Mr. Food Musings and I swore we'd kick off the new year with less conspicuous consumption and more dinners in. That lasted approximately 5 days, and then a series of events forced us -- that's right, forced us -- to abandon our good intentions and well-laid plans.
Ame
The Scene Walking to our table across polished mesquite wood floors, I looked around in awe at what is one of the most gorgeous -- and most expensive, I'd bet -- rooms in town. Pronounced "AH-may" (with three little letters to announce its presence inside the swanky St. Regis hotel), it weaves texture and color in among subdued neutrals, like the black and gold striped gossamer curtains that somehow keep out the noise and cold. Dramatic fabric-wrapped constructions resembling sea creatures hang from the ceiling of the back room -- lights, I guess you'd call them -- and an open kitchen is eye candy for the main room. Even the smallest details, like the tablecloth's waffle-patterned petticoats or the custom-made sashimi bar, haven't escaped the designer's eye.
The Staff Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani, the husband and wife team behind Napa's Terra, opened Ame in late 2005. Both have impressive pedigrees -- he opened the first Spago in Japan and then went on to run the Hollywood location in the '80s when it was still defining the idea of "fusion," eventually earning the James Beard Best Chef California title in 2003, and she is a pastry chef in her own right, first at the original French Laundry pre-Thomas Keller and later at -- you guessed it -- Spago. For the most part their staff hovers in the small intersection of elegant, friendly and unassuming, though the servers need to learn to take drink orders before launching into their 20-minute soliliquoy on each and every dish on the menu (sigh).
The Stand-outs Exectuve chef Greg Dunmore turns out what they blandly call "New American." A friend of mine does a better job of it, noting that it hits on the commonalities of Japanese and Italian cooking. The crudo --- fluke with young olive oil, Meyer lemon and sea salt --- was refreshing, and I'd like to go back for the tuna five ways and "Lissa's staff meal," a dish of cuttlefish noodles with a cracked quail egg, fresh wasabi, sea urchin and soy sauce. Hands down, the combination of smoky-sweet eel and silky foie gras over a sea of risotto had us sighing the most. I happily spooned the creamy insides of my burrata cheese over buttery toasts, polishing off each bite with a bit of pickled red onion or baby artichoke. The chawan mushi, a traditional Japanese egg custard, had me keeping my oh-so allergic distance but otherwise it was a table favorite. Finishing off with the mild tasting, wild looking sugar beet ice cream was a treat for all the senses.
The So whats? Though Terra is known for their sake-marinated black cod, which at Ame comes in a simple broth with heavenly shrimp dumplings, it's not as adventurous as many of the other items on the menu. The "crabonara," a play on Italy's famed pasta with pancetta and raw egg, was a tangle of noodles, butter and crab all right, but somehow it didn't hit any high notes. The orange-mint sorbet packed an invigorating punch, but it was a bit too icy for my taste.
Ame, San Francisco, 689 Mission Street, 415.284.4040
Medicine Eatstation
The Scene Medicine has made the old Faz space in Crocker Galleria utterly unrecognizable. Long communal tables with sloping sides are unadorned except by the occasional bottle of soy, and lucky diners get to gaze out onto Sutter Street from up high. A panel of flat screen TVs against one wall displays soothing images of flowers and trees in an attempt to calm, but the hyped up lunch crowd is anything but.
The Staff The six folks who opened Medicine Eatstation claim on their web site to be "driven by its mission [of loving kindness] to an almost fanatical degree." The cynic in me is thinking, yeah, right, especially when I see further down that they want to create "a restaurant experience that is affordable to people as part of their daily lives." Oh, is that what you call a $42 lunch for two? (Two "foundation sets," two drinks and a shared appetizer. Plus a 17% automatic gratuity --- and for what?)
The Stand-outs The vegetarian and mostly vegan "new shojin" cuisine is based on what Japanese Zen monks eat. Said monks believe food is medicine whose purpose is to keep the body healthy, and here I'm afraid we diverge. Nearly each "foundation set" (a fancy word for meal) comes with a block of artisan tofu with nori and ginger so hot it made me cry, as well as some pickled veg which I tried, then passed on to Mr. Food Musings. The only thing I really liked was the maitake mushroom in a tempura shell so crisp that with a squirt of fresh lemon and sprinkle of sea salt I could pretend I was eating potato chips. Mr. FM's veg tempura (red pepper, broccoli, eggplant) was equally stunning.
The So-whats? I don't like hot soba noodles, so that didn't make the cut, and Mr. FM described his cold clear soup as "water with some vegetables" -- spinach, sour plum and baby turnips to be exact. The yuzu lemonade was sickeningly sweet and the Cricket cola nothing more than an expensive novelty drink. Can you tell I'm not a convert?
Medicine Eatstation, San Francisco, 161 Sutter Street, 415.677.4405
Saha
The Scene Flickering candles light a room that is saved from starkness by electrifying orange seats and curtains. Photographs of Yemen, the chef's desert homeland, decorate one wall and a tiny bar hugs the back corner. Hidden away within the Hotel Carlton, Saha is a large space that manages to feel cozy and sultry even when half empty. My favorite feature is a series of five lamps hung at alternating lengths over a long table. Each is different, and their luminous globes recall exotic jellyfish floating in the sea.
The Staff Chef Mohamed Aboghanem wraps up his Yemeni childhood, European travels and twenty years cooking in San Francisco in a gift he calls "Arabic fusion." His wife is usually standing behind the hostess stand. Ask her for a recommendation and she dutifully and enthusiastically walks you through a handful of dishes, all of which live up to her promises. Waiters are attentive and skilled, changing plates after each course (if you order tapas-style), a mark usually missed in smaller restaurants. Wine recommendations are solid, and everyone looks as though they're lost in the food.
The Stand-outs Yemeni cooking is known for its unique mixture of savory and sweet flavors. In some dishes it's done proud, like the grilled shrimp in a pool of cool mint, cilantro and rosewater pesto. Ditto the signature ravioli stuffed with shitake mushrooms and napped in a mango cream sauce. The fouel made an instant addict of me, with its soupy mix of fava beans, garlic and roasted peppers. When the focaccia-like bread was gone, I made do with my fingers. Lahem sougar pairs grass-fed lamb sauteed with pine nuts and sumac, a spice made from sour purple berries, with hummus and pita. I hear the kibbeh, a traditional Middle Eastern dish of ground beef and cracked wheat does the kitchen proud, as does the fattoush salad.
The So whats? Our only meal there was faultless, but rumor is that not all of the surprising flavor combinations work (chocolate, chermoulah and scallops, anyone?) Next time I'd trade the plebeian kofta meatballs for one of the tagines.
Saha, San Francisco, 1075 Sutter Street, 415.345.9547
Hmmm, you may have just saved me a trip to Medicine. I've been planning on going, but might try Saha instead. Went to Burma Superstar this weekend, on your recommendation, and it was delish. I'm still craving their sour vegetable soup--addictive stuff!
Posted by: Tea | January 16, 2006 at 10:54 AM
Tea -- I'm so glad you loved Burma Superstar as much as we did! Yes, I'd skip Medicine unless you just want to see it for yourself. I found the food really unappetizing, and way overpriced. Saha is a great bet (and easy to get into last minute).
Posted by: Catherine | January 16, 2006 at 01:18 PM
oh - i am glad someone else has discovered the gem that is Saha, which reminds me I must revisit it soon. Fred hasn't stopped talking about it since our first visit.
Love the writing on these Catherine. Very professional!
sam
Posted by: sam | January 16, 2006 at 01:40 PM
Sam -- it's already on my must-go-again list! And thank you for the compliment, my dear...
Posted by: Catherine | January 16, 2006 at 03:27 PM
Yum, Saha sounds great (not the scallops and chocolate thing though). Catherine, just tagged you for a meme. What goes around comes around! ;-)
Posted by: Robyn | January 16, 2006 at 07:24 PM
we just went back and I love it. still.
This place deserves more recognition, for sure.
Posted by: sam | January 21, 2006 at 11:57 PM
PS - i am pretty sure there are only 4 lights (i too was mesmerized by them), but maybe I'll have to go back and do a recount just to be sure.
Posted by: sam | January 21, 2006 at 11:58 PM
Sam -- you might be right. I drew four of them but wrote down five, so who knows? But I'm glad you liked it as much as you did the first time. That bodes well for our next visit.
Posted by: Catherine | January 22, 2006 at 08:35 AM
i just reread your review. Those meatballs were anything but Plebeian. They were meatballs of the Gods!!!
Posted by: sam | January 23, 2006 at 01:44 PM
Hmm, maybe I'll give them another go. They paled next to the lahem sougar...
Posted by: Catherine | January 23, 2006 at 06:03 PM
btw i checked again and it IS 5 lights. My bad, sorry.
Posted by: sam | March 20, 2006 at 09:52 PM
I went to Saha for dinner yesterday, and boy I must have visited on a seriously off night. To be fair, the signature ravioli was very good, and the jalapeno-honey flatbread special was tasty enough. Notably, however, the pesto-stuffed mushroom special was merely okay, the orange chicken was unremarkable, the sea bass was overcooked and grossly undersalted, and the mansaf consisted of dry, tough lamb cubes with virtually no yogurt sauce. Desserts were equally underwhelming.
The service, meanwhile, was simply awful; the plates on which the appetizers were served -- even though emptied -- sat on our crowded table throughout the entire meal, to the point where we had to start stacking them one on top of the other simply to make room. We were never given a fresh set of plates off of which to eat, instead having to make do with the tiny plates given to us originally -- I thought -- for bread. And after we had finished with our meal, we waited for over 30 minutes before anybody came over to clear the table and offer us dessert menus.
I'm not sure whether, or if, I'll ever be tempted to go back...
Posted by: NS | May 28, 2006 at 08:09 PM
Ugh -- poor NS! That sounds dreadful. After an experience like that I wouldn't go back either. Sam's been a few times and each time was great, from what I know, and that's what's happened to me too. I wish your experience had been more like ours.
Posted by: Catherine | May 29, 2006 at 09:00 AM