http://www.friseerestaurant.com/
Saturday night, I tried Frisee in the Castro with Celeste and Claire. After much debate, we ordered 4 appetizers and 2 main courses to share. Yes, I know we are piggies.
Kicked off the meal with the Dungeness Crabcakes. They came on a bed of petite frisee lightly dressed with balsamic, crispy lardons (like bacon, but more snobbish) and a creamy, spicy lemon paprika aioli. Allegedly, there was some fruit compote as well, but I definitely could not taste it. They were more like balls, rather than "cakes", but had a nice crab-to-filler (flour, breadcrumbs, etc.) ratio. They were about 5 seconds overfried. Pretty tasty as most crab-filled croquettes can be, but by no means mindblowing.
Squash Blossoms came next. Definitely the highlight of the meal! Fried to perfection and not oily at all. Inside was a delightful mixture of [portobello?] mushroom puree with a touch of cream. The crispy squash blossom was beautifully complemented by the smooth earthiness of the mushroom mixture.
Heirloom Tomato Caprese. Organic mixed tomatoes were super sweet and ripe. The mozzarella cheese was creamy, fresh, and had great texture, with the perfect amount of springiness. Accompanied by organic basil, aged balsamic and EVOO. Very yummy!
Tartare (see pic above, stolen from Yelp since I don't have a camera right now). Per the menu: sesame drizzled ahi, salmon, sweet corn, citrus onion, simple guacamole, potato crisps, sea salt. Sounds great in concept, but pretty uneventful in execution. Enough said.
On to the entrees... we ordered the Filet burger which was pretty damn good. Came with homemade tomato relish and the standard fixins: butter lettuce, red onion, cheddar cheese, etc.
It's pretty hard to mess up a burger at a nice restaurant since they use such high quality beef, so can't give them too much props for this one.
The Chutney Stuffed Pork Loin was decent. I am usually disappointed by Western renditions of pork. There really is no contest compared to Asian preparations, like Korean bulgogi, slow-cooked fatty pork Canto-style, roasted pork or straight up ground pork as an enhancer to tofu or fried green beans.
Anyway, back to the Pork Loin. Overcooked (no surprise) but still tasted good when you smothered it with the tangy, bright, cherry apricot chutney. The accompanying polenta was disgusting. Had no flavor (not even salt) and had clearly been re-heated as it was pretty cool in the middle. The fried onion strings on top were tasty and so was the bed of summer succotash it came on.Unfortunately, we had no room for dessert, so perhaps next time. All in all, an enjoyable eating experience. The tab came to just $35 a person (including tip) so taking value into consideration, definitely a solid B+.
