I am way overdue for a post. I know I’ve been doing this a lot lately, but now I am a full-time wife, a full-time mom, and a full-time accountant. I am certainly trying to keep up with it all, and hubby and I squeezed in a celebration of our second wedding anniversary.
These days we try to use these occasions to try new (new to us) and interesting restaurants . This time we decided to try out Gitane in San Francisco. It came highly recommended by a friend. Since I also had the opportunity to try their beignets, I was definitely intrigued and wanted to check out the food.
Overall, we came away with a positive impression. The restaurant is tucked away in a little alley, and unless you’re looking for it, you probably won’t come across it easily. Once inside, you’ll be taken upstairs to the dining room. The dining room is pretty small, and from what I could gather could seat somewhere about 30 to 40 people. I have to warn you, there is only one restroom for the entire place (including the bar). Be prepared for a wait, if you need to use the facilities.
The food at Gitane is inspired by the Iberian Peninsula, with foods from Spain, Portugal, Southern France and Morocco. We opted for our usual way, share a bunch of little plates, to get a good overview of the food. Unfortunately, we got a little carried away and ordered so much that we never got to dessert. However, I still vouch for the beignets (they come with three different sauces). Here is what was on our dinner table last Saturday.
Bacon Bonbons – prunes stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in smoked bacon, spiced port glaze – $10
Espargos – grilled asparagus, cured pork loin, egg mimosa, lemon, olive oil – $10
Tartare – lamb tenderloin, walnut & red pepper, mint, fava puree, black olive – $18
Carbassa – squash blossom, farmers cheese, smoked tomato vinaigrette, zucchini – $12
I have to say my most favorite out of the above mentioned were the bacon bonbons. The combination of the salty bacon and sweet prunes was just right. The asparagus was very nicely grilled, not too soft. I really enjoyed the squash blossoms. The farmers cheese was warm inside its fried shell. The zucchini was very refreshing. I did feel that the lamb tenderloin was quite a bit salty.
Bastilla – sweet & savory pastry with chicken, spiced almonds, apricot fennel salad – $13
Sardinas – semolina crusted sardines, hearts of palm, grapes, verjus creme fraiche – $12
Coca Catalan Flatbread – with serrano ham, baby chard, manchego – $16
Patatas Bravas – yukon gold potatoes, lemon aioli – $6
I am generally a fan of sardines, but as hubby noted, they were very fishy. The sweet & savory pastry was very interesting. The pastry was savory with meat inside but was topped with powdered sugar. I found the combination very tasty. Unfortunately, we overestimated our abilities and barely had any strength for the flatbread and potatoes. I tried one of each (I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I didn’t).
On the down side, since we couldn’t really tackle the flatbread and potatoes, I asked for the waiter to pack them to go, as well as for the check. Unfortunately, at this point the service suddenly slowed down. For some reason it took a while for us to get the check, and apparently our doggy bag was forgotten. We got tired of waiting for the check, and decided not to even bother with asking about the doggy bag.
All in all, good food, nice atmosphere. I would suggest giving it a try.
