Farallon and Quince

[Bond Girl]

Having only a limited amount of time in San Francisco, I decided to visit two very different restaurants: Farallon and Quince.

I picked Farallon because as someone who has never acquired a taste for any meat other than fish and shell fish, I am particularly interested in upscale seafood restaurants, especially those that has been around for ages. Besides, it will give me something to compare with the upscale seafood restaurants that I adore on the East Coast. I wasn’t so sure what I was expecting. And, may be it was unfair to compare East Coast standard to the West Coast but Farallon definitely did not come close to some of my favorite seafood places in New York. The five course tasting dinner that my friend and I had consisted of:

Sashimi of Hawaiian Opakapaka with a Meyer Lemon Cucumber sauce toped with Radishes. The overall concept was this dish was good as it attempts to convey a taste of spring like lightness to the dish by augmenting the freshness of the fish with the green taste of the cucumber and Meyer lemon. But for some reason, the finished product lack distinction in taste, and the flavor are generally wimpy.

Nest up was a broiled Australian King Prawn with Tempura Haricot Vert and Paprika Vinaigrette. This one was better with the sharpness of the Paprika vinaigrette lending its flavors to the green beans.

Then we were served two pieces of grilled Tuna on a bed of red beets mixed with lentils and topped with a kumquat frisee salad. This was one dish that suffered from bad composition. Each part of the dish was great by itself, but together the combination was just odd.

Perhaps it was the Dungeness Crab stuffed Skate Wing that worked the best. The artichoke mousse complimented the sweetness of the skate wing beautifully and the Duxelle sauce lends a woodsy favor to the whole mix. The only problem was I couldn’t taste or find the crab anywhere in this dish.

Dessert was a creamsicle semifreddo on a pistachio cookie, which out shined all the dishes that came before and it cleansed the palate nicely without any pretense.

In general, I didn’t dislike Farallon, I just wasn’t impressed by it. Each dish we had of the tasting had some wonderful ideas in it, but nothing was well thought out, and the execution was mediocre at best. The service, like the food, was haphazard and unexceptional. The place was simply too big and the kitchen too over stretched to produce anything of quality.

By contrast Quince was the exact opposite of Farallon. Thanks Squeat for the great tip! The food we had there made the best use of the wonderful Californian produce, and everything was prepared with the greatest care. I arrived at the small 45 seat restaurant with my friend and her husband, and we started with the appetizer of; Cardoons and Beet Salad, which was beautifully prepared and made my best friend a cardoon convert; a Fava Bean with Serrano Ham and Pecorino cheese, which tasted like spring; and a Shrimp and Crab Crostini with watercress and Navel Orange, where the citrus freshness of the orange balances the green bitterness of the watercress and provided a great contrast to the creaminess of the shrimp and crab mixture in the crostini.

For the pasta course, I got a Garganelli with Peas and Butter, my friend got a Squid Ink Pasta with Baby Squid in a Hot Pepper Sauce, and her husband ordered a Pasta with Tomatoes and Tuna. While none of these dishes will win the culinary creativity award, it certainly impressed me in technical execution. These pasta dishes will inspire even the most culinary challenged to make their own pasta. Because after tasting these dishes, the average store bought pasta just seemed pedestrian in comparison. My garganelli was so light it was almost translucent, and stood up to the sweetness of the peas. My friend’s squid ink had a rich sea like intensity that was simply delightful. While none of us thought the combination of tomatoes and tuna would work, it did and complimented the pasta quite well with a slight taste of chili in the sauce.

My friend’s husband ordered the Duck with Carrot and Peas for the third course while my friend and I shared a Halibut with Fava Bean Puree and Orange Sauce. While the halibut was tasted clean and sweet, the combination of this dish did not work very well. It lacked definition in the overall taste. Since I don’t eat duck, I have to rely on my friend’s husband’s opinion, who thought the duck was fucking good and finished everything on his plate.

Dessert was a Strawberry Short cake, which was decent but on the chalky side, and a lemon sorbet, which was the better dessert of choice.

Quince is a restaurant that I would go back to again and again.

[Squeat Mungry]

Thanks for the report, Bond Girl! I'm so glad you enjoyed Quince. In my opinion it's one of the best restaurants we've got going in town right now.

How did you find the service? I think Lindsay (Chef Michael Tusk's wife) does a great job running the floor.

Cheers,

Squeat

PS It was great fun meeting you and hanging out at the market. My dinner party was a big success, if I do say so myself! I posted about it on the Dinner thread.

[bilrus]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't really enjoy Farallon, as I was one of the people who recommended it on the other thread.

Based on everything I have heard from you, Squeat and others I am looking forward to trying Quince next time I am in SF. And there will be a next time sooner rather than later.

[Bond Girl]

I'm sorry to hear that you didn't really enjoy Farallon, as I was one of the people who recommended it on the other thread.

Based on everything I have heard from you, Squeat and others I am looking forward to trying Quince next time I am in SF. And there will be a next time sooner rather than later.

Farallon was an experience. And, for what it's worh, I'm glad that I went there because now I know that details are important in a restaurant, and it will help when I decide to own my own place.

[Suzanne F]

I'm not surprised you loved the dessert at Farallon: Emily Luchetti is the pastry chef there!

[Bond Girl]

I have that same book, but hasn't had much success at the recipes without tweaking them. Then again, it could just be my lack of culinary techniques

The service at Quince was perfect: attentive and not too cloying. The servers were very knowledgeable about the food and recommended a versatile pinot noir to go with my dinner.

[jschyun]

I agree that the service at Quince is very good, or at least it was yesterday when I went there for dinner. I had this guy Robert who happens to have a masters in biochemistry from Stanford and is currently doing research on proteins, and waits tables on the side. You know you're in San Francisco when...

--thanks Squeat!

Edited May 4, 2004 by jschyun (log)

[Squeat Mungry]

I agree that the service at Quince is very good, or at least it was yesterday when I went there for dinner. I had this guy Robert who happens to have a masters in biochemistry from Stanford and is currently doing research on proteins, and waits tables on the side.  You know you're in San Francisco when...

--thanks Squeat!

You're welcome, Joan, but how was your research into the proteins (and starches, etc.) on your plate? I.e., how did you like the food? I guess it can't have been too bad, since you thanked me!

[jschyun]

As for the food, I only got three things (quail on greens app, a light spring lettuce salad, and the paparadelle with liberty duck). Also, I think my impressions might be a little unfair because I had just eaten a pretty damn good meal at Boulevard the night before.

The quail was nicely roasted (not bloody, not dry), but it sat on a bed of spinach that had a vinegary flavor that, perhaps had I not had a really nice quail app on cubed potatoes in cream sauce in Boulevard the day before, I would have loved. Quince's was still damn good, I just didn't eat as much of the spinach as I probably would have otherwise. Also the salad was also vinegary, though I spied my favorite lettuces, (Forellenschluss, some red lettuce, what looked like oakleaf) and some mache in there, which I love.

The paparadelle with liberty duck was really salty. Being Korean, I kept thinking how well the duck would go with some fresh rice. However, the paparadelle were ethereal swaths of noodle that were heaven to eat. I ate the noodles first and then worked on the duck shreds.

The service at Quince was really the standout feature for me. I told Robert the waiter/protein researcher that I was in the mood for gelato after looking at the dessert menu which has no gelato, and he shrugged and said "I totally understand. When I'm in the mood for gelato, nothing else will really satisfy me". He gave me the check and I gave him a huge tip. For dessert I had nociola/white mint chip/tahitian vanilla gelato at gelateria naia in berkeley.

This place is very busy, so I might not choose it for a first date (I personally would go to KISS Seafood or maybe one of the places in the Mission for that) but I might go again with some friends.