SF Eats: First Entry

I tried a new restaurant last night I highly recommend. It was my boyfriend's birthday, and I wanted the night to be memorable. He'd never had French cuisine, so after doing so Web research, I settled on Garcon! in the Mission district, and I happy to report an excellent evening of fine cuisine, attentive but unobtrusive service and romantic atmosphere. Garcon! has an extensive wine list (it comes in a binder), but since the evening was a celebration, we had delightfully fruity Champagne whose name I can't recall. It had a touch of yeast and at $35 a bottle was a bargain. For appetizers, we went for their generous charcuterie platter and a warm and hearty foie gras mixed with egg and served with bread-French comfort food of the highest degree. The entreés were generous and satisfying. I had a wonderfully rare steak with spinach and pomme frites, while Eddie dined on a pork chop with fava beans and artichoke hearts. As it was his birthday, our waitress (she was delightfully friendly) brought a light merangiue floating in a sweet creme sauce, topped with a candle and sang happy birthday in French. The restaurant has a fair sized dining room, but we sat in the back lounge, which made the evening even more romantic-this is a great place for a date. An added attraction for the back room (for me at least) was watching and smelling everything coming out of the kitchen. Apparently, Garcon! is famous for their mussel dishes, because at least 20 plates went by in the course of the evening-that alone is reason enough to go back.
Garcon!
1101 Valencia St.
San Francisco
(415) 401-8959
www.garconsf.com
Reservations recommended

On our way back, we stumbled on a place I heard about from some friends: Weird Fish. This restaurant is a hole in the wall, which is my favorite kind of place. My friends raved about it, and it was packed at 10 p.m. on this Saturday night. I'm going back soon to try it and will report on the results, but in the meantime, I grabbed the menu. Among the highlights are Hell Fish (seitan with sesame ginger and vegan wheat-free batter), Suspicious Fish Dish (the menu simply says "take a risk"), and dijon-almond encrusted rainbow trout. Nothing on the meno is over $12 and most fall into the $5-$7 range.
Weird Fish
2193 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-4744
www.weirdfishsf.com