SF: Acme Chophouse

[cabrales]

The November 2002 edition of Bon Appetit describes Traci Des Jardin (Jardiniere)'s Acme Chophouse, which is located close to PacBell PArk:

"once again has hit a home run . . . Acme uses mostly hormone-free meats and organic produce. 'The steaks are some of the best in the city,' says Michael Bauer, features editor and restaurant critic for the San Francisco Chornicle. But his favoreite dish is the tartare. 'The word "silken" was intvented to describe the texture of this meat, choppped finely and served with a quail egg in the middle.' That one dish alone has diners pleading, 'Take me out near the ball game . . . .'"

I wonder if members have sampled the steak at Acme.

[Stone]

Traci Des Jardin, former (current?) executive chef at Jardiniere, and a partner has opened at new steak house at Pac Bell Park. I went last Saturday night with six other fellows for the beginning to a bachelor party. The skinny on the night was that the great service could not make up for the mediocre meat.

I was hesitant about finding any serious steak house in San Francisco, much less one housed in a ball park. But once we were inside, any sporty feeling from the location was left outside -- other than the two t.v.'s unobstrusively set in the corners of the open bar area. The room was large and open, with the obligatory dark wood tempered nicely by lighter colors and some brushed metal. The kitchen, of course, was open and flames shooting up out of the grill threw light across the restaurant. It wasn’t a dark old boys club like some NY joints, but it had good raucous atmosphere.

They sat us quickly at a great round table in the center of the place, and promptly took drink orders. As the drinks came, the runners brought over complimentary appetizers from the manager. A very nice touch. The calimari and tempura vegetables (broccoli, fennel, green beans, etc.) had good flavor, but lost its crispness. Not quite soggy, not at all greasy, but not hot and crisp. The charcuterie plate looked good with pate, slices of a dark dried sausage, and other usual suspects, but I passed on most of it. In the center of the table they placed a large plate of iced seafood -- shrimp, oysters, dungeness crab, and clams. It was an ample plate of food, and everything was fresh and tasty.

The menu was usual steakhouse fare -- NY Strip, Ribeye, filet, chicken, fish of the day. They had a few salads including the obligatory steak house wedge of ice berg with blue cheese. And sides -- creamed spinach, sautéed, spinach, onion rings, fries, mac & cheese. A good selection.

The menu also had a "Dine about town" special -- appetizer (wedge of ice berg w/ blue cheese), 12 oz ribeye, mashed potatoes, side salad and dessert (apple tart?), for $29.

Three of us had the special, three had the NY strip and one ordered the regular ribeye. We also ordered sides of onion rings, spinach and mac & cheese.

The sides were o.k., but nothing special. We had two orders of spinach -- I think one was supposed to be creamed and one regular, but both came out pretty much the same. Which is about how it tasted. Some steak houses have cream spinach that stands up in the bowl and shouts, "hey, I'm as good as that steak you're eating." This stuff kind of sat there and wimpered, "I'm a wilted green, leafy vegetable." Moreover, instead of the heaping portion of spinach I expected, these servings formed only a blanket in the bottom of the serving dish. Why any restaurant would not splurge on an item as cheap as spinach is beyond me. At $6 a serving (according to a website I just checked), there's no excuse.

The onions rings were thin -- not the thick, juicy type I hoped for. I find that on thinner rings the higher batter to onion ratio often overwhelms the onion flavor. But these were quite good, with nice flavor, crisp without being overdone, and piled high on the plate.

The mac & cheese suffered from the same problem as the spinach. The taste was nothing special, and the portion disappointingly small. (Again, not what I expect for $8 worth of pasta and cheese.)

That brings us to the steaks which were, of course, the reason we were there. The restaurant didn’t give us a good reason to come back. The three people who ordered the special received an odd looking steak that looked more like a pounded veal chop. It was a good six inches or so in diameter, yet cut about 1/2” thick. Obviously the chef could not risk getting a good char on the outside because the meat would have been well-done throughout. The result was that the meat was only grayish on the outside, and practically raw on the inside.

My strip was a decent portion of meat, and quite good quality. The problem was that I ordered it medium rare, and there was no hint of pink left anywhere inside. I don't mind a medium steak and still enjoyed it. But I figure that any steak house worth its salt has be able to do medium rare -- and usually they err on the rare side.

The highlight was the full-order ribeye. It was large, wonderfully charred on the outside and bright red/pink on the inside. Eaten with gusto, it disappeared completely.

Desserts were o.k. I ordered the chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream based on a volume observation from a near-by table. The cake was a little dry and the icing thick and heavy. The best item was the butterscotch pudding, which was sweet and tangy and filled a large parfait glass.

All in all, it was a fun evening, even with some disappointing food. And the staff was terrific. But at a steak house, there’s simply no excuse for small portions or mediocre meat.

Edited January 16, 2003 by Dstone001 (log)

[Dave the Cook]

How disappointing. It sounds like you'd have been better off at Outback. Am I reading that right?

[Stone]

I wouldn't go that far, but I expected better.

[Dave the Cook]

Not to pick on Outback, nor to do them any favors, but it sounds like Acme gets the nod on the basis of great service and one great steak (out of seven). That makes the value proposition a tougher choice for me. At least a chain is predictable.

If you are comfortable, could you discuss the pricing and the wine list?

[Stone]

We didn't drink wine, so I can't discuss it. The bill came to a little over $520 (18% gratuity included, but I added on $25 more) for 7 people -- with comped appetizers. Three had the $29 special, and I think my strip was $33. We all had about four drinks (mostly beer and few glasses of scotch and grappa with dessert).

Edited January 16, 2003 by Dstone001 (log)

[cabrales]

John Mariani's newsletter notes the following:

"On Jan. 27 San Fran clefs Traci Des Jardins and Thom Fox will co-host the 'Taste the Difference' dinner at Acme Chophouse to benefit the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. A panel led by San Francisco Chronicle food writer Kim Severson will offer rural and urban perspectives on sustainable eating in the winter. Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm will speak about winter farming. Dinner and discussion, including wine, gratuity, tax, and a donation to CAFF is $75 pp. Call: 415-644-0240; www.acmechophouse.com ."

[Stone]

What means "sustainable eating in winter?"

Are they talking about saving fresh vegies? Or building up our blubber?

[a geek]

Just ate at Acme last weekend and was completely unimpressed. We tried one filet mingon and one dry aged new york strip- both were decent, but nowhere close to impressive. Seems like the steaks were undersalted prior to cooking or cooked in a way which dried them out prematurely, even at medium rare. The creamed spinach side wasn't especially creamy and certainly wasn't extraordinarily tasty.

We started with a lackluster butter lettuce salad and a beet/goat cheese salad. The beet salad must have contained less than half a beet total, three small dabs of goat cheese, and a small pile of escarole. Both dressings were quite generic.

Service was odd - it was difficult to get our waitress' attention to order wine- she just wandered off after we flagged her down to order food. She never asked about wine prior to that either. Once glasses went empty it was again a chore to get more. The list by the glass is interesting, at least.

Given mediocre experience, we skipped dessert.

Another odd thing to note- although the restaurant was less than 50% full, we were told no tables were available until 8p when we wanted a 7p reservation. I believe they must do this to even out non-game nights so they can work with a smaller staff. Annoying, but understandable.

[ludja]

Wow. Friends whose judgement I trust very well had a very good (in a solid comfort food type of way) if not amazing meal there about nine months ago. They consider returning to the restaurant, I think.

I wonder if the restaurant is inconsistent or if the explanation is in the expectations, which I agree should be high given Tracy des Jardin's involvment and the prices. I'm going to check back with them this weekend re: their experience.

[a geek]

Would definitely be interested in heairng other recent opinions. My expectations were fairly high for the reasons you mentioned, but I'd say the meal was far worse than a similar meal at Outback. The steaks themselves were gigantic, but not tasty.

[annachan]

We went there earlier this year and had a great meal. Like someone else said before, the ribeye was definitely the star. I've always love ribeye and was served a great one. The sides we ordered was good, but nothing to write home about.

I got to say, I would never ever compare Acme to Outback. I've had Outback and it's nothing more than an overpriced Sizzlers for steak. I do think that inconsistency is probably an issue that Acme needs to address.

On a side note, Lotus in the Sunset district served up some really nice ribeye. I prefer there over Acme because it's more convenient.

[Carlsbad]

Hard to believe it is as bad as Outback, but it makes me wonder what is going on there.