Trends or Lack Thereof
The loved and loathed Michael Bauer practically begged to be flamed when he wrote about local food trends and San Francisco restaurants in which to experience them in Between Meals. Commenters did not disappoint, unleashing a torrent of venom extreme even for the Bauer-haters that haunt his blog.
While a few raised valid points, most missed the mark, even ignoring the legion who said nothing more intelligent than “Bauer sucks.” The commenters focused on the list of restaurants. What struck me was the catalog of accompanying trends.
My first reaction was, “Is that all???” If MB really hit the big trends, there’s not much new happening in Bay Area restaurants. Which begs the question, did Bauer miss important developments or is the City becoming moribund?
I really don’t see great California cooking, regional Italian food, Spanish food and wine, small plates, Southern Indian food, high-end Vietnamese food or dim sum as being San Francisco food trends. All have been around for at least a decade.
IMO, the closest he comes to nailing it is when he talks about “the emerging bar culture in the Bay Area.” Even there, while on the right track, he doesn’t explicitly identify what I believe is the real trend.
So, for good, bad or ugly, here is my take on the top Bay Area dining trends. I’ll stick to MB’s self-imposed rule of citing only San Francisco restaurants as examples but will reverse his order, naming the trend before the representative establishment. The order was part of what got Bauer in trouble with his readership.
1) Rather than “the emerging bar culture,” I believe that the true trend is toward artisan cocktails. In leading bars, fresh fruit and hand-crafted bitters are becoming the order of the day. This is true whether bartenders are resurrecting the original recipes for drinks or inventing new ones. COCO500 represents the pinnacle of this trend for me although it remains to be seen how their artisan cocktail program will fare post Scott Baird.
2) The increasing use of offal is a trend, albeit a disgusting one. Credit, if that’s the word you want to use, Chris Cosentino and Incanto.
3) Charcuterie has been popular in the Bay Area far too long to be considered a trend but its more recently rediscovered Italian cousin, salume, fits the bill nicely. Perbacco. ‘Nuff said.
4) East Coast snobs may thumb their noses but San Francisco is turning out some fine thin crust pizza. Gialina is my pick to showcase the trend but I wouldn’t put up a fight if someone insisted on Pizzeria Delfina.
5) The hyper-local hype has reached unbelievable levels. Fish & Farm is the poster child in the City, although there’s some dispute as to how well they walk the walk.
That’s about it. Drinks, guts and cold cuts. Pizza and rolling back a couple of millennia of human progress. Kind of a lame for an area that’s supposed to be a trendsetter.
I’m beginning to think that California cuisine, with its emphasis on freshness, proximity and sustainability, may have become so successful that it’s stunting the Bay Area’s real and perceived creativity.
For example, sous vide and molecular gastronomy are hot food industry buzzphrases but they’re rarely uttered in the same breath as San Francisco. (Before you flame me about French Laundry, remember the rules of this particular game – the example restaurants have to come from within City limits.)
There are restaurants in the City that employ sous vide techniques. So, part of this issue is perception, driven by restaurants’ desire to market themselves in accordance with California cuisine’s principles. In the words of Bruce Hill, chef-owner of Bix, “We don't say 'sous vide' anything. I'm really not a fan of flaunting technique. I'd rather talk about which farm it came from.”
This attitude strikes me as being silly. As a diner, I want to know if something is grilled, sautéed, fried or poached. Why should sous vide preparation be treated differently? Hill's words bespeak a rigid adherence to convention that undersells the dynamism of the local food scene.
There’s also some underlying reality. Molecular gastronomy’s manipulation of ingredients into unnatural (but tasty, one would hope) forms runs counter to the emphasis on natural in California cuisine. Is this preventing wider adoption in the Bay Area?
Don’t get me wrong – fresh and simple is a great thing. I hate inventiveness for its own sake. But if the Bay Area wants to remain at the forefront of gastronomic creativity – and be recognized as such – it needs practitioners who are willing to break with the California cuisine orthodoxy.
COCO500
500 Brannan Street
at 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Web site
Food inspection score: 96
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
Incanto
1550 Church Street
at Duncan Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
415-641-4500
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: 100
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
Perbacco
230 California Street
between Battery Street and Front Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-955-0663
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: 100
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
Gialina
2842 Diamond Street
between Bosworth Street and Chenery Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
415-239-8500
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: 100
Symbol of Excellence: No
Pizzeria Delfina
3611 18th Street
between Guerrero Street and Dolores Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-427-6800
Map
Web site
Food inspection score: 99
Symbol of Excellence: No
Fish & Farm
339 Taylor St
between Ellis Street and O'Farrell Street (on the wrong side of the Hilton)
San Francisco, CA 94102
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