Reviews

Aliment, San Francisco – good food and wine

The French Laundry is a tough act to follow, so when we got back to San Francisco the next day (with a winery stop as well) we decided to try our nearest neighbour, Aliment, on Bush Street in the Nob Hill area.

We ended up going twice; on our first visit we ordered a glass of wine each and a small plate, perched on high stools overlooking the kitchen and chatted to one of the chefs. She directed us to try Coqueta down on the waterfront, which was a very good tip. At a loose end last night, we went back for a few more plates.

It’s a groovy restaurant that is deceptively small; we were lucky that the early evening was quiet so we could get a booth table, but ‘parties of two’ seem destined here for the bar seating or the high stools along the front windows. There are spots for two upstairs on the mezzanine but on this particular evening, it hosted a slightly boisterous table of eight men. We stayed below.

So, back to our first visit. Greedy Girl was after comfort food and chose a bolognese. This was a hearty dish; ground steak and Italian sausage combined with a red wine tomato sauce and lashings of cheese grated on top of homemade fettucine. Delish.

Comfort food

Comfort food

Gluttonous husband was after something light, so he took the seared diver scallops. This was served with black rice (you can see that underneath), a Thai green curry and pickled shallots. The scallops were cooked perfectly and gluttonous husband liked the way the dish went together.
Seared diver scallops

Seared diver scallops

We sipped a couple of glasses of wine and headed out into the night; with a promise to return.

When we came back, we ordered a few more plates. First up was pork belly. We were slightly disappointed that the skin wasn’t crispy but the pork belly itself was divinely soft and tender. It was served with a celery root slaw and smoked apricots. Delish.

Pork belly with slaw

Pork belly with slaw

Greedy Girl was having a pork fest. This was a gigantic kurobuta pork chop with a yakitori glaze, Chinese long (snake) beans, rice ovalettes and applewood smoked bacon. Even though gluttonous husband is a very good cook, he’s shied away from pork chops because they’re so easy to render dry and tough. This chop was cooked very well; some pieces of the meat (cut off the bone) were a fraction dry, but they went very well with the glaze. The beans were yummy and the little ovalettes (basically little sticky rice cakes) also absorbed the other flavours.
Kurobota pork chop

Kurobuta pork chop

Gluttonous husband took the house-cured pastrami short rib. This was served with a pomme puree, cabbage slaw and dijon horseradish cream. The texture of the meat was very soft and the crunch of the slaw gave the dish a lovely texture. Gluttonous husband isn’t usually a fan of horseradish but this was quite mild and he pronounced the dish ‘beautifully balanced’.
Pastrami short rib

Pastrami short rib

We moved on to the dessert featured at the top of the blog – flourless chocolate cake, served with a brandy caramel and creme anglaise. Greedy Girl asked whether the anglaise was served on the side. It was. She didn’t expect the enormous quenelle of whipped cream drizzled with caramel on the top, but ne’er mind – gluttonous husband expertly removed that and Greedy Girl enjoyed her chocolate fix without testing positive to cream. It was indeed a very delicious chocolate cake that was not too sweet and had lovely crunchy edges.

Time to go, but a note about the wines here. We enjoyed glasses of red on both visits – wines by the glass are sourced from Europe and locally and are very good. Gluttonous husband also had a delightful semillon/sauvignon dessert wine which he relished.

Aliment was an unexpected find in this area, dominated by sports bars and diners that seem to cater more to tourists. The serving sizes were generous, as were the pours of wine and the atmosphere is lively and fun.

Aliment

786 Bush Street, San Francisco

alimentsf.com
Aliment Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Post Views: 3,382

Tagged under: , , , ,