After the Chef Change
Chef changes at favorite restaurants are fraught with anxiety for me. Will my favorite dishes emerge intact, will I find new things to love or will the place to go hell in a handbasket??? Unfortunately, choice #3 has all too often been my experience.
The past months were especially anxious for me as two of my favorite neighborhood haunts — Fringale and COCO500 — endured chef changes. I'm pleased to report that both continue to flourish.
I hadn't been to Fringale since Thierry Clement left to open L'Ardoise in the Castro. No good reason for my absence, it just fell off of my rotation.
Running into one of their waiters in the Starbucks across the street from Fringale nudged me into going again. I'm glad I did.
Michael Bauer's update had given me some comfort that Fringale hadn't missed a beat since Tripp Mauldin, late of Angèle in Napa, took over in the kitchen. My experience confirmed Bauer's assessment.
Rather than ordering a main, I opted for two selections from the list of starters.
Fringale's frisée salad with warm bacon dressing, poached egg and toasted levain ($10.00) has set the gold standard for salade Lyonnaise in the City since Fabrice Marcon left the Hyde Street Bistro. New chef, same result — fantastic! Crispy frisée, large chunks of lean bacon, perfectly poached and peppered egg, slightly vinegary dressing. Personally, I'd prefer croutons to the thin toast slice but that's a nit.
For calamari of the non-fried variety, Fringale also sets the standard in the City. Their spicy Monterey calamari à la plancha with jalapenos and chorizo ($11.00) is the bomb and hasn't slipped a bit with the new man in the kitchen. The calamari's rings and things are accented with bits of jalapeno for heat, thin half-slices of chorizo for meatiness and saltiness and a few slivers of black olive for more saltiness. The sum is far more than the whole of the parts. The different ingredients work in balance for fantastic taste and texture.
Despite having only two starters for my meal, I was too stuffed to indulge in what I consider to be the best desserts in town. Next time.
The restaurant has a very nice but not overly formal vibe. The tables are a bit tight by fine dining standards but are still comfortable. Because they can pack a lot of people into a small room, it can get noisy but is never deafening.
Fringale is a great place for a date. With the right company, it's a romantic spot, the Gaelic staff lends an authentic feel (without any of the snootiness (often unjustly) associated with French service) and the restaurant consciously keeps its prices down (mains run from $16.00 to $25.00 with more than half under $20.00) to attract the younger crowd. It's also appropriate for all but the most formal business meals.
Fringale's down the block neighbor, COCO500, experienced a more recent chef change with the departure of Top Chef alumna Jennifer Beisty for new horizons yet unknown. Former Fisher & Farmer Michael Morrison has donned COCO500's toque.
Repeated visits have shown COCO500 to have maintained its excellence in the post-Beisty era, albeit with some unevenness that was not evident at the end of Jen's reign.
On the uneven side, I've noticed that a couple of staples — the brandade ($7.00) and the fried green beans ($7.00) have been a bit up and down recently. To be fair, I go to COCO often enough that I'm bound to hit them on the occasional off day the every kitchen endures.
To that I add one out-and-out grump — the prices on some cocktails have risen to $12.00. I know that they're truly artisan drinks using fresh produce, original recipies, some hand-crafted ingredients and top-notch spirits but 12 bucks hits my pain threshold. The extra care certainly produces a cocktail that's better but not so much better that it justifies the price in my mind.
On the excellent side, four items have stood out to me during recent my recent visits to the house of my favorite Keller (and I don't mean Thomas).
The absolute pinnacle is the American Kobe bavette ($25.00). Now, I'm a real cynic when something's called American Kobe. It always seemed like a cheap marketing ploy to me. The only American Kobe I know is Bryant and I'm no cannibal.
But, I put aside my prejudices and ordered the dish. I am so glad I did! It was fan-freaking-tastic. Cooked to a perfect medium, thin sliced, texture like butter, juicy, slightly salty. Perfect! There was some side on the place. I got so fixated on the steak that forget what it was but I used it to sop up the juice that was left when I finished the meat. After that was gone there was still some juice left so I used some bread to sop up the rest. Uncouth, I know, but I didn't care. It was that good.
Now that Little Bob has shut its doors, COCO also sports my favorite burger ($10.00 plus $1.00 for cheese) in the City. Available at lunch only, the burger is made from top-notch ground beef, is lightly seasoned and comes on a soft bun. House-made potato chips (very yummy) are served on the side. The insider tip is that, if you ask really nicely, they just might put bleu cheese on the burger instead of the cheddar that's on the menu. It's the bleu that really puts the burger over the top. Eschew the ketchup and mustard, use the tomato and lettuce as a mini side salad and throw away the pickle — this burger needs to topping other than the bleu.
In years past, I'd always regretted the seaonal change from the truffled mushroom flatbread to the truffled squash blossom flatbread. Something about eating a blossom just didn't seem right to me.
But this year, as with the American Kobe bavette, I put aside my prejudices and ordered. I'm glad I did.
Frankly, with the smaller blossoms, the taste isn't much different that the mushroom flatbread. The flavors of truffle, parmesan and sea salt come to the fore and the contribution of the squash blossoms compared to that of the mushrooms isn't that noticeable. When the blossoms are larger, the change is more apparent but it's at least as much a textural difference as one of flavor. In either case, the results are still delicious. I retain a slight perference for the mushroom version but the squash blossom flatbread is now on my list of must-orders when I go to COCO.
Finally, on the dessert end of things, the almond pound cake with roasted apricots, apricot sauce and whipped cream is awesome. I don't like apricots. I got them on the side once to try again. I still don't like them. So, I just order the cake and whipped cream, 86 the fruit and sauce. You don't need 'em. Trust me. The cake and cream are dessert aplenty on their own, and mighty tasty at that.
One outstanding service note about COCO500. On a recent lunchtime visit, GM Clay Reynolds asked me if I'd been in the night before. I had and I immediately wondered what I'd done. I mean, I hadn't even been drinking!
Turns out that Mackie had left her wallet. Clay, who came in after we left, checked the ID, recognized that it was Mackie and flagged me as soon as I walked in the door. Thanks to Clay as well as to the staffer who found it and turned it in (all cash and cards intact, I might add!).
For more on COCO500, see my original review from earlier in the year. Note that the menu changes seasonly and that some of the items mentioned have moved off of the menu.
I highly recommend both Fringale and COCO500 to anyone looking for SoMa dining. The biggest problem may be choosing between them. If all else fails, flip a coin.
Fringale
570 4th Street
Bryant Street and Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
415-543-0573
Web site
Food inspection score: 94
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
-Friendly: Conversation, Romantic Date, Formal Business Meeting
COCO500
500 Brannan Street
at 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Web site
Food inspection score: 98
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
-Friendly: Romantic Date, Casual Business Meeting
Posted by Grumpy at 8/13/2008 2:37 PM 
Categories: Soma, Conversation-Friendly, Romantic Date-Friendly, Cal-Med, Formal Business Meeting-Friendly, French
Categories: Soma, Conversation-Friendly, Romantic Date-Friendly, Cal-Med, Formal Business Meeting-Friendly, French
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