Great Food, Great Friends

What makes for a really fun night out? A great dinner, of course. A great place. And, unarguably most important, great friends.

But this page isn't about my portly friend, my avant-garde long-span engineer buddy, the stunningly beautiful PR professional, the erudite student, or my college chum who never gets any older. No, this is a story about a restaurant that took quite a while to get to its home in the Freighthouse District, that got lots of press before it ever opened, that began with one chef and has succeeded with another. But all that is behind it, now.

Now, it's just a pretty excellent place. PF and I have eaten here several times since it opened, the first few with less success. We still sometimes hear people making comments about consistency. But now City Tavern seems to have become what it meant to be.

You might think that a place called City Tavern would have lots of "bar food." Not so, though they do serve food in the bar--which is a neat place on its own. There are 29 wines by the glass (from $6 to $10.75) and some reasonable bottle selections in the $30 region. Ten beers, including his favorite Pilsner Urquell, on tap made my portly companion happy, and there's enough variety for the pickiest drinker. This rainy night, it seemed really comfy and hospitable.

No, City Tavern is mostly about seafood, especially in the appetizer category. There was only one which did not come from water, and that was "enbrioched" brie with a scrumptious cognac-apricot jelly. We had a big bowl of small mussels (small mussels must be in now by the way. . . this is the 2nd restaurant we've had mini-mussels, which we feel we should be warned about), two crab cakes, pronounced quite good by the crab cake snob among us, east coast oysters (important to our oyster snob), perfectly done scallops wrapped in prosciutto with a lightly flavored pineapple rice. The last would make a great light lunch.

Two wanted the famous fish tacos--which, alas, are only served for lunch. Still, we all ate fish, prepared with great flair, style, and an appreciation for subtle flavoring by Chef Tim Doolittle, formerly of Stolen Grill fame.

Fortunately, the taco's main ingredient, red snapper, is also served "Vera Cruz" style ($23)--and the spicy red sauce with peppers, cilantro, onion and garlic was a bowl full of goodness. The skate was served on a delicious mushroom risotto with just a hint of saffron. The roasted halibut and cous cous was arranged with cucumber, arugla and avocado--a perfect blend of tastes which didn't overpower the mild halibut. I sprung for the most expensive dish ($32) not on the menu--the lobster and mussels with some little chunks of potatoes and fresh baby carrots on a mound of mashed potatoes floating in a broth which I mixed it together for slurple-y good taste. The yellowfin tuna came with a mild pistachio sauce ($24) and asparagus, lentils, and grape tomatoes.

However, City Tavern is more than fish. There are soups and salads, which we forgot to order, and of the eleven menu entrees, six were not fish. They include venison, steaks, chicken, and pork tenderloin ($18) which was calling my name--a sweet chipolte glaze with corn sauce, garlic gnocchi and ham--but not quite loudly enough. Next time.

Stuffed, we still had dessert (one has to sacrifice for food writing), which were pretty yummy. The crème brûlée was smoothly done, the napoleon melted with peaches, white chocolate and whip cream in delicious layers; the peach soufflé was fresh and light.

This is definitely a cool place to eat. And we were surprised when we stepped back into the rain to discover that four hours had passed--perhaps the ultimate test of a great dinner, great place, and great friends.