Bar Tartine

I recently met Lou, Russ and Matt for dinner at Bar Tartine, on Valencia Street at 17th Street. It had just been opened by the same owners of Tartine Bakery, and I have been hearing about its impending debut for some time now. As an admitted Tartine-addict, I have been eager to see what they'd do with an honest-to-God restaurant.

The first thing to say about it is that the space is beautiful. The walls are white and the lighting is soft (Lou hated the Antler chandelier). But the contrast of the walls is heightened by the black painted wood floors and striking "bar," which is made of bright white marble. It's like walking into a spacious, gussied up Tartine.

As with Tartine Bakery,the front part of the space is devoted to a large "open" table for walk-ins (this is the rage in San Francisco). They apparently plan to limit the number of tables available for reservations, and I suspect this will serve them well. I can imagine the hordes of people that will wait for tables inside and outside the door on the sidewalks (the same brilliant strategy they've used at Tartine where the line on Saturdays and Sundays regularly snakes out the door and down the block (as an aside, I will wait in the line as long as it's only at the door--it's worth it)). It's a brilliant way of rationing a good thing and making a table a highly coveted thing. And, as best I could tell, there is no real bar where there's any room for anyone to actually wait (there's only a high counter at which lucky diners can eat). This is also true at Delfina, Tartine's big sister.

We sat a four-top along the wall, giving me a view of the "bar" and the kitchen.

The second thing to say about Bar Tartine is that the menu was a bit of a surprise, a disappointment even. The list of starters and appetizers was much longer than the list of entrees--there were only four entrees. And I can't say that I was overly impressed by anything on the menu (except the recommended prosecco by the glass at the top of the menu--I love prosecco).

Russ and I order the celery root soup. Lou ordered the tuna tartare, and Matt skipped a starter. The soup was excellent. It was creamy and smooth and topped with small roasted chestnuts. Lou's tuna was actually prepared as both tartare and carpaccio, and it was good.

For entrees, Lou and I split both the beef tenderloin and slow cooked pork ribs and a beet and gorgonzola salad. The meat was delicate and tender, but we were given only two pieces of beef and two ribs. Russ ate the halibut, and Matt ate the duck. Both of them also complained of the small portion size.

The big let down, however, came when the waiter brought the dessert menu. Nothing appealed to any of us. I was shocked that the dessert menu wasn't better, given that they've made their names making pastries. No chocolate. No pastries. Big surprise, and big disappointment.

I'll go back and try it again. They had not even been open a week, and they need some time to work out the kinks and get feedback from folks. I am sure that in time they'll be sitting on another gold mine.

Go try it, and tell me what you think.