Tartare, Naked & Natural - Tim Gaskin
Beneath the Transamerica building in San Francisco 's Financial District sits an exciting new restaurant called Tartare by collaborators co-owner Aabi Shapoorian and Executive Chef George Morrone. According to the menu, the concept is naked and natural.
The two-man team, with combined 50-years of experience, keeps their focus on simplicity. The menu is broken down into five sections. The first is Raw & Rare, which features five namesake tartares starters including Morrone's signature ahi tuna; a habanero-infused sesame oil with raw garlic, fresh plums, toasted almonds, fresh mints and hot chilis.
Morrone says it's a Korean recipe. "I actually ate it about fifteen years ago in a Korean restaurant. It was beef tartar with apples, pine nuts and sesame oils. I just took it and said. 'Let's do it with tuna and change a few of the ingredients!'"
Morrone has a romance with tartare and says it makes a statement about simplicity. "I think to me tartar is pure, its food in its raw form."
The second section is called Naked & Natural. Morrone says, "It just sounded fun. If you have great organic greens, and you just do organic olive oil on top. That is about as naked and natural as you are going to get." The section is rounded off with Ice Cold Hog Island Atlantic Oysters, with a little squirt of lemon and jalapeno juice mignonette and a seared Buffalo sirloin carpaccio, with fresh marellos, smoked bacon and vinaigrette.
The Simply Soup highlights include a modern French onion soup that doesn't have all the heavy cheese in it, just a little Gruyere tuille and bone marrow. And cream of corn, with a little bit of roast pepper cream with spare ribs off of the bone floating in the center.
The Old & New is just that, a couple of signatures and some new ones. The old, a great steak with a malt vinegar sauce with duck fat fries, potatoes cooked in duck fat. The new, a poached poussin simmered in lime and almond milk and a touch coconut milk.
"That's my favorite, it's light, it's poultry." Says Morrone. "It's kind of like tum yum goong, but not as rich or heavy." He explains.
This time around Morrone plays with spicier ingredients and has faith that San Franciscans can handle it. "I think this is the most food savvy city in the United States . We totally have it over New York in terms of food awareness." He says.
The signature dessert is a made-to-order warm chocolate cardamom cake with spinning ice cream. "It comes out of the machine just at Dairy Queen." Morrone says and then points out. "It's pretty darn decadent."
Branching out and trying new techniques keeps Morrone with the masses. In this business, that means longevity. "If I had a model to use," Asks Morrone, "I'd use the Rolling Stones. That's five decades of staying with the crowd."
