Breakfast for dinner is not only a great idea, it’s even better when it’s gourmet, re-imagined breakfasts from two up-and-coming chefs, chef Kristina Liedags Compton and director of ops Rachel Sillcocks. These women built their résumés at best-of-the-best, Michelin-starred restaurants like Atelier Crenn, Avery, Mosu, Nopa, Charleston’s iconic FIG, and former greats like Range and Healdsburg’s legendary Cyrus.
I first tried Hilda and Jesse when it was a pop-up, named after Compton’s grandmother, Hilda, and Sillcocks’ grandfather, Jesse whose portraits hang on the restaurant walls. When they launched in 2019, they were hit by the pandemic — but aced it by playfully pinpointing our universal craving for “breakfast in bed,” offering brunch boxes at Wildhawk, on to “pancake pop-ups” at Kim Alter’s superb Nightbird.
So it was with delight I heard they were opening their first brick-and-mortar restaurant — and on a prime North Beach corner with massive windows gazing at Washington Square in the distance.
On a blessed rainy Monday this November, my husband Dan and I dined at H&J.(Thank God someone decided to open on Mondays when a majority of notable restaurants are closed). H&J opened November 1st, easing in — as chef Kristina told me so that they could maintain quality — with weekend brunch, Friday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and breakfast for dinner on Mondays, 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Quirky, intimate, and charming with only 30 seats indoors, the revamped space exuded sunny joy even on a rainy night. Designer Noz Nozawa went for pastel pinks and blues on the wall and counter tiles, contrasted by black-and-white checkered floors, caramel, and olive green leather banquettes, flanked by red vinyl chairs on one wall, and retro 70s-ish table chairs lining the other wall. More color flows from vibrant murals by artists Maya Fuji and Terrance Eubanks, Jr., and plateware like modern jadeite bowls from Mosser Glass.
We settled in for the brunch tasting menu, three courses for a reasonable $45. Ideally, you’d supplement with an extra dish or two. Depending on which dishes you order, two more might be too much, but the tasting menu might be just shy of enough. We overdid it and took home leftovers, trying a few a la carte dishes in addition to the tasting menu.
The tasting menu is seasonal, but we hit the initial one that began with a hot-off-the-stove, comforting celery root cake. It tastes like a Chinese dim sum daikon cake with slightly pan-seared sides. A touch of pumpkin puree brings a savory-sweet note, but it’s a shaving of scallions in Japanese brown rice vinegar that makes the dish pop. The main course of Root Down Farm chicken in hominy porridge evokes Chinese congee with fermented black beans and chile oil, but also recalls grits, lush with brown butter. A Southern-Chinese breakfast mash-up, if you will.
The third course is “Manna,” a Latvian mousse of whipped cream-of-wheat meringue, apple puree, black sesame, and coconut fluff. It comes in layers, fluffy and dissolving in the mouth. I live for black sesame in desserts and often find it takes on a peanut butter quality, whether in ice cream or boba teas. That’s exactly what happens here. In fact, with layers of apple and cream of wheat, it tastes like a parfait with PB&J vibes.
We appreciated each course, but agreed: we would not have gotten the full Hilda & Jesse experience without going a la carte. That airy-crispy, shredded potato hash brown may have been my favorite. Herb-laced pork sausage, Latvian sauerkraut and apple butter brought the contrasts of savory-sweet-fermented-meaty-crispy.
This baby transported me back to the Swiss Alps to the most beautiful place I’ve ever been — and have gone out of my way to go back to three times — Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland region. Suddenly I was up in an alpine village under the shadow of the mighty Jungfrau peaks eating the Swiss classic, rösti. It’s the Swiss version of hash browns-meets-latkes. In Alpine villages, I’d fill up on rösti laden with meat and cheese or other toppings. H&J’s hash brown, for me, was the elevated version, even softer and more gratifying. This is the dish I’m still thinking about and craving. I hope some variation of it always stays on the menu.
But a little cold salati ($6 salad) of grated turnips and apples tossed in sour cream mayo and fines herbs, dotted with mustard seeds, is the deli salad of my dreams. It almost begged for latkes, bagels and bialy, or, indeed, hash browns, as a sort of cool vs. hot, yin-yang contrast. Our gracious, attentive server called the salati “the sleeper hit” of the menu — she was right.
Compton’s signature Pancakes Without Boundaries may, however, be the most memorable. This pillowy double stack of buttermilk pancakes offers a myriad of toppings, but this month ours was overflowing with grilled smoked cranberries and a maple butter pat running down over the pancake tower. Calling in the brief season for white truffles from Alba, Italy, a $50 supplement meant you could add a shaving of my most beloved of all truffles. More than just pancakes sans boundaries, those truffles imparted an umami glow, making them the most decadent pancakes I’ve ever had (blini and caviar don’t count).
The drink list is tight — with only one sparkling, one white, one red, one rosé wine, etc. by the glass and short list of bottles. But beverage director James Butler (aka “Bottle Boss/Guarantor of Guzzle”) has put together a thoughtful list. You might run from Counter Culture Hologram coffee (not for us insomniacs at night, you won’t) to my fave sherry style, Fino, with Valdespino Innocente. The briny, savory Fino works with everything from fermented black beans to the hash brown sauerkraut and sausage combo. Two low-ABV cocktails are pleasing, like the herbaceous kick of myrtle berry in Make No Mistake, mingling with I Clivi R_B_L Brut Nature sparkling wine from Italy’s Friuli region and La Quintinye Royal Rouge Vermouth from Charentais, France.
If you only offer one sparkling wine, it might as well be the balanced 2020 Stoka Vitovska Penance pet nat from Slovenia. Ditto rosé with a 2020 J.K. Carriere Glass Pinot Noir Rosé from Willamette Valley, OR. For acidic sweetness with a berry rosiness, it’s hard to find a better pairing for the pancakes than Angelo Negro Birbet from Piemonte, Italy, available as half 375ml bottle for $32.
Comfortably satiated, we grabbed our umbrellas, stepped out, and found it had already stopped raining. We felt as if we’d been in a whimsical, Wes Anderson-worthy, modern diner with the imaginative, impeccable ingredients, technique, and creative perfection we’re spoiled for here in San Francisco… all with breakfast foods. Compton’s hand with breakfast feels smart, needed yet fun.
We agreed: on my hundreds-long best-of lists in every category, we have numerous favorite upscale brunches. But we now have a favorite gourmet breakfast/breakfast tasting menu restaurant. And we already can’t imagine the city without it.
// 701 Union Street, www.hildaandjessesf.com
Sign up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best of the Bay Area in your inbox every week.
