Rubicon

[chefperkey]

Has anyone tried Rubicon since Steward has taken over? I am in Michigan (formally from Chicago) and know him from Tapawingo and also when he worked in Chicago. I was just wondering how the restaurant has changed and would like your opinions Thanks

[Rebel Rose]

I didn't eat there, but walked in yesterday while shlepping around downtown San Francisco, and walked out again. The place reeked of orchids and seafood. Both of which I enjoy, but not in excess! The smell was overpowering.

[chaud-froid]

I visited Rubicon once in January, but I've been back three times in the last six weeks because the food has improved so much.

One of these visits was for a small wine dinner with the following menu:

• Amuse of truffled salmon curry
  
• Sautéed Skate wing served with a Gewürztraminer-Ginger butter sauce, soybeans, mushrooms, and cashews.
  
• Squab with a corn puree, foie gras mousse, mission fig relish and wax beans
  
• Venison served with Chanterelle mushrooms, Brussels Sprouts and a Butternut Squash / Pomegranate gastrique (sweet and sour sauce).
  
• Cheese course served with toasted bread, roasted walnuts, figs and a prune and dried-huckleberry paste
  
• Miniature crepe stack filled with Calvados apple butter, Ricotta cheese apple butter, apples and candied huckleberries, and topped with blackberry sorbet.
  
• Grand Marnier Chocolate Truffles
  

I think Rubicon is currently serving some of the most creative food in the city.

[Malik]

I hope they participate in Dine About Town again in January, the last couple of years I felt they were the best of all the restaurants on the list.

[melkor]

It's amazing what effect one’s expectations can have on a meal - Rubicon has such a solid reputation that anything but excellence is considered a failure. I had dinner at Rubicon last night for Dine About Town. We ordered all of the DAT options - one vegetarian menu, and one of each of the two carnivore options. Somehow Rubicon in my mind never seems like it’s worth the asking price the rest of the year, but during DAT we manage to spend just as much money by spending more on wines. Had the food we were served come from a kitchen with a lesser reputation it would have been a perfectly pleasant meal. Had the champagne we were sipping while waiting for the 3rd person to arrive not been excellent we might have had lower expectations for the food. Had the amuse that they sent out not been an amazing match for the champagne... you get the picture. Once the actual food we ordered showed up, it bombed.

The apps were mussels with melon (in January?!), the functional equivalent of bread salad with tuna fish in it, and a green salad. The green salad was the best of the bunch. The tuna salad was a dozen competing flavors and textures that made for a completely incoherent and ultimately unremarkable dish. The mussels I didn't try, though the melon served with them was bizarre, a mealy texture with a strange mango flavor. Some of the mussels were apparently reasonably good, a few were spoiled, according to one of my dinner companions. The green salad was perfectly fine, and was accompanied by slices of a perfectly ripe pear in it and a very nice simple vinaigrette.

Next we were served nut crusted sole, butternut squash ravioli, and braised lamb. The ravioli was a bit too sweet and the sauce on the thin side. I'd be satisfied with the dish if I had cooked it, but I expected more from the kitchen there. The sole was a high quality piece of fish, properly cooked and then coated in an unusual crust of pistachios, caraway seeds (!?), coarse salt, and what seemed like whatever else they had on hand at the time. The fish came with some very good sauteed bitter greens, which were great until some of the nut-crust contaminated them. There was a bit of sweet potato puree that suffered the same fate as the greens. The braised lamb was perfectly acceptable - I really wanted to love it, but it came up short, overcooked a bit and dried out; the flavors worked but the texture wasn't there.

For dessert we had a frozen milk chocolate ice cream “cake” (a layer of chopped hazelnuts between 2 layers of ice cream) and earl grey creme brulee. The chocolate dish was quite good once it defrosted enough to be enjoyed. The creme brulee was quite a bit less successful - the sugar on top was flaccid, and what was sitting under the surface tasted more like a muddy custard than one that had been infused with tea.

Having had just a portion of each dish, two of us were still hungry so we hiked a few blocks to Bocadillos for a second dinner. The food at Bocadillos was perhaps slightly better, but our expectations were far lower and the meal much more enjoyable. I really want to like Rubicon - I loved it on my previous visit, though this is the first time I've been there since the chef change. I'll certainly give it another shot, but this meal was really not what I had hoped for.

[alanamoana]

i ate at rubicon last night. i really enjoyed my meal.

i don't think i had any expectations, good or bad as i didn't know anything about the chef, etc. regarding the space, i was surprised at how small and warm the room was. the chairs and tables seemed a bit casual looking next to the food, plates and glassware.

my friend (disclaimer: my friend is a food professional in the city and knows the chef and his wife who is the pastry chef) and i received a tasting, each of us receiving a different item for each course so we were able to sample quite a few menu items.

i don't make it a habit to take notes or over-intellectualize my meals, but there were a few items i really liked:

tuna roll: raw tuna, flattened and rolled around sauteed fois gras and chanterelles, the entire roll glazed with a beef demi

halibut: simply seared and served with some lardon and greens...a little salty but rich and satisfying with nice smokiness from the bacon

beet ravioli: sweet and fragrant with truffle oil, sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and shaved parmesan

dessert: some type of financier with a fruit paste (can't remember), olive oil ice cream, shaved pecorino, toasted walnuts and segmented citrus...dee-lish...lightly sweet with the cheese offering a balance to the sweetness.

i often choose not to dine out at higher end restaurants because i am so disappointed with the cost versus the quality of food and service, but last night was an exception. i felt the service was professional, maybe a tiny bit casual but certainly matched to the surroundings.

edited to remove redundancy

Edited April 7, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[MaxH]

I didn't see much in the recent postings about wine or wine service. It has been in the past a highlight of the restaurant. I don't know if Larry Stone still hangs out there -- he is one of the more celebrated master sommeliers in the US, at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago I believe before Rubicon.

[alanamoana]

from what i understand, larry stone no longer works there.

i'm not a huge drinker but my friend had the pairings. as we had different dishes, i don't know how well the wine paired with the food. i tasted one or two of the wines and liked them very much but couldn't tell you who the sommelier is.

edited to add:

sf chronicle article

Edited April 11, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[Pallee]

Two of us had the tasting menu last weekend - you get a choice of 2 for every course and we had one of each with the wine pairing, and shared everything. It was all good. The third course had a seared scallop on braised pork belly and then I said "Wow" and realized it was the first (and only) item that wowed me.

The wines were good, but again, only 2 were great. I enjoyed the meal and felt the portions were fine, but wasn't as blown away as I was hoping for.