Christophe

405 Mason Street

Tel: 415-771-6393

Sitting above the theatre and prime commercial streets adjacent to Union Square sits this soothing pastel gallic gastronomic 'galaxy' that offers some of the most inspired infusion food I've had in the City. Herb Caen wrote often and lovingly of this place, and considered their Caesar Salad to be among the finest available in San Francisco. It's upstairs, a large, spacious and colorful room with two long walls of windows with luxurious booths seating at least four, and often more in each. The center of the main room is dominated by a modern black bar...Flowers are everywhere, and beautifully arranged in large oriental vases.

The menus and wine list are concise and abundant featuring a brilliant 'chinoise' French fusion, offering several prix fix options. Service is somewhat formal and very professional. The Caesar is still excellent, and is based on torn rather than cut leaves of chilled near perfect romaine with a generous coating of emulsified Caesar dressing and garlicky croutons and a perfect anchovy filet across the whole...We shared an outstanding strudel of lobster and leeks with two delicious reductions, one green and the other red of each of the key ingredients. The ahi was served virtually raw and consisted of four slices of prime steak in a soy/ginger sauce. It was intriguing and stunning for the intensity of those intense flavors. A ribeye at 24.00 was stunning too...both entrees were served with perfectly crunchy fresh green beans, and a potato ganache. It's really a treat to sit in this sophisticated dining room and watch and listen to the dynamic range of activities clamoring for the attention and dollars of the tourists freezing in skimpy summer clothing looking frantically for places to tell the folks back home that they found here in San Francisco. It feels like one is too close to bad speakers at the Grand Old Opry and you feel the compulsion to go with the pulsing rhythm while it's driving you mad at the same time because of the distortion from the speakers. The menu offers both ala Carte and prix fixe dining, and both are great choices depending on what you want to try on any given evening. I have a problem of making the choices I want and letting go of my desire to have at least a taste of other things on the menu that are described so eloquently. From the ala care menu, they offer a fabulous sweet corn, leek and potato soup at 6.00. Salads are all excellent and if opting for something other than their outstanding Caesar available only on the prix fixe menu, I heartily recommend either the salad of blue lake beans, tomato filo pancake of goat cheese at 6.00 or the simple and elegant baby lettuces, oven dried pear with citrus almond vinaigrette also at 6.00. My favorite appetizers are baked asparagus in puff pastry with proscuitto or a Dungeness crab filled artichoke "au gratin", both for only 7.00. entrees inspire one to sing like Madeline Kahn in Mel Brooke's young Frankenstein and range from excellent ravioli, roast chicken, crispy duck confit, rack of lamb and magical beef tenderloin in a merlot reduction at 24.00. Another interesting concept employed effectively at Christophe is the selection of sauces you can choose to accompany the fresh fish you choose. These include mango, peach and mint vinaigrette, fried onion, ginger chutney with orange, smoked salmon, capers and green onions and a chardonnay sauce.

At this writing all fish entrees with sauce of your choosing are 18.00 and that's a really good deal. The prix fixe dinners offer a broad selection from this lofty and exciting menu, but I always feel like I've been denied the range of opportunities this excellent restaurant offers when I go that route. They serve only dinner, and I suggest arriving with a hearty appetite because the portions are substantial unlike most French restaurants in this city. Desserts are good, but not up to the quality I'd come to expect from the dynamic fusion emanating for the kitchen in salads, appetizers and entree's, but quite good and my favorites here are their profiterolles and the densest, most decadent flourless chocolate torte I've ever had. This is a serious restaurant, offering excellent food at really reasonable prices in a somewhat formal and aloof atmosphere that some will find uncomfortable, but I heartily recommend Christophe to all readers seeking excellent French Dining in San Francisco.

by Stu Smith

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