Incanto

Location: Noe Valley, San Francisco, CA
Cuisine type: modern American, rustic
Atmosphere: casual, lively
Meal: late dinner
Overall score: 9.17

Nina

Incanto was truly a magical food experience. We went there with two friends visiting from the East Coast, who had watched Top Chef Masters (in which the winner, Chef Chris Cosentino, is the executive chef at Incanto) and were very excited at the opportunity to meet the chef. This place is on a quiet street in Noe Valley, and looks quite unassuming from the outside. Reservations are strongly recommended, since it may take a long time to get a table on a walk-in basis, especially on weekend nights. We fortunately did have a reservation for a late dinner time, and got seated within a couple of minutes from entering through the door.
The restaurant has a very lively, rustic atmosphere, with stone walls and large printouts of food and fields hung as decoration in the dining area. The kitchen was open to the dining area, so guests could see the magic in action, and the waiting area was adjacent to a cooler window with cured meat and salami hanging enticingly underneath a statue of a pig, honoring the beast that makes all those delicacies possible.
As soon as we sat down, we were presented with a wine menu which had a good variety, while not being overwhelming, which is something I always fear a bit in nicer restaurants. In keeping with the rustic European feel and style of the restaurant, the wines were selected mostly from European varietals, and I was surprised to not find any California wines on their list. I asked for an Italian Barbera, which we could all share at the table and hopefully pair well with our red meat dishes (I saw enough pork product by the waiting area that I knew what to expect). After the wine was served, we also got some crusty freshly baked bread, served not with butter but with an olive tapenade, which was a pleasant and delicious surprise.

The appetizer Ben and I decided to share was one of the daily specials - calf brain and lobster mushroom bruschetta with a beef consomme. This was love on a plate - the thick, crusty bread had a perfect crunch, which was mostly drowned in the savory beef broth. It was topped with perfectly cooked creamy chunks of calf brain, mixed in with large and tender pieces of lobster mushroom and topped with parsley. It was rustic, homey and exquisite at the same time, a perfect opener for a delectable meal.

I found out that his winning array of dishes were built around the ideas of letters to loved ones, how he would express himself through food. Our friends ordered the “letter” to himself, or what he would want to eat as his last meal - a blood sausage seared to a crisp, served with poached oysters and a sunny side up egg. Similarly rustic and delicious, this dish had a rich simplicity that was savory and delightful.
My entree was another one of his letters, this time his Apology Letter, what he would make for his wife to apologize for working too much (her favorite food) - sea urchin and cauliflower puree, served with seared scallops, pancetta and sea urchin and drizzled with scallion oil. Ben had a variation on pasta carbonara, with firm egg noodles and raw egg yolk, in which the bacon’s role was filled by dry cured and thinly shaved tuna heart.

For dessert, because of course there is dessert with an outstanding meal like this, it was tough to choose between the delicious sounding and creatively unique desserts on their menu. I finally settled for the pistachio macaron served with a cactus pear float with sabayon foam - the combination of flavors and textures was incredibly innovative and nothing like I’ve ever had before. If I was trying to be extremely nit-picky I could remark that the macaron was slightly dry, the tiniest bit too crunchy/sweet from the light and creamy bite that I usually prefer, but realistically it was as close to perfection as I’ve ever had.
Service at the restaurant was outstanding - everyone from the hostess to our waiter and everyone who brought us our dishes and cleared up the table were very friendly and accomodating. But to make things even better, the man himself, executive chef Chris Consentino, came out to talk to us after we were done. He chatted with our friends about his experience on Top Chef Masters and how he got along with the other contestants, talked about the restaurant and what changed for him after the competition, and even gave us a neat autograph on the evening’s menu as a souvenir. Incanto is definitely a must-visit for the adventurous foodie who is interested or curious about the more unique parts or preparations of meat.

Food	10
Drinks	10
Atmosphere	9
Service	9
Value	8

Ben

A perfect fine restaurant for the city; discreet from the outside but refined and lively on the inside. This is the crown jewel of chef Chris Consentino, the chef made famous from the show Top Chef and various appearances on Food Network. Chris is visibly involved in the kitchen - which is largely to the dining area - and is available and interactive with the patrons (he even chatted with us and posed for a picture with friends). We ordered a bottle of wine (reasonably priced at around ~40) and an appetizer: a calf brain and lobster mushroom bruschetta with beef consomme. The appetizer was one of the best dishes; the brain was creamy soft beef consomme sauce gave a great savory flavor to the dish. The lobster mushrooms were fresh and delicious, overall a perfect combination. For entrees we ordered a tuna heart noodles with egg yolk and a sea urchin puree with seared scallops. The sea urchin dish was fantastic - perfectly seasoned, creamy sea urchin with a rich, salty flavor.

The tuna heart spaghetti was decent - a warm egg yolk with shavings of smoked tuna heart over spaghetti with oil and various herbs. The tuna taste came through, though the dish was very salty and a little spaghetti heavy. Our friends ordered a delicious blood sausage with a sunny side up egg, which I was able to try and thought was fantastic. The sausage was fresh and smooth, and the juice from the sausage pooled with a basic (stock?) sauce giving a great flavored soup over the eggs. The dessert was decent; pistachio macaron served with a cactus pear float with sabayon (whipped alcoholic custard). The macaron was very sweet and a little chewy and the float was a little tart, but the combination was a pleasant overall experience. Overall the experience was great; a highly creative menu with several exotic meat selections, and a variety of preparations with masterful technique. The service was friendly and professional, and the atmosphere is cozy, tasteful, and generally very pleasant.

Food	9
Drinks	9
Atmosphere	10
Service	9
Value	8

Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery

Location: The Haight, San Francisco, CA
Cuisine type: Modern twist on American classics
Atmosphere: pub style casual
Meal: brunch
Overall score: 8.4

Nina

We rarely end up spending more than a day or evening in San Francisco, and we’ve never spent the night in the city, so when we committed a whole weekend to the city we were ready and excited to experience some of the local treats. Our host recommended Magnolia as the best place for brunch, and since we started the day watching a football game (and skipped breakfast), it sounded like an awesome idea.
Turns out this place is not only a popular gastropub, but they brew their own beer. One of the most popular items on the menu is their beer tasting flight, for which you can pick any of their house made beers. We let our server do the choosing, and what she brought us was the following array of beers, ranging from mild and light to dark and rich: Pearly Baker’s Best Bitter, Kalifornia Kolsch, Big Cypress Brown (cask), Rosebud, Prescription Pale and Proving Ground IPA. The one that really resonated with me was Rosebud, which is what I later ordered with my meal as well, it had a perfect balance of sweet, tart and bitter.

For appetizer, we shared an order of scotch egg - I was excited to see it on the menu since I’ve had such positive experiences with it in the past, but their execution far exceeded my expectations. The egg inside was perfectly cooked, with a barely runny yolk, and the creaminess of the yolk perfectly complemented the crunchy sear on the outside of the ground turkey shell. It was served on top of a delicate and flavorful romanesco sauce and topped with arugula.

Since I can’t resist a well poached egg, I had to try the one on their brunch menu - two perfectly poached eggs (runny yolks, completely cooked whites), served with BBQ pork belly on top of creamy cheddar grits and topped with fried shallots. The pork belly was slow cooked to an incredible level of tenderness, then seared to crisp up on the outside, and then drenched in a homemade barbecue sauce. The grits were creamy, with a pleasant sharpness from the cheddar, and the crispy shallots offered a great textural contrast in the dish. If I were to find one flaw with this dish, it would be in the barbecue sauce - it was a bit too tart, maybe the tomato component a bit too pronounced for me against the flavor of the cheddar, but it was not a deterrent from the otherwise perfect brunch.

The rest of the menu was also a series of creative twists on American and British classics, and I look forward to trying their food again, along with the delicious in-house brews, of course.

Food	9
Drinks	10
Atmosphere	9
Service	9
Value	8

Ben

The ultimate hipster place - almost cliche - it is actually a working hipster/hippie blend, working in a lot of the Haight-Ashbury culture and decor with a modern-American menu and large selection of craft beers. It is a thriving place that may only suffer from becoming too popular - I found the prices to be much too high for overgrown dive-bar vibe they seem to try to emulate. They offer a large selection of beers, including tasting menus and many beers brewed in-house. So, if you’re looking for beer, you won’t find much better. We had a beer tasting menu of in-house beers that I really enjoyed. The food was a little over-the-top in some instances, it seemed like they made too much of an effort to try to appear unique. For example, my chicken sandwich came with pickled jalapenos, fennel cabbage slaw, thin onions, fennel honey, and aoli. Sounds interesting, but the result was … average (too bready, dry chicken, overall meh). We had a scotch egg - which was solid, but again just seemed overpriced for the venue. I do think the over-the-top menu results in a real hit-or-miss experience, in that the other two at the table seemed to really enjoy their dishes. In principle and style (small brewery with creative food)t is the type of place I want to love, and in-all-fairness may have just been a “miss” for the day. I would prefer a place that would lose some of the pretense in the food ingredients and focus more on the execution, and drop the prices about 10-20%, which would still put it in the mid-upper scale SF bar food scene. Then again, the fact that it is always very packed suggests they have no reason to change anything (or there is a large demand for such a place).

Food	7
Drinks	10
Atmosphere	8
Service	8
Value	7

Fino

Location: Lower Nob Hill, San Francisco, CA
Cuisine type: Traditional Italian
Atmosphere: rustic, elegant, intimate
Meal: dinner
Overall score: 8.1

Nina

We landed here since it was the nearest place with good Yelp reviews from where we found parking on Geary (not a very exciting story). The restaurant is hidden in a hotel lobby, with the main entrance from a higher level back alley, which makes it feel low-key. The atmosphere is subdued and authentic, with rugged-looking stone walls, warm tones, dim lighting and rustic decor. Their wine selection was all Italian imports, with enough wines served by the glass that we didn’t have to get bottle service to enjoy something we liked.

One of their daily special was certainly not authentic Italian, but a tempting treat - fries with parmesan, parsley, garlic and truffle oil. They came on a plate in a huge pile of crispy potato sticks, almost glued together by melted parmesan, and with a pleasant nuance of garlic and truffle.
For the entree, I turned to something more in tune with the restaurant’s theme - I ordered gnocchi with gorgonzola, tarragon and cream sauce. While the gnocchi were a bit dense and chewy, they had a delicate flavor that paired well with the gorgonzola cream sauce, and the tarragon provided much welcome relief from the richness of the dish. It was a generous portion a little on the heavy side, but overall a good experience.

For dessert (of course there had to be dessert) I ordered the zabaione marsala mousse with fresh berries - for the cost and just generally for what I am used to for dessert portion sizes, I was expecting a small cup (maybe a martini glass?) with berries, topped with a few spoonulls of decadent zabaione. What I got was a little surprising - a large, hurricane glass, with berries at the bottom and filled, overfilled even, with warm marsala and egg yolk mousse. The presentation was messy, with the zabaione flowing over the sides of the glass and pooling around it on the plate. However, the execution was beyond reproach, with the warm mousse light and delicate, complementing the berries perfectly, and the marsala coming through without overwhelming the flavor of everything else.

Overall, I found the restaurant to be authentic with sparks of brilliance, but not outstanding; portions were very generous but presentation was somewhat lacking, and service was good, but the experience not quite memorable.

Food	8
Drinks	8
Atmosphere	9
Service	9
Value	7

Ben

A classic italian restaurant downtown SF with a dimly lit, intimate ambience. This is a place on the edge of casual and formal, and both seem perfectly in place. Following some delicious fresh-baked bread, we started with a mountain of french fries for appetizer; loaded with parmesan and garlic, along with parsley and truffle oil. In all its simplicity, it was delicious and a tough dish to beat if you’re in the mood (though it is probably more appropriately portioned for a party of 4 than 2). My main course was al dente fettucine with prosciutto and mushrooms in a creamy garlic tomato sauce. A classic, heavy, simple italian dish - “it is what it is” - it was executed very well and I really enjoyed it. Completing the theme of large portions - I tend to eat what is on the table .. so no complaints from me :) - we had a “zabaione”(very airy warm mousse) with marsala and fresh berries, served in a tall glass that had been completely overfilled, spilling down the sides and puddling into the bottom. As desserts go … it was pretty solid (though a little too light, almost soda-esque flavor), and we again managed to take care of the large portion. I will say Nina’s dish was less recommended - in that it was extraordinarily heavy with dense gnocchis and a very rich thick cream sauce, which had a somewhat homogenous cream flavor, but overall it is a solid downtown Italian date place, with reasonable prices.

Food	8
Drinks	8
Atmosphere	9
Service	7
Value	8

Nola

Location: Palo Alto, CA (University St area)
Cuisine type: New Orleans, Cajun
Atmosphere: casual, festive
Meal: lunch
Overall score: 7.3

Nina

Cajun, why not? At the end of a long bike ride to Palo Alto, we decided to stop for a nice, but casual lunch. This place looks and feels like a piece straight from the heart of New Orleans, with a multi-level interior courtyard with garden style seating furniture, a lively atmosphere, and Mardi Gras decorations. They had a decent selection of local, domestic and imported beers, both by the bottle and on tap.
We ordered a half dozen oysters and steak tacos as appetizers. The tacos was quite good, with the steak pretty tender, topped with avocado, pickled red onions and house made chimichurri, which struck a good balance of creamy, sour and savory. However, I was pretty disappointed with the oysters. Even though they were fresh (i wouldn’t expect any less), they were poorly shucked and had shards of shell in each one, making them hard and almost unpleasant to eat.

I ordered something that by name at least sounded very authentic New Orleans - the 4 napkin boudreaux. It was a grilled chicken breast sandwich, topped with crispy bacon, sauteed mushrooms, blue cheese, napa cabbage and red wine vinaigrette. The chicken was tender and bacon was crispy, but I found that there was too much napa cabbage and vinaigrette and too little mushrooms to be a well balanced sandwich. Even so, I enjoyed eating this with my hands, and having it live up to its name :)
We skipped dessert since we eyed this one French bakery down the street with luscious macarons that we couldn’t pass up.

Food	6
Drinks	8
Atmosphere	9
Service	7
Value	7

Ben

Right off of University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto, Nola Restaurant wraps around an inner courtyard with outdoor tables. The outdoor seating is a pleasant, lively area, a great place to hang out with friends for a meal / drinks. The indoor seating has TVs playing sports, seemingly divided into smaller single / double party rooms. The beer selection is a solid list of good microbrews, including many local. We started off with some fresh oysters and steak tacos. The oysters were clean, the cocktail sauce was fresh, and the tacos were tasty with avocado and pickled red onions. I ordered a spicy jambalaya. The jumbalaya had a decent flavor though the meat was a little overcooked. Overall a nice setting, average food (though where else are you going to find cajun food?), good drinks, though somewhat pricy.

Food	7
Drinks	7
Atmosphere	8
Service	9
Value	7