Title: Fifth Floor Restaurant (in Hotel Palomar)
Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

Update March 2014: Hotel Palomar has announced the new bar/restaurant will be called Dirty Habits. David Bazirgan will remain as ExecChef. Full remodel of layout; aiming to re-open early summer 2014.

Fifth Floor @Hotel Palomar in San Francisco, CA
Review date: January 2014

With the announcement that Fifth Floor is going to close January 17^th and remodel itself into a "small plates/bar food" concept, Carlos and I wanted to have one last dinner here. We met our friend Ilkay and my niece Suko on a Friday evening, when for one of the rare times, FF was almost full and a bit noisy.

We have enjoyed David Bazirgan's food several times since our first visit in mid-2011. Coming here initially as we did, right after disappointing dinners at twins Boulevard and Prospect after Ravi Kapur left, we enjoyed Fifth Floor's sophisticated décor, the food, and the service. It is not La Folie's equal, but Bazirgan has a deft hand with sauces and treats them and the side dishes as they should be: important contributors to a cohesive whole. 

Fifth Floor has never received the attention it deserves, although the bar is popular. It's entirely possible that the handicap of having to take the elevator five flights up with no street presence is just too great an obstacle. Hotel Palomar is so deliberately discreet it's difficult to even know the hotel is there until you walk through the narrow double doors and see the words "Palomar" woven into the welcome mat inside the entry.

We all had starters; Carlos and I had several each. Dishes are not large here, although as it turned out, one of them surprised all of us with its oversized serving.

Carlos and Ilkay started with the scallop ceviche. Halved bay scallops were in a yuzu/black truffle dressing with baby turnip. This was an exquisite dish; Carlos especially loved it.

Suko began with the pork croquettes: two perfect breaded rounds of shredded tender pork, with thinly shaved tart pickled radish slices and a fascinating sauce of raita, whole mustard seeds, and urfa biba pepper, aka isot, a flaked pepper from Turkey which has an earthy, smoky edge and a mild heat. Bazirgan is masterful at building balanced sauces, and yet restrained in their use. There is just enough to flavor the food but not so much it drowns in it. I had this dish as my second course and mopped up the leftover sauce with a piece of bread, not wanting a drop of it to go to waste.

I started with the duck liver torchon, served with a sherry consommé chopped on top, a lively tart fresh bergamot relish, and the thinnest of bread crisps, almost more holes than dough. I adored this; Carlos, who had it as his second course, wasn't as in love with it as I was.

Ilkay had the mixed winter vegetables, a beautiful plate of different winter vegetables that included kale and beet greens. She said it was very good.

Carlos and I had the sweetbreads au vin, which were pan-fried and served in a sauce of bacon, parsnip and shallot confit. The sauce was dark, rich and smooth; the sweetbreads were delicious. Carlos thought they were a trifle overcooked, but I was just happy to see that they weren't battered and deep-fried, the way most chefs are making them. I think it's the worst way to treat sweetbreads, a delicate offal whose lack of fat makes it difficult to avoid drying out. We both gave Suko some of our sweetbreads. She has loved sweetbreads since we introduced her to them at Fleur de Lys many years ago.

For our mains, Ilkay had the swordfish with lentils. The swordfish was a thick filet, and very juicy. The lentils, the French puy, were perfect. They were beautifully and completely cooked in a rich dark broth, bringing out their wonderful flavor. Although I'm not overfond of fish and beans, when lentils are properly cooked they can work well with a meaty fish like swordfish. 

So many young cooks – I won't call them "chefs" – who undercook dried beans should have their knuckles soundly rapped with a wooden spoon. Crunchy al dente beans are disgusting; it was a real pleasure to taste Fifth Floor's lentils.

Fifth Floor has a tasting menu that must be ordered by the entire table, but if you ask nicely they are often willing to pull items off it to be ordered separately. Thus, Suko was able to have the uni (sea urchin) flan, which she adores. Creamy, salty, and soft, it had a delicate tender texture with sweet Dungeness crab on top. 

Carlos had the bouillabaisse, which as usual disappointed him. He always thinks he's going to get a heaping bowlful of seafood stew with generous broth, and never does. I have no idea why he sets himself for disappointment that way, but it's a waste of time to argue with him when he's set on ordering it. 

The sauce – it was reduced and thickened with butter – was lovely, seasoned lightly with fennel and saffron, but it would never qualify as a broth. It had black cod, abalone, and crab. He didn't think the fish was that fresh, although it wasn't bad enough to send back. 

He admitted afterwards that in the future he has to treat seafood stews as appetizers; they are rarely what he expects except at restaurants like Phil's/Moss Landing or Los Mariachis/Red Bluff. 

Suko had the winner of the evening, the duck breast with crispy skin, persimmon, rutabaga, and braised baby endive. There were two massive slices of duck breast, but although thick and large they were tender like a perfect filet. Indeed, this was by far the "meatiest" duck any of us had ever had, as satisfying as the best prime rib. The only odd addition was a few crumbled of toasted gingerbread, but they were large enough to easily push aside.

The duck skin had been perfectly crisped, with that bubbled golden-brown crunchiness that Chinese deli roast pork has, like the best chicharrones (the whole halves of a pig, not the sliced-up shoulder that is made into char siu BBQ). It had the faint elusive flavor of a Peking Duck glaze, and was simply, utterly, terrific. Carlos and I wished we'd ordered it ourselves!

I picked a secondi as my main, selecting a risotto with white truffles. They weren't the most flavorful white truffles I've had, but overall it was an excellent risotto. I'd rank it second to La Folie's superb lobster risotto, which is almost an entirely different animal, being much richer. This was a classic risotto, where the creaminess comes from the rice starch, with only a light touch of butter melted in at the last to give it some oomph. The size was perfect; not too large or too small. It had almost no salt, which was surprising but pleasing; it allowed these rather mild truffle slices to shine unimpeded.

Suko was too full for dessert, so she picked at Ilkay's chocolate bombe. This is one of the two dishes that is always on the menu (the uni flan is the other). It's good, although not earthshaking. It's a dark chocolate gelatin glaze over a scoop of milk chocolate mousse. This time it came with banana, passion fruit, and black sesame.

Carlos was seduced (again) by the coffee-flavored Napoleon. This was also part of the separate tasting menu, but they allowed us to order it separately. What came was an odd duck that wasn't cake, cookie, butter pastry, or puff pastry. Three semi-crispy rather thick slabs were stacked with a nice coffee cream, but this one just didn't come off.

I won the dessert crown, with a dessert that sounded awful, but turned out to be utterly delightful. The winner was the parsnip cake. I'm sure many people passed this by, based on the prosaic ingredient description, but it was spectacular. Like a not-too-sweet carrot cake, moist and tender, with layers of citrus flavor from yuzu, Buddha's hand, and kumquats, in the form of gelato, foam, and soft gels. I seldom enjoy Modernist touches but these had a complex interplay that was stunning. Each citrus accompaniment had a sharp, clean flavor all its own, but all were amazing with the torn-up cake.

The four of us had an excellent time. We're sorry to see Fifth Floor succumb to the small plates craze, because that means certain dishes will probably never be seen again, such as the excellent skate our friend Bob enjoyed on November 2011. Still, we count it a good sign that David Bazirgan is staying on. When the renovated Fifth Floor opens its doors again, we'll have it on our list to try. 

In the "great scheme of things", Carlos and I would rank Fifth Floor a little higher than Bluestem Brasserie/SF, and about even overall with Artisan Bistro/Lafayette (I rank it higher than Artisan; Carlos ranks it lower). We would still hold both La Folie/SF (despite some recent mishaps on our last two visits) and Bouchee/Carmel higher, however. Etoile/Yountville is on an ethereal plane all by its lonesome, so far the spiritual successor to the lamented La Bourgogne.

Ilkay had two glasses of an Italian white wine; the rest of us drank water. Carlos and I had coffee with our desserts. 

Service, as usual, was excellent; although a touch below Brasserie S&P which bids fair to become our new gold standard in the Bay Area, LOL.

Four people, dinner: eight starters, three secondi, three entrées, three desserts, two glasses of wine, two beverages, with tip was $538, before Ilkay donated a $50 gift card.

Fifth Floor in San Francisco, CA – update dinner
Review date: November 2011
(previous review appended below)

We brought our friends Bob and Shirley to Fifth Floor for our annual dinner together. Suffice to say that Executive Chef David Bazirgan surpassed our expectations. Everyone enjoyed the meal start to finish, and the service was excellent. Carlos and I thought the food was even better than it was during our first visit July 2011.

I didn't write down everything we had, but in general terms:

Starters:

The amuse-bouche was a tiny spoonful of a delicious salmon tartare. Bob had the Brillat-Savarin ravioli, which he enjoyed very much. Back in July when we had this dish, Carlos had found the sauce a trifle salty, but Bob said it was fine. 

I had the Red Kari squash soup, with curry cream, fried basil, and fresh cranberries. This was a really interesting combination of flavors. The squash is very mild, not as sweet as butternut – more like the Japanese kabocha squash. The curry whipped cream added a nice touch of flavor, and a few cranberries, cooked but not sweetened, added bright bursts of acid. It wasn't the best soup I've ever had, but it was different, unexpected, and interesting – something hard to pull off while keeping the flavors in balance.

Carlos had the scallop ceviche, which came with Yuzu kosho, a spicy Japanese sauce made from yellow yuzu zest, red chili peppers, and salt. There was also a bright red plum relish, tart with yellow basil and ponzu. It was a very spare, elegant dish, quite different from the usual ceviche.

Carlos and I had duplicate second courses, which we shared with Bob and Shirley. Many Bay Area restaurants are featuring foie gras, as a lingering 'last hurrah'. There was a small slice of foie gras terrine, with a grape-lemon gel on top, and glazed grapes alongside. There were two trimmed batons of toasted brioche in the midde. It was a more successful pairing of grapes and foie gras than Prospect/SF showed us last month. There was also a small lobe of seared foie gras, with a rich au jus reduction, which was just barely cooked and delightfully buttery.

Entrees at the Fifth Floor are smaller than La Folie/SF but larger than La Toque/Napa, places we've enjoyed recently that are most comparable to Fifth Floor.

Bob ordered the skate, which came with an unusual and delicious wasabi crust. Shirley got the roasted guinea hen, which came with a remarkable jicama sweet-tart pickle. Both said their entrees were excellent.

Carlos was extremely pleased with the venison, two thick slices with an au jus reduction that he approved of, saying that it didn't interfere with the taste of the game. There were several purees and sides – chestnuts, grapes, and parsnips. He orders game whenever he sees it on the menu, and said this was the finest game dish he'd ever had.

I had the lamb, which was flavored with ras el hanout (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_el_hanout) and done with Moroccan influences. There were tiny roasted cauliflower florets, couscous with raisins, and creamy yoghurt. It was delicious, and I really liked the size of the plate, which was perfect.

Bob and Shirley shared the walnut and date tart, along with a glass of the Graham's 10-yr-old tawny port. I got the milk chocolate bombe, which came with chestnut ice cream, chestnut puree, passionfruit puree, and the interesting addition of thin sheets of dried passionfruit leather, very tart. The addition of passionfruit in two forms made the dessert much better, offsetting the sweetness of the milk chocolate.

Carlos won this round with a fresh apple tart, served warm and tasting almost entirely of fruit. It was a delightful end to a very good meal. Coffee is very good, both regular and decaf in silver-plated French presses, so you get to pour a full 3 cups before running out.

Interestingly enough, there were a fair number of people dining that evening, despite the fact it was a Tuesday evening the week of Thanksgiving. We'd like to think that it's not just the holidays but also, that Barzigan's food is really beginning to get attention from Bay Area diners.

We had made a point of mentioning to the waiter that Carlos and I didn't care for high-salt food, and were much more pleased this time with the seasoning, which was kept nicely restrained yet still flavorful.

Fifth Floor did a uniformly excellent job this time, both front and back. Carlos and I are split on this restaurant. We both rank it below La Folie/SF, but he ranks Fifth Floor ahead of La Toque/Napa, whereas I switch the latter two. I prefer La Toque's more consistently sized courses, including the meat dishes – enough to get the full taste, but not so large you feel like the proverbial Christmas goose afterwards. I also think there's a touch more creativity at La Toque. Carlos prefers Fifth Floor as he likes a larger entrée size! But Fifth Floor and La Toque are very close, and we’d be happy to go back to either one any time.

Four people: three starters, two second courses, four entrees, three desserts, two coffees, with tip was $344. Bob and Shirley drank wine with their meal, but took care of the wine tab.

Fifth Floor Restaurant (in Hotel Palomar)
12 Fourth Street., San Francisco, CA 
http://www.fifthfloorrestaurant.com/union-square-restaurant-menus.php
Review date: July 2011

Chef David Bazirgan took over Fifth Floor restaurant in November 2010 after a notable career that began in Boston and has shone in San Francisco with his cooking at Elizabeth Daniels, Baraka and Chez Papa Resto. 

Fifth Floor has had its ups and downs, with several chefs shuttling in-and-out since first opening back in the pre-dotcom boom days. The space is good-looking, if not the most clearly marked as you get off the elevators (to the left, down the hall past the lounge area). The service is attentive if a bit on the fussy side. Like many newer places, the bar and lounge area is sizable, almost as big as the entire dining area.

Carlos and I took my niece Suko and her husband Peter to dinner here for her birthday. Because we didn't share everything, I asked Suko to write up their impressions of the dinner, while I review what Carlos and I ate.

Jean and Carlos:
The amuse-bouche was four shot glasses of cucumber juice, served with a tiny wedge of cherry tomato sprinkled with sea salt. Our heat spell is over, but this was a very nice start to the meal, refreshing and simple.

Carlos started with the Brillat-Savarin Ravioli, ravioli stuffed with what tasted like creamy fresh ricotta in a sage-brown butter sauce full of chanterelles and small dabs of pistou, the French answer to Italy's pesto. The ravioli were wonderful, but Carlos found the sauce a bit salty towards the end. He has a fairly high tolerance for salt, so this dish was definitely overboard on the sodium.

I began with the heirloom cucumber salad, three types of cucumbers in a wonderful dressing of crème fraiche, fresh dill, and a light vinaigrette. There were peeled cherry tomatoes as well. It was a perfectly balanced dish of contrasting flavors, executed with skill and quality.

(Suko's take on trying my salad:  The seasoning on Jean's cucumber, zucchini and tomato salad was superb - enhancing the fresh greenness of the veggies without overwhelming them.)

Carlos chose the New York steak, which was two thick but modest slices of excellent quality beef cooked to medium-rare perfection. It came with salt-baked potatoes, pearl onions, creamed stinging nettles – more of a paste than a sauced vegetable – and a small amount of an excellent marrow-based Bordelaise sauce.

I picked the Alaskan halibut, which was nicely sear-roasted, served with shredded buttered leeks, artichoke hearts, capers and preserved Meyer lemon. It was a sizable piece of fish, too, far larger than Carlos' steak slices.

We ended with several desserts. Carlos chose the chocolate bombe with hazelnut ice cream. It was luscious, like a really good chocolate truffle – intense in flavor while remaining light on the tongue. 

I picked the rum baba, four slices of a cylindrical coarse-textured, tender cake soaked in rum syrup (sadly, light rum instead of a richer golden rum). It was served with pineapple 'three ways' – a slice dehydrated used as a garnish, tiny cubes scattered over the cake, and a light pineapple cream. A spoonful of wonderful coconut gelato, hardly sweet at all but extremely fresh-tasting, made a great side. Two dabs of kiwi fruit, lightly gelled, were pretty but superfluous.

Coffee was excellent, and they leave the silverplated French Press on the table.

(Suko got a taste from both our desserts: Carlos' chocolate bombe was very chocolate-y without being so intense that it was overwhelming.  Very nice.  Jean's coconut ice-cream with her rum baba had a nice coconut flavor without being too sweet.)

Suko's review:
I was strongly tempted to get the 5-course chef's menu ($85 w/o wine pairing) because there was an intriguing goat dish on it. But I ended up ordering off of the regular menu after deciding that I really wanted to try their squab which had been featured so glowingly in the SF Chronicle review (March 27, 2011 by Michael Bauer, food critic).  

We started off with a complimentary cucumber water shooter which was refreshing if a little chilly for the temperate day we were having.  The complimentary bread was good too - a tender soft crumb and pleasant chew.

I started with the golden beet salad and Peter had the hamachi.  The beets were perfectly cooked and had an inspired pairing with pressed strawberries.  This is probably the first time I've actually enjoyed the whole "pressed fruit" trend.  It made the strawberries' texture match that of the tender beets without being mushy.  The salad was served with tiny quenelles of beet sorbet, which had a delightfully creamy texture.  They were sweet enough to almost push the salad into dessert territory but was saved by the very occasional crunchy bit of seasalt to alleviate the sweetness.  A very delicate balance that I felt they pulled it off well.  

Peter really enjoyed his hamachi, which was tender and silky the way a good hamachi should be.  The laundry list of ingredients (including cherries) did not overwhelm the fish but complemented it beautifully with light touches of acid and herbaceous elements.  Not for purists but very tasty. 

For our second course, I had the uni (sea urchin) flan.  It was topped with Dungeness crab and saffron foam.  If you don't like uni, this is not the dish for you.  But for lovers of uni (like me!), it was great.  Considering how strong a flavor uni is, I was glad to see that they didn't try to disguise it with other flavors or seasoning.  It tasted like uni, cream and eggs.  The tiny cup was almost too much, being so rich, but I still scraped it clean.  Mmmm!  The only real downside was that the flan was so rich and salty that the delicate flavor of the crab was overwhelmed.  But the texture of the crab was a nice contrast with the melt-in-your-mouth custard.  

Peter had the same ravioli that Carlos had as his appetizer. He thought the ravioli were okay but a bit too salty for him.  Started out fine but by the end of the dish he said it was too salty.  I thought they were yummy, but he's very sensitive to salt – even more than Jean is – while I'm rarely going to think something's too salty.

For our entree, I ordered the squab (served over mushrooms and peas) and Peter had the Copper River Salmon.  The squab was fantastic!  Tender, with the wonderful gamey flavor that I find so rarely in meats these days.  It had a foie gras jus that was very salty and intense but only a little was drizzled on top and the rest was poured on the side so you could adjust the level of saltiness to your preference.  The squab itself was so lightly seasoned I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't salt it at all, which was the absolute right thing to do.  Whomever designed the dish clearly was thinking ahead to compensate for the saltiness of the jus.  

Unfortunately Peter did not care for his salmon.  He said it was pretty salty and especially after the ravioli, it was too much.  Also the clams and squid added an unfortunate fishiness that made the salmon taste like a lower quality fish than it was.  I had a bite of his salmon and thought it tasted good.  But after the uni flan, I probably wasn't going to taste any fishiness in anything. :)

Dessert was fun. I had the beignets, which came with a delightful cherry jam that rendered the condensed milk ice-cream rather superfluous.  The ice-cream was fine but not nearly so yummy as the jam.  I enjoyed that the jam tasted of fresh cherries, not syrupy-sweet cough syrup as most cooked cherries end up tasting like.  To my delight, they sent out a little plate of goodies with "Happy Birthday" written on the plate.  A mini-madeline, Mexican wedding cookie, chocolate truffle, candied orange peel and a teeny pistachio chocolate macaron.  So charming!

An excellent meal!  I'll have to go back and try their goat.  If their squab was that good, I bet their goat would be too.  It seems like they tend to not salt their proteins and veggies very much but perhaps oversalt their sauces.   So when you can adjust it like I could for the squab, it's great, but when it's in the sauce like for the salmon, it's too much.

Jean's summary:
Fifth Floor's food is creative and beautiful, although the fact that two out of the four entrees had overly salty sauces bothered Carlos and me. What they did well, was marvelous. But when you are the same price as Boulevard and Bouchon, balance and execution are more than important, they are crucial. Missing once is tolerable, but missing 50% of the time sends the restaurant down to a level below where it should be. The execution is not quite at the same level as the talent and vision.

This isn't easy, pulling off different dishes every night. It's entirely possible that we could come back to Fifth Floor on another evening and experience a perfect or near-perfect meal. But just as consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, it's the Achilles Heel of a restaurant. 

You've got one chance on a random evening to impress a group of people, all of whom have different preferences. It takes a little extra something to make people want to return despite a couple of misses.

Would we go back to Fifth Floor? Yes, we would, because interesting, inspired food is at a premium even here in the restaurant-heavy Bay Area. We'd like to see if Fifth Floor can reach that upper level consistently throughout a dinner, because it promises to be an amazing experience. They have the décor, the service, a decent location (although being inside a hotel is a disadvantage, even in the City), and a chef with real talent.

Four people: six starters, four entrees, three desserts, three desserts, with tip came to a well-worth-it $342.