The Brixton

I headed to The Brixton on Union Street last night with my peeps. I had been here once before for a cocktail at the bar and was eager to try the comfort food.  After a hellishly long week of work, all I wanted to do was drown my PR sorrows in my regular:  Kettle One Dirty Martini.  Much to my surprise not only did they make an excellent K1D (just the right amount of olive juice), they had the only thing that could ever improve on this smooth libation, blue cheese-stuffed olives!  I can’t think of anything better to satisfy my love of Vodka, salt and stinky cheese, all in one glass!

While not nursing my K1D, I perused the menu.  The cocktail menu was strong with a few subtle twists on classics.  I had one sip of my friend’s Manhattan which had Elderflower and San Francisco’s favorite (that no one else has ever heard of) Fernet.  What a great idea!  The Elderflower added that right bit of sweetness. Couldn’t really taste the Fernet (which tastes like anise), but probably a smart substitution for the traditional bitters. 

Now for food.  We ordered two dips, French onion and spinach and artichoke, why not?  Both were served in these cute little cast iron ramekins.  The French onion dip was made with carmelized onions and cream cheese and served with homemade potato chips.  It was very tasty. Kind of like the fresher, warm version of the powered mix I dump into sour cream. The other dip was a fairly standard spinach and artichoke dip minus the flavor.  Where’s Houston’s (or Hillstone) when you need it?

For my main I had a cornmeal fried chicken salad.  The fried chicken was super juicy and not overly fried.  This was obviously the star of the show, because the rest of the salad was blah:  romaine, green beans, cherry tomatoes.  I had high expectations for the jalapeño bacon buttermilk dressing.  Jalapeño and bacon are pretty intense flavors, which I could barely taste.  The only saving grace was the watermelon radish which added a nice crunch.  I also had a bite of the fiery mac & cheese.  Next time I’ll order my own, but I liked the spice kick, seemed to need more cheese though. 

Brixton’s atmosphere was pretty good.  Not surprisingly filled with young Marina bucks trolling for love.  I quite enjoyed the black felt wallpaper which added to the rock ‘n roll vibe. Overall, I think it would be a place I would frequent and pony up to the bar if I lived close by (thankfully I don’t).  It’s a nice place to kick back with friends, have a stiff cocktail and some decent food. The Brixton 2.5 stars. 

 

Fried chicken salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Town Hall

Town hall is the “chief building where business is transacted, often with a public hall for meetings.”  Well, this SOMA restaurant  is definitely the town hall of food where the public should have all their “eatings.” (Yeah, Yeah).  I’ve tried a few times to get a reso here and finally made it last night.  The atmosphere is simple and understated with elegant, multi-single bulb chandeliers that complement the brick walls.  This unfortunately does not provide for very good acoustics, which would be my only complaint.  It was quite loud.  Now, for the important stuff.

I started off the evening with a pony-up to the bar and a Dirty Martini (as I do).   ( Mental note:  cute guys hang out at the Town Hall bar, could be a place to meet Mr. Mogil.)  Menu time.  Um, what the f do I order? There’s too many seemingly yummy things.  In typical Traci fashion, I chat it up with the server to get the 4-1-1 on the food.  Most of the time he or she will tell it like it is, especially at a place as nice as this.  Our waiter, who looked 12, talked up the étouffée, double beef dish (which actually sounded pretty good – I mean it was served with tater tots, how can you go wrong? Too bad I don’t eat beef).    

I was dining with colleagues tonight and we each picked an app which were the following: Cornmeal fried oysters, Herbsaint spinach purée, Hobbs bacon and preserved lemon.  This was my choice.  The oysters were served in the shell with the yummy spinach puree.  I could’ve had a hundred of these.  Next was:  BBQ shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, garlic herb toast. Sounds simple but was so delicious, proven by the fact that all three of us kept dipping our bread in the sauce over and over again. I could’ve taken a bath in that sauce.  Finally:   Duck prosciutto, pomelo, Upland watercress, balsamic reduction, Paesano virgin olive oil.  I love my prosciutto because it’s pork and salty.  I don’t think I’ve ever had the duck version. It’s way heavier.  I wasn’t a fan.  My wine choice was a 2009 Gary Farrell Sav B. I really enjoyed it.  You can’t usually go wrong with a Sav B, and this one was just the right crispness and went well with our entrees. 

All the apps

After much deliberation, I ordered the Alaskan Cod, espelette chili, poached oysters, leeks, spinach purée, oyster chowder jus, which was pretty tasty.  I have to admit I was so blown away by the apps that my main didn’t compare.  Don’t get me wrong, it was awesome, but those apps were just so good.  My friends ordered the buttermilk fried chicken, Anson Mills grits, collard greens, bacon gravy and the Seafood étouffée, Louisiana shrimp, scallop, rockfish, crispy rice, scallions.  I have to admit I only had one bite of the chicken and I thought the crispy skin was a bit dry.  The collards were pretty damn good though.  I didn’t try the étouffée, but my fellow diner said it was good.

Now dessert time and of course, three more dishes.  Against my better judgment, I ordered something I don’t even like:  butterscotch.  And rightly so I liked mine the least.  The three dessert choices were:  coffee and donuts:  warm brioche donuts, Blue Bottle coffee ice cream, chicory streusel; butterscotch and Chocolate Pot de Crème; and warm Date Upside Down Cake with butter pecan ice cream, sherry gastrique.  You had me at dates.  I love anything date flavored and this did not disappoint.  I’m not going to lie, the coffee and donuts def hit the spot as well. 

Coffee and donuts

If you are not full from just reading this you should be.  I would like to write more about how under-rated pastry chefs are, but this is already too long.  Town Hall:  3.5 Stars.