Have you ever heard of Leatherneck Steakhouse? Neither had we! That’s because it’s tucked inside the Marines Memorial Club and Hotel at Sutter and Mason, and no one we know has ever eaten there. But SF Weekly’s Jonathan Kauffman pays the place a visit and finds that this “lowest-profile of this city’s steakhouses” has a pair of chefs who really “give a damn about the food they’re putting out.” He notes that at $29, his superb New York Strip was half the price of a similar cut at Harris’ or Alexander’s, and a $22, 6-oz. Wagyu flatiron had “fine veins of fat tasting of cultured butter, as if the animal had been raised on croissants and creamed corn.” He notes a surprisingly good pan-roasted sea bass with a saffron-tomato butter sauce, and — get this — a sous-vide-cooked short-rib dish. Important things to note before going: the dining room pianist knows the Flashdance soundtrack; reservations are required; and so are collard shirts and “proper” pants. [SF Weekly]
Over at the Guardian, Virginia Miller wastes no time in beating the other critics to Park Tavern, offering up a mini-review wherein she finds “high quality ingredients prepared carefully in heartwarming dishes.” She says the NY steak crudo “delight[s]” and a small appetizer of compressed Yellow Doll watermelon and Mangalitsa prosciutto over mustard greens “leaves an impression.” At the newly open Umami Burger she says, “I’m all about the Manly Burger,” and we concur. And at Canela she calls out the gazpacho and the salt cod salad. [SFBG]
