Bar Tartine, SF

Drawing influences from Eastern Europe and in particular Hungary, Chef Nick Balla assembles a Californian menu that is spiked paprika, sour cream, savoury seeds and pickles. This meal was interestingly different in a good way. We don’t get much of these Hungarian/Eastern European flavours in our part of the world, so this was a delectable introduction into this spectrum of flavours.

The dining is casual and communal. The plates are all meant to be shared and bread is meant to be enjoyed on its own, slathered with lard, tapenade, dipped and eaten with pickles.

We started with the roasted kale and rye seeds and yoghurt, which was a good start but were quickly distracted by the next dish, the potato flat bread. When you do come, you have to order the potato flat bread, it is ridiculously delicious – fried dough + fried potato, a crunch and squish, then spread some cool tang with sour cream, altogether is very good. The meal continued with pickles, more bread and we finished off the green chili fisherman stew that was surprisingly greener and lighter than I thought it would be and the very heavy handed paprika spiced tripe. All in all, some of the flavours were unfamiliar to me but it was all good in a new exciting way.

What we ordered:
Mangalica Lard with onion and paprika
Assortment of pickles – creamed beets with green horseradish, brine dill pickles, green beans with aspic and herbs

 

 

Potato flat bread with garlic and sour cream


Beef tartare on koji toast with bottarga


Smoked potatoes with ramp mayonnaise


Roasted kale with rye, seeds and yoghurt


Grilled tripe in paprika broth


Green chili fisherman’s stew with collards

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia Street
San Francisco, California

California.

Hello, I’ve just spent a little over two weeks in California and it was an awesome trip. It was sunny with clear blue skies on most days, I met up with some old and dear friends and visited some really kickass restaurants. As a travelling party of four, we visited some really amazing restaurants, found a great hole in the wall Peruvian place, scratched the surface about the idea of modern American cuisine and thankfully still fit into our clothes and didn’t come back as rollie pollies.

It has been long time since I’d been to California. I might have been less than four feet tall when I was last there, so my memories are a little dated and a little fuzzy, so it was almost like being there for the first time. All I had on this trip was a fresh mind, a very detailed itinerary (thank you to our planner who we estimated had put in close to 500 man hours of research!), open table reservations, an open stomach and three fellow eaters to chomp along.




We started in San Francisco, and then drove out and spent a few nights in Napa, visiting the vineyards and the eating was concentrated in Yountville and Oxbow market. And again from San Francisco, we drove along Highway One to Los Angeles, which hugs the Pacific Coast where I sat on the side of death in the car where I could see the drops and the amazing landscape of the coast and very vast ocean.
 

The highlight and best meal of the trip was, unanimously agreed and the winner by a mile, Saison in San Francisco. Just thinking about that meal makes me smile. I wish I could live in that restaurant. It is a stunningly beautiful place. High ceilings, gorgeous solid wood tables, cashmere scarves,  the open kitchen, the seafood tanks, the bar, the romantic idea of cooking by the fire, mind-blowing food and a very gracious service staff. Seriously, Chef Joshua Skenes, can I stay there? Please?

California was great. If I don’t get everything down in words the wordless entry is here.