Something weird's going on out there. Why am I getting better food and service at a place that is packed with drinkers, where we have to pass food across the aisle, and where the food is simple small plates of pub food with little flourish of technique or preparation than at places that cost twice as much and with actual tables?
The Alembic, a hot busy spot in the Haight, was fucking great.
We arrived late on a Friday night and the place was packed. It's a narrow storefront bar with a counter on the right and banquette tables in the back. We grabbed a spot at the bar when we could and ordered food and drinks. Already this was shaping up to be a bad night. Busy bar, no comfortable place to sit--we're bound to get ignored.
But strangely we weren't. We had prompt service from the bartender, he answered a couple wine questions and took our food order.
Drinks were nice. Big selection of whiskeys. Decent small wine list. Selection of Magnolia beers and a few others. Some house cocktails. Bartender made an excellent amaretto sour.
First up were two orders of the gnocchi with serrano ham and heirloom tomato. I really liked this dish--fluffy pillows on super-thin slices of ham. Admittedly it was weird. My dining companions weren't sold on it at all and I could see why. The flavors were disparate and far from complimentary, but it was fun. I appreciated the risk.
Next, Moroccan lamb sliders. As much as sliders are ridiculously overdone (both Gourmet and Bon Appetit had meatball sliders on their respective covers one month apart) these were good. Well spiced and served medium rare. A little too rare for one of our diners.
Truffle mac and cheese, another overdone item, was cheesy and aromatic. This was my least favorite, only because the cheese sauce was too thin and bechamel-y.
Spiced frites were thin and crisp and remarkably hot. My consistent complaint with thin-cut fries is that they get cold and soggy far too quickly. Not the case here. The accompanying thousand island-ish dressing was weird but once again showed a willingness to take risks on flavor combinations and thought it worked perfectly.
But the highlights. Oh yes, the highlights.
Duck confit club. Tomato, Niman Ranch bacon, and meaty tender chunks of duck. Everything was so perfectly combined that the fact that the dish is assembled of room temperature ingredients didn't matter.
And then the spaetzle. The spaetzle with braised rabbit and, yeah, more bacon. Hot and hearty. Odd dish for a summer menu, but it was foggy and cold as fuck in the Haight, so it worked. There was enough of everything without being too much of anything. I could eat a bowl of this for breakfast twice a week. And that's saying something.
So first reports on The Alembic are fucking great. Great food, great service, hip and pretty spot in a nice location. Even on a slammed Friday we got service that was better than at Cesar on a Tuesday.
I'll be back earlier on a weekday to really have a chance to do the menu right, but color me impressed. I think that color is purple.
The Alembic
1725 Haight St.
San Francisco, Ca 94117
415-666-0822
Reservations: No.
www.alembicbar.com
The Alembic, a hot busy spot in the Haight, was fucking great.
We arrived late on a Friday night and the place was packed. It's a narrow storefront bar with a counter on the right and banquette tables in the back. We grabbed a spot at the bar when we could and ordered food and drinks. Already this was shaping up to be a bad night. Busy bar, no comfortable place to sit--we're bound to get ignored.
But strangely we weren't. We had prompt service from the bartender, he answered a couple wine questions and took our food order.
Drinks were nice. Big selection of whiskeys. Decent small wine list. Selection of Magnolia beers and a few others. Some house cocktails. Bartender made an excellent amaretto sour.
First up were two orders of the gnocchi with serrano ham and heirloom tomato. I really liked this dish--fluffy pillows on super-thin slices of ham. Admittedly it was weird. My dining companions weren't sold on it at all and I could see why. The flavors were disparate and far from complimentary, but it was fun. I appreciated the risk.
Next, Moroccan lamb sliders. As much as sliders are ridiculously overdone (both Gourmet and Bon Appetit had meatball sliders on their respective covers one month apart) these were good. Well spiced and served medium rare. A little too rare for one of our diners.
Truffle mac and cheese, another overdone item, was cheesy and aromatic. This was my least favorite, only because the cheese sauce was too thin and bechamel-y.
Spiced frites were thin and crisp and remarkably hot. My consistent complaint with thin-cut fries is that they get cold and soggy far too quickly. Not the case here. The accompanying thousand island-ish dressing was weird but once again showed a willingness to take risks on flavor combinations and thought it worked perfectly.
But the highlights. Oh yes, the highlights.
Duck confit club. Tomato, Niman Ranch bacon, and meaty tender chunks of duck. Everything was so perfectly combined that the fact that the dish is assembled of room temperature ingredients didn't matter.
And then the spaetzle. The spaetzle with braised rabbit and, yeah, more bacon. Hot and hearty. Odd dish for a summer menu, but it was foggy and cold as fuck in the Haight, so it worked. There was enough of everything without being too much of anything. I could eat a bowl of this for breakfast twice a week. And that's saying something.
So first reports on The Alembic are fucking great. Great food, great service, hip and pretty spot in a nice location. Even on a slammed Friday we got service that was better than at Cesar on a Tuesday.
I'll be back earlier on a weekday to really have a chance to do the menu right, but color me impressed. I think that color is purple.
The Alembic
1725 Haight St.
San Francisco, Ca 94117
415-666-0822
Reservations: No.
www.alembicbar.com
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