Review: Al’s Place
Al’s Place – aka my favorite restaurant in San Francisco. And that’s saying a lot given the amazing culinary scene here in the city. At Al’s Place, Chef Aaron London blends a wide range of flavors and cuisines in his menu, with a special focus on vegetables and produce, so you can expect to leave here with both a full belly and an un-guilty conscience.
Outside tables usually for walk-ins – they’re not that comfortable considering San Francisco’s chilly temperatures.
The restaurant provides a nightly $60 family-style tasting menu, where the chef picks a variety of dishes off the menu for your table, but reviews have been mixed, so I would recommend doing some research and picking the dishes yourself.
The menu itself is divided into 4 sections: “snackles”, cold/cool, warm/hot, sides, and limited availability. All of the dishes are meant to be shared, so our server recommended getting at least 2-3 dishes from the hot/cold sections. If you have a small appetite, however, I would recommend getting no more than 4 main plates, and a 1-2 snackles/sides, which leaves just enough room to try a couple desserts!
Asian-inspired crab marking.
The interior of the restaurant is well decorated, though seating can feel a bit packed. If you have other guests sitting near you, you’ll be able to hear their conversations quite clearly, so if you can, try requesting a table in a corner or near a window.
Our meal started out with some fresh bread and butter. Note the bread isn’t served unless requested, so definitely make sure you ask your server if you want some.
The first snackle we ordered was a Smoked Corn Kush Chawanmushi with Sungolds and Pistachio. If you’ve ever had an Asian steamed egg custard, then you’ll recognize the smooth texture and creamy flavor instantly. This was a great appetizer to start out with, and I would highly recommend it if it’s still on the menu.
Next was the Trouty Brioche with Creamy Cheese, Pickled Green Peach, and Limey Trout Roe . The bread itself was a bit too toasted, and given that we had just finished the bread, this dish didn’t stand out that much compared to the rest. Splitting this dish was a bit of a mess too.
Our only cold dish was one of the most popular items on the menu – the Baby Lettuces with Herbed Avocado and Pistachio Crumble. This dish is meant to be eaten with your hands, and we really enjoyed picking apart the individual leaves and trying to scoop up the savory avocado sauce. The salad itself is super vibrant, and all the flavors worked really well together.
Out first hot dish was the Stone Fruit Curry, Black Lime Cod, Green Bean, and Blueberry. This dish was bursting with flavor and had an unexpected but very nice heat to it. We loved the concept of combining both fruits and veggies in the curry – very creative and representative of Chef London’s style.
One of my favorite courses from the night was the Campanelle with Smoked Fumet, Charred Fava Pesto, and Goat’s Gouda. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and the entire dish was just so creamy and satisfying. I love good homemade pastas, and I definitely think this ranks pretty high on my all-time favorite pasta dishes.
For dessert, we first ordered the Warm Brownie with Peanut Butter Ice Cream and Payday Filling. Wow was this delicious. We usually avoid chocolate-y desserts because they tend to be too rich or overly sweet, but this dessert was surprisingly well-balanced and the peanut butter ice cream was really, really good. Once you slice into the brownie, the oozy caramel filling spills out – what more could you ask for? 😉
And to end off the night, we got the Baked Strawberries with Pickled Rhubarb, Whipped Coconut, and Swarndwipa. This dessert felt like a play on strawberries and cream, except a thousand times better. The strawberries and rhubarb went really well together with the coconut cream, creating the perfect fruity end to an amazing meal.
For a one Michelin star restaurant, Al’s Place offers really high quality dishes at pretty reasonable prices, especially for San Francisco. If you’re planning to dine here, I would recommend making reservations at least a month in advance. You’ll probably be able to place a reservation a few days before, but the most popular times (between 6-8pm, weekends) get taken really quickly.
Though reservations can be a bit frustrating, once you eat here for the first time though, you’ll be sure to come back again!
Final Rating: ★★★★★
Price: $$$
Al’s Place
1499 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 416-6136
Wed-Sun, 5:30pm-10pm
www.alsplacesf.com/