Anchor and Hope Delivers Great Appetizers, Average Meal in East Coast Style

A small, but mighty group came together for the June installment of Dine About SF. We dined at Anchor and Hope - the 3rd eatery from the group that brought us Town Hall and Salt House. Diners included: The Phan's, Lehmann and Jason, and Mollie.

Overall an enjoyable meal - mostly for the company, fun setting and surprising appetizers. The rest of the food failed to impress, and service was quite average, verging on disinterested. Of course, after years of extraordinary meals, our expectations are very, very high. . .

The Ratings:

Atmosphere = 90. It was no chef's table like Quince, but the charm of this east coast boathouse made for a fun evening. Airy, high ceilings, boardwalk like lamps, thick ropes hanging from the ceiling - felt like Maine! One caveat -- Anchor and Hope is lucky there was no "Jon on the Jon". I am told the bathrooms were very second rate.

Food = 82. Started out very strong and raised our hopes. Delectable appetizers of smelt (fried little fishies), oysters wrapped in bacon (can't go wrong here), and most impressive sea urchin w/ crab and the tuna belly blt - imagination that delivered! Entrees mostly pleased: solid black sea bass, less solid muscles stew, and dry chicken (with good potatoes and mushrooms). The $6 coleslaw was a disappointment. The fries, as usual, were very good. Desserts were tasty, but failed to delight. Chocolate cake with pudding and nuts was the favorite, panna cotta like dish was average, and 3rd dessert I can't even remember.

Service = 70. Definitely fell short. Nothing stood out and Lehmann got snubbed multiple times by the waitress (left hanging while ordering the wine, was not poured any wine, and coffee delivered before the dessert when otherwise requested.)

Hope to see you all in July!

Epic Roasthouse Serves Up Epic Size Portions

For May, DASF dined at Epic Roasthouse, the second of the conjoined restaurants on the San Francisco waterfront. Like Waterbar (see the March ’08 blog), Epic Roasthouse left many San Franciscans salivating as delays push the opening to January of this year and the wait was worth it. Epic plays on the contemporary steak-house idea, applying the modern sensibilities of Chef Jan Birnbaum to an American classic. Everything is a la carte and the steaks are dry-aged for 28 days.

Diners included: Ken & Mo (coming through as a last minute fill-ins), the Phans, Tim and Dani and Tim’s dad and stepmom, who were visiting from LA.

We sat in a long table right in the center of the main dining room, under seawater-pump fire hose and a steering wheel of a tug boat. The vive was festive and the view magnificent.

Now, onto the rating…

Food: 90 - Appetizers were a mix bag. The wood oven roasted chili squid salads were excellent. The squids were tender and they were served with perfectly cooked white beans, olives, tomato confit and wild Arugula. The hearts of romaine with mortar & pestle anchovy dressing was solid. The Chef’s nightly selection of house-cured meats and the clam chowder with Hobbs bacon and classic mirepoix should be skip altogether. Side note: cocktails were all pretty good.

The Entrees are where Epic really shines. There were many enticing selections on the menu. The group had the wood oven roasted bone-in Rib Eye for 2 with horseradish and black pepper crème fraîche, the New York strip with coriander, black peppercorns and coffee beans, the long bone Beef Short Rib with whipped truffle potatoes, the Filet and the wood oven roasted Half Dungeness Crab with Cipollini onion and fingerling potatoes.

Sides – there were 15 to choose from and the portions were HUGE!!! We shared 7 sides, 2 steak fries with roasted garlic and fried herbs, 2 scallop potatoes au gratin, 1 sautéed wild mushrooms and 1 grilled garlic Broccolini. The fries and the potatoes au gratin were solid. The wild mushrooms were mostly King Trumpet Royals and lacks flavor. The grilled garlic Broccolinis were a little too mushy.

Service: 78 – Our waiter did a decent job and his support crew (Sommelier, Bus Boys, and Food Runners) did a solid job. However, we were not happy that he didn’t advise us of the gigantic portion size for the sides. On top of that, most of the entrees already include a side or two. At $9 - $10 a pop, we spent an extra $40 - $50 unnecessarily. I really hate it when Waiters do this to pad their automatic Service Charge for large parties.

Atmosphere: 90 - Epic Roasthouse is a beautiful restaurant a beautiful view of the bay and the Bay Bridge. The restaurant has great energy and the design is sleek with modern lines.

Note on Value – with food prices rising as much as it has recently, expect to spend more on future DASFs. Also, San Francisco has made it mandatory that all restaurants offer all their staff health benefits and the restaurants are passing some of that expense to diners (4% of total bill).