Last night I took out some of my opera clients for dinner after a performance of Das RHEINGOLD at the San Francisco Opera. I chose a highly rated but casual spot about 4 blocks from the opera house and made a great new discovery for us all. PAUL K (www,paulkrestaurant.com) is about as unassuming as it gets and while it is very casual in design it still has charm and some great food going for it.
We started with a novel and tasty T-VINE Rose "Psychedelic Chicken" 2006 from Napa that comes in a wildly designed bottle wit very little info on the wine itself (such as what grape it is), but we adored the dry fruity treat which went great with our varied appetizers.
A great way to try lots of things is to take the meat or veggie MEZZE sampler. The former has 3 POMEGRANATE Braised Atkins LAMB RIBLETS with a superb GARLIC YOGURT Sauce, CUMIN & CARAWAY Crusted LAMB KOFTE with Almond Sauce and Chili Harissa as well as two dips: a SMOKY BABA GHANOUSH that was intense and smooth (with little eggplant aftertaste, so I loved it) and a wondrous POMEGRANATE DIP (made with a red pepper base, the consistency of hummus). Piles of Olives, a chunk of feta and several marinated artichoke hearts all served with pita filled out the huge tray. The only bad thing on the plate was the acidic Harissa which we simply avoided, and the super-garlicky yogurt sauce seemed to go better with the kofte, those sausage-like torpedo shaped kebabs that we all loved.
GOAT CHEESE & LEEK RAVIOLI with Portobellos, Pistachios and Brown Butter was a nice small plate starter and the BABY ARUGULA, BEETS, AVOCADO Salad with Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese (always a San Fran treat!) with Tarragon Vinaigrette was a huge and fresh portion that could fill anyone up.
We ordered a bottle of FIDDLEHEAD CELALARS Pinot Noir "SEVEN TWENTY EIGHT" from the Santa Rita Hills 2004 which is a huge fruit filled blow your mind wine that we all simply oohed and ahhed over.
The entrees were all huge portions from the EGGPLANT NAPOLEON which was a stuffed eggplant with sauce and chick peas that nobody could finish to the CRISP SKIN CHAR with Farro (a heavy bulghar-like grain), English Peas, Smoked Bacon and a tasty Preserved Lemon Aioli. The fish was firm, frsh and oh so good. My SYRIAN SPICED DUCK BREAST with Portobello Mushrooms, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Ragu of Duck Confit with Pomegranate Molasses Sauce was another revelation an yes, huge as well.
The ladies split a sundae and I adored the SORBET TRIO of creamy PASSION FRUIT, RASPBERY and BLACKBERRY as I rolled off to my hotel and to bed!
