We had a large group attended this month’s Dine About SF. All but one was a DASF regular, Lehman’s special guest Jason. Rounding out the group: the Phans and the Chos (sans babies), the Minns (Freshly back from all their travels), the Martinovic and the Klinkes rounded out our table of 12.
Cassis took over the space of one of our favorite DASF restaurants, Winterland. The new owners made minor changes to the former Winterland space. They opened up the kitchen and added a faux brick wall in the main dining room to soften up the room. Cassis serves bistro food that is distinctively South of France and is run by two brothers who had run and operated restaurants in
Food = 85
Every dish was simple and solid. We started off with the Wild Mushroom Tart, the Tuna Tartare and a special appetizer of Wild Arugula, Prosciutto and Honey-figs for appetizers. The mushroom tart was a little lacking when it comes to seasoning. The appetizers were followed by Neapolitan-style thin crust pizzas that were excellent. For the main courses, we ordered the Risotto with Fresh Asparagus, Mushrooms & Tomato Confit; Beef Stew Cooked in Red Wine & Herbs; Pan-roasted Monkfish; Duck Confit and Juicy Duck Breast; and Pan Roasted Rack of Lamb. The risotto was perfectly cooked. The sauce for the roasted monkfish (creamy peppercorn was too strong). I would have like that sauce on meaty roast pork or grill steak (a la steak au poivre). The duck confit was a little dry. For dessert, we ordered the Tarte Tatin à la Sauce Caramel; Tarte au Citron and the Valrhona Chocolate Fondue. The lemon tart was very good (Avis thinks Winnie’s lemon bars are better) and the fondue was enjoyed by most of the ladies and Victor.
Atmosphere = 82
Cassis kept Avis’s favorite awning. The new owners opened the kitchen and added a faux cream brick wall that adds warmth to the main dining room. However, the loud techno music was too load and in sync with the type of restaurant.
Service = 60
The service here has to be one of our worse for DASF. Despite having one of the owners as our waiter, we did not get good service. The waiter was pleasant and friendly but he didn’t react warmly when I told him that we like to dine family style and share. This is surprising for someone who came here from the South of France with an Italian father, where that style of dining is common from that region. From my observation, it appears that they may be short-handed that night. All our food came out all at once (sans serving spoons and forks). I had to flag down the hostess for silver wares. The busboy/food runner kept rushing us (it felt like we were eating at TGI Fridays) and when they cleared our plates and dirty silver wares, they forget to replace with new ones. The plates were not dried and still have puddles of water on them. When the main courses came out, a few of us were missing knives. No excuses for this low level of service!
John Klinke will be adding his "John on the Jon" column and I invite all friends of DASF to add comments!
