souvenir & contigo
flatbread
Originally uploaded by embem30Steve and I have been trying not to spend too much money lately by not going out to dinner very much. Last Wednesday, we went to see Souvenir: Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins at ACT, but we ate dinner at home beforehand instead of going to a restaurant. I bought the tickets for the show around January, knowing that I would regret it if I missed the chance to see this.
The show imagined the relationship between real-life Jenkins, a socialite in the 30's/40's who performed horrible vocal recitals, and her accompanist, Cosme McMoon. It was like a play-slash-musical, with both characters singing, but never really breaking into song. It was told from Cosme's perspective, often sitting at the piano, singing, and stopping suddenly to talk to the audience about Florence Foster Jenkins. The scenes with Jenkins (Judy Kaye) showed some of her singing during rehearsals, as well as some of her legendary Carnegie Hall performance. Judy Kaye did a wonderful job of sounding horrible while her accompanist suffered in (mostly) silence.
The main theme of the show was self-delusion. Florence Foster Jenkins presumably thought she was a wonderful singer and heard herself that way. Her listeners got very good at disguising her laughter, and Jenkins got very good at misinterpreting the tears and the people walking out to laugh in the lobby.
If you've never heard a recording of Florence Foster Jenkins, you should search YouTube and listen to one. Her most famous is probably the Queen of the Night Aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute. It's hilariously terribly (or terribly hilarious). My one complaint about Souvenir is that Judy Kaye never actually sang that song. She listened to the recording of herself, conducting and emoting along with it, joining in on the last high note. Then, Cosme tried to get her to sing the right notes and blew up at her, but she never actually sang the song on stage. I'm sure it was because the song is terribly high and terribly difficult, making it also terribly difficult to sing as Florence Foster Jenkins did.
But I was going to write about the night that Steve and I actually went out to dinner. We decided to try out Contigo, the newest restaurant in Noe Valley. We've had a special interest in it, since we followed the saga of its development on the chef/owner's blog, In Praise of Sardines. It was a very long process, including reader participation to choose the name. Steve and I were very excited for it finally open, after walking by it every time we went to the sushi place a couple doors down. We would peer in, trying to see what was behind the paper that was covering the windows, as the space was slowly transformed from a computer repair store to an eco-friendly restaurant (made possible by rezoning in the 24th Street Noe Valley Neighborhood Commercial District). The grand opening was last Tuesday, but Steve and I wanted to give it a little time before we went to give it a try.
The online menu was enough to entice us to go on Tuesday night, one week after opening. I was a little worried about crowds, but most of San Francisco tends to eat closer to 7pm. We got there around 6pm and had no problem getting a table, opting for one out on the heated patio in the back. I figured that the daylight would be better for taking pictures for longer. (Thank goodness for daylight savings time, since it was pretty dark by the time we got dessert.) We were the only ones out there for a little while, so I snapped several pictures with my camera while trying to also pay attention to the menu and decide what to order.
We were served a couple pods of sweet peas first, along with salt in a little handmade bowl. They were really good and fresh, presumably what was best at the market that day. It was a charming start to the meal.
Meanwhile, our server explained the menu to us, suggesting a few dishes, number of dishes for two people, and recommending a cava for me and some vino rosado for Steve. My cava (a brut rosado) ended up being so good that Steve got himself some after finishing his glass of wine. For food, we ordered one cold small plate, one hot, a flatbread (pizza), and one larger plate, all to share.
It's basically a tapas place, inspired by Brett's trips to Barcelona, so mostly Spanish and Catalan food. They have assorted jamones (like prosciutto/ham) that we didn't try this time: a normal serrano from Spain, the only-recently-available-in-the-States-and-frickin'-expensive serrano from acorn-fed pigs (also from Spain), and a domestic jamon from Tennessee. We'll have to go back and try them sometime.
Our chicory salad (without hazelnuts) came first. It was a pretty salad of bitter greens ("reds, greens, and yellows" would probably be more accurate), blue cheese, apples, and a vinaigrette. It was a good salad, though not my favorite salad ever. I liked the apples in it, but I think I prefer the salad we had at Range last fall with little gem lettuce, apples, parmesan, and pancetta. However, this one was probably prettier.
Next, we decided that we should try the fried sardines, since the chef's blog is called "In Praise of Sardines" and all. They were really tasty, and I especially liked the fried meyer lemon slices and bits of parsley (also fried) that were on the plate. They worked well with the little pieces of fish.
The flatbread with jamon, arugula, and manchego cheese came next. (See picture at beginning of post.) It was basically a little pizza. The crust was perfect, and it supplied us with our taste of jamon for the evening. Really, all of the flatbreads on the menu sounded great, so we'll need to try another one next time we go. In the meantime, I might have to get me some manchego.
Our one larger plate was next: pork belly, ears, and feet, served with butter beans. The pork belly was in two pieces, and the rest was cut up in the beans. The belly itself could have used a little more salt, but we had some on the table, so it was an easy fix. I think I'm just not a huge fan of pork belly; it seems like more fat than is really necessary. I know Steve and most chefs really like it, but it's not my thing. I'd rather have a little more actual meat. On the plus side, the beans with pork bits were fabulous.
It took a while after that for our meal to progress. I think our waitress thought we had more food coming, and she was very busy with several new tables, giving them their recommendations. In the meantime, a few table runners tried to serve us food that other people had ordered. Apparently, they didn't quite have the table numbering down quite yet. It's understandable, given that they had only been open a week. Service will, undoubtedly, get better as they get used to it.
We eventually got dessert menus and decided to order two of them, since we had saved enough room. We knew we wanted to get the churros & hot chocolate, and we decided to also order the ricotta tartlet. The tartlet was my surprise favorite--creamy and subtly cheesy, with a hint of rosemary, and some honey on top to sweeten it. I've learned that I really like the interesting desserts that most of these places serve, and rosemary in one of them is often enough to entice me to try it. The churros and chocolate dish was a little more obvious as a dessert. There was still a bit of a twist, given that the hot chocolate was European style (read: thick, like drinking a chocolate bar). I knew going in that European hot chocolate was like that, but it was still a bit surprising just how intense it was. It went really well with the churros, but it was a little much by itself. Our waitress told us that it's really good mixed into coffee, so we may have to try that sometime. They served Blue Bottle coffee in little French presses, so it would definitely be picture-worthy. (But then, isn't everything?)
When we finished, we had to wade through the gathering masses near the bar and hostess stand. I usually grab a business card on my way out, for the scrapbook, but I didn't even try this time. It was 8pm and obviously prime time to check out the new tapas place. Definitely good business for a slightly chilly Tuesday night in March.
All that's missing now is a comment on the decor. I already mentioned that it's eco-friendly. Part of that is because most of the wood is salvaged, some from the Levi Strauss factory around 14th & Valenica, even. There's a lot of wood in the restaurant, and a lot of it is a beautiful, warm reddish color. When one enters the restaurant, there is counter seating, with the open kitchen behind it, on the left and the hostess stand straight ahead. There's another, more wine-ish bar, on the right side, about halfway back, and various tables everywhere else. In the back is the canopy-covered, heated patio where we sat. The surrounding walls are painted a vibrant green, matching the plants growing in the vegetable garden along one wall. I'm sure the garden will be a source of some of the food once it really gets going. Since we were outside, I didn't get too many pictures of the inside, although I snapped a few while waiting for the restroom before we left.
Steve and I are both looking forward to going back to Contigo, but we should probably wait for a little while. The prices are reasonable for the quality of food and the style of the restaurant, but it's still not cheap. And we are trying to spend less, you know.