Sunday, July 18, 2010

Tartine

600 Guerrero St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 487-2600
tartinebakery.com

Reviewed 8/30/09

I feel a little silly getting all giddy about Tartine after one croissant.

Rationale:

- I did want to write about the experience of coming to this famed bakery and offer some pointers for newbies.

- My pain au chocolat (croissant) was out of this world. (More on that later).

- NYT's Mark Bittman calls Tartine his favorite SF bakery. As if I needed to say more.

Next time I will:

- Come equipped with one friend but not more than that. (The place is tiny.) He/she ought to be dispatched to flag down a table as soon as one becomes available (or order for me while I do it). A two-person table became available just as I was leaving today, but I did not want to sit there since I was alone and it would have made me feel as though I was hogging two seats.

- Try the hot chocolate. I wanted to do that today--I had come expressly to try a pastry and enjoy a big bowl of hot chocolate but where the hell was I going to do that? There was simply no room. And I wasn't going to stand on the street corner and do it though that was certainly an option as are many things in my beloved San Francisco.

- Try the muesli. A dairy-queen's dream! Imagine muesli and toasted nuts and dried fruit in a soup of whole milk Strauss yogurt. HEAVEN. Not so good for the arteries but to enjoy Tartine requires you to abandon that mindset!

If I didn't care if my running suffered I would try the pancake-sized chocolate chip cookie, the lemon meringue cake (the delightful tufts of meringue on that cake remind me of a man's haircut) and bread pudding. OMG. These are just a fraction of the beautiful pieces of edible art on display as you wait in line. I don't know if it would be possible to stop at one bite of those things. Oh, and I would have a sandwich too.

I asked the guy who rang me up when Tartine is less mobbed. "It's always mobbed," he said.

Well, at least I'm coming equipped with more knowledge and a friend next time.

About my pain au chocolat--the best I've ever had. Crusty on the outside, silky soft and micro-layered on the inside, it's filled with bits of luxuriously smooth DARK chocolate. It's Valrhona, I think. The stuff is bittersweet as is meant to be. Enjoying this adult treat made me feel so...so....refined. Anyway, it's da bomb. I'm sure Tartine's other offerings are too.

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