Nopa

It's b-day season (yes, I know I keep harping upon this) which means seasons of EATING! So being a little linecook415 fangirl, I got my bestie to take me to NOPA last night for a b-day dinner.

NOPA stands for "North of the Panhandle" and while the storefront is rather discreet, inside the space is airy and well lit with a ton of windows (clerestories), open kitchen and a 2nd floor mezzanine that overlooks the main floor. There's also a large bar that runs the entire side of the restaurant, but separated from the ground floor dining area by a large wall. And a communal table runs in an "L" perpendicular to the bar along the front windows. If you're really special, you can score one of the four bar stools that are directly adjacent to the kitchen counter and get a free show while you eat.

Ok, for a friggin' Wednesday night, I don't know what sort of crack the chefs are doling out of the kitchen, but this place was packed! From the time we arrived until we left, people were rolling in and rolling out. And pretty normal people at that, people you think you'd probably like to hang out with. And definitely people who LIKE to eat. Plate after plate of the flatbread kept coming out of the kitchen and every chef and server I could see was doing what seemed like triple duty.

Amuse: spring pea puree with grilled crostini and sea salt

Pretty darn good, please excuse the heavenly aura effect - we were sitting in this great corner location that had a fantastic view of the kitchen (but also included some blindingly bright late afternoon/early evening sun rays). The brightness of spring peas on top of crisp crostini toasts was a good start to a b-day meal. You'll notice that the plating is pretty sparse, which is just telling to the simple California (American) cuisine served at Nopa.


Starter: flatbread with house smoked bacon, garlic confit, ramps and sweet cream
This bacon was AMAZING. Sweet, creamy and chewy - almost akin to pancetta, and sprinkled in judicious amounts so it didn't overpower the bread or the ramps, but enough so that I was mentally trying to find the pieces with the most bacon. One of the best things about all the food here is the BALANCE of flavors. Nothing overpowers anything else and the food is delicious and thoughtful. (I would eat a lot of this if it were available)


Entree: Roasted duck breast, English pea risotto, mint and parmesan with dressed dandelion greens
Again, the balance here was incredible. A simple roasted duck breast in it's own juices, served aside a simple (and LIGHT!) risotto that included mint and peas. I was happy to find that even though there was mint, but it didn't taste like a mouth full of toothpaste. And there was a LOT of duck! Enough so that even when I split the portion, I still felt like I had eaten my fair share.

The breast was supposed to be medium rare and it was a little north of that, but I guess with all the scares about raw meat, that's probably good. I'm so used to duck that's been glazed or served with cherry or other sweet/sour combinations that this was a change. Just the duck.

Entree: pan seared halibut with mushrooms, spring onions, favas and fiddlehead ferns.
What I love about Nopa dishes is their simplicity but also the choice of accompanying incredients. I'd never had fiddlehead ferns before and these were delicious! They had excellent texture; middlng tender/crispness and a new but also really intriguing flavor. Maybe celery like? And some citrus flavors. The fish was so incredibly white, but done to that quality where the flesh is still moist while being cooked all the way through. I think if fish had been done like this when I was younger, I would be more of a fan of cooked fish these days (which reminds me, I'll write my review of Farallon next week - WRECKFISH, get some) .

Side: Braised favas with fried almonds

This was the only dish that Kat and I were sort of "meh" about. There was a smokiness to the dish that started to get old after a while. It was all smoke and tomato. The way the dish was described, we thought the beans would have been shelled (which is a pain in the ass for favas, I know) and somehow lighter. This dish is more of a cold SF night dish vs. a Spring one. We did like the almonds though. Maybe Amy Brown can make almond bacon brittle?

One of the best thing about hanging out with friends at dinner is that you can talk about all sorts of stuff that's been on your mind. But it's very bad for being viligant about taking photos. So I did not get photos of our very good desserts. We had the sopapillas with burnt caramel sauce. OMG. Get this dish. Cause nothing says lovin' like FRIED BREAD with a butter/sugar sauce. The sopapillas were more akin to beignets - they had bready/custardey type innards instead of fried bread (like yau tiu, chinese donut) innards. Better yet, get the strawberry lemon verbena parfait which includes two sizeable scoops of creme fraiche ice cream and do the following.

1. Break open your sopapilla
2. Stuff the innard with a spoonfull of creme fraiche ice cream
3. Pour burnt caramel sauce over this
4. Dunk into your French press cup of Blue Bottle Coffee
5. Eat, savor and REPEAT til sopapillas are gone.

(if you get sad when the sopapillas are gone, remember that you still have the cognac pound cake from the parfait to eat with the remainder of the burnt orange caramel sauce)

The dining room here is REALLY noisy, so just be prepared that it will not necessarily be romantic, especially if you are seated next to a set of nouveau riche yuppies who will be intent on having a couples compairison conversation right next to you. (unfortunate, but they gotta eat too). Richie Nakano of linecook was there and I kept stealing glances over at the kitchen to watch him sort of scan the dining room. And here's my question: I wonder how many people are now populating the restaurant due to Nakano's rising web-presence (and his stint at Porchlight, podcast, blog, features on EaterSF and SF Weekly, Chronicle etc. he's sort of the new anti-Bauer) and does this annoy him or does he not care or is it a happy financial/gastronomical side-effect of his willingness to speak about food and what he does so candidly?

Anyways, check out Nopa if you guys are in town. Two thumbs up.

NOPA
560 Divisadero @ Hayes
San Francisco, CA
415.864.8643