The Other Critics

Kauffman Delights in the Cal-Hungarian Fare at Bar Tartine; Reidinger Has Not Much To Say About Los Yaquis

The new, wider Bar Tartine.
The new, wider Bar Tartine. Photo: Grub Street

We’ve made no secret of our love for the new menu at Bar Tartine, under chef Nick Balla, and now Mr. Kauffman takes first dibs among the newspaper critics at giving the place an update review. Happily, he is also a fan. “I like what Balla is doing at Bar Tartine better than I did at Nombe,” he writes. “[His] food is as dramatic and complex as what Commonwealth and Sons + Daughters are serving, without the modernist trickery they delight in.” Kauffman loves the meggyleves (a Hungarian chilled sour-cherry soup), langos (fried dough), and the chicken paprikas. He does say that a few of Balla’s entrées “can overwhelm, the way an overripe Cab does.” But the meal still finishes strong, with the multi-layered dobos torte. [SF Weekly]

Paul Reidinger took a week’s vacation after extolling the virtues of Criolla Kitchen, but now he’s back with a review of Los Yaquis, the Salvadoran place at 14th and South Van Ness. And Reidinger is back to equivocating self, not saying much in praise or in complaint about the place, merely noting that their pupusas are quite large and the “kitchen is quite proud of its fried tacos.” But tell us how you really feel, Paul. Oh, he likes the fish soup, which he calls “striking” and “intense.” [SFBG]

Kauffman Delights in the Cal-Hungarian Fare at Bar Tartine; Reidinger Has Not