San Francisco - Review of Zuni Cafe Oct 2010

Zuni Cafe is one of those Californian institutions, along with Alice Water's Chez Panisse (the original) and Greens, that has been around in broadly the same form since the 70's and along with showier latecomers such as the French Laundry has put the region on the culinary map. The key to Californian cuisine is quality sourced ingredients cooked simply and well and Zuni has developed a short and stylish Cal-Italian menu based around the brick oven proudly occupying the centre of the room, birthplace of their classic roast chicken. 


A few casual bar tables fit into the tight but light and airy block corner space and the gradual growth into the mezzanine and an adjacent room has given them a more classic dining room with linen cloths to match. It's a wonderfully Californian space. The crowd were well heeled and Cali casual. Hipsters in havaianas mixed with dressed down grey hairs. There were so many things I could have eaten on this menu. The burgers at the next table looked stunning, as did a nearby pizza, and the Tuscan roast chicken will have to be saved for my next visit ($42 for the chicken, but it shares with at least 3 or 4 judging by other reviews, allow an hour or pre-order if you get there before me). 

I opened with Serrano ham served with pimentos de padron, goats cheese and orange zest gremolata. The crunchy zing of the gremolata and the salty spice of the pimentos came in perfectly with the goats cheese. The ham was pretty good, but I've had better, and much closer to home. The main was revelatory. One of the thickest pork chops I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The knowledgable enthusiast serving me gave me the run down of its history. From a farm called Becker Lane, a small Iowa producer apparently, it was an Iowan pork chop as you'd imagine. Like their men, grown on corn, open space and sunshine. Free range to the point of being semi-wild, it had dark open flesh and was meatily juicy to the n'th degree. If I were a pig, I'd want to be this pig (assuming there's no opening for the one in Babe). It came with a semi-raw salad of fresh green beans and thin sliced courgette with the pick me up of purple basil. The two elements were brought together with a Sungold heritage tomato salad in a light dressing, the sweet snap of the tomatoes cutting through the glistening unctuous fat of the heaven sent chop.