Ah, yes. Tartine - the famed SF bakery. Yet somehow every time I come to SF it manages to escape me. But this time I was staying with my friend Louise and it was about a 25 min walk from her place and with the time difference I was easily able to get there by 8:30am before the masses came in. I had heard about this place as having the best bread and baked goods in the city, so I was super excited to check it out. In my head, I had this vision of a cute trendy cafe where it was bright and airy and I could sit outside with my croissant and coffee.
It turned out to be kind of the opposite and decor-wise not really what I thought. I was kind of a bleh facade (I actually walked right past it the first time) and bleh inside. It was much more basic than I thought and kind of cramped seating. But that's ok. There was a very short line when I got there and was a bit caught off guard on what I should get. I still had a very New York state of mind and was looking for bagels. I quickly pivoted and got an almond croissant and a quiche of the day. I hindsight, I wish I got the morning bun (pictured) or the bread pudding but it was also only 8:30am, so both of them seemed kind of aggressive but lesson learned for next time.
I got a seat in the middle of the cafe and started with the almond croissant. It was super flakey and the almond paste inside was sweet and lovely. It was indeed a good croissant but I don't know if I would say it's one of the best ones I've had. It was almost a bit too flakey on the outside for me because when I got up, I pretty much had an entire batch of croissant flakes sitting in my lap. The quiche was good but I always forget that I don't like them as much as I think I do. They're usually too cold and hard crusted for my liking and this one was one different. I'm glad I got to see what all the fuss was and I believe the other baked goods there are probably better (see my next posting about eating at their restaurant and eating the bread there) but I don't know if I would necessarily go out of my way to come back here the next time I'm in the Bay Area. Total bill: $16.34 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Vive La Tarte 1160 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103 4 Forks
Now this is the California type bakery I was envisioning. It was this giant, bright loft space with full working open kitchen that you could see into. It was very industrial chic. It felt like everyone who was eating there worked at some tech start up or some other too cool for school place. The menu is kind of like a bakery with a big focus on croissants, desserts and focaccias. It is a highly Instragram worthy place if you care about that kind of stuff.
I met up randomly with an old junior school friend who I hadn't seen in over 20 years but it was so nice to catch up! The only reason I knew about this place was that I walked past it the other day while I was wandering around the city. If you're looking for other food items, they have a limited menu of very hipster California things like salads and smashed avocado toast. I honestly can't remember what kind of focacaia I got but I remember enjoying it. It was a great place to catch up with an old friend as it's super casual but there is room to sit and enjoy a conversation without the pressure of being pushed out of your table. I got Louise a beautiful mango tarte later that she said was tasty. I'm giving 4 forks to this place over Tartine for this more beautiful decor and overall more enjoyable experience. My one gripe, like with any bougie place is that it's more expensive than it really needs to be. Total bill: $18.44 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Tartine Manufactory 95 Alabama St., San Francisco, CA 94110 4 Forks
I know, you're probably saying how can I give this place and Vive La Tarte the same rating? Well, this place could have easily been at least a 4.5 Fork place if it wasn't for a few things that really annoyed the hell out of me. It's actually lucky that the rating didn't start with a 3....
First, while they are on OpenTable, sometimes you just want need to talk to a host about your reservation. Since the number in my party kept changing, I wanted to speak to someone who could help me figure out if I needed to draw a line in the sand with my friends about RSVP'ing or if we could be a bit more flexible. Apparently they have no working phone number as every time I dialed it, it was just go silent. WTF? So I resorted to emailing them and they were very nice over email but it would take a day or two for them to respond, which wasn't very effective. On the OT confirmation they make a big deal about how your entire party must be there before they will seat you. I made all my friends confirm and swear they would be on time. But then when my friend May got there first the hostess asked if she wanted to sit at our table while she waited for us. Huh? My 3rd beef with them will come later but on to the good stuff about this place.
Yes, it's by the same people at Tartine Bakery, so I'm completing my full Tartine experience. Instead of a small bakery, this is a fairly large, open concept restaurant with a line of a California focused dishes. Of course, we had to get the bread and butter ($5) as their bread is the star of the show. While I know their bread is "special", it was a bit annoying to have to pay $5 for it. Next we got the beet hummus ($9) and the burrata ($10) to start. We may have ordered some other appetizers but unfortunately I can't seem to remember if we did. For entree, I got the chicken ($33) based on the way the waitress described it - I can't remember her exact words but there was something in the way that she talked about it that made it seem super yummy and compelling to order.
When the bread and butter came out, I knew that this was the bread that I was missing from the morning. It was warm, soft and deliciously crusty on the outside. Now I understood the hysteria behind it. But then the hummus and burrata come out with nothing to dip it in (the burrata was almost more like a ricotta than a solid burrata). We asked the waitress how were we supposed to eat it with nothing to dip it in and she was like "oh, then maybe you would like to order more bread and also the flatbread?" Mind you that is an extra $10. WTF? Who serves spreads but then doesn't give you a warning that there is nothing to eat it with? Or it would have been nice if she had told us when we ordered our original bread to save it for the spreads. Not that any of us minded eating more warm delicious bread but it just seemed like a bit of a scam for them to give you dips/spreads but then expect you to know to order additional bread for it. The beet hummus tasted just like regular hummus but with a bright red color to it instead. The burrata was luscious with Meyer lemon and pistachios sprinkled on it. And of course they were all even tastier on the famous Tartine bread.
As for my entree - it was a pretty damn good half chicken. It reminded me why a roasted chicken can be such an amazing dish. It was on the bone, juicy and served with crunchy rice and a green chimichurri type of sauce. I tried not to eat too much of the skin but it was nice and crispy. I was super stuffed but happy about this dish.
With all the blunders and kind of a lukewarm waitstaff, I could have easily pushed this down to a 3.5 Fork rating but the bread and chicken were pretty damn good. Apparently this is more of a brunch/lunch type place but Yelp reviews of it seemed scattered with people also frustrated by the service. While I've been to SF many times before, each visit re-affirms my overall lukewarm feeling about the city - it's a cool city for sure but it somehow just doesn't quite stand up to NYC. I guess I'm just an East Coast gal at heart. Sorry SF friends! :) Total bill: $98/pp with tax, tip and lots of wine
Photo Credit: Yelp
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