Bar Tartine (San Francisco: Mission)

Freda is out of town again so let me insert my SF experiences at the mean time.

While we’re still clearing up all these SF posts, I digged up this unblog old visit from last year (yes..it’s been awhile) of Bar Tartine , a small plate wine bar from the same people of the very popular Tartine Bakery at the Mission district in San Francisco. At the time we visited, Bar Tartine was known for its Eastern Europe influence small plate menu. I heard that since early this year it has become Cal-Hungarian under a new chef. So please keep in mind this review reflects their old menu prior the change.

Bar Tartine is very popular among the locals so reservations is a must. We tried our luck and walked into the restaurant at 6 pm without reservation. and viola, luck was on our side! Someone just cancelled and we score a table.

Very good bread like the ones from their bakery and addictive cheese bread.

Chicken liver pate, pickles and whole grain mustard
The pate was smooth and flavorful. It’s very good with the bread.

Fig & walnut anchoiade with radishes
Anchoiade is an anchovy-based paste with garlic and olive oil. This one has fig and walnut so it’s pretty sweet like a fig jam.

Braised gloucester pork, spring onion, fennel and fried egg
Best dishes of the night! The pork was very tender. Everything works together and I loved the fried egg very much.

White sea bass baked on a fig leaf with lentils and sea beans
The fish was well cook, but the highlight was actually the lentils and sea beans. Hearty and full of flavors,

Crispy kentucky wonder beans with dill creme fraiche 
A good beer companion dish, but we all had cocktails.  Very crispy. We actually ordered this because we like the name “Kentucky  wonder beans”.

I thought the food was great overall. The vibe was fun, I liked the intimate interior and I found the menu to be quite interesting. However Freda tried it at another time and she found the food just alright. I’m a bit curious about their new cal-Hungarian direction.

Bar Tartine
561 Valencia St (between 16th St & 17th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110

Tags: small plates