Title: Bluestem Brasserie
Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

Oct 3, 2012: Bluestem Brasserie has gone from two chefs to one, and the remaining guy in charge is Francis Hogan. Josh Lucas has moved on to work at Wayfare Tavern.

Bluestem Brasserie
1 Yerba Buena Lane, San Francisco, CA
http://www.bluestembrasserie.com/menus.html
Review date: April 2012

After a doctor's appt in the city, we selected Bluestem for lunch after checking their menu on-line and finding it full of interesting dishes. All too often we find once we've been seated and received our menus, it's noticeably different from what's been posted. We were pleased to find that Bluestem's website has the current menu, albeit a bit hard to read without zooming in. Like most bistro-type places these days, the menu runs to three-quarters alcohol and one-quarter food.

Yerba Buena Lane is a mini-restaurant row, connecting Market St. and Mission St. by running parallel to, and in between, 3^rd and 4^th Sts. This puts the alley smack in front of the Moscone Convention Center and three blocks from Union Square – a prime downtown spot if ever there was one.

Bluestem is a 2-story restaurant (with elevator), right on the corner of Market Street. The kitchen is on the second floor, so the waitstaff gets a real workout, running up the stairs to pick up food and coming down the staircase loaded with dishes. The elevator is obviously reserved for diners, not food service, a nice touch even as one fears for the waiters hurrying down the stairs with four piled-high plates balanced on their arms.

This is a modern, contemporary space, different from, yet somehow similar in feeling, to Prospect/SF.  Lots of glass, white walls, a striking floor of dark-stained block end-grain floor tiles, to set off wood-topped tables and dark padded chairs. One minor but important touch we appreciated: as the restaurant began to fill up, the music volume went down a couple of notches. Showing up early, we were able to snag one of the spacious microsuede-upholstered booths, which are normally for four or more.

I didn't check out the staff blurbs until after we came home, so I hadn't realized that Sean Canavan had left the position as ExecChef. The chef de cuisine Josh Lucas was promoted to replace him less than two weeks ago, on April 10^th. As it turned out, Carlos' entree was one of the new additions to the menu, which was serendipitous.

After reading the limited charcuterie menu (which Lucas intends to eventually expand), we ordered the blood and tongue sausage to start. Carlos ordered soup and an entree, while I chose three of the small plates. Our waiter, Courtney, went over with us in what order we wanted the food. Thanks to this necessary but oft-overlooked meeting of the minds, our meal proceeded perfectly.

A single serving on the charcuterie menu is very modest – two 1/2" slices of a good-sized sausage. The sausage is inspired by the boudin noir (French blood sausage) that Carlos likes so much. We both love tongue, and the sausage beautifully balances the two flavors. It comes with toasted French bread and a number of accompaniments so you can pick what you like best. A separate plate holds cornichons, pickled caper buds, tart shredded pickled onions, tart pickled baby cucumbers, whole-grain mustard, and a housemade apricot chutney. 

Not being big on overwhelming sour flavors, I passed on the pickles, except for a few shreds of onion. Carlos loves cornichons, so he ate all four of them. We both agreed the chutney and the mustard made a great combo spread on the croutons, with the sausage on top. Although the serving is small – each sausage slice divides in half, for two toasts each – it's the ideal size as a starter for two people to share when having a multi-course meal.

Carlos didn't really enjoy the soup. We love roasted fresh beets, but the bisque was made with crème fraiche, which he doesn't like. It would be appreciated if chefs who use crème fraiche were more forthcoming about the quantity being used. The waiter's description of "with a goat cheese crème fraiche" was unintentionally deceiving. Carlos doesn't mind a swirl of it, but if he'd known it was being used to make the soup itself, he would have ordered something else. Aged goat cheese was melting on top. This was tasty in itself, but its stronger flavor overwhelmed the mild golden beets.

This course was a "not quite right" for both of us. I had ordered the roasted marrow, which was essentially identical to what 1833/Monterey served us in October 2011. I didn't care for their version, and Bluestem's was no better. A long marrow bone is split in half, heavily dusted with panko bread crumbs, then roasted. The thin toasts are the same as used with the charcuterie, but they don't go as well with such a fatty dish. 

Neither Carlos or I care to have our marrow cluttered with breadcrumbs. We infinitely prefer the wider and creamier cross-cut shank, simply roasted with a sprinkling of salt, as offered by places like Bistro Jeanty/Yountville and Café Rouge/Berkeley.

Carlos' entree was the aforementioned roasted chicken with fried spinach which is new under ExecChef Lucas. This was a good-sized half-chicken with boned thigh and full breast. The skin was well-salted and crispy. The breast meat was very slightly overdone (by our standards), but overall this was a superior roast chicken compared to the roast chicken at Bouchon/Yountville in November 2011. He absolutely loved the deep-fried Bloomsdale spinach, and there was a small heap of sauteed mixed vegetables underneath as well.

I batted .500 with my two small plates. The spinach-nettle raviolo was a high quality filling but there was nothing much to the combination. The soft runny egg yolk that broke when cutting through the pasta was a lovely touch, but overall the taste was bland and unexciting. The small frisee salad on the side had an extremely tart dressing, continuing the recurring theme of strong sour flavors. Two wrongs, in this case, didn't make as much of a 'right' as they could have.

The spicy lamb sausages – I guess Bluestem figured their customers were too ignorant to know what merguez would be – were barely cooked and so mild my MIL could have eaten them. But the lamb was flavorful, with excellent spicing. If I could combine Bluestem's merguez with La Note/Berkeley's soft polenta and ratatouille plate (which I swooned over in September 2010), it would make a killer dish.

Sadly, I had to make do instead with a small rounded oval of eggplant relish and an equally sized oval of Greek yoghurt with dill. They were very good, but the accompaniment of a small salad of tough lamb's lettuce and fresh goat cheese felt too predictable, even trite.

Carlos got a cappuccino, which was beautifully done. We shared the mocha pot du crème dessert, which comes with a cap of clear strong coffee gel and espresso whipped cream in a heavy white china coffee cup. The pot du crème was a bit sweet for our tastes, as it used milk chocolate. But in small doses with the coffee gel and the whipped cream, it was delicious, especially with the superb decaf espresso I received.

Overall, we liked Bluestem. They aren't the equal of Fifth Floor, but FF isn't open for lunch, only dinner. The service is excellent, if a little rough around the edges on the busing side. The main dining room is a beautiful space and comfortable, with the tables nicely spaced. 

The meats were top notch in quality and execution. We were honestly surprised that the starters were not quite as good as the rest of the meal. At the majority of restaurants we've tried, the starters tend to be better than the entrees or desserts, which sag a little. That doesn't happen here, or at least didn't with our meal. 

Bluestem has some interesting sandwiches at lunch, and we'll look forward to trying more of the menu as ExecChef Josh Lucas settles in for what is hopefully the long haul.

Two people: Four starters, one soup, one entree, one dessert, three beverages, with tip was $135.