Saturday, July 07, 2007

Chapeau!

1408 Clement St. (and 15th Ave.)

(415) 750-9787

French in the Richmond

I ate here with a friend for his birthday a long time ago, and I honestly don't really remember much about the food (doesn't say much for the food). It was good, but not striking, obviously. I just remember having a lot of meat. Oh and the trio of sorbet which was interesting. i thought that the food was so good, more **** than *** (it might have been because of the two bottles of wine though. for appetizers we had the tuna tartare served on a crouton which was perfect, not too fishy but still tuna, a delightful foie gras, and smoked trout that was very flavorful (maybe a bit too smokey though). the next course was sea bass on top of a scallop served with a seafood risotto and a tasty lobster sauce, it was absolutely wonderful. =]. for entrees, we had the duck and the cod. they were both really yummy too (and sounded a lot better on the menu than they do right now). and for dessert, we had some sort of strawberry with whipped cream with a vanilla pudding, a tart, and chocolate puffs on the house - so good, but we were so stuffed by then too.

On the other hand, what's quite memorable about this place is the service - it's EXTRAORDINARY - by far the best service I've had in SF. i agree! definitely the BEST service i've had. the waiters are very accomodating. the owner/chef/host comes out of the kitchen every so often just to see how the meal is going. Since it's in a residential neighborhood, it's not that crowded (which I love) but definitely gets a good amount of business. (it's been completely booked the two times i've tried to go there, definitely make a reservation if it's the weekend) Our waiter was extremely friendly and attentive, and really made the experience 10 times more enjoyable. our waiter was great too When we asked about the sorbet trio (the menu didn't list the flavors), he said it was a surprise and that we had to guess hahaha. We got 2 of them right, and were very close on the third =) The check is served in a hat ("chapeau" in french) - very cute. We had heard that the owner/chef makes sure he meets you after the meal, but we didn't see him so we decided to just leave. As we were rounding the corner, he ran after us and hugged/thanked us for coming =) we saw the owner/chef/host quite often. he came to speak with us many times, including when we were asking about a wine that i would like. his wife is one of the waitresses/hostesses as well.

Although the food wasn't memorable, everything else was! Very very cute. =) i liked it so much! i would definitely go here again.

- k - s

*** Edit: I went here again for a belated Father's Day dinner with my family, and it was a pretty lackluster meal. I really liked the broth in the mussels appetizer, but other than that, the food was eh. I think I would only go back for their "Early Bird Special" - a prix fixe for $25 on Sundays and weekday early evenings.

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