Absinthe: here's looking at you, kid
Written: May 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Romantic atmosphere of an era gone by
Cons: Uneven service
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| tanster's Full Review: Absinthe Brasserie and Bar |
I actually sought out Absinthe after reading several glowing reviews of it here at Epinions. While the food is satisfying, it is the atmosphere of this brasserie that I find the most charming.
THE QUICK STORY
• Intimate French brasserie with as much focus on spirits as on the cuisine.
• Perfect pre- or post-theater dining. Open all day.
• Leave the children at home for this one.
ATMOSPHERE AND DECOR
• I don’t normally start a restaurant review with the atmosphere and décor, but I feel in this case, it is warranted. Absinthe evokes an intimate and lively French brasserie feel that is difficult to resist. Surrounded by plush velvet banquettes, large fresh flower arrangements, thick luxurious draperies, brick-red walls covered with giant Toulouse-Latrec posters, low lighting, and little votive candles on each table, I feel that I’m almost dining in a different country, in a different era. When Rick says to Ilsa "we'll always have Paris" in one of the final scenes in Casablanca, you wonder if this was the type of place he meant.
• One side of the formal dining room showcases a whimsical mural of French bistro dining, complete with several buxom hostesses, one couple kissing in the back, and the Green Fairy himself pondering the scene. (La Fée Verte, or the Green Fairy, is the nickname for absinthe, a potent green liqueur that is the restaurant’s namesake.)
• What especially put me under a spell was the music softly wafting from the speakers: jazzy, seductive songs, again from another era, replete with saxophone and trumpet. At one point towards the end of the meal, my favorite Gershwin tunes were played, one lyrical masterpiece after another. I didn’t want to leave! Birds love, and bees love, and whispering trees love, and that’s what we both must do…
• As you enter the restaurant, there is a long mahogany bar to your left, and casual café seating in front of you and right inside the front door. Bear right, and you will enter the more formal dining room.
• The clientele is a mixture of tourists in sweatshirts and jeans, high society ladies in their Chanel suits and laden in shiny baubles, and everything in between. You can wear jeans here, but this kind of place makes me want to dress up a little more. While we were there, two men in shorts and sweatshirts rode up on their trendy multitrack bikes, parked them next to the tree outside the restaurant, sat down at an outside table, ordered two cocktails which they promptly imbibed, paid the bill, and rode off.
• I’ve never seen any children, and they would probably not be comfortable here.
CUISINE
Absinthe concentrates on French bistro classics and other simple preparations. The menu changes every day.
- Seafood bar
• Absinthe serves half a dozen different varieties of oysters ($2-$3 per piece), plus Dungeness crab, mussels, clams, smoked salmon, and Osetra caviar ($33 per ½ ounce).
- Starters
• The meal begins with standard French baguette and butter.
• I ordered the French onion soup ($6). I was served a mini-tureen of amber-colored broth and caramelized onions, topped with a thin slice of bread covered with a huge gooey mass of Gruyère cheese. While the broth was pleasantly sweet, it was overpowered by the unwieldy amount of cheese. I couldn’t take one bite without having to use my fingers to break the taffy-like strands of cheese that were lifted with each spoonful. So uncool.
• Other starters include Caesar salad, pâté with toast points, gravlax, and pizza.
- Entrees
• Croque Monsieur ($8.50): toasted French Madrange ham and Gruyère cheese sandwich with apple chutney and Dijon mustard. How is this different from a regular ham and cheese sandwich? Well for one, you can’t eat it with your hands, because the cheese is melted on top of the sandwich, broiled to a crusty brown. Second, have you ever had a ham and cheese served with chutney? -- me either. While it provided an interesting counterpoint to the savoriness of the ham, I could only bring myself to dip the sandwich gingerly in the chutney juice instead of eating it with actual chutney pieces. (Yep, I also don’t like pineapple on pizza or raisins in my stuffing.)
• Grilled salmon ($19): with tarragon butter, served with asparagus, Yukon gold potatoes, and roasted whole shallots. This was wonderful -- perfectly grilled salmon served with a generous pat of homemade sweet tarragon butter, still-crisp asparagus, boiled Yukon potatoes, and whole shallots roasted so long that they turned into an addicting caramelized purée. A bit pricey at $19, though.
• Other entrees include cassoulet, coq au vin, steak frites, and lamb.
• While there are no vegetarian main courses, you can make a lovely meal out of navel oranges, ricotta cheese, and basil with aged balsamic vinegar ($9), green garlic and Yukon gold potato soup ($6.50), and sautéed spinach with preserved lemons, garlic, and chili flakes ($6.50).
- Cheese
• Absinthe offers a selection of cheese, each with a suggestion for an appropriate wine. For example, you can enjoy an Auvergne blue cheese and pear ($4.25) with a ’97 Domaine de Grangeneuve Coteaux-du-Tricastin ($6).
- Dessert
• I chose a dessert aptly named Some kind of wonderful ($7.25): a square of dark chocolate cake with Scharffenberger chocolate mousse and bitter sweet chocolate glaze in a pool of vanilla bean crème anglaise. A small square of moist chocolate cake is topped with a one-inch thick layer of mousse so smooth and glossy you could almost see your reflection in it. And rich, ooh boy is it rich. The crème anglaise is almost superfluous. We simply could not finish this.
• Other desserts include sorbet, biscotti, crème brûlée, and profiteroles.
- Breakfast/brunch
• Scones, fresh fruit, oatmeal, omelettes, French toast, and pancakes are served during the morning hours.
- Beverages
Absinthe pays just as much attention to what it serves in the bar as it does to what it serves in the dining room. It has the most detailed wine and spirits list I’ve ever seen, all 23 pages of it.
• I saw many people order the Perfect Pear ($6) -- vodka, pear brandy, lime juice, sugar, and a splash of orange juice, shaken and served in a cocktail glass with sugared rim.
• You can choose from more than 200 wines, mostly red and American, ranging from less than $20 to more than $200, but mainly in the $30-$60 range. International wines hail from France, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Argentina. Glasses, half bottles, and bottles are offered.
• I was thrilled to see my favorite sparkling wine maker listed, S. Anderson, with its Blanc de Noir Napa for $34.
• An impressive collection of 25 single malt scotches is offered, including my favorite 14-year Oban ($7).
• If you’re not in the mood for alcohol, try Marco’s lemonade ($2.50), fresh squeezed lemon-lime juice with ginger syrup and cranberry juice topped with ginger ale. Not very sweet, slight bitter, and carbonated. I slurped it until the glass was empty.
HOW LONG THE MEAL LASTED
You can finish your meal in an hour, but why hurry out the door if you don’t have to?
SERVICE
• The staff is young, polite, but definitely not chatty. Some of them are even French!
• The service was a bit uneven: the soup came immediately, but then we waited awhile for our entrees; we were presented the dessert menu promptly, yet our check took a long time to arrive.
COST
One appetizer, two entrees, a bottle of wine, and one dessert will set you back around $80.
ALL IN ALL
At the end of the meal, our check was presented alongside chocolate coins embossed with the Absinthe logo’s flowing “A” -- a classy conclusion to the meal.
The food at Absinthe is not the most spectacular I’ve ever eaten; however, I could sit at a café table all day, sipping a cocktail, enjoying my Gershwin, and watching the Hayes Valley hustle and bustle pass by my window. There are worst ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.
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Absinthe
398 Hayes St. (at Gough)
San Francisco
415-551-1590
Difficult street parking, garage parking, or valet ($8)
Open all day, serving separate breakfast, lunch, bar munchies, and dinner menus. One nice thing about Absinthe is that they don’t charge higher prices for dinner entrees that you can order at lunch!
Reservations: If you’re trying to make an 8 o’clock showtime at the Orpheum (around 6 blocks away), call a week in advance for a 6pm reservation, just to play it safe.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tanster
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 111
Trusted by: 328 members
About Me:
Happily reviewing cool gadgets and SF Bay Area restaurants since 1999. Pass the gravy, please.
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