Bar Tartine
Iced Coffee
Kefir Pound Cake with Honey Butter and Bee Pollen
Sesame Bread Pudding with Persimmon Preserves and Ginger Cream
Farmer’s Cheesecake with Buckwheat Graham Crust
Fennel Sausage, Biscuit, Paprika Gravy
Potato Flatbread with Fig Jam, Plums, Sweet Cream
One of the many places where people in San Francisco line up for brunch on weekends but one of the few to take reservations, Chef Balla and Burns Bar Tartine seemed like a perfect place for early Saturday with an old friend and colleague, the large space with great lighting that was reportedly far more quiet than many Bay Area brunches and a menu seemingly ideal for sampling and sharing items both savory and sweet – a selection that slanted far towards the latter given my previous experiences with Chad Robertson’s baking when ordering was placed in my hands. A rustic space with a large bar along the left wall and seating along the right and without a doubt a great place to sit and chat despite the crowd it would not take long before coffee arrived and moments later plates joined, a succession of dishes delivered at a good pace without ever overwhelming our two top and beginning with small sweets before moving to surprising savories and finishing with the largest and sweetest choice as a sort of ‘dessert.’ From a breakfast pound cake with lightly sweetened butter and dense bread pudding with rich preserves and a kick of ginger onward to a truly funky deconstructed chevre cheesecake speckled with buckwheat, graham cracker, and wheat germ alongside ‘biscuits and gravy’ that reminded me of my Grandmother’s Hungarian cooking before finishing up with a crispy flatbread somewhat akin to a county fair ‘elephant ear’ in texture but without all the grease every single dish that emerged from the kitchen showed off not only the area’s bounty of immaculate fruits and artisan goods but also the kitchen’s deft hand at producing unpretentious yet delicious interpretations of classic dishes in a lovely environment.
