 SAN FRANCISCO KITCHEN 133 Main St., Nashua 886-8833; sanfranciscokitchen.com
|
The restaurant is tucked into one of the buildings on Main Street, which has really become quite a nice little downtown area in recent years with a plethora of dining choices ranging from a slice of pizza to fine dining.
Once inside, we found a clean and modern dining room with comfy booths. We were seated in the bar area where there was a line of shabu shabu tables. For those of you unfamiliar with shabu shabu, it’s the Japanese version of a hot pot, in which you cook your food in a pot of broth.
The menu has a mix of offerings including traditional Japanese food such as sushi, Chinese offerings and Asian fusion (a squishy kind of food term that loosely means Asian foods merged with other cuisines), and of course, the shabu shabu tables.
For a starter, I decided to try the salmon strip special ($7). The strips of salmon, lightly battered and fried ,were a little on the floury side, but they were a whole new taste. The appetizer was accompanied by a wasabi mustard dipping sauce that was excellent, but one had to be careful not to use too much and overpower the salmon’s flavor. I enjoyed the dish, which I found to be a novel way to enjoy salmon.
My dining companion chose the crabmeat and corn egg drop soup ($4.25). It was far too hot coming from the kitchen, but once it cooled down a bit, it was quite good and a very large serving. It was like a standard egg drop soup, but the corn and crab added a new dimension to the flavor. There were no large pieces of crab – it was basically just strands – but the seafood flavor came through loud and clear. He rated it as above average.
I was tempted to have shabu shabu for an entrée, but the dish that diverted me was the sesame encrusted rare tuna with cranberry Cabernet sauce ($19.95), which was also recommended by our reader. I have a weakness for rare-tuna dishes and this did not disappoint. The tuna, as advertised was nice and rare. The sesame crust added a new twist to an old favorite – usually I find it on the menu encrusted in pepper. The sauce had just a hint of cabernet, but was sweet and gave a nice flavor contrast that offset the mild tuna and sesame crust. It was an excellent dish and I thank reader Dorothy Terhune for the recommendation.
My dining companion ordered the Lobster Napoleono ($23.95). He got a large plate in the middle of which sat an artfully arranged serving of lobster with avocado atop a pool of cream sauce. His first reaction was that it was a big plate for the size of the serving, but after a few bites he said the dish had a big, rich taste for which the size of the plate was actually suited. The sauce tasted like it had some sort of fish base, but was rich and creamy. The lobster was tender, the avocado ripe enough that it melted on the tongue. Big plate and big taste notwithstanding, he thought the portion a bit on the small size, but otherwise deemed it worthy of ordering again.
We both had jasmine rice on the side and it was cooked correctly and full of nutty flavor.
The dessert menu had some of the usual offerings, although one of them, green tea ice cream ($4.50), was my choice. It consisted of balls of green tea ice cream wrapped in rice dough. It was unusually good. The green tea flavor was just noticeable in the ice cream and the rice dough gave a nice contrasting texture and sweet flavor. It was a light and quite pleasing end to the meal.
My dining companion chose the kiwi-banana egg rolls ($5.95). He said he didn’t really expect much from the dish, but once he bit into one of the egg rolls, found it warm and delicious. The egg rolls were stuffed with the fruit and deep fried, then served over a sort of fruit coulis. The dish was delightfully flavorful and highly recommended.
The San Francisco Kitchen has an interesting mixed-drink menu and a small but adequate supply of wines by the glass. The restaurant is clean and comfortable (although one complaint was the out-of-order restroom). Our server was pleasant and efficient.
Overall we had a very good meal in a pleasant environment, thanks to the recommendation of Dorothy Terhune. In her note to us, she said she thought the restaurant’s Web site needs updating, and we agree. It doesn’t even seem to make mention of the shabu shabu room, which we think would be a draw. We certainly intend to return to try it.
In thanks for her recommendation, we will send Dorothy a cookbook, “You’ve Got it Made,” by Diane Phillips.
Do you have a restaurant recommendation for Our Gourmet? If Our Gourmet reviews it, you can get a free cookbook, too. Just write to: gourmet@unionleader.com
