It might be a miracle of the holiday season, or the everyday sorcery of the San Francisco culinary scene, but some serious kitchen magic is going on in an understated Precita Park Café on a residential street corner in Bernal Heights neighborhood.
Chef Tu David Phu – a forager and an inventor of new dishes – will put on your table a number of seemingly uncomplicated creations of such subtle beauty you won’t believe you are sitting in a casual all-day café, frequented by mommies with kiddies and laptop junkies, and not in an upscale establishment in the Financial District.
For his California bounty-driven cuisine Chef Tu forages wild fennel and rosemary, makes his own mozzarella, ricotta, and mascarpone, and creates a new kind of creamy finger-licking risotto every night. House-made is a key word on Precita Park Café’s menu, and you can’t go wrong with any of its offerings.
House-made flat bread, chewy and cheesy, and excitingly crackly around the edges is fragrant with specks of foraged rosemary, and is a great companion to an antipasti plate filled with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and hummus. And not just hummus, mind you, but an elaborate combination of garbanzo bean puree, preserved kumquats, pumpkin and pomegranate seeds, and olive oil and balsamic sprinkle.
House-made flat bread, chewy and cheesy, and excitingly crackly around the edges is fragrant with specks of foraged rosemary, and is a great companion to an antipasti plate filled with fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and hummus. And not just hummus, mind you, but an elaborate combination of garbanzo bean puree, preserved kumquats, pumpkin and pomegranate seeds, and olive oil and balsamic sprinkle.
Among the handcrafted pizzas Champignon pie is king, made with fresh mushrooms, goat cheese, parmesan, truffle oil, and arugula. Corn meal crumbs at the bottom – a sure sign of an in-house from-scratch creation – add a nice crunch to the thin yet deliciously soft crust.
On the night we dined, the chef’s selection of risotto contained diced Fuji apples, shaved parmesan, parsley leaves, and black truffle oil, and was positively addictive. By the time this little masterpiece of muted color palette arrived at our table, I was feeling rather full, but after consuming my first forkful, I just couldn’t stop eating it. Good that my dining companion demanded his share – I had to reluctantly pass the plate over to him.
In exchange, I got his plate of succulent corned beef short ribs – house-made, of course – with butter-braised cabbage, red onion, and Dijonnaise – a deeply satisfying main course for a rainy winter night.
House-made Tiramisu for dessert – the creamiest I’ve ever tried, was rivaled only by a sophisticated Affogato served in a bowl of cinnamon ice-cream flanked by two tiny ceramic cups – one with a strong blooming espresso, another – with sinfully dark hot chocolate to pour over ice-cream.
A well-selected wine list with great by-the-glass choices and an array of California micro-brews rounds up the menu at Precita Park Café.
Perhaps, its most satisfying feature in this day and time is the value, ‘cause the quality of food, drink, and extremely friendly service here far exceed the prices – no dish over $16. There is also a Just for Kids menu with all the kiddy staples at $3 each.
The ambiance is clean, unpretentious, and very accommodating. There is a “living room” corner at one end of the dining room, with sofa, love seat, and a coffee table, and a row of cozy two-seaters by the bar/open kitchen.
A vintage red Monark bicycle tops the blackboard listing healthy drink specials and healthy business principles the establishment lives by.
And speaking of holidays, although I personally celebrate the Gregorian calendar’s change of a year, a.k.a. New Year’s Eve [wild party], I surely appreciated a festive Christmas tree in the “living room” corner, decorated with shiny ornaments, some of them – dreidels.
Precita Park Café is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, and is located at 500 Precita Ave. in San Francisco. Call 415-647-7702 or visit www.precitaparkcafe.com
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