I never went to their Valencia street original location. It's a good neighborhood to look for interesting food, shops, etc. Their new locale is in the Ferry Building, at the end of Market. The other merchants in the building include an organic fruit/vegetable market, a very cool fungi shop, Sur La Table. The Slanted Door has the largest space in the building, and can seat a lot of diners (150 according to their web site).
We had reservations for an 11:15 lunch, but it looked like they seated walkups that arrived early We were in a row of booths near the kitchen. The booths are elevated slightly, offering good views of food prep and the ferry traffic. The decor is modern, and nicely done.
The food is served family style, and the arrival of the dishes was nicely spaced, so that we didn't have to balance all the food on a small table.
The food could perhaps be described as south east asian influenced. I eat Vietnamese about once a week, and this was different. It was somewhat Americanized in spice-level. And included influences from China, Thailand, etc.
My favorite dish was the Shaking Beef. It's made from cubed beef tender, with garlic, red onions and green onions. The beef was seared over high heat, and had very intense carmelized flavors. It came with a dipping sauce that I don't know how to describe. I'll need to eat more. It had a very fresh, acidic flavor that nicely complemented the meat.
There was a chicken and shrimp stir fry that closely resembled pad that. There was a tofu stir fry with tomato chunks and tomato/ginger sauce. The tofu was deep fried, then stir fried with the rest of the ingredients. Never had anything like it, and I don't see it on their on-line menu so I don't know the precise name of the dish. Also highly recommended. The spring rolls were good. The egg rolls were very nicely done, and had very crisp and tasty shell. The contrast of the crispy shell and the fresh red leaf lettuce used to wrap the egg roll was very nice. Recommended.
What else? Niman Ranch flank steak stir fry was good. Vegetarian crepe was an interesting alternative to egg rolls. Green papaya salad was good, but I like Krung Thai's better.
In conclusion, the Shaking Beef and that tofu stir fry warrant further investigation. Must visit again soon.
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We had reservations for an 11:15 lunch, but it looked like they seated walkups that arrived early We were in a row of booths near the kitchen. The booths are elevated slightly, offering good views of food prep and the ferry traffic. The decor is modern, and nicely done.
The food is served family style, and the arrival of the dishes was nicely spaced, so that we didn't have to balance all the food on a small table.
The food could perhaps be described as south east asian influenced. I eat Vietnamese about once a week, and this was different. It was somewhat Americanized in spice-level. And included influences from China, Thailand, etc.
My favorite dish was the Shaking Beef. It's made from cubed beef tender, with garlic, red onions and green onions. The beef was seared over high heat, and had very intense carmelized flavors. It came with a dipping sauce that I don't know how to describe. I'll need to eat more. It had a very fresh, acidic flavor that nicely complemented the meat.
There was a chicken and shrimp stir fry that closely resembled pad that. There was a tofu stir fry with tomato chunks and tomato/ginger sauce. The tofu was deep fried, then stir fried with the rest of the ingredients. Never had anything like it, and I don't see it on their on-line menu so I don't know the precise name of the dish. Also highly recommended. The spring rolls were good. The egg rolls were very nicely done, and had very crisp and tasty shell. The contrast of the crispy shell and the fresh red leaf lettuce used to wrap the egg roll was very nice. Recommended.
What else? Niman Ranch flank steak stir fry was good. Vegetarian crepe was an interesting alternative to egg rolls. Green papaya salad was good, but I like Krung Thai's better.
In conclusion, the Shaking Beef and that tofu stir fry warrant further investigation. Must visit again soon.
- mark 8-29-2005 11:45 pm