Welcome January 2010! Let’s just try you on for size and see how you feel. Let’s hope that you treat us right and provide the opportunities for us to strive toward all things positive, so that we grow and achieve our goals and start this new decade off on a good foot, moving forward with delight and prosperity. Speaking of moving forward, in the dead of winter and the craziness of the holiday season, guess what? New eateries opened their doors across town. They now await, all ready for you to stop by, come in from the cold, and enjoy their sublime offerings.
Award-winning chef Melissa Perello has opened her first restaurant, Frances, which is located at 17 and Pond streets, a crossroads of the Castro, Mission, and Noe Valley neighborhoods. Growing up, Perello drew inspiration from her role model, her late grandmother Frances Seidel, hence the name she selected for her new-found bistro. The menu reflects seasonal California and French fusion and focuses on ingredients from local markets, farms, and producers. With a menu that changes daily, Perello will be able to showcase her background in fine dining while continually adapting the cuisine for a more casual and accessible neighborhood scene. Perello cites her time working alongside mentor Ron Siegel at Charles Nob Hill as her defining experience. “Ron taught me how to create relationships with purveyors and make ingredients shine,” she writes on her website. It was at Charles Nob Hill where Perello earned great critical acclaim for her cooking. Her accolades include the San Francisco Chronicle’s Rising Star Chef honor in 2002, being named one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2004, and receiving three James Beard Rising Star Chef nominations—2002, 2003, and 2004. From there she moved on to take the helm as executive chef at the Fifth Floor, where she was subsequently awarded a Michelin star in 2006.
At Frances, wine director/manager Paul Einbund has prepared an international wine list with more than one hundred selections, divided into small sections based on the flavor of the varietal. Perello’s menu is broken into four sections, bouchées—applewood smoked bacon beignets, and the albondigas con salsa verde are two offerings not to be overlooked—apps, entrées, and sides. The selection of starters and side dishes are the perfect accompaniment to the six entrée items.
Baker & Banker’s striped bass
No sooner had the moving trucks packed up Michael Lindsay Tusk from Quince and moved them to their new outpost over on Pacific Avenue, 1701 Octavia Street was abuzz with anticipation of the arrival of Baker & Banker—and, for the record, it’s not a retail store. Husband-and-wife team, chef Jeff Banker & pastry chef Lori Baker, were excited to take over the space that housed Quince, and before that, Meetinghouse. “We loved the idea of creating a great neighborhood restaurant at this location,” says Banker. “This is a magical spot for many people, and we plan to continue our predecessors’ traditions of quality, creativity, and true hospitality.”
The duo comes with more than thirty years of shared experience and working pedigrees of some well-known establishments, such as Eos, Slow Club, Bizou, Postrio, Bix, and Fifth Floor. Famed restaurant interior designer MichaelBrennan has taken the spirit of the site’s original apothecary charm and elaborated on the idea with masculine charcoal-black stained wood, accented with tarnished gold leaf on the molding and trim. Wooden blinds cover the windows; chalkboards, posted with the changing menus and the sixteen to twenty wines available by the glass, line the walls; espresso-colored leather banquettes border each side of the room; and hanging Edison bulb fixtures add an antique effect. Banker’s menu is simple and concise: start off with a Dungeness crab salad, Satsuma mandarins, watermelon radish, and homemade black sesame cracker; or the house-smoked trout, celery root latke, horseradish crème fraîche, pickled beets, and shaved fennel. For entrées, try the hanger steak with the luscious bone marrow red wine butter, cast iron potato gratin, and wilted spinach; or braised Pozzi Farm lamb shank sugo, Anson Mills polenta, and salsa verde. Finish up with something sweet from Baker’s dessert list, such as the lip-smacking peanut butter caramel fudge brownie with roasted banana ice cream and salted peanut brittle, which has been an opening crowd favorite!
If you have not made your way over to the Ferry Building to check out Il Cane Rosso, it’s time for you to make the pilgrimage. This project was conceived and created by DanielPatterson, chef/owner of Coi, and chef Lauren Kiino from Delfina. The name is Italian for “red dog”; it refers to Kiino’s SPCA-adopted, three-legged dog, which is the restaurant’s logo icon. Il Cane Rosso is open for lunch and early dinner every day, and for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. The heart of the kitchen is the rotisserie, on which whole chickens, pork, and other meats are roasted. The menu offers a rotating selection of sandwiches, such as Long & Bailey Porchetta with pickled cabbage, mustard and peppercress; or Marin Sun Farms beef “Tagliata” with aged cheddar, aioli, rosemary, and caramelized onions. The real favorite here is the three-course family style dinner for $25, served between 5 and 8 p.m. With offerings such as Marin Sun Farms house-made meatloaf with pancetta onion gravy and Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, or Soul Food Farm chicken leg and thigh confit Italian “Cassoulet” style. It’s just like the Southern Italian eateries you remember from your summer vacation—only better because it’s at the Ferry Building.
Martin Cate, proud proprietor of Smuggler’s Cove
Somewhere up in the heavens Vic Bergeron, founder of Trader Vic’s, is looking down and smiling on Martin Cate, the proud proprietor of Smuggler’s Cove (650 Gough Street at McAllister). Cate, known in bartender circles and the Bay Area as the “King of Tiki and Rum,” has created his own tribute to all things tiki and rum in his new establishment: a two-story waterfall runs down the main wall and rum barrels and tiki totems decorate walls, along with a hanging fish net, anchors, a vintage boat, and harbor lights. Smuggler’s Cove stocks over two hundred premium rums; allow yourself some time when paging through the drink binder, as there are eighty cocktail 
selections. It’s like visiting the Pirates of the Caribbean, only for adults, with alcohol!
Steven Oliver is a restaurant manager and wine buyer.
