Gastronomique: Would You Like Some Cicciolina With That Wine?
An advance edition due to the upcoming holiday. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
We cannot find a link to it, so take it with a grain of salt, but we read recently that, for the first time in the US, wine consumption has overtaken that of beer. Chardonnay-drinking is not an insult for (elitist Volvo-driving East coast) liberals anymore, it is the reality of the American population. Move over, PBR, it's Beaujolais nouveau time! As a logical consequences, we have seen a bunch of new wine bars opening up in San Francisco, a development we welcome with open arms: it reminds us of old Europe, and all the traditions associated with sipping wines in the company of friendly people.
One of these traditions is the nibbling of food to prevent the wine from kicking in too fast. And we are pleased to report we found just the perfect spot to drink and graze: Cav Wine Bar, on a corner of Market Street where the consumption of liquor typically happens out of a sidewalk shopping cart. Cav --named after the way the French word for cellar, cave, actually sounds-- has opened two months ago and we lucked into it one evening after the opera. Our bus was going to make the turn onto the Haight Street climb when we noticed a new neighbor to Zuni. Our baby-sitter clock had just started a new hour which we were going to pay anyway, so we got off and went in.
We were glad we did. The menu listed an attractive selection of small plates and an equally interesting choice of large plates, which could be ordered in two sizes: the regular entree size, and the small plate size. Our readers have to excuse us for not actually ordering anything in the full size, but so many were tempting that we chose, on both our visits, to pick many smalls instead of a few bigs.
The menu has changed significantly from the one posted on the web site, but you'll recognize the spirit. We ordered all the charcuterie plates ($6 each, $14 for all three), all made in house, which include a soft and airy chicken liver mousse with a wine gelée. The gelée did not have to be so sweet, maybe the chef was afraid that the strong taste of the chicken liver needed some balance: it did not, it was delicious with the pickled vegetables and cornichons. A rabbit paté came in two generous slices and the same pickles.
The last charcuterie plate was a ciccioli ($6), a dish which got us thinking about the Cicciolina, the former wife of conceptual artist Jeff Koons, famous mostly as a Hungarian porn actress who ran for congress in Italy, and won! Sleazy foreign actors being elected into office, that shit would never fly here. She offered to make love to Saddam Hussein to prevent the first and second Gulf war. Not to preserve peace, we assume, but because she found him hunky. Had her offer been endorsed by George Bush in 2002, it could have denied him both his pet war and the Christian right vote. What a missed opportunity. Anyhow, back to the ciccioli with chestnut and saba (a sweet syrup obtained as a by-product of making balsamic vinegar). The white nuggets of pure, delicious, meltingly tender fat hold together bits of chestnut and little chunks of pork meat. A generous sprinkling of coarse salt again brought out the flavours. The charcuterie was served with a walnut bread and a baguette from citizen cake, a bakery with very few restaurant accounts.
The kitchen sure hand with the charcuterie shows as well in their handling of the fish. We did not try any of the crudo, available in 3 selections or as a sampler. But we enjoyed immensely the fried smelts with pimento aioli ($9): a little heap of smelts, expertly fried in a light batter, with a generous fistful of whole grain salt, and a sauce with a spicy kick and smokey undertones. We also greatly appreciated the sardines ($12), cooked wrapped in vine leaves and served with a red pepper salsa.
Truffle season is upon us, and Cav offers a trio of dishes, once again available individually or as a sampler ($6/$14). A truffle crostini consisted of chopped mushroom seasoned with truffle oil on a toasted bread round. A parsnip raviolone had a pasty filling and a delicate pasta shell and was drizzled with some truffle oil as well. A frittata resembled a Spanish tortilla with mushrooms in it, and a slight truffle flavor. We liked the crostini the best.
We tried three entrees and a side as well. An oxtail cavatelli ($5/$10 for entree size), a dumpling looking pasta with a superb oxtail sauce, which we would order again any time; a pork tagine on a couscous bed with raisins ($9/$18), with a tender meat shredding under the fork ; and a piece of veal ($8) marinated in a sweet brine which somewhat paled compared to the other two. A side of brussel sprouts in a grainy mustard sauce with bits of bacon turned out to be more than just a side, and was as sophisticated as many of the so-called small plates.
The desserts ($6) were treated with the same attention as the rest of the food: a boca negra (a dark chocolate cake with amaretto marinated cherries) and a vanilla cheese cake with candied peanuts disappeared quickly, leaving only a few dots of black vanilla beans abandoned on a plate.
Cav, no matter how convincing the food, is mostly a wine bar. The waiters and barman were enthusiastic about the wines. We ended up trying 6 different kinds ranging from the Basque country (a wine made in part with hondarribizuri grapes--we mention it as it returns only one google hit, which is suspicious but scores a point a googlewhacking) to Austria to California, with many more on the list. Pours come in glasses or tastes, which are generous enough to get a good sample and pair the wines with many of the small plates and very reasonably priced. We just followed the advice of the staff, and, while no wine expert ourselves, enjoyed the matches.
Cav Wine Bar
1666 Market st. @ Haight
(415) 437-1770.