Chez Papa Review

Chez Papa served us good unpretentious home-cooked-style French cuisine for a hefty price. By home-cooked-style, I mean the entrees weren't fancy fine dining but rather meals that one might expect to (and be pleased to) see served on a dining table at home. (The appetizers, by contrast, were more innovative.) In fact, the restaurant admitted as much on the back of its menu, claiming to serve unpretentous food in a non-"fine dining" setting.

The setting description was also apt: the restaurant's decor was nice, with burnished metal tables and a (narrow) pleasing view of downtown San Francisco from its location at the top of Portero Hill. (We actually spotted some fireworkers there near the end of our meal. Still don't know why.) But without white tableclothes and booths, it certainly didn't have a formal feel.

The details:

• Prosciutto wrapped figs stuffed with gorgonzola, arugula, hazelnuts dressing. Appetizer. Very funky; we all liked this (to some degree or another). (I really did.)

• Goat cheese tart with cherry tomatoes and baby argulua. Appetizer. Quite good too, caused by the warm tasty (not overpowering) goat cheese.

• Sauteed halibut with tomato saffron coulis, fresh beans, and preserved lemon persillade. Entree. Mild. Frankly, simply tasted like a lightly breaded well-cooked halibut, nothing more.

• Roasted chicken breast with potato puree, peas, baby carrots, and rosemary jus. Entree. Decently cooked chicken, but certainly not the level of Zuni or Isa.

• Lamb daube with rosemary-red wine sauce and seasonal vegetables. Entree. Good tender lamb. Sauce was very mild almost to the point of non-existence, though one person complained it was too sweet. This was my favorite of the entrees but none of the entrees excited any of us much.

• Frites with aioli. Side. Thin fries with ... mmmmm... garlic mayonnaise.

• Warm chocolate caramel souffle with crema fraiche. Dessert. Excellent souffle, rich and chocalatey. Not quite as light as most souffles but that didn't bother us much. Very similar to the flour-less chocolate cake we had and raved about at Limon.

• Orange panna cotta. Dessert. Panna cotta is a type of egg custard. With a texture slightly lighter than that of pudding, the orange flavor infused into the dish was unusual -how many of you have ever eaten orange pudding?- but the bottom line is this was decent but didn't thrill us.

The damage? $52/person, counting drinks, taxes, and tip. Compare with $44 at Isa (the previous week's French restaurant) but remember we left Isa without dessert and feeling hungry (and hungrier than we were at Chez Papa if we had stopped eating before dessert). In short, they're comparably priced but Isa we felt generally had more exciting dishes (but beware of the salt), though Isa's larger plates weren't as satisfying quantity-wise as Chez Papa's.

Original Announcement

This Wednesday at 8:00pm we'll head to Chez Papa, a French restaurant in Portero Hills.

http://www.chezpapasf.com/

Please tell me if you are coming!

Comments from Other Attendees

Feel free to add remarks here.