And to round out the day, a roundup of this week’s reviews thus far, beginning with Virginia Miller’s visit to Orexi in West Portal for the Guardian. She says that the restaurant is “a step in the right direction” in our Greek-food-starved city, where the only real option for decent Greek fare is the high-end and ever-crowded Kokkari. She, like the Weekly’s Anna Roth before her, loves the taramosalata and the eggplant-based melitzanosalata. And she says she’s “smitten with [the] homey moussaka.” She says you can skip the octopus and the baked white beans, however. [SFBG]
Anna Roth, meanwhile, heads downtown to check out new Turkish-fusion spot Machka (584 Washington Street, which Miller did a few weeks back). She isn’t in love with the place, but she does like the deep-fried, dried-beef-wrapped, blue cheese-and-chorizo-stuffed dates, which she calls “nothing short of brilliant.” She also enjoys the adana kebab, “a winning combination of lamb and beef that combined with the garlicky chimichurri-like sauce,” and the lamb tartare and house-made pitta bread (which are actually like rolls). She’s just not such a fan of the prices. But then again, this is the Financial District. [SF Weekly]
And finally, Mr. Bauer reviews Lincoln Park, the new San Anselmo wine bar and restaurant from former Lark Creek Inn and Bubba’s Diner chef Stephen Simmons. He loves the watermelon, panzanella and calamari salad, as well as several of the other salads, and never one to turn down fried chicken he says that a chicken drumettes special with a waffle “deserve[s] a permanent place on the menu.” He also appreciates the value and the quality of a pan-fried local cod dish, saying it “revealed the chef’s fine-dining chops,” and was “nicely seared and presented with equally well-caramelized Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes and an artistic drizzle of balsamic.” The verdict: two and a half stars. [Chron]
