Aliment (noun): Food, Nourishment

For the last couple years I've been living in Nob Hill, directly above Union Square. Like every neighborhood, it has its pros and cons. Most of the cons have slowly grown on me and are a source of comfort now. I don’t know if I could sleep as soundly without the dinging of the trolley and hum of the tracks. The tourists that I zoom by every day while jetting up the hill now offer words of encouragement and envy, as only a local could manage that steep of an incline like a pro. And even in a city of amazing restaurants, sometimes you just need a slice from the Cheesecake Factory.

This brings me to my point. The one con that I still struggle with is the lack of good restaurants in my area. It’s either chain restaurants or kitschy SF tourist traps that charge too much. I've got my hole-in-the-wall favorites that are always good for takeout (Sushi Toni tops that list!) but the closest decent restaurant is probably the Nob Hill Café. I found my neighborhood bar (Tunnel Top, a must visit for any SF resident) but I've been yearning for a good place to have a glass of wine and enjoy some quality food. Well, finally I have found such a place! Aliment, a new American/California restaurant just opened on Bush between Mason and Powell. The 49-seat restaurant feels small but open. Giant windows that slide open face the street and there’s bar seating along it for those who like to people watch. Every day I walk by there’s little vases filled with fresh flowers sitting out on it. The rest of the interior is minimalist outside of the wine wall behind the bar. 

We sat by the window and checked out the wine list. They featured a good selection of local and world wines. I just read that the managing partner comes from Nob Hill Grille and shares the chef duties with a guy coming from Blue Plate. This makes sense as the food is classic California, simple and seasonal. We started by tasting the Churchpoint oysters, which were topped with fresno chile vinegar and fennel. It had a spicy after-kick that really livened up a standard oyster. I then continued my kale obsession with their chopped kale salad, diced with toasted pepitas (squash seed), radish and pecorino. The dressing was a thick avocado and anchovy dressing, which didn't taste fishy at all. We also split the fried brussel sprouts, which were crispy but a little on the greasy side (they’d be perfect if strained a tad bit more). The sauce they’re served in tasted like a mix of soy and something a little sweet/syrupy, which combined made a delicious tangy combo. Just in case we were getting a little too healthy, we also got an order of the French fries, which were standard but served with a garlic chive ranch. I’d recommend also requesting ketchup as they make their own smoky ketchup in-house that I really enjoyed and I usually hate ketchup. We stopped after appetizers and wine but their entrees were in the same genre (think hanger steak, diver scallops, fried chicken and braised short rib). 

This place offers a little something for everyone. I’d be fine dining there solo, with friends or on a date. They’re also open for brunch so I’ll be checking that out next! 

Spanish in San Francisco

Last week my best friend since I was two came to visit San Francisco for the first time. This of course puts the pressure on me to pick the perfect restuarant, which is hard to do in a city filled with amazing food. I opted for Zarzuela, a Spanish tapas restaurant on Hyde, toeing the line between Russian and Nob Hill. This ending up being the perfect choice. The neighborhood is cute, the restaurant is cozy and warm, the food was authentic and amazing and the service was charming.

The restaurant is so warm and inviting. There's a front room, so it looks like a smaller establishment but there's more seating in the back. We got a nice corner table and promptly ordered a bottle of cava (when in "Spain). They bring the cava out to your table with a bucket of ice so it stays perfectly chilled the entire time. From our waiter, I learned that cava served at the perfect temperature will only have bubble near the top of the glass. Now to the food, oh the glorious food. I spent a week in Madrid a couple years ago and this is the best Spanish-style tapas I've had since. We got so many small plates and each seemed better than the next. We sampled the mejillones al zazfran, which are mussles sauteed in white wine, garlic, tomatoes, onions and saffron. We got a side of one of my favorite traditional tapas dishes, patatas bravas, which is basically chopped, fried potatoes with spicy tomato dip (ala french fries Spanish style). When at a Spanish restaurant, you have to get paella, which is Spanish style rice with a medley of seafood, chicken and vegetables, flavored with saffron. Another dish that was one of my favorites in Madrid is the chicken and ham croquettes. These delicious fried rolls and filled with meat and cheese, a combination that rarely goes wrong. We also got the braised quail (because clearly we had not ordered enough already), which was juicy and well cooked, but didn't have many memorable flavors.

The service was really what made the evening memorable. Our server was actually Spanish and very charming. He was knowledgeable about all of the food and wine. He was always there to fill out glasses when they got low and lead a toast. At one point in the evening, he knew man dining at the restaurant and burst out singing this beautiful song from Spain. My friend actually speaks fluent Spanish, so they got to chit chat for a bit in his native tongue. The prices are pretty good too, the bill only gets high because you want to try everything on the menu! I will definitely eat here again and recommend this place to any tapas lovers.