The Slanted Door

The Slanted Door
1 FERRY bldg.
#3
San Francisco, Ca.
94111


First a small disclaimer, my daughter spilled her juicebox into my keyboard a while back, so I may get a couple of "DOUBLE CAPITALS" while the shift button decides to release itself from it's sticky grave and re-exhume itself on occasion.
NOW, my rather wealthy in laws decided to take us out to the Slanted Door on San Francisco's wonderfully (re?) developed Embarcadero. My wife & I each brought a pair of decent clothes on our vacation for such an occasion, but we got unexpectedly scooped up at my aunt's place. So as we walked into the swanky front bar / reception area, I felt like a pauper of sorts. We were toting along a 2 year old child which was met with a tolerant grimace from the hostess. As she led us to our Large-Marge seating in the very back corner of the restaurant, past all the black turtlenecks, I was feeling like this would not be such a great fit. I kept thinking of the Woody Woodpecker cartoon where the City Wolf invited his country Cousin to the city. Maybe you remember that one....
In retrospect, the corner was the absolute best place for us. We had the glass windows towards the bay on one side and a large plate glass wall enclosing a private dining room on the other. My daughter had a perfect little zone to roam around in and not escape. Plus I though it was hilarious every time she would knock on the windows of the private dining room. The exclusive party in there was getting off on seeing us common folk pressed up against the glass, staring in at their private luxury.
THose of you who perused my Third Ward Cafe blog may recall my amazement at the casual blowing of lots of money there. The Slanted Door had the same vibe, but on a much larger scale. This was just a casual place to go out if you were freekin RICH. My sense of what is considered formal is obviously skewed from watching too many Jeeves & Wooster episodes. I mean, if this place isn't considered formal what is??
All ranting aside, the food was some of the best I've ever tasted. Now, I'll let you link to the website posted above for the full story, which IS interesting and doesn't bear repeating here. The Slanted Door's menu has a Vietnamese-fusion theme, but the dishes we ordered were strongly influenced by CHinese cookery instead.
We started off with several appetizers. First up was the barbecued Niman Ranch pork spareribs with honey-hoisin sauce ($13). These had an obvious CHinese pedigree. Let me say, this was one of the best dishes I have ever tasted in my life. The freshness and quality of the locally produced, organically raised pok was fantastic. They were prepared to perfection and the sauce was a masterful combination of sweet & savory.
Next up was kabocha squash rice cakes with fresh coconut and sesame ($11). The small bite sized rice cakes were topeed with pureed squash, coconut and chopped herbs such as cilantro. This was probably the most Vietnamese inspired dish we ordered, but the coconut-milk soaked rice cakes also reminded me of South Indian CHAT style snack foods.
The entrees were served family style and all arrived at once, as requested. More Chinese style fare arrived in the form of chicken claypot with caramel sauce, chilies and fresh ginger ($16) The Bubbling-hot sauce was full of complex flavor and the freshness of the chicken was excellent...well worth the price.
cellophane noodles with fresh dungeness crab meat ($18) was a bit of a disappointment. I detected very little, if any, crab meat and the noodles were drenched in sesame oil and seemingly very little else. I could have made this dish in my Riverwest kitchen for about 35 cents. Incidentally, the cents sign is not included on a keyboard any more. Also... Blackberry's have a specially located shift key exclusively for the dollar sign. Incidentally, I'd never seen as many Blackberry's in one place as I saw on the corner of FIllmore & Union in Pacific Heights.
Our main entree, steamed whole striped bass with ginger, scallion and soy ($33) was a fantastic specimen. I am assuming the striped bass was farmed in some ecologically guiltless fashion, but no pedigree was supplied. Nevertheless I had a swell time stuffing my proletariat face with this dish. THe creamy flesh was succulent and deeply infused with the flavors of it's undoubtedly Chinese inspired ingredients.
Star Route Farm baby spinach with garlic and caramelized shallots ($11) was our choice for a vegetable accompaniment. It was much like the snow pea-pod greens that can be found on virtually any chinese restaurant menu. The spinach was wilted in a wok with sesame oil & minced garlic. Surely I was the only one looking at the price tag. I should relax, I'm on vacation, right???
Several interesting beverages were consumed such as Affligem tripel creamy, strong Belgian abbey ale (750 ml [$12]) You can do the metric / U.S. conversion math, but I will say that this bottle of beer was about level with my forhead as it sat on the table. Interestingly, it was served in a wine glass. I expected a Chimay style footed goblet, instead.
The Elderflower spritzer [seltzer sisters' soda water with Nikolaihof biodynamic elderflower syrup] ($4) required a wetting of the whistle after merely pronouncing it's name. It was served over ice in a frosted highball glass. Elderflower has a Lychee-like taste, but it was mixed in such a way as to not be overly sweet, PHEW, I need another drink.
We declined on desert and deferred to GHIRARDELLI SQUARE, where I pigged out on a DOMINGO. But that of course, is another blog.
All told, we had a splendid evening at the Slanted Door. The food was excellent Our worries of bringing a child to a seemingly adult establishment was washed away in it's surprisingly egalitarian atmosphere. And last but not least, the service was friendly, prompt and detail oriented to an impressive degree for such a large establishment.
Many people back at home had, to my amazement, heard of this fine establishment. The Slanted Door is worthy of their good reputation. I'm going to recommend it as a must-visit if you go to San Francisco.