I've always wondered if celebrity chefs are really that amazing of cooks. They seem to be on TV because of their looks, personality, cooking flair or the fact that they make pretty looking food. But we viewers can't taste the food on TV (here's hoping for that technological advancement by 2030!), so how do we really know their qualifications as cooks. Well, I went to my first celebrity chef-owned restuarant and I eat my words.
A couple weekends ago was my two year anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend. We wanted to check out an amazing restaurant for this special occasion but there's so many options in San Francisco. Based off others recommendations, we decided to go to Wayfare Tavern. It's owned and operated by Tyler Florence, know for host "The Great Food Truck Race" and his many specials on the Food Network. The kitchen in the restaurant is open to the floor, so I took a peek as soon as we got there. Unfortunately he was not cooking when we were there but I've heard from others that he does make appearances there to cook.
Wayfare Tavern is located in the Financial District near the heart of downtown, at 558 Sacramento Street. There's a valet out front if you want to drive and are worried about finding parking. The restaurant itself is warm and inviting. There's a big fireplace in the back with deer heads mounted to the wall above. It's two levels but still feels cozy. The chic country-esque interior, with warm brown undertones makes it feel less fancy and stuck-up, and more charming and quaint. They serve Victorian-era cocktails and rustic American food, which pretty much sums up the entire vibe of the restaurant.
Before I get into the meal, let me just say that one of the best part of Wayfare is that a server comes around to each table with a basket of warm popovers, which beat any kind of break I've ever found in a restaurant's bread basket. So, for the decision on actual food, I read a copious amount of Yelp reviews before we went and they repeatedly touted the following foods I'm about to describe. And I agree with all the reviews about how delicious each of these items are. We started with the steak tartare, which was probably my favorite part of the meal. The organic steak is served fresh, with French mustard dressing, egg yolk, and garlic popovers to scoop it on. I'm amazed how much flavor the got the steak to adsorb and the garlic popovers added the perfect amount of crunch. We also tried the deviled eggs, with mustard yolks, capers, celery, and crisp shallots. Outside of my mother's (which I am partial and biased to), these are the best deviled eggs I've ever had. It was the perfect amount of mustard in the mix. Florence is known for his organic fried chicken, breaded in buttermilk brine, roasted garlic, crisp woody herbs and lemon so we had to give that a try. I can honestly say its the most amazing fired chicken I've ever had. I can't even think of anyone that even comes close! The other entree we tried was the steak frites (Santa Maria tri-tip with truffle butter, watercress and French fried potatoes). This was probably the least exciting thing we got. The steak was juicy and a perfect medium rare. The truffle butter did step it up a bit in flavor, but the French fries were just French fries, the kind you can find in any non-chain restaurant.
The dessert deserves its own paragraph. We had the Wayfare chocolate creme pie. Everyone who knows me knows I'm not a huge fan of chocolate. I know, it's weird, but what's even weirder is that I had chocolate creme pie and liked it! The pie is Scharffenberger chocolate pudding, salted caramel ganache, and devil’s food cake, topped with a pie helping of whipped cream. I read online and am not quite sure if this is true or not, but that Florence makes him pie crust with pork fat. If that is true, that is amazing. So what have we learned from all this? While Wayfare Tavern may be expensive and owned by a celebrity chef, it is worth every penny. Tyler Florence knows what he is doing and had really brought traditional rustic American dishes to a a whole new level.
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