Stinking Rose -- San Francisco

[Jason Perlow]

Last night Rachel and I ate dinner at the Stinking Rose's San Francisco location (http://www.thestinkingrose.com).

Rachel and I had eaten at a garlic-themed restaurant before, the Garlic Rose Cafe in Madison, NJ (41 Main St

Madison, NJ 07940 (973) 822-1178 ) which we under the impression was inspired by the California restaurant. So we decided to try the original.

In one of the rare cases, this is where the inspired is actually better than the original. Stinking Rose is a casual restaurant, and as you would expect all the dishes have garlic in it. The waitress informed us that they go through 12,000 heads per week -- and that doesnt surprise me. The use of garlic here is VERY aggressive, much more so than its NJ clone, which aspires to be more of a fine dining experience and who's use of garlic is much more subtle and refined.

This is not to say that Stinking Rose is a bad restaurant -- its not -- the food is great. But be prepared to be utterly assaulted by garlic.

All of the dishes we had except for one were overdoses of garlic:

1) Bagna Cauda: Effectively just a lot of cloves of garlic slow cooked in a lot of olive oil, with a minimal amount of herbas and some anchovies. The garlic cloves are very soft, this is eaten as a spread/dip for the big basket of dinner rolls they give you. If you order this, it will set the tone for your entire meal and basically overpower everything.

2) Pan seared Mussels with garlic . Probably the best appetizer on the menu, these are mussels which are rock salted, with a small amount of garlic added and then broiled very quickly, after which some kind of a wine/sherry sauce is poured over the top when it it brought to the table on a sizzling platter. This is served with a garlic butter, which Rachel felt wasnt even needed.

3) Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. This is a roasted half chicken that we expected to be stuffed with garlic cloves but wasnt --they are served on the side, basically the same stuff from the bagna cauda. Not at all like a good pollo ajillo at a decent spanish place. Rachel ordered this, I had a taste, wasnt thrilled with it.

4) Whole live dungeness crab with garlic sauce. Great dish, but the combination of this cooked in a messy olive oil/brown butter/roux/crab guts mixture with tons of garlic seemed to amplify the innate saltiness. Dont wear a nice shirt if you plan to order this one.

I'll also note that they serve some kind of herb/garlic spread mixture that is supposed to be used as a dip for bread -- its made with raw garlic, and is extremely aggressive in its flavor, almost inedibly so. Its NJ clone serves a similar dip on the table, but I think it uses cooked garlic, has more herbs, and has parmigiano reggiano in it -- and extremely addictive. We had like one taste of Stinking Rose's version and couldnt handle it.

[Katherine]

Well, Jason, put the Garlic Queen (Amsterdam, Reguliersdwarsstraat) on your list of garlic themed restaurants. They have a garlic eau-de-vie there that will cure what ails you while it puts hair on your chest.

[Rachel Perlow]

Quote: from Katherine on 8:21 pm on Aug. 28, 2001

They have a garlic eau-de-vie there that will cure what ails you while it puts hair on your chest.

Please, he doesn't need any more hair on his chest! ;)

[Stone]

I ate at the LA Stinking rose a few years back with some business colleagues.  I thought the food was pretty good, but I remember ordering beef dishes.  And yes, they weren't fooling around with the garlic.  

The next morning, the four of us got into an elevator together.  The two people already there decided to get out and take the next one!

Have you ever tried the garlic noodles at Crustacean?  (There's one at Polk & California, and another way out by the Ocean off Lincoln?)  They're excellent (if you love garlic), but a rip-off at Ű a plate.

[marlena spieler]

heres where I felt i just had to speak out! i can usually find something good about most restaurants i visit, not to say i'm a food slut, but i am appreciative and almost always find something delicious. even when i was in hospital in nice fighting for my life, i found something delicious on every garlic-laden tray the nurse brought in.

the fact is I LOVE GARLIC. Which everyone who knows me will attest to. I don't stint on the stuff and have been known to eat raw garlic sandwiches for breakfast, and why be coy? In fact, this is what i eat nearly EVERY DAY.

So when the stinking rose opened up i was invited to come and sample their delights. invited, as in, i didn't even have to pay! so you'd think that might have even predisposed me to liking it. but sad to say, i thought it was the worst meal i've ever eaten.

a few months later or maybe it was a year later, they invited me again saying they had a new chef, and dutifully i went back, with several companions. and wow: could it be possible? Could another meal be as awful as the first? Well, it seems as if they outdid themselves and achieved a repetition.

The thing is that the garlic they used was preserved garlic, already chopped garlic preserved in oil, and had a nasty rancid flavour, also there was a lot of smoked garlic going around.

I have to say, vile vile vile, and if the food has changed and it is now good, please forgive me. i will be only too happy for this to be true, believe me. i have strong beliefs in the power of garlics goodness and hate to see it sullied by.......well, whoever was doing the cooking and menu writing.

x

marlena

[wnissen]

I'm not even a big garlic lover, and when I went two years ago it was pathetic. The food was competent, but nothing we ordered had any serious garlic flavor. I certainly wouldn't wait in line and pay those prices when I could be singing with the waiters at Steps of Rome down the street and having a much better time.

Walt

[badthings]

I went at least five years ago and was not impressed either. I seem to remember the service was atrocious too.

[IrishCream]

This is funny. Last march my best friend was here for a law conference and she wanted to go to the Stinking Rose. I said, no, absolutely not, that is tourist crap...so we went to the Steps of Rome where I had the worst Italian meal of my life. How can you screw up lasagna? By burning it! Easy. Combine that with bad service and I was wishing I was at the Stinking Rose.

[Squeat Mungry]

I'm with Marlena on this one. I love garlic, but not the nastiness at Stinking Rose. That place literally reeks. It must have improved at least somewhat if Jason and Rachel enjoyed the food, but I have sworn never to go back.

Cheers,

Squeat

[Jason Perlow]

I'm with Marlena on this one. I love garlic, but not the nastiness at Stinking Rose. That place literally reeks. It must have improved at least somewhat if Jason and Rachel enjoyed the food, but I have sworn never to go back.

Cheers,

Squeat

Well, we went in 2001. It may have in fact gotten worse.

[Al_Dente]

I made the mistake of eating there the night before flying back to Washington DC the next day. Of course I ended up in a middle seat. I tried not to breathe, speak or move for the 5 hour flight, but I was just oozing garlic. The people sitting around me must have loved me

[coughy]

We had dinner there last summer and loved it. My husband ate the garlic dungeness crab and I ate the cioppino. They were so accomodating as my 11 year old only likes "plain". they served him a grilled chicken breast they he loved.

[Chris Cognac]

I jave eaten at the Beverly Hills SR several times for lunch...I was served one of the best pork chops I have ever had....and the bread with the roasted garlic bulbs....mmmm

[marlena spieler]

would anyone like to start an egullet garlic club?

I'm not sure what the rules would be, or how they would work, ie what we would do, or where we would be located as garlic-lovers span the world. we could have field trips, we could have recipes we could have lore, we could just get together to revel in our own perfume!

yours,

the fragrant marlena

[wesza]

I love GARLIC ! But I 've learned how to live with it. As any Italian Grand-ma will tell you, or in my case the Ultimate Garlic Lover, "James Beard", he of the Garlic Clove Chicken Recipe. Is there is a sure way of avoiding Garlic Breath, Onion Breath, and Garlic Distress.. It simple and efective for almost everyone.

Cilantro, Curly Parsley or any Flat Leafed Parsley when eaten together, or with Garlic will remove the effects and potentency, that on many occasions is quite uncomfortable, unless your with other indulgers.

Irwin

[Chris Cognac]

would anyone like to start an egullet garlic club?

I'm not sure what the rules would be, or how they would work, ie what we would do, or where we would be located as garlic-lovers span the world. we could have field trips, we could have recipes we could have lore, we could just get together to revel in our own perfume!

yours,

the fragrant marlena

Oh god yes, count me in!

[Feather]

I was at the Stinking Rose years (7-8?) ago, and I had garlic ice cream. I remember it to mellow and quite yummy!....The preceding meal was wholly un-memerable. And a "garlic club" is a capital idea!