Black Cat: Restaurants in North Beach

I keep hearing about Black Cat. In the space of about three weeks, more than two friends of mine have said they'd like to give the menu over there a whirl. We have a large number of restaurants in San Francisco; had Black Cat become trendy behind my back?

So it seems.

Black Cat is in North Beach. It's across from the Thrusty Lady and next to Big Blonde Babes. Actually, I just made that up. I can't remember what peep show houses it's near but you get my drift. It's in the part of San Francisco where China meets Italy meets Holland.

Which is what Black Cat is all about. Actually, according to the Black Cat menu,

4/1/00 Update

10pm and you realise you haven't had dins yet? That's what happened to us. And that's when I remembered Black Cat. Off we went for a revisit. And thank goodness!

Unlike my first visit, the hostess and the wait-staff could not have been more gracious. They accommodated us like royalty as our party grew and we needed to change tables. When Ravit said she didn't like the pasta, with a flourish duck appeared. (The pasta was just fine, thank you!)

The food here continues to reflect a number of continents. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the seared mussels. It's not a frou-frou menu, it's vibrant and solid all in a oner.

Don't come here for a quiet, romantic date. Do come here with some friends, and order some wine and have some laughs. At 10pm at night.

they're all about North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown and old San Francisco. But according to me, there were more made-up blonde babes on the arms of car salesman-like fellows here than in most other restaurants. I noticed the groups were often in odd numbers. ie. one guy, two ladies. For the average customer, this provides great entertainment. My dinner pal and I made up all sorts of stories and scenarios. What fun!

Of course, I may just have been imagining things.

Ohhh, but isn't this supposed to be about the food at Black Cat? I guess so. Briefly, the food was good. The menu is most varied: BBQ, fish, pasta, noodles, etc. We ordered skillet mussels to start off with. Tasty, chewy, lotsa flavor, and a huge number for the price. We also tried the steak with frites (Ha! They even managed to squeeze a little of Paris onto the menu. How Moulin Rouge!) and the tuna. Both were very good. The red meat was cooked a bit more than requested so keep that in mind if you're not a Texanesque meat eater.

I'd recommend trying out the Black Cat. It's a one-time-go sort of place. You'd be smart to make some reservations (Tel: 981-2233). We didn't and we had to wait about an hour. Amusingly, the establishment was rather put out that we weren't dressed up. I thought this was hilarious bearing in mind where we were. Ohhh well, I guess in some circles thick Cover Girl makeup and jewelry from Clare's goes a long way.

Enough said.

Susan MacTavish Best

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