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. 

Exploring the food on Divisadero

In our neighborhood (Lower Pac Heights), there are two main streets that have the majority of restaurants. One is Fillmore, which I've already expressed my love for via this blog. The other is Divisadero Street, which is less upscale than Fillmore, but still has a lot of restaurant options and most are more affordable than Fillmore. Tortilla Heights from my taco review is on there. In the last few weeks, we've tried a couple other restaurants on Divisadero St. worth mentioning.

The first is Frankies, an American and European cuisine restuarant. The have hard cider on tap, which is hard to find in this city. The interior is very warm and cozy, with a real homey feel. The owner, a super nice man from some other country (I'm not sure which), greets everyone who comes in and seems to know most of the patrons on a first name basis (he's in the pic below, I assume he's Frankie). I had one of their chef specials, the chicken cordon bleu. The portions in this place are nothing to scoff at. My chicken was crispy on the outside, with gooey warm cheese on the inside. It also came with fries and a salad, neither of which were anything special but decent tasting. 

The second place is Godzila Sushi. It's a smaller place, which lots of Godzilla memorabilia as you would expect. The sushi is very well prices. The more basic maki rolls are around $5. We got the spicy tuna, philly and spicy california. All were pretty good. I liked how they put a dollop of siracha on each of the spicy california pieces. For nigiri, we got the spicy scallop, which was my boyfriend's favorite thing by a long shot. For a specialty maki roll, we got the pink dragon, which has fresh crab on the outside of the roll and was my favorite. Drinks are also very cheap here, with house wine at $3 per glass and a large hot sake for $5. While it's not the best sushi I've ever had, it's fairly good and the prices will bring  me back there again.

Also, if you want a walk that will get your legs burning, one of the best views is from on top of the hill on Divisadero. The Minnesota driver in me still gets a little anxiety from driving such a steep hill during rush hour though. I'm so afraid I might roll back at one of the stops...