated in prime real estate near the Sunset Junction next door to the new and fabulous Intelligentsia coffee shop, The Cheese Store of Silverlake, a high end florist and an even higher end tennis shoe store, and across the street from *gasp* a gelato cafe. Make no mistake, this is not the Silverlake of even 10 years ago. Things are changing fast. I think the changes bring a love/hate dynamic for locals. I personally love it...and I am glad that Cafe Stella remains despite what must be severely elevating rents.



D and I started off in the bar with a glass of red and a glass of fizz, served by a lovely,warm and loquatious bartender. They have taken the nice little booths out of the bar, which I miss. We used to always eat in those booths. The tables that are in there now aren't big enough for more than two people. But I think the bar does look more spacious. T & C arrived and we moved out to a table on the patio, which they have now extended all the way past the Cheese Store. LOTS more room out there, and it looks very, very nice. Below is the view from out table sitting in front of the Cheese Store of Silverlake, best cheese store of all time.



Here is my view looking into the window of the world's best cheese store.



I am going to mention that our service was beyond slow, and D had to get up and ask for a bottle of wine and tell someone that we were ready to order. Aside from that, our server was very good at her job, I think they were understaffed that night. It seemed as though they had too many support personal (bussers, runners, hostesses) and not enough actual physical wait staff for the busy evening. Maybe someone called in sick. Nevertheless, we were in great company and having a great time.



I started with simply heirloom tomatoes in a light dressing with thinly sliced red onions. My favorite thing in the summer. T started with the beautiful looking Caesar, we were both unhappy with the citrusy dressing. Too much citrus, not enough egg yolk, garlic or anchovy, in both our opinions.



D & C both had the seared scallops for a starter, they looked beautiful on a bed of cooked greens, and I meant to taste them. I was so entranced with my fresh heirlooms, I forgot.



For dinner, T & I both had the moules frites, in white wine and shallot cream. T thought the mussels were a bit on the small side. And she was right, of course. Even though this must be TMI, I prefer my mussels smaller because the larger ones get stuck in my teeth. ANYWAY! I enjoyed my moules thoroughly.



The frites came with truffle oit as an option. Need I say more? The taste was nice, but they were small pieces of potato, there were no long, satisfyingly crunchy frites. There were lots of short greasy bits. I was not thrilled with these. I think I ate them all anyway.



D & C ordered the steak frites (frites all around, please!). D wanted steak frites with a New York cut, but the chef won't cook a New York well done. The chef would cook the filet well done so D ended up with the filet au poivre. Both cuts were lovely and tasty looking.



We had a truly nice dinner Saturday. We all left happy. We then made our way over to our new most favorite spot, Bar C. Saturday it was really so crowded, we were turned away. Jas, the beautiful hostess, asked for our number and did we mind going to a bar down the street? She would call us when a table opened. I am a huge fan of a place that will not accept too many customers. She would only take what they had seating room for. Fortunately for us, after a quick trip to the ladies room, a table opened up immediately. We hung around Bar C til closing. It turns into a very upscale karaoke bar after the kitchen closes. Again, a high man-to-woman ratio, but this a very gentile crowd. Everyone was polite and jovial, there were two French maids, lost of singing and swilling of drinks. Hurrah! A perfect Saturday night.