We're eating where?

by S. Irene Virbila

August 20, 2003

In this city where people are so passionate about food, the past couple of years have been awfully glum. The economic downturn has hit the restaurant scene hard: Few exciting places have opened, and some of the best old-timers have scaled back or closed entirely.

But a handful of places are still bursting with life and momentum.

The beloved Vietnamese restaurant, The Slanted Door, has taken up temporary residence on Brannan Street while its Valencia Street location is being renovated. Even though it's a big place, it's one of the city' toughest reservations.

I can see why. The food is irresistible. It's updated Vietnamese made with the same quality of ingredients top French or Italian restaurants might buy. Eating here is relaxed and congenial. Everything is served family style. When you walk into this white-tiled space, the scent of garlic and chile and herbs wafts from the open kitchen where fires lick the bottom of the pots. The crowd is as diverse as it gets in San Francisco, which may be as diverse as it gets anywhere on the planet.

Owner Charles Phan and his wine director, Mark Ellenbogen, have worked hard to put together a list that goes brilliantly with Phan's food. It's a pleasure to find Gr�ner Veltliner from Austria, German Rieslings, Alsatian Gewurztraminers and steely Sancerres, along with Belgian ales, unfiltered wheat beer, French apple and pear ciders and a list of regional Chinese teas.

Imperial rolls make delicious little bundles. Filled with shrimp, pork and glass noodles, they're dipped in a sweet vinegary sauce, then wrapped in lettuce with a sprig of mint. Sticky daikon rice cakes disappear in a flash, and nobody can stay away from the barbecued Willis Ranch pork ribs, nibbling the sweet succulent flesh close to the bone. The night of our visit there was a fabulous Chinese-style sweet corn soup swirled with egg and lumps of crabmeat. What's not to love about a bowl of tiny clams in the shell, in a broth silvery with the taste of lemon grass and lit up with slices of fiery red chile?

Anybody who comes to the Slanted Door has to order the signature shaking beef. It's cubes of filet mignon tossed in spices and seared quickly in a hot wok along with masses of slivered spring onions. Another favorite dish is caramelized shrimp in a slow-smoldering chile sauce.

The kitchen does a great job with duck breast too. Sliced thick with that wonderful ribbon of fat on the top, it's served with a lovely, understated fresh plum sauce. Phan buys his spinach from Star Route Farms, and his spinach with fried shallots and garlic tastes as if it were picked just minutes before.

Vietnam has a good deal of French influence in its cooking, so it's no surprise that desserts follow a French model. One night there was a peach tarte tatin set on a fragile buttery crust and the familiar flourless chocolate cake. But a trio of house-made melon sorbets with a loose tapioca sweetened with coconut milk was the perfect bite to share after such a feast.

In January, the Slanted Door will be moving into the newly renovated Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street. But until it does, it's helping turn this unlikely corner of the city into a bona fide dining destination.

Buy me some oysters and daikon rice.

*

The Slanted Door

100 Brannan St., San Francisco; (415) 861-8032.

Price: Lunch appetizers $5.75 to $8.50, main courses $7.50 to $16.50; $28 prix-fixe menu for eight or more. Dinner appetizers $6.50 to $10.50; main courses $14.50 to $26.50; desserts $6.

Details: Open for lunch daily, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m., until 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Full bar. Parking in lot next door, $8, $15 or more game nights.