natty and nice: spruce restaurant

Last night, we had the chance to try out a relatively new restaurant in san francisco's laurel heights called spruce. our friend buffy started a "supper club" and last night was the first dinner of what hopefully turns out to be an every-6-weeks or so event.

spruce is owned by the guys who brought us the village pub in woodside, ca. a lot of our friends love that place. actually, what i should say is ALL of our friends love tvp. for some reason, no matter how much i want to love it, i'm always disappointed. don't get me wrong: it's a very yummy-looking restaurant. all that burgundy/red velvet and dark wood... unfortunately, i think the food there is only ok. maybe kevin and i are always ordering the wrong things. who knows. that said, they do have a very nice pimm's cup, even though it's kind of a random drink to have on the menu.

anyway, i digress. we were talking about spruce. the unexpected bonus of going to dinner here was it turns out the restaurant
"showcases only the freshest, local, and organically grown produce as well as naturally-raised meats, line-caught fish, and perfectly aged cheeses." later in the night, we found out the restaurant (along with the village pub) not only has a direct partnership with a 5-acre organic farm in woodside that grows a good portion of its produce, but it also sources as much of their ingredients from farms that use sustainable methods.

dinner started out with some passed hors d'oeuvres. there were 14 of us so we were in the private dining room. some of us were meeting each other for the first time, so this was a nice way for everyone to mingle and chat a little before sitting down to dinner (in fact, with the exception of buffy and alex, kevin and i didn't know anyone there. i know! considering how introverted we normally are, that was brave, right? gold stars for the both of us! ;). i don't know if i remember all the apps, but what i do remember were gougeres, arancini, salmon blini, and boudin blanc sausages. (they were all good, although i wasn't a huge fan of the red pepper/almond sauce that was served with the arancini.)

about an hour later, we sat down to dinner. it was a set menu that started with a lettuce and herb salad with an olive oil vinaigrette and green olive crostini (i think it was picholine... i luv picholine olives). the salad was just aight; i'm not a huge fan of bitter greens, but the crostini was YUM.

next, we had a pasta course of celeriac and mascarpone ravioli topped with black trumpet mushrooms. i loved this dish. i've actually been thinking about trying to cook with celery root; there's a lady at the sf farmer's market who's had them for the last few weeks, and there are a couple recipes in alice waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook that look tastylicious. after last night, i think this weekend i'll be picking me up a couple of them to play with. (if they work out, i'll make sure to post recipes.) the salad and ravioli were paired with a very nice 2006 trebbiano from ca dei frati.

for the meat course, i chose the pork tenderloin with crispy pork belly and a bean ragout-y type side. i don't usually order pork, so this was me being adventurous. turns out i should have ordered the fish (dorade); kara gave me a little taste of it...awesome. the fish came with sunchokes, orange, and olive vinaigrette; there was this amazingly light creamy sauce that totally made the dish. the waitstaff f'd up and thought i was having the fish (is that a compliment or an insult?), so i was served the wrong wine (a 2005 verget pouilly-fuisse), and i didn't get a chance to taste the pomerol (a 2005 chateau vieux maillet).

as for dessert... as p likes to say: yummers. it was a trio of mini desserts: a teeny tiny sponge cake with shaved chocolate anchored with a daub of whipped cream; a mini mango "trifle" with a meringue cookie in the shape of a pirouline; and a small chocolate eclair with a chocolate caramel ganache. sooooo... like i said, there were 14 of us...i finished my desserts first. by a long shot. i inhaled it feller-style. only faster. (yes, it's possible.)

so overall, i'd give spruce between a 3-4 out of 5. the food was very tasty (despite my disappointment in the pork v. fish, with me losing); the decor was very nice; the service was only ok. a couple times, my water glass stayed empty for much too long, and once, i had to ask for more water - as if i were at a korean restaurant. (ahem.) and when a couple of us wanted to try a little of the red wine, the waiter said he'd come back, but never did. maybe the brain farts were because we were in the private dining room. not sure... but considering dinner was about $300/couple, i don't know about you, i expect way better than korean-restaurant service. not doing something as basic as keeping water glasses filled at $150 a head is a big ding in my book.

but all that aside, and before you think i'm a spoiled princess, i'll say that i would definitely go back to spruce. i've convinced myself the water sitch was b/c of the private room, and i loved the fact the food was very much obviously driven by what's in season. at the minimum, i'd go back so i could have the dorade and inhale some more of those desserts. my plan is to go back during the summer to see what they can do with all the amazing, seasonal produce. (can you say "HEIRLOOM TOMATOES"?!???!? wheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! i can!)

so, give spruce a try. a very fashionable and seasonally-driven restaurant where you can see first hand that sustainable ingredients absolutely can = delicious. this pursuit of deliciousness so far is working out just fine ;)