Friendsgiving SF-Style

Last Sunday night a few of us got together for a "Friendsgiving" dinner, only instead of turkey and pot luck dishes we hit one of the hottest new Mexican restaurants in San Francisco. I mean, I like turkey but I'd really rather just have some nice ceviche and a margarita. The place I'm referring to is La Urbana, which opened about 3-4 months ago and while it's been labeled as one of the trendy new spots to go, it's not insane yet. However, based on the amazing food, fancy cocktails, cool ambiance and fun location (Alamo Square on Divisadero), I'd go now and try to get in while you can. Eater SF just nominated it as one of five "So Hot Right Now" restaurants although Stones Throw won. It was also nominated for "Stone Cold Stunner" but honestly I'm not really sure what that means...

The inside of the restaurant is mostly modern with Mexico City influences, with brightly painted wood, neon lights, skeletons and cacti succulent arrangements. We ended up getting seated at the communal table, which I was a little nervous about (especially when the other half was initially comprised of mostly small children when we first got there- what were they even eating there?!), but it really wasn't bad. There's a tinted glass partial wall that separates it from the restaurant and cuts down on the noise a bit. Usually when I sit at a communal table I find myself saying what or just politely nodding out of deafness, but the glass wall plus the table size may for reasonable noise level.

Even if you're not particularly hungry, this is a great place to go for drinks. The cocktail menu boasts one of the largest mezcal collections in SF of 40+ bottles. All of the females at the table ordered the violet flower margarita, because who in their right mind would pass up a tequila drink with orange blossom water, violet flower liqueur, rose cava and actual flower petals! For some reason none of the men ordered this drink though. The La Urbana margarita is pretty potent but delicious as well.

Onto the food. The cuisine is upscale Mexican, with authentic dishes spiced up with molecular gastronomy. Although tempted to do the grandiose "We'll take one of everything," we practiced self restraint and picked out a couple dishes to share. I'll go through them in order of favorite to least. I thought the best was the ceviche de pescado, which came in a capped mason jar. After being opening in theatrical fashion, mesquitesmoke billowed out. The fish retained the smokey taste but also had a good balance of citrus and avocado.

I also really like the corn side dish. Although it's usually better on the cob, they took the esquites and made it into a tasty bowl of corn, lemon aioli, garlic butter and epazote (a common Mexican spice). The only thing is could have used is a little queso fresco. The oysters had that cool gastronomic flair, with the shell being filled with a cucumber serrano foam that had a spicy after-kick. Our starter (after the complementary amuse bouche) was the huarache de carnitas on brioche, which is a great appetizer for those who can handle their spice.

My favorite entree was the braised short rib with potato puree and grilled squash. The meat was incredibly tender and wasn't drenched in sauce, allowing the quality of the meat to shine.

The other entree we tried was the pollo con mole negro. I'm not a huge fan of mole sauce but this one was particularly pungent. It almost tasted like it had espresso or something in the sauce. Lastly we had the ensalada verde, which was thinly slice cacti, fava beans, frisee, avocado and cilantro dressing. They were able to make the cacti non-slimy but it was overall a forgettable dish. We didn't order the pozole but I heard it is really good, so I'd definitely give that a try next time I go back (although now the great Divisadero debate will be do I eat at Little Chihuahua, Bar Crudo or La Urbana.... so many good choices!).

*Food photo credit to SF Gate.  I clearly was too busy eating to play food paparazzi.