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| Courtesy: Heirloom Cafe |
The Thanksgiving festivities have officially begun. Tuesday I worked my one day this week (rough life), and my mom arrived in San Francisco. I will have the next 6 days to do nothing but cook, eat, and hang out with my family. Does it get any better than this?
Since I will be prepping Wednesday, cooking all day Thursday, and eating leftovers after that…Tuesday and Wednesday nights are dedicated to sampling new restaurants in the city with my visitors.
After the Delfina fiasco with my mom a couple weeks ago, I was a little gun shy about selecting a place to go with my mom Tuesday. And since we’re already going to Slanted Door tonight, I wanted Tuesday’s dinner to somehow coincide with the blog. Through my countless internet searches on Open Table, Yelp, and beyond…I discovered this place called Heirloom Cafe in the Mission. I had never heard of it, but it received great reviews and it started with an “H.” Sold. (What is my life coming to that I base my decisions off of which letter I’m at in the blog?) I’m actually OK with it. Onto the food.
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| Baby marinated beets with pickled fennel, feta, and almond butter |
For starters, I got this lovely beet salad. It was so pretty with three different colors of beets, arugula, pickled fennel, house made almond butter (I could’ve eaten an entire dish of the stuff), and creamy feta cheese. On the “petite” side as our waitress put it, but I found it to be the perfect amount of food.
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| Butternut Squash Soup with Rye Croutons & Walnut Oil |
We also sampled the butternut squash soup was on special. My mom tasted a hint of maple in it, and it was topped with rye croutons and finished with walnut oil. Perfect for the crisp fall evening.
I should also mention that they are well-known for the wine list. In fact, right on their website it says their love for mature wines is the foundation for which the restaurant was created. Although the dark photo clearly doesn’t do it justice, I had a glass of the 2007 Luigi Ferrando Carema Etichetta Bianca…a Nebbiolo from Piedmont, Italy. I kind of want to go buy an entire bottle right now.
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| Cheeseburger with pickled carrots |
Also on special was their take on a cheeseburger. Instead of melting the cheese on top of the patty…the triple cream whatever-it-was actually gets mixed in with the beef. Delicious. Instead of fries…they serve it with house pickled carrots. I liked them…sort of reminded me of a fancy version of the pickled Mexican carrots you get at burrito shops…but I’m always a sucker for good fries, so I probably would’ve liked to have those instead. I do enjoy how they are made to *look* sorta like fries though. Very clever.
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| Potato Gnocchi, San Marzano tomatoes, fennel sausage, crimini mushrooms |
Again, the iPhone photo (although very good) does not do this dish justice. This is the potato gnocchi with San Marzano tomatoes, fennel sausage, and mushrooms. The gnocchi was the lightest gnocchi I’ve ever tasted. They were like delicious little potato pillows melting in my mouth. I would go back for this dish alone.
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| Cheddar shortcake with brown sugar apples |
We shared dessert. This was cheddar shortcake with brown sugar apples, ice cream, and caramel sauce. I’ll admit…we were a little wary about a cheddar cheese shortcake for dessert but it’s not as savory as it sounds. It’s more like a biscuit with a hint of cheddar that didn’t overpower the dish at all. We agreed it could’ve used more ice cream. Overall, I really liked our meal…and the best part, so did my mom! (Well, she didn’t hate it at least.) 🙂
Up next: Slanted Door. I’ve never been, so I’m excited.
Randy
November 23, 2011 at 11:38 pmI'm going to have to bookmark this place now. Great write up! Lookin' forward to your Slanted Door experience. I've avoided Slanted Door because I find traditional Viet places better for the food and value. Just my opinion. Btw, I think you meant "wary" and not "weary" in your cheddar shortcake description. Have a great Thanksgiving Jaymee! 😀
jaymeesire
November 25, 2011 at 1:44 amYou are correct…fixed the post. Sadly, we didn't end up going to Slanted Door because my sister's flight was delayed. Next time!