We daren’t suggest that we know what makes Reidinger tick, and for some reason this week he decided it was time to review Frances — the place has been open about fifteen months, everyone and their mother, including Esquire, has reviewed it or written about it. But now, it seems, Reidinger has come around to deciding it’s worthy… or this was the earliest he could get a reservation, take your pick. He compares it to Delfina and Firefly as another fine example of a place “run by pedigreed chefs who’ve chosen (wisely) to invest themselves in ventures of a manageable, human scale.” He loves the bavette steak; the white bean soup; a new pasta dish Melissa Perello’s doing with black trumpet mushrooms, cotechino sausage, and pecorino; and the signature bouchées, the panisse frites and the bacon beignets. [SFBG]
Jonathan Kauffman kind of bemoans the Americanization of sushi, and admits that while he admires the sustainable ethos of a place like Tataki South (1740 Church, a new Noe Valley branch of Tataki), he can’t totally endorse the crazy new-fangled maki rolls with too many different things stuffed in them. “Eating one is like being invited to a listening party where the hosts are simultaneously playing Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Joanna Newsom, and Black Sabbath. Who can make out the lyrics?” He likes a few of the crispy tempura maki options, though, like the tempura sweet potato maki available at happy hour. As for Sushirrito (59 New Montgomery), and their burrito-sized, American- and Latin-ized maki rolls, it’s pretty much the same story. He says, “Half the varieties I tried got pushed away after a few bites,” including the Latin Ninja and the Mamacita, but he likes the Smokin’ Chicken and the egregious but maybe good sounding Crispy Ebi “which topped tempura shrimp with pepperjack cheese and Sriracha crema.” [SF Weekly]
