Cortez Restaurant & Bar

I said in my last post that I'd post a review of the restaurant where I took the Lady Di for her birthday...so here it is.

We went to the Cortez Restaurant & Bar at the Hotel Adagio, located at 550 Geary Street in the Theater District of beautiful "Baghdad by the Bay", San Francisco. (NOTE: that is NOT a political reference, damn it! Google the name "Herb Caen" and you'll see where that term came from) We had dinner reservations for 7:30 pm - I made the reservations last Tuesday, after trying a number of restaurants and Cortez was the only one on my sister's recommendation list that had a table available. Normally, that would be a red flag - a restaurant that has a table available when all the others are booked is usually not a good sign. However, my sister has impeccable taste in both clothing and restaurants so I trusted her and went with Cortez.

We arrived promptly at 7:30 pm and went to the bar while they got our table ready. The decor is modern - the lighting is a series of primary-colored globes hanging from parallel bars and also rectangular colored-glass window enclosures that are lit from within. The tables all had crisp white linens, with plenty of space to navigate your way from your table to the bar or bathroom. The clientele was upscale, all people who were well-groomed and well-dressed, the noise level was rather low which made conversation easy and pleasant.

After we got our drinks, we were informed that our table was ready so we picked ourselves up and went there. The waiter brought us these little spoons with a complimentary serving of some tofu-like square paste with a little berry compote on top that was delicious. We got some bread, we ordered more drinks, and then we got to the food.

Cortez' menu is varied and excellent - check it out here: http://www.cortezrestaurant.com/menu_dinner.php

The Lady Di, ever so ladylike, requested that I order for both of us...so, being the manly raconteur cosmopolitan man-about-town blogger that I am, I complied. When our waiter came, I ordered the Kurobuta pork shortrib with warm cauliflower mousse, pickled red onion marmalade & truffle jus for her and the prawns a la plancha with creamy crab rice & lemon garlic butter for myself as our starters.

To use adjectives like "fabulous" or "delicious" or "wonderful" would not do these plates justice. Mind you, these were just the starters! Her shortrib was succulent and tender, just about falling off the bone, and the rest of the plate was just as delicious. My prawns were equally good, with a slight crust outside and just bursting with flavor. All of this, of course, accompanied with more cocktails.

After that, it was on to the main course. I ordered the seared Japanese octopus & scallops with lemon-artichoke puree, marble potatoes,parsley, Kalamata olive soil & tomato saffron emulsion for the Lady Di and the Painted Hills hanger steak with creamy braised greens, pommes sarladaise,oyster mushrooms & Bordelaise sauce for myself...d-rool, d-rool as Daffy Duck used to say.

It was so good that we broke the Castro cardinal rule of dining at fine restaurants: we didn't share! Her plate looked scrumptious, but my hanger steak was almost iconic in its' goodness. And again, more cocktails were enjoyed.

For dessert, we ordered the sugar & spice beignets with Venezuelan chocolate fondue and added the shot of vanilla-milk liqueur on the side. Imagine little churro-like squares that you can dip into this thick, dark, creamy chocolate fondue mixed with a vanilla-milk liqueur...oh, murder! as Leslie Nielsen used to say.

So, Cortez gets the official Castro stamp of approval. It's a hell of a restaurant, and well worth your while if you're in town. The only caveat was that the service was a little slow - understandable for a Saturday night and not an issue for us since we were in no rush to go anywhere, but I know that slow service can be an issue at times.

What will the next post be? Stay tuned, loyal ones...you'll find out!