The blog subject du jour for Michael Bauer’s is communal dining, and in summary, he’s not a fan. He calls out Starbelly and Camino as places where he can’t seem to avoid getting stuck at a communal table, and likewise Nopa and Bar Bambino when he can’t get a reservation. (Don’t these reservationists know his aliases by now?!) Predictably, the commenters are having a field day. [Between Meals/Scoop]
As for Sunday’s review, he heads to Alexander’s Steakhouse (448 Brannan), a few months after it took over the Bacar space in SoMa. He says he audibly gasped at the prices on the menu, but “I should have been prepared because at a steak house you know you’re going to be paying prime money for prime meat, but this is really top dollar.”
He notes that the opening dishes tend to be overly busy, with “presentation trump[ing] execution” in most cases and too many dollops of this and that. And the same seems to go for the steaks, which were overly sauced. “I wasn’t expecting the half cup of chunky sauce, thick with peppers and other seasonings, that doused [the $42 tenderloin]. It masked the taste of a very nicely cooked steak.” Also, the shabu shabu is a mess, literally, but he says he’d go back for the “beautifully marbled” prime rib. All told: two stars. [Chron]
