SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009 – SEAFOOD DISHES

Because there was so much amazing food at SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009, I will make two exceptions by posting roundups of the best seafood and best vegetarian dishes. You gotta give those chefs the proper kudos. I thought a few of the seafood and vegetarian dishes were unreal; so incredibly good.

For richness, nobody topped the French bad boys of SF. Roland Passot’s corn soup and crabmeat came in a tiny package with a toy shovel and packed a wallop of corn flavor in a thick pudding. Amazing. One tiny bit of evidence why everyone who eats at La Folie froths with enthusiasm when they recommend it.

La Folie Corn Soup with Crabmeat

And Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys) also got to the deepest core of flavor with his lobster essence. Kapow. Knockout. I drifted over with my lobster essence and pulled a spoon of crabmeat from Mark Dommen (One Market) to dip it in. Kapow again.

Lobster essence from Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys)

Now you see the One Market crab….

…now Chef Mark Dommen is steadily replacing the crab.

And maybe all the people who think MoMo’s is a sports bar need to rethink what’s up to eat over there. MoMo’s Chef Damon Hall was slamming out the ahi tuna tartare by the monster trayload. Feeding frenzy ensued. Hard to screw that dish up, granted, but anytime it comes along, it’s a great treat. And he also made a smoked fish dish which was astounding, and handsome on the plate. Good stuff!

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – ahi tuna tartare

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – ahi tuna tartare

Damon Hall – MoMo’s – awesome smoked fish

Almost impossible to pick favorites in a stellar group like this, but if I had to, I’d say Justin Simoneaux of The Moss Room may have put out the best seafood bite. It was a tiny pastry cup filled with summer corn relish, tomato, chili, basil, and Monterey squid. Unbelievably good.

Monterey squid, corn relish, tomatoes – Justin Simoneaux of The Moss Room

Advertisement