2 posts tagged “san francisco”

I'm very excited to be blogging about the next restaurant I want to share: Crustacean, in San Francisco. The story of Crustacean is a very unique and heartwarming one, and can be found on their website. It's a win-win situation: my heart is happy to support a restaurant that has such a rich history and happy story of determined women succeeding against all odds, and my tummy is happy to support their food - again, and again, and again!

On the dollar scale, from fast food to once-in-a-lifetime, I would say Crustacean rates "special occasion" - However, since discovering it last year, I've been there three times already and would not hesitate to go again tomorrow. To start, we ordered several appetizers, called "Small Plates" and costing around $10.00.

First we had the Papaya Salad with Calamari, "lightly marinated calamari tossed in spicy Vietnamese vinaigrette with green papaya, rau ram and fresh Asian basil." I'm not even sure what a natural papaya looks like - such an uncultured foodie - however, I do know that it was amazing, and am now a permanent papaya salad fan and will order it wherever else I see it, just so I can compare them and see who makes it the best!

Next we had the Vietnamese Carpaccio, "thinly sliced raw beef with a spicy lemon vinaigrette, Asian basil, sliced red onions and roasted peppers." My last trip to Crustacean, and the Salmon Carpaccio small plate that I ordered, had made me a carpaccio fan, but something about this dish just wasn't as stunning as the last one I tried. I would definitely re-order the salmon carpaccio next time, or try one of their many other small plates.

Crustacean Shrimp Toast. This was actually really delicious! I was wary about the idea of minced shrimp on bread. It didn't sound like it would mix well, but it was executed wonderfully and surprisingly delicious, like fruit on a salad. Ah yes..I still remember the first time I had fruit on a salad (Salt Lake City, Utah, early 2000s). Anyway. The toast was lightly broiled so that it was a tiny bit crunchy and toasty on the outside, but soft on the inside. They only serve three pieces, though, so if you go with a party of six like we did, you must be prepared to share. With so many other Small Plates yet to be tried, I will probably try something else next time.

Main Course Time, or as Crustacean calls them, "Large Plates" time! We ordered everything that Crustacean is famous for: first, the Roasted Dungeoness Crab. This is widely, widely recommended on blogs and review sites everywhere, and for a reason. The crab is perfectly roasted, and so savory that you have to try very hard to refrain from licking the shell! It's easy to crack (and it snaps crisply, not soggy and bendy like cheap crab does), and each bite of the tender meat inside reminds you why Crustacean is one of San Francisco's best seafood restaurants.

Second, and absolutely crucial for every visit, is the famous An's Garlic Noodles. I don't have a macro shot of the noodles themselves - they look like rather plain, ordinary noodles - but you can see them in the background of the Dungeoness Crab picture!

I knew about these garlic noodles way, way before I ever set foot in Crustacean itself. The first time I had it, I was hooked. Second time I had it, I was still hooked. Third time....yep, still hooked. :) I can't emphasize how much I recommend these garlic noodles. TIP: If you're not feeling spendy enough for a restaurant that's "special occasion" priced, though, you can get a very good alternative garlic noodle dish at Unicorn that I heartily recommend. It's lighter, and still very delicious.

Dessert! Most of us were tempted into the fried banana and ice cream, which is delicious and a must-have if you've never tried it. However, if you have had it, Crustacean's take on it is not particularly special - but it's not bad at all. But, the best of the night was definitely the Baked Alaska. Now, I am not a big fan of bananas. However, the sauce on the banana slices was divine - sweet without overpowering. I seriously respect any restaurant that can prepare a food I don't particularly like into a dish that I could die for, and this was definitely it!

With the dessert still on my mind hours later, I looked up Baked Alaska on the interwebs, and I can't say that the description of the dessert sounded like what we ate - so I'll have to order it at the next restaurant that offers it, for the sake of comparison.

Yeah...obviously, I am a huge fan of this restaurant and it has not failed to impress me even upon my return trips. I am always recommending this restaurant to friends and/or taking them there personally so I can get another meal in!

 

I am a huge fan of Dine About Town as an idea. It gives people an opportunity to sample some of the best restaurants San Francisco has to offer - and usually, it's a three course, pre-fixe menu consisting of some of their most well-known dishes. I noticed that Crustacean had their soft spring rolls and famous garlic noodles (alas, I did not make it to Crustacean during Dine About Town), and Ruth's Chris had choices between a 12-oz. ribeye, 6-oz. sirloin and stuffed chicken - all of which I'm sure are good (and from personal experience, the ribeye is amazing).

Unfortunately, I think Dine About Town creates a lot of strain for the staff and chefs of their respective restaurants, as they get a lot more people coming in for lunch and dinner and probably have to make some sacrifices in order to reduce wait times for everyone. This is somewhat the reputation that preceded supperclub in San Francisco when I went during DaT in January. Ordinarily, supperclub is a fairly pricey, 5-course pre-fixe experience - $60-80 average a head. I won't presume to guess how busy they are on a typical night, but during Dine About Town, it was absolutely packed and unpleasantly crowded, and there were only three courses served. As a result, the whole experience - though original, exotic and quirky - felt like it was dragging on a little (We all shared the semi-joking opinion that it would've been a whole lot more fun if we were all high.)

The fun part about supperclub was that it felt very exclusive and exotic, as the 'club' in 'supperclub' suggests. The lobby is alive, plush, exciting and sexy, and so are the bartenders. Unfortunately, waiting for seating (they seat you all at once in the main "dining hall") with the other bazillion patrons feels rather like cows being herded towards their enclosure.

The main dining room is fantastic. bold, cold and white, with splashes of silky red cloth across the walls and ceiling. It's an open two-level single room, filled with snazzy lights and beating club music, with white platform beds and large white pillows extending along three walls. They serve your food over a span of three-ish hours, so it's nice to be lounging/reclining/lying down during the slightly boring down-time in between.

The first course was a salad. it was quite a decent portion, served on a rather strangely long dish, with mystery bits (carrots? beets? nuts? hey, it was dark!) topped with bleu cheese, wonton crunchies, and a tangy vinaigrette. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the bleu cheese. It tasted like feta. Er...maybe it was feta?

Apparently the second course was kobe beef, complemented by a mix of what Yelpers say was polenta and/or ratatouille. This was probably my favorite course of the night. I've had kobe beef once before in my life, but unfortunately they came in the form of raw medallions I had to grill myself, so I probably messed it up.

Supperclub's kobe beef was 95% delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, grade-A quality beef; and 5% sort of rubbery chewy weirdness. I guess my quest for the real mind-blowing kobe beef experience continues.

The brownie and ice cream dessert was served in a silver dogbowl and refused to be photogenic - something about a dogbowl just renders it visually unappetizing, maybe. Entree-wise, it was tasty, but a little boring.

I have strangely low blood pressure, so after a meal I tend to crash hard into a food coma unless I remain active. Large platform beds and lounge pillows are not conducive to activity, so by the end of dessert I was wanting to lie down and nap. There was just so much downtime between each dish, and we didn't feel like racking up a huge drink tab, so by the end of the night hanging out at someone's place with wine and cheese sounded a lot more fun. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy supperclub's overall awesome concept of eating in bed, but three hours of it is definitely more than enough.

If I had come with just my boyfriend for a romantic experience, we probably would have gotten bored or irritated sooner - but luckily I came with a large group, which prompted them to seat us in a semi-secluded corner instead of along the wall, shoulder-to-shoulder with people on both sides. Seven of us is more than enough to make for endless lively conversation, so we had a fantastic time overall.

Would I go again? Once, perhaps, on a non Dine About Town night just to see what it's like - because I think it was definitely watered-down for the cheaper masses. But if I ever have a guest from out-of-town that wants a quirky SF experience, I'd probably just head over to AsiaSF!