Spruce is Chef Mark Sullivan's renown restaurant located in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood. During the day, a cafe entices those from the neighborhood for coffee and panini. As day turns to dusk, coffee and croissants give way to an eclectic combination of American, French and Italian cuisine, all of which showcases the abundance - both from land and sea - of California.
Upon entering the establishment, one is treated to a dimly lit foyer area flanked on the left by the cafe, and the right by a private dinning room. The end of the foyer serves as the greeting area, and splits off to the left for the main dining room, and to the right the bar area. The wall separating the two is comprised of panes of glass, allowing the white glow of the back-lit bar to permeate through to the dining room. This picks up the lighter elements of the restaurant's color palette: warm brown leather chairs, and light speckled granite table tops.
Along the walls, lit ever so gently but effectively, is some impressive artwork that fit the motif. And a cozy, decadent motif it is, perfect for a special occasion or someone with decent money trying to rustle his/her feathers in the presence of the opposite sex. I finish my scan of the area as I walk to the hostess station, announce who I am, and am taken into the main dining room and shown two-top along the glass walk looking into the bar.
A moment or two after I sat down, I was greeted by a young, loquacious gent who would be taking care of me this evening. Upon perusing the cocktail menu, I ordered one of my favorite tequila cocktails: a paloma. I also asked if they had a prix fix menu, hoping to be able to turn on auto-pilot and allow the chef to lead me on a culinary odyssey this evening. Sadly, Spruce does not have a prix fix menu. I took deep breath, and an even larger sip of my paloma that had just arrived, and told the waiter I was going to need a minute.
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| Paloma 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
First of all, the paloma was a nice cocktail to kick off this evening. It showed great balance between the sour of the grapefruit, and the natural sweetness of the agave in the tequila. Sporting a beautiful garnish and delightful bubbles, it hit the spot while I was pondering the menu and phone-book size wine list.
A few minutes of scanning and contemplating the menu led me to pick the Cauliflower velouté to start, jersey cow ricotta dumplings, and wagyu bavette steak. Paired with the soup starter, I selected a glass of white Burgundy from Puligny-Montrachet, Domaine de Montille le Cailleret. To follow up with the dumplings and steak, I picked something a bit fuller boddied: a bottle of the 2012 Viette Barolo Castiglione.
With the menu and wine list taken away, a server stopped over with a bowl of homemade popcorn, tossed with a little clarified butter, sesame and cumin seasoning. It was a nice little snack, with the butter providing its flavorful notes, while binding with the seasonings to capture their flavors.
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| Cauliflower velouté 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
Lost in my concentration of the wine, I looked up to see the waiter with the cauliflower soup that was my starter. Velouté, which is one of the five primary sauces in French cuisine (Sauce Béchemel, Espagnole, Velouté, Hollandaise and Tomate), is made with a stock thickened with a blond roux of equal parts butter and flour. In this case, cauliflower is added along with other ingredients like shallots, and blended to form a tasty sauce.
The soup was served with a piece of sourdough toast in the center, and shreds of dungeness crab piled on top. The first bite told me all I needed: not too rich, with nice earthy flavors of the cauliflower working well with the creamy notes of the stock-roux mixture. The crab added sweet, saline notes, while the sourdough added its trademark flavors along with nice crunch to round out this dishes' flavor profile. Simply fantastic, and a great start the tonight.
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| Jersey Cow Ricotta Dumplings 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
With the soup bowl cleared away, I enjoyed the last few sips of my white Burgundy before the sommelier returned with the bottle of 2012 Vietti Barolo Castiglione. Full disclosure: I am a big Vietti fan ever since first trying their Barolo and Nebbiolo wines eight odd years ago. Tonight's wine was no exception, with beautiful ruby red color and nice floral bouquet. On the palette, I noted a touch of dryness, complex fruit flavors, and hints of pepper and leather.
With glass in hand, I turned to tonight's next course: jersey cow ricotta dumplings with cauliflower "polenta," braised duck leg and olio neuvo. This dish was absolutely fantastic, with the creaminess of the cheese cut every so slightly by the earthy notes of the spinach wrapping. The cauliflower "polenta" had almost a bisque consistency and flavor, while the duck leg was rich an tender akin to a braised short-rib. Put it all together, and one has a flavorful, decadent yet approachable appetizer that enhances but does not overwhelm the rest of the meal.
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| Wagyu Bavette Steak 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
The next course for the evening was the main entrée: Wagyu bavette steak with duck fat potato, tokyo turnips and bagna cauda. The steak was perfectly cooked, with an outer char line yielding to a deep pink medium rare center. It had great beef flavor, made even better with a bit of demi-glace smeared on the bottom of the plate.
The steak was served with some waffle-cut potatoes, fried with duck fat to a crisp texture and great buttery flavor. The turnip contrasted nicely with the steak and potato by offering earthy tones. Both the turnips and broccolini were tossed in a bagna càuda - Italian for "hot bath" - which provided nice balance for the flavor profile.
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| Cheese plate featuring Testun al Barolo to help with the wine 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
With the final entrée complete, I came to the stark realization that I had roughly a quarter bottle of wine to go, and only desert left to go with it. Luckily, Spruce's desert menu features a selection of cheeses that I could pick from to help finish the rest of this wine. I decided on the Testun al Barolo, a crumbly hard cow's milk cheese with beautiful dark purple rind from the Barolo wine that is present during the aging process. It paired nicely with the wine, along with the accompanied apple and pumpkin seeds. Just enough food to help me finish the decanter and allow me to look forward to whatever came next.
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| Glass of 1999 Chateau D'Yquem Sauternes |
Before desert arrived, the sommelier returned with a fresh glass and a bottle of 1999 Chateau D'Yquem Sauternes desert wine. As she poured, I marveled at the deep golden color of the coveted liquid. Taking a deep breath with the glass up to my nose, I received a beautiful bouquet of sweet fruit notes.
With the first sip, I was treated to the signature toffee sweet flavors. Twirling the wine in the glass, I was mesmerized at how it moved so effortlessly instead of having a syrup-like consistency assumed by its sweet flavors. Finally, despite its beautiful sweet fruit and toffee flavors, the wine was not excessively rich or overpowering.
All the flavors were in their proper balance, which is the hallmark of excellent wine making, and especially so with desert wines given their sweetness. This was a proper flourish to a special birthday dinner.
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| Surprise cassis birthday cake 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
With desert wine in hand, I was treated to a surprise birthday course. Cassis cake served with whipped cream, crunch sprinkles, candied fruit and fresh raspberries. The cake had a mousse-like consistency, and nice currant undertones. This paired nicely with the overly sweet creamy flavors for the whipped cream, and the texture differential of the crunchy sprinkles.
Candied fruit, while sweet, also lent tart flavors that complimented the sweet notes from the other constituents. And finally, the fresh raspberries provided their signature sweet-tart flavors, while also contrasting with the fruit receiving the candy treatment. Certainly this surprise was a great start to desert!
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| Spice Cake 2017 Spruce. San Francisco, CA |
The final desert course was a spice cake with butterscotch, speculoos (a Dutch spiced shortcrust biscuit) & pumpkin pie ice cream. The cake itself was excellent, with notes reminiscent of the holidays including: cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was moist and not overly sweet, which paired nicely with the rich and creamy pumpkin pie ice cream.
The speculoos crumble broke up the texture of the dish by providing crunch to go with the cake and ice cream textures. The butterscotch was creamy and offered more direct sweet notes of butterscotch. Finally, rounding out the flavor profile was fresh persimmon, both chunk and rose garnish, which added a touch of bitter fruit to balance out the sweetness of the desert.
In summary, this entire meal was excellent, and highlights the quality and attention to detail of Chef Sullivan and his kitchen staff. All entrées had exceptional balance, and great depth of flavor. I found both the cauliflower soup and ricotta dumplings to be fantastic and worthy of a trip back. The service was exceptional; the waiter was courteous and prompt, while the sommelier was patient and friendly (she even snuck in one Spruce's famous cookies in a doggy bag for the next day!).
My only criticism, and it is hardly one at that, was the lack of a prix fix option with accompanied wine pairings. When I decide to visit a restaurant of this caliber, and stomach the cost it entails, I want to be taken on a culinary voyage that is unique to the chef in the kitchen. While I feel my selection of entrées told much of Chef Sullivan's culinary vision, I would have preferred he directly lead me on that odyssey. A small grumble for sure, and it really is a testament to potential of Chef Sullivan's kitchen on display this evening.
Nevertheless, whether it is for a special occasion or not, one will not be disappointed with the journey Chef Sullivan leads. Combine that with sterling service and a delightful atmosphere, and there is no doubt Spruce belongs in the top echelon of San Francisco's culinary scene.
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