In this weekly column, I’ll be sharing the greatest dishes I’ve eaten all around the San Francisco Bay Space recently. Though the record may well consist of Instagram-only bargains or seasonal tasting menu objects, I’ll be absolutely sure to include matters that you could reasonably get nowish.
This week’s version involves a fragrant southern Indian dish, a high-quality dining tostada and the most effective knafeh I’ve experienced in a extended time. Check out my recomendations from final week here.
Chettinad-style rooster at Tilak
At Tilak, a Bernal Heights Indian restaurant, so considerably on the lengthy, 40-item menu appears attractive it’s tough to opt for some thing to buy. But a thing instantly caught my eye: the chicken Chettinad ($14), named soon after a historic trading hotspot in Tamil Nadu, India. Chettinad delicacies, a generations-in-the-producing meld of Arab, Southeast Asian and other flavors, is a rarity in the Bay Spot, with just 3 or so restaurants right here that specialize in it. So I jumped at the chance to test chef-owner Tilak Gurung’s just take on the cuisine.
The dish is served with a wealthy, coconut-flavored gravy and layered with toasted spice and fragrant flavors: cardamom, onion, cinnamon and pepper. Pink, spiced oil floats to the edges of the curry complete spices pop in your mouth as you try to eat. The flavoring is concentrated, but scalpel-sharp software keeps it from tasting muddy or cacophonous. Consider it with roti ($2), because you know you will want to sop up the sauce with something.
Tilak. Open up for indoor eating, takeout and shipping. 5-10 p.m. Wednesday-Monday. 3501 Mission St., San Francisco. 415-647-4037 or https://tilaksf.com
Nettle tostada at Avery
The nine-system tasting menu ($118) at San Francisco’s Avery is a single of the hidden gems of the city’s dining scene. At this miniscule restaurant on Fillmore Avenue, chef-proprietor Rodney Wages and his skeleton crew serve beautiful and imaginative haute delicacies: tortellini as fragile as cats’ ears a drink of fermented pineapple with sauerkraut essence miniature Toaster Strudels with lingonberries.
Wages’ complete menu is believed-provoking, but the dish I went to mattress thinking about was a wild nettle tostada. Fried in a translucent tempura batter, a wild nettle leaf seems preserved in glass. On best are pieces of smoked trout, together with its oceanic roe. Fermented ramps give the two-chunk dish a pickle-adjacent punch, and cultured cream moistens the palate.
Avery. Open up for indoor dining 5-8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. 1552 Fillmore St., San Francisco. www.AVERYsf.com
Kanafeh at Manakish Oven and Grill
I do not generally just do random restaurant visits, but the guarantee of za’atar-dusted flatbreads pulled me toward Walnut Creek this 7 days. Opened in late 2019, Manakish Oven and Grill is a Lebanese counter service spot geared toward everyday taking in, with a menu of manakish, flatbreads, with toppings like tri-idea shawarma, cheese and cauliflower. But it is the kanafeh ($7.50) that unexpectedly snagged me.
Sweet and salty cheese is coated with shredded phyllo dough and served with a straightforward syrup flavored with cardamom. It is baked to buy so that the cheese partly melts and the bird’s nest of dough strands crisp up, the textures coming off like a bowl of cereal, but backwards.
Manakish Oven and Grill. Open up for takeout, delivery and indoor and out of doors seating. 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday and Monday 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday 10:30 a.m.-9:45 p.m. Friday and Sautrday. 2905 N. Primary St., Walnut Creek. 925-949-8334 or manakishoven.com
Soleil Ho is The San Francisco Chronicle’s restaurant critic. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @hooleil
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