Farallon

[Beachfan]

I was at Farrallon for the second time last night, and I've been wowed both times.  While some people might find the decor too much, I love the glass /Jules Verne decor.  Very fun in my book.

First course

Spanish Mackerel Tartare - I never had this fish prepared this way, and it was great.  Served with toast points, capers, egg, a favorite sushi fish in a new, raw, variant.  Yummmm.

Second course

Diver Scallops over rissotto- Really top notch scallops prepared in an imaginative way.  Worked very well together.

Desert - chocolate malt ice cream profiteroles.  Very nice (although not the traditional version with hot sauce).

Wine - Maritinelli Road Chardonnay 1999 by Martinelli.

As a bonus, the bread in SF is almost alway super, and it was here as well. Very recommended to nomad moderators on an editor's nickel.

[Stone]

couldn't get past the decor. It's like an acid-trip Dali painting a Jules Verne theme.

[Beachfan]

couldn't get past the decor.  It's like an acid-trip Dali painting a Jules Verne theme.

Yes, it was very nostalgic; sort of 60s flashback with much better food.

[southern girl]

Arriving in San Francisco positivley ravenous, a friend and I threw our bags at the bellman and headed for a late lunch at Farallon. We arrived at the restaurant shortly after 2pm and decided on a light lunch as we had a 6:30 reservation at Gary Danko.

Farallon's theme is all ocean related...upon walking into to the cavernous space, the firdt thing one notices is the 10 long tentacled jellyfish chandeliers that are spread around the bar, the front dining room and the mezzanine area. The bar is framed by two huge columns with a seaweed pattern.

The hostess led us past the bar and the exhibition kitchen (which is dominated by a huge copper hood) and into the main dining room. The ceiling is arched and covered with a mosaic ceiling. Our waiter told us the room had originally been the Elks Club indoor swimming pool. Our table on the level a few steps above the main floor providing us with a great view of the room and the kitchen. The back wall of the main dining room is dominated by a huge mural depicting fisherman with their catch in early San Francisco and huge pink and purple striped sea urchin shell (after they shed their spines)chandeliers.

Upon being seated we promptly ordered glasses of Billecart Salmon to celebrate the beginning of a hedonistic visit to San Francisco and Napa.

The menu, as you would expect from the theme of the restaurant is dominated by seafood.

Course 1- "Salutation Cove Oysters"- Six oysters on the half shell served upon a mound of shaved ice decorated with seaweed and accompanied by champagne mignonette. the oysters were slightly larger than Kumamota's and had that same wonderful brininess. They were also perfectly shucked...no stray bits of shell to interfere with my enjoyment. As I am a purist when it comes to oysters I did not try the mignonette.

My companion ordered the Mixed Baby Lettuces with pickled red onions, Point Reyes origal blue cheese and pistachios. A huge salad...which she professed to be very fresh and perfectly dressed with a light vinaigrette.

Wine: 1999 Chateau de la Maltroye Morgeot Vigne Blanche, Puligny Montrachet

Course Two: I chose Broiled Monterey Sardines with Valencia oranges, nicoise olive tapenade and a salad of julienned celeraic.

Two large fresh sardines atop a small mound of julienned celeraic with just a hint of vinaigrette and fennel seeds. The sardines were broiled to a nice level of crispiness on the skin with the flesh still moist and succulent. Small lobes of orange and dots of nicoise tapenade encircled the sardines and added a nice juxtaposition of salt and sweet to the dish.

Course Three: Dungeness Crab & Sea Urchin Sauce with truffled mashed potatoes and Salmon Caviar. This dish alone makes it worth a trip to San Francisco. A lovely frosted glass plate containing a mound of sea salt upon which a large sea urchin shell (reminiscent of the chandeliers above us) was balanced. The shell contained one of the most interesting preparations of crab I have ever enjoyed. Smooth, increbibly rich, truffled mashed potatoes provided the base for a mound of sweet fresh dungeness crab meat dressed with an uni butter sauce and sprinkled with salmon roe. Each bite was rich and sweet at the same time without being overly so. The pop of the salmon roe adding just the right touch of brine.

My friend enjoyed the Half a Cracked Dungeness Crab with Meyer Lemon Aioli, Cocktail Sauce and drawn butter. She professed her crab to be as fresh as mine. I tasted the lemon a aioli and detected a hint of lemon verbena. A nice dish...but a little work as the crab does come to the table in the shell.

Course Four: Cheese...I have misplaced the cheeses we chose. They arrived at the table the proper temperature...we were a bit concerned they might arrive cold as we were one of only two tables left at 4:00 and the kitchen had been breaking down and rearranging for the dinner hour.

We demurred on dessert, knowing in just a couple of hours we would be heading for a large dinner at Gary Danko. Our server, who was extremely pleasant and engaging told us we couldn't leave without a little "something" brought us each a dish a housemade vanilla ice cream with just made, still warm from the oven maple walnut shortbreads.

I highly suggest a visit to Farallon for lunch...next time I will make it a long one!!

[mikeczyz]

Yes! Someone who enjoys farallon as much as i did! do they still have a 39 dollar five cours lunch deal, or the 18 dollar three course?

mike

[lizziee]

As always southern girl, I love your posts, but also, as always, I read them before dinner!

Can't wait for the next installments - Gary Danko and French Laundry.

[southern girl]

mike-they have the 3 course @ 19 (this time it was Sweet Fennel Bisque, Seared Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi with Belgian endive, red grapefruit, French green lentils and French Apple Puff-caramel sauce, candied pecans and creme fraiche)...and the 5 course menu @ $40...Comice pears & proscuitto di Parma-butter lettuce, black pepper almonds, sherry gastrique; Potato Gnocchi & Butternut Squash-Dungeness Crab and sagebrown butter; Pan roasted Atlantic Cod with baby beets, mache, horseradish gremolata; seared Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi-french lentils, baby spinach, shallot compote; Chocolate Paradise-champagne sabayon, fudge sauce.

[mikeczyz]

mike-they have the 3 course @ 19 (this time it was Sweet Fennel Bisque, Seared Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi with Belgian endive, red grapefruit, French green lentils and French Apple Puff-caramel sauce, candied pecans and creme fraiche)...and the 5 course menu @ $40...Comice pears & proscuitto di Parma-butter lettuce, black pepper almonds, sherry gastrique; Potato Gnocchi & Butternut Squash-Dungeness Crab and sagebrown butter; Pan roasted Atlantic Cod with baby beets, mache, horseradish gremolata; seared Hawaiian Mahi-Mahi-french lentils, baby spinach, shallot compote; Chocolate Paradise-champagne sabayon, fudge sauce.

thanks...

i should add that my first meal there was fabulous, but my second was not good at all.....strange how up and down it was.

mike

[southern girl]

Lizzie- thank you for the kind words- next up will be Danko, followed by Martini House and the the incredible finale at FL...

Mike...I had a "fair" dinner at Farallon last visit-by any chance was your "not good at all meal" dinner...I perused the most recent dinner menu and thought to myself I would have to make a meal out of the apps, as the entrees did not really do much to make me think "Wow...I have to have this (insert entree here)....

[mikeczyz]

Mike...I had a "fair" dinner at Farallon last visit-by any chance was your "not good at all meal" dinner...I perused the most recent dinner menu and thought to myself I would have to make a meal out of the apps, as the entrees did not really do much to make me think "Wow...I have to have this (insert entree here)....

no. my fair meal was at lunch. the food was just a lot worse than the previous 'good' lunch.

mike

[Beachfan]

Glad to here you enjoyed Farrollon. I really enjoy the place and the seafood is as fresh as you can get outside a Japanese restaurant. A restaurant that doesn't get it's "propers" (at least, until now).

[mikeczyz]

the seafood is as fresh as you can get outside a Japanese restaurant.

the seafood is ridiculously fresh. and it's not all that expensive. i've always said that if farallon were here in chicago, i'd go there for lunch every day on my off days. i find that the 40 dollar five course is an astounding deal. here's teh link to my first lunch there....

Farallon

Rereading my post brings back so many fond memories!

mike

[bilrus]

Thought I would pick this thread to add my two cents worth about Farallon. My wife and had our final dinner of our San Francisco / Napa trip there last night and it was fantastic. After a not very good experience at Slanted Door the night before we were a little nervous about ending the trip on a sour note.

Food wise the trip was on the verge of being just so so despite a great experience at French Laundry and another typically fantastic / simple lunch at Chez Panisse yesterday afternoon. I had even been talked into going to Scoma's two nights earlier by on on fmy wife's colleauges who insisted we go there. It was not jusite as bad as I had anticipated but certainly not the type of place I would choose.

So on to Farallon. It was just what the doctor ordered to cure our ailing trip. I loved the decor, which was not nearly as modern or "out-there" as the pics on their website or some descriptions I had read. I know decor and atmosphere are not important to some, ao maybe I am superficial, but it does add somethign for me. But only if the food can back it up.

And the food was excellent. Maybe we were looking for the good, but we didn't have anything we didn't like. The amuse of a demitasse of lobster bisque was not expected (I don't know why we didn't expect it) and was a good start. A little on the thin side, but it had a nice kick from the sherry. We each started with a lobster gnocchi dish. Although the gnocchi weren't the most light and delicate ones I have had, they were fine but hte overall dish was very flavorful and rich. We each had a salad as a second course my wife a beet salad and I a butter lettuce salad with a nice creamy strong blue cheese and a walnut dressing. BOth very good between the richness of the lobster and our entrees.

For entrees, my wife went with a second appetizer (her reaction was similar to an earlier poster who liked the appetizer list better than the entrees) of a risotto (with crab if I remember correctly). It was good, if maybe a littel too rich following the gnocchi. It was not quite the equal of the white truffle risotto from French Laundray three nights earlier (not that I would have expected it). The rice wasn't quite a creamy as you might want it but ti was a very well done dish. Meanwhile I had a grilled hawaian ono with lentils, crab and the sweetest cippolini onions I have ever had. They were an excellent counterpoint to the earthier lentils and fish.

For dessert I had an apple spice cake that was dense and chewy and very good and my wife had the "Small Endings" a cookie/truffle/candy plate with probably 20 different bites ranging from fruit chews to peanut brittle to an ice cream sandwich. And she was sweet enough to let me try every one (except the ice cream sandwich).

The waiter was helpful in helping the two of us (wine neophytes who are slowly learning what we like) come to a comprimise on our wine selection. He chose a riesling that was fruity enough for my wife's slightly sweeter tastes, but dry enough that my lips didn't pucker up every time I took a sip. Can't for the life of me remeber what it was but it was just right.

Overall this was a great ending to what turned out to be a pretty good trip, culinarily speaking.

[tanabutler]

I ate dinner at Farallon just eleven days before Southern Girl did.

Report:

• A dozen oysters and Gloria Ferrer sparkling brut

• Roasted baby beet & blood orange salad with Humboldt Fog goat cheese, upland cress (sort of a baby watercress), and Olivestri olio nuevo virgin olive oil

• Dungeness crab bisque with black truffle coulis

(Those items were shared.)

Lori's entrée: Seared New Zealand John Dory with caramelized cipollini onion jus, baby spinach, and red wine bone marrow butter.

My entrée: Grilled Hawaiian Ono with yellowfoot chantarelle mushrooms, cannellini beans, smoked bacon and aïoli.

I had an Austrian wine, Gruner Veltliner (Dinstlgut Loiben Kremser Pfaffenberger), that was splendid. Lots going on in that wine, and so different. It wasn't sweet like a Riesling or a Gewürtraminer.

Everything was perfectly suited to the season. Boy, what a splurge.

It was a beautiful, beautiful meal, and the service was absolutely perfect. Though it was nine months late, it was intended to be my birthday dinner. The staff brought a little confection on a chocolate-drizzled plate, and lit a candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. And on the way out, we gave all the leftovers to an ancient homeless woman, starting a new custom of mine to do so.

That evening at Farallon was one of the best meals of my life.

[rshorens]

I am also a Farallon fan/addict. We just had lunch there yesterday- parsnip soup, fresh Maine scallops, Hawaiian ono, pumpkin creme broulee with the most delicious cookies I have eaten in a long time, plus the best bread and butter. I would have loved to try the Gruner Veltliners, but they weren't available by the glass. I have had the Muller-Thurgau, which is a delightful white wine, and only $24 a bottle. Farallon never fails to delight, even if one is only having one or 2 courses. Although expensive, it's well worth the money.

[tanabutler]

Wow, I had the Gruner by the glass. Bummer!

The soup sounds wonderful. Everything sounds wonderful.

[lorea]

After reading this thread, I had to try Farallon....and I was very very impressed.

For dessert, I think I had the same apple spice cake that bilrus had...I think they called it the 50-year old apple cake (or something like that). Does anybody know if that recipe is in any of Emily Luchetti's books? Or whether or not Farallon gives out their precious recipes? I'm dying to try recreating that at home.

[rshorens]

Farallon is one of the San Francisco restaurants that will be offering a 3 course lunch for $19.95 during January. It's a great deal for wonderful food.

Roz

[tanabutler]

Are there details about that, or should one just walk in and order five of them?

[SiseFromm]

I've eaten at Farallon once for dinner and twice for lunch and was always impressed. I thought their bartender staff was particularly good, as we ordered several suggested bartender favorites I had not seen before or were, in two cases, old-school to say the least. Both of our bartenders had excellent skills.

I don't remember every detail of our meals exactly as I think it was just about a year ago last time we at there, but I definitely remember the head-on shrimp cocktail, which was a real treat. I also had skate, which at the time, in 2000 if I remember, wasn’t very common to see. Even though it's a little over the top, the decor fits with the restaurant and I'm not surprised to hear that the kitchen is still top-notch.

R. Jason Coulston

[merle]

Farallon is one of the San Francisco restaurants that will be offering a 3 course lunch for $19.95 during January.

Are there details about this (and other restaurants) anywhere online?

Went to Farallon's web site (www.farallonrestaurant.com), but their newsletter talks about 2003 only...

(edit)

Never mind, I found a link.

Farallon itself, as well as the complete list.

Edited January 5, 2004 by merle (log)

[tanabutler]

Thank you, Merle.

[rshorens]

I also had skate, which at the time, in 2000 if I remember, wasn’t very common to see.

I also had skate at Farallon for the first time and thought it was fabulous. I always order it in every restaurant when I have the chance. I had it twice in London, at J. Sheeky and at Sweetings. Both were good, but the skate at Farallon was better.

Thanks, Merle, for the link to info about the January lunch special deal. I had just read about it in an ad in the SF Chronicle. I'm going to try to get there for lunch on Thursday.

Roz

[psage]

I just had lunch there recently and liked it too!

Edited January 8, 2004 by psage (log)

[jschyun]

What did you have? I'm going there Sat for lunch.