Restaurant Review: Gary Danko San Francisco (by Lynne C)

Our friend and neighbour in Cole Valley, Lynne Carstarphen, is a foodie extraordinaire. We've shared many fine meals with her and rely on her to give us the latest on the food scene in SF. She is also an awesome writer and food critic. She sent us this writeup of a recent meal at Gary Danko. Without further ado, here's the review:

i went this week for my birthday and it was a very enjoyable experience from the time i made the reservation---they answered the phone promptly, there was a good time available, and they wanted to know if it was a special occasion (i have a feeling they get quite a lot of special occasions at gary danko).

we arrived a bit early because we found street parking only a block away (i thought we would have to circle for a while before giving in to he valet parking). i was with my friend katrina. they took our coats at the door. the interior is very soft---all soft light, gleaming wood, and a few black touches that i thought were not quite compatible with the wood, and two enormous buddha heads in corners that also looked out of place. it feels like a very grown up restaurant; often in san francisco i feel like everyone in a restaurant is within the same ten-year age range, but gary danko had a nice diversity, agewise. we sat at the bar and had rose champagne, served on little square white napkins made out of linen (points for style and reusability at the same time). while we were sitting at the bar the cheese cart went by and it was a bit like being passed by a movie star. we stared a little too obviously.

one of the best things about gary danko is the service. very attentive and knowledgeable but they don't hover or feel obtrusive the way they did at manresa. there was a special truffle tasting menu (six courses), but the main menu was so enticing that we went for that instead. we chose five courses with wine pairing by the waiter, i wanted the meyer lemon tart but katrina pointed out that lemon makes for a very difficult pairing, and the waiter agreed but said he had something perfect, so of course i had to get the lemon tart just to see if it was perfect.

i started with the seared foie gras with caramelized red onions and fuji apples. katrina thought foie gras was boring but it was my favorite dish of the meal. it came paired with a hungarian tokaji, a dessert wine, and the honeyed taste of the wine mixed with the richness of foie gras was perfectly offset by the caramelized onions. it might be one of the best things i've ever had in my life. katrina got the escargot, they came out of the shell and looked very elegant on the plate, completely un- slimy or snail-like.

next i had the roasted lobster salad with abalone mushrooms and edamame. i never eat lobster out here (it's so rare to see it on a menu) and it was very yummy, delicate and buttery and meaty all at the same time. the best part is they serve it on the shell, as opposed to in the shell, so all you have to do is poke it with your fork and it slides right out. katrina got seared sea scallops with spaghetti squash, cippollini onions, sour cherries, and almonds. that was her favorite thing. i tasted a bit and the scallop was perfect, and it reminded me of how good scallops are when they're fresh, not rubbery like the frozen kind you get at the grocery store.

mains: i had roast guinea hen breast and leg confit with cornbread pudding, brussels sprouts, and quince. guinea hen is darker than chicken but lighter than duck or quail, with a pleasant gaminess. katrina had lemon herb duck breast with duck hash and cardamom-poached pears. by this point i was feeling a little full.

then the magical cheese cart was wheeled around to our table. the cart had about twenty cheeses on it, ranging from hook's cheddar to goat cheese from indiana to what i'm fairly certain was an illegally smuggled less than 30-days-aged raw milk cheese from france that had no little tag on it saying what it was. i had: hook's cheddar (not as good as appleby's cheshire), abbaye de beloc, a sheep's milk cheese from the pyrenees, i think, a valencay, a flat-topped goat cheese pyramid that was napoleon's favorite cheese, and a jean de brie that the fromagiere had whipped truffles into, very heady and perfumy, truffles are a little overwhelming, i think.

i had no room at all for dessert but still wanted to see if the pairing was perfect. it was! they also brought a birthday surprise (some kind of chocolate raspberry thing that i didn't actually care for as i don't like the chocolate/raspberry combination) and a plate of little cookies and a little treat all wrapped up in gold foil to take home (kind of like a chocolate sticky pudding, british-style. yum!)

the best part: the cheese cart
second best part: the pairings
best dish: foie gras

i give it a 9/10 (and i've waited a few days to see if my opinion changed the farther away i was from the meal).