There are longtimers, then there are longtimers. This week I talk about two. One is a 15-year-old fine dining restaurant at the InterContinental SF hotel with a new Greek chef who has cooked at some of the world’s most celebrated restaurants from London to Lima. The other is a local SF legend in the upscale mid-range zone celebrating its 30th anniversary… no small feat in any era for a restaurant. My reasons to revisit both:
New Chef Who Cooked at Central & The Fat Duck: LUCE
Luce opened in 2008 in the InterContinental San Francisco with none other than opening chef Dominique Crenn, while the restaurant held a Michelin star an impressive decade from 2010 through 2019. It was fully renovated in 2019, just in time for pandemic, when it closed again until October 2021, losing its Michelin star along the way. Now, a new chef and menu usher in Luce’s latest evolution.
I’ve judged culinary competitions here over the years and miss their only-one-like-it-in-the-country extensive grappa collection at Bar 888 back in the day. Despite multiple meals since 2008, I hadn’t been back to dine in years.
As of January 2023, Luce announced its new chef de cuisine: Dennis Efthymiou. Hailing from the coastal town of Igoumenitsa and Greece’s mountainous region of Ioannina, chef Efthymiou’s impressive restaurant resume includes cooking at Heston Blumenthal’s legendary, 3 Michelin-starred The Fat Duck, and staging at Virgilio Martínez’ great Central in Lima, Peru (#2 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022 and #1 50 Best Latin America, which I visited in 2022 and in 2013). Dennis came to the states as head chef of lauded Wicked Jane in New York City.
While his ethos is Mediterranean, this is modern European cooking akin to New American, pulling on various cultures but more Euro-centric. This means you won’t see as much of California’s ubiquitous Asian and Latin influences but will see ingredients from California producers. In keeping with his upbringing, Efthymiou focuses on sourcing from ethical farmers, using nutrient-rich sustainable ingredients, a natural (and historic) fit in the Bay Area and California at large. As InterContinental SF’s first executive chef, Norma Whitt remains over Luce and all food in the hotel.
Returning on a cool, clear February night, service is sincere, the lofty room chill and spaced out. Ancient Greece and Rome show up on Efthymiou’s inaugural six-course tasting menu ($130; optional wine pairing $85), not just in the recipes but in the plating and styling of the dishes. Most notably is octopus lasagna, which is less lasagna, more a draped, stuffed, striped pasta filled with tomato puree, marked by a grilled octopus tentacle curving out of it. Rich in a savory mirepoix and garum bechamel (fermented fish sauce with creamy white roux), dotted with green spinach ricotta sauce. There is a lot going on: visually, it’s a riot of color on the plate. Buttaken in one bite together, it’s a playful hit of pulpo and pasta.
The dish that “popped,” seamlessly melding layers of flavor, was a rather ubiquitous kampachi crudo. White chocolate bergamot sauce worried me, given white chocolates’ cloyingly sugary nature. But it was not sugary. In fact, the pristine fish rests next to a creamy pool of the sauce dotted with chevril oil, flanked by a circle of cucumber, daikon, kumquat and hazelnuts. A pairing with off-dry, German 2020 Prinz Riesling is classic and slightly sweet, with enough acid to play off the dish. Kumquat brings needed citrus to the silky dish, while all the vegetal (and nutty) touches balance it.
A supplementary ($75) caviar sunflower starts to feel heavily rich with confit egg yolk at its center, more generously portioned than expected. Perfect to share, it’s a beauty of a “sunflower” with a sunchoke tartlette base dense with the aforementioned egg yolk and smoked sturgeon mousse, centered with Tsar Nicoulai golden osetra caviar, surrounded by brilliant yellow sunflower petals. Whispers of pistachio and dill make it sing, nicely complemented with the tropical, elderflower notes of an unfiltered NV Zero Infinito Solaris pet nat from Italy’s Alto Adige.
Ancient Rome is showcased in a dish considered indigenous food in Roma: puls, a farro-grain pottage (French for ‘food cooked in a pot’). Efthymiou’s smart farro puls arrives on a striking rust orange plate in pecorino cream and onion skin under a “bacon veil,” dotted with caramelized onion gel, pancetta crumble and brown butter. The bacon and pancetta dominate on the palate, overpowering the onion elements I wish were allowed to shine. But it’s an artful dish that gives me a peek into Efthymiou’s style. It came with my favorite wine pairing of the night with a natural, orange Greek wine: 2020 Domaine Glinavos “Paleokerisio,” made from obscure grapes (97% Debina; 3% Vlahiko). It’s rosy, funky, nutty and spiced, brightening up the dominant saltiness of the puls.
Thankfully, Trumer Pils is the only big brand, non-CA beer on draft, the other four being California beers, like the beloved Mai Tai IPA from Alvarado St. Brewery in Monterey. Cocktails are straightforward, again, making me miss their more unique grappa focus over a decade ago. As expected, the wine list caters to travelers, veering heavy on what is globally known (Burgundy, Champagne, big California wineries) vs. CA’s massive wealth of pioneering small producers, etc.) Thankfully there are moments where small production, natural and unique producers pop-up, as with the aforementioned Italian pet nat and Greek orange wine, even if not near as eclectic a wine list at countless casual restaurants in town.
From an elegant prime striploin to two desserts, namely “Textures of Chocolate” (halva ice cream over cocoa nib soil in a Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico wine-laced chocolate sauce, beautifully paired with a 2012 Vin Santo), the menu hits visually first. But it’s intriguing enough to make me want to taste and see where chef Efthymiou is going as he settles in here. In some ways, the most heart comes through in touches of his native Greece, like an amuse bouche play on spanakopita in a crispy cone, or the whimsical look of the octopus lasagna, while flavors most intrigue and meld in dishes like the crudo and “lasagna.”
The bigger issue is, in a city and region graced with so much food excellence — and literally dozens of world-class fine dining tasting menus — I hope the hotel location won’t dissuade locals from coming in to check it out. The remodel is more warm and striking than before, yet walking through the hotel and bar still feels corporate. But the upside is there is no end to the culinary and drink talent in pioneering San Francisco — decades back and now — including in corporate-looking hotels. Luce has pushed boundaries before as Dominique Crenn’s early SF launching pad. It’s worth returning to check out what chef Efthymiou is up to.
// 888 Howard Street #3011; www.lucewinerestaurant.com
Eating Through the Decades at ONE MARKET
One Market is a San Francisco institution since 1993. Chef/partner Mark Dommen took over the Embarcadero mainstay — complete with striking views of SF’s Ferry Plaza Building — in 2004, leading into these past couple decades of success. Some of my favorite One Market dishes run from the causal — their Mark ‘n Mike’s New York-style deli pop-up with one of the better pastrami sandwiches in the Bay Area — to the old school: their fabulous, hearty prime rib dinners. Both were lifesavers as delivery meals at home during the worst of pandemic, providing more than a little comfort. This is classic food, old school in the right ways, but with a modern bent and a light — not heavy — hand.
This February 2023, I was invited to their 30th anniversary party, fondly recalling their 25th anniversary party when one of our great local jazz singers, Paula West, sang over dinner as she used to be part of the One Market waitstaff in decades past. Per usual, I was out of town for dining/drink research, so came to dine soon thereafter to try their special February anniversary menu highlighting iconic and popular dishes of the past three decades. Live grand piano jazz from local jazz pianists elevate the lofty, large space, while making a big booth or banquette feel even more relaxed and cozy.
A highlight for years at One Market is ever-gracious sommelier Tonya Pitts (Wine Enthusiast’s 2022 Sommelier of the Year globally), who knows her global wines — and decades of California wines — navigating seamlessly between Old and New World styles depending on your palate or courses. From a rare, refined but easy drining 2018 Iron Horse Ocean Reserve sparkling wine, to the berry earthiness of 2017 Cambria Wines Tepusquet Vineyard Syrah, all were poured with Tonya’s warm humor and grace. Whether you want a robust red for the pastrami sandwich or a delicate, seafood-friendly pairing, Pitts’ California-heavy list likewise holds many global options to suit all palates… best of all, is her longtime support of female, black and latino winemakers.
A starting amuse bouche of One Market’s popular latkes, a mini-version, layered in avocado mousse and caviar, made me smile. Chef Adrian Hoffman’s (2000–2004; currently Billingsgate and Four Star Seafood) era was when I first visited One Market, not long after I moved to SF in 2001 as a young thing intent on getting to as many restaurants as possible each week. Hoffman’s local petrale sole soufflé is a cute little “cake” lush in caper butter, cut by sprigs of mâche (lamb’s lettuce). I don’t remember having it back then but wish I did. I live for seafood and seafood soufflé… especially as this manageable size. Chef Dommen’s Dungeness crab cakes remain a standard here, not just because of a welcome touch of saffron aioli, but because they are crab-heavy, showcasing our local Dungeness bounty.
I recall chefs George Morrone and Joseph Humphrey’s (1997–1999) influence on many restaurants back in the early aughts, including Morrone’s memorable upscale seafood destination, Tartare, and Humphrey’s days at The Restaurant at Meadowood and Auberge du Soleil in Napa. Their grilled Sonoma quail from One Market in the late 90s still feels current, thanks to a Meyer lemon-truffle sabayon bringing a tart, umami acid play, charred radicchio a welcome bitter, over slivers of warm purple potato “salad” imparting a violet hue. Overall it’s one of the better quail dishes I’ve had in years… despite being a historic recipe.
One large ham hock ravioli filled with fluffy, local Bellwether Farms ricotta feels Germanic, the ham recalling speck, the ravioli a meeting place of Germanic dumplings and Italian ravioli. As one of chef Stephen Simmons’s dishes (1993–1994), the pasta is further enhanced by also local Vella dry jack cheese and smoked tomato broth.
By this point, I’m (happily) stuffed, digging into chef/co-founder Bradley Ogden’s (1993–2002) hearty braised beef short ribs over black truffle potato purée, contrasted by winter vegetables and crunchy carrots. Nevermind that I have to take some of it home for breakfast. The ever-typical “put an egg on it” leftovers comment holds true here. Longtime pastry chef Patti Dellamonica-Bauler’s (2002–2017) milk bread pudding laced with milk jam and verjus raisins likewise carried over nicely for breakfast, alongside their trendsetting butterscotch pot de crème, which made an impact from my first visit ages back.
While the anniversary menu sadly is gone as of March 1, 2023, One Market’s popular dishes — including the aforementioned pastrami sandwich and prime rib — remain, while one can taste a new era of comfort signaling the decades to come.
// 1 Market Street, https://onemarket.com
