Hold on to your socks. It's here. The long awaited unique approach to exploring the amazing city of San Francisco and the delicious, tasty treats it holds...has arrived. Welcome to "Where-To-Wednesday" where each month we get our group of girls together to explore and dine at a restaurant we haven’t tried before, in a *hopefully* NEW area we haven’t been to before! So yes everyone...please be open to trying areas and foods out of your comfort zone - you might just be surprised at what you like! And if you're like me, you have your go-to-favorites that you...well...end up going to all the time..(guilty)! This will give us all a chance to venture outside our typical go-to places and find some new favorites.

Here's how it works: each month, one person chooses the place, the date, gather RSVPs the week before and sets up the reservation. Given the number of girls, coordinating schedules isn’t the easiest so if you can make it that month, fantastic....if not, no biggie - we'll see you the next month. No cancellations because it could jeopardize the whole reservation, especially with a large group. And lastly, the person appointed each month is selected at the previous month’s outing, so if you’d like to make a pick for the group…get chowing the month before!

If you know a great girl that would love to find some hidden gems within the city by the bay, invite her to join! We have already explored several new areas and not only found fantastic restaurants and dishes, but a great girls’ night each month to look forward to! Hope to see you all at the next outing - we will slowly eat our way through the amazing city of San Francisco!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Where-To-Wednesday Adventure #26: Jackson Fillmore Trattoria



If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I never understood that. Of course it does. What kind of world of magical forests do people live in, who would even contemplate a question like that? In the words of Sweet Brown – ain’t nobody got time for that! Trees are heavy. Heavy things make noise when they fall. Question answered. Now…let’s move on to more important things, such as: where are we going to eat tonight? When the location for our latest where-to-Wednesday was announced I was surprised: Jackson Fillmore Trattoria. Think about it – Jackson and Fillmore. I’ve been to this area…I don’t know, a hundred times? How have I never seen this place? It must be new, was my first thought – expelling any notion that a restaurant would go unnoticed by my eagle eyes. Turns out it’s been around for 25 years. Oops. In addition to scheduling my latest eye exam, I anxiously counted down the days until we had our chance to try this neighborhood gem that has been able to fly under the radar whilst drawing a local crowd long enough to stay in business for decades. Move over trees…there’s a new question in town. If a restaurant exists right under your nose and you’ve never heard of it….is it a hidden gem? Check out our latest W2W adventure, planned by Lindsey, which myself, Joce, Elizabeth, Becky and Chelsea attended, to find out if the 25 year wait was worth it. Cheers!

Ambiance 5: We all remember Cheers. How can you not? It’s the place where everyone knows your name! Which is exactly how I think we’d be greeted here…had we not been complete strangers to this 25 year-old-staple in the community. It’s a no-nonsense, no-frills restaurant. You come here to eat, grab a glass of wine, and leave. Even the restaurant feels no need to go above and beyond that. There is food. There is wine. There are servers. But…there is no ambiance. We go out to dinner for the experience – meaning, sitting at the table for a few hours, catching up, telling stories and basking in a warm, welcoming ambiance around you. If you’re looking to do the same…this, my friend, is not the place. Attempt as you may, and you’ll get the stink eye from a dedicated local eyeing your seat from the 2x2 doorway/holding area for those that do not fit into this 20 seat capacity place. It is, for all intents and purposes, a diner of sorts. There are MAYBE eight tables in the restaurant, which spillover into the counter lined with patrons. With the exception of a few sad looking paintings placed sporadically across the restaurant, there is little to no décor. Unless you count the numerous wine boxes above the counter that double as storage. Er…nevermind, that’s just storage. But it’s wine. So…it’s cool. Speaking of….

Wine 8: Seeing that wine won the battle over wallpaper, I had high hopes for what lay inside those precious boxes. Unfortunately, I decided to take the month of September off of wine (I know, I know…isn’t drinking wine a job requirement for the blog?** Don’t worry though, I’m right back at it, so go ahead and breathe out that sigh of relief) so my friends were nice enough to taste for me (tough job, right?) and provide their thoughts which I’m relaying here for you…and for me to regret over. Awesome. Let’s get to it. We started off with Silvio Jerman Pinot Grigio – crisp, light, well-balanced and refreshing, it was a great start to dinner and paired well with the food as well. Later, we moved to the red, and selected the Mediterra Toscana (2009) which had deep blackberry notes and a smooth finish. Yeah, these sound great, but the water was out of this world!*

* As in “get me out of this world of water.” Boo.

**Turns out it’s NOT. Weird. I know. Don’t worry I’m also working on changing that. Obviously.

Food 7: YAY. Finally something I didn’t give up. Food. Bring it on! And that we did:
-          Mezzaluna Espinacci: I always thought mezzaluna was a kitchen utensil, but if it is…it must be made out of something amazing because apparently…YOU CAN EAT IT. Since I’m 0 for 1 against the wine at this point, I’m all for eating everything. So – mezzaluna…let’s do this. These turned out to be ravioli done al dente, filled with cheese and served in a sea of creamy tomato.

-          Carpaccio di Zucchini: This came highly recommended by everyone but…I’m not sure why. Maybe they had given up food for the month and this was their first dish?? ZING! I know, we haven’t had one of those for a while now. Well needed. Anyways. It kind of looks like a large dish of coleslaw topped with almonds, which…I guess it kind of is. Except by coleslaw I mean julienned zucchini… which in my book is exactly the same thing. So yeah, a name change is in order. And…so is a skip.

-          Burrata Caprese: Creamy, buttery topped with fresh tomatoes and spicy arugula. How can you not like this?

-          Eggplant Parmesan: Ooey. Gooey. Cheesy. This dish comes out looking like something from Grandma’s kitchen. With the eggplant on the bottom, there is a thick top layer of cheese that adds a whole new dimension to the dish. With tomato sauce swimming in between the layers and topped with fresh parsley, this hearty dish was an Italiano favorite.

-          Pesce Fra Diavolo: Local red snapper done to perfection, served with a spicy hot tomato sauce and topped with scallions for the perfect finish. I love tomato sauce with a kick, so that addition made this dish for me.

-          Pollo alla Noci: Great hearty dish of boneless chicken breast with deep, rich flavors stemming from the mushrooms, walnuts and pine nuts. A sauce combining sherry wine and cream added a rich savory aspect to every bite.

-          Gnocchi Scarmozza: Soft potato filled dumplings rest in a creamy, cheese sauce. Basil and fresh tomatoes add a kick of flavor, while the smoked mozzarella perfectly rounds out the dish with a rich depth of flavor.

-          Bombolotti Sugo de Carne: Large tubes of pasta in a spicy tomato sauce filled with veal, spicy sausage and mushrooms and finally topped with mascarpone cheese. This dish was simple, yet one of my favorites.

Dessert: Yes…it’s that time.
-          Zabaglione Freddo: Say that five times fast! Or just eat it…because you’ll be glad you did. Creamy custard is served up in a glass, topped with pistachios, crushed amaretto cookies and strawberries. I could not stop eating this. I would have rolled around in it if they would have let me. This dessert was absolutely delicious. And since I wasn’t drinking, I should have gotten two. I mean, come on. It’s only fair. Where are your manners JF Trattoria??

-          Fantasia di Cioccolata: I want to talk about this, but American Idol seems to be the only thing filling my head at this point. By the way, WHAT happened there? Try, just try, to make a bad decision today. Then look at her track record and realize that today you were a winner. See? Fist pumps all around. I digress… although this dish was a hot mess. Oh! Did it again. It’s too easy Fantasia. Except, well, it was actually a cold dish. And really not that messy. But…almost the same thing. But different. Anyways – it looks like just a slice of cake but it’s oh-so-much-more. Rich chocolate fudge torte filled with layers of cookies, served over chilled (I did warn you) custard with fresh fruit sauce.

-          Gelato: I mean..pretty standard stuff here. You’ve got vanilla. You’ve got chocolate. You’ve got pistachio. So..there’s that.

Service 8: Our server was very nice, gave good recommendations and brought out the food very fast. Can we talk about fast dishes for a second? Does anyone really like when their dish comes out quickly, except for those late night stops- i.e. Burger King? That scares the bejesus out of me. How do these things come out so fast? Are they frozen? Have they anticipated every order and are cooking EVERYTHING as we speak on the happenstance that we decide to order it? Are they practicing magic back there? Whatever it is. I don’t like it. I don’t like seeing the waiter walk away and the instantly walk back with our food in hand. It freaks me out and I judge that food before it even hits my mouth. And also makes me feel as though I’m taking way too long in my own kitchen to boil water. Overall, I felt pretty rushed from the get-go, but that’s likely because the set-up seemed to be modeled after a Coney Island. And I mean that in the nicest way possible*. Their ultimate goal is to get your orders as quickly as possible, so they can give you your food as quickly as possible, so they can get you out as quickly as possible and get someone else in….you guessed it….as quickly as possible. Is this the server’s fault? No…but I mean, I don’t have a “management” or “process” category here…mainly because that sounds boring…so, yeah, the service is going to get the brunt of this. I love to go to dinner and dine for hours – because to me, that’s the experience. The talking while our food is being cooked, the discussion of each dish as it’s served individually (not all at once), and the lingering at the end over last drink sips. Eating out should be a dining experience – not one where we are ushered in and out and served all our food at once. That’s…Coney Island. Fast dishes. In and out. On to the next. So yeah, bad feels all around. But the guy – our waiter – super nice. So, there was that.  

*Mainly because I love their Hanis. I even love to say the word Hani. And I love even more that you won’t know what a Hani is unless you go to the special Coney Island that serves it. That’s right. VIP Coney Island people. Jealous?**

**Never mind, don’t answer that.

Price 10: I knew there was an upside. $55 bucks each. Not too bad for sharing 11 dishes...and staring at wine boxes all night. Next time I’m breaking into one of those.

Noise Level 6: Let’s ignore the fact that there was a table of hyenas in the front, laughing hysterically and obnoxiously every sixty seconds…just so you would remember they were still there. Noted, hyenas. The place is small. Basically, the size of my family room – and packed with people and wine boxes. So, the acoustics pretty much suck. And maybe that’s all part of the design to get you out of there as fast as possible. Ah…it all makes sense now. Well played, JF Trattoria. Well played.

All About The Area: You’re in the heart of Pac Heights…in the heart of Fillmore street. Perfect place. A beautiful busy area, filled with gorgeous shops, fun bars, people watching, and tons of restaurant options…in case you decide you’d rather drink wine than stare at it. Too soon? Honestly though, this area is one of my favorites. It’s very safe as it’s a very busy and popular area, and home to great restaurants and bars. As long as you’re not going North towards Union (beware of a massive downward hill. Literally. Get your walking shoes on and do not blink), this area is great to bounce around, people watch, and soak up the night in San Francisco.

OVERALL GRADE: 7.3


Carpaccio di Zucchini

Mezzaluna Espinacci

Burrata Caprese

Eggplant Parmesan

Pesce Fra Diavolo

Pollo alla Noci

Bombolotti Sugo de Carne

Gnocchi Scarmozza

Zabaglione Freddo

Gelato

Fantasia di Cioccolata

Yep. Wine boxes...see 'em? Better than wallpaper, still....