Wednesday, February 27, 2013

State Bird Provisions

Plenty of good vegetarian dishes at US' hottest restaurant
1529 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.795.1272

The line starts forming well before the 5:30 PM restaurant opening time.  To get into State Bird Provisions, which Zagat has named among the 10 hottest restaurants in the world and Bon Appetite called one of the best new restaurants for 2012, takes patience.  Reservations fill up six months in advance and from then on it's stand in line and hope.  Get lucky and you may grab a table from a no-show.

Once inside, the casual restaurant is well worth it.  For all the acclaim, there is no pretense or snobbery, just good food that comes out spontaneously from the kitchen.  The owners, former chefs at Rubicon, frequently send guests off with sincere inquiries as to how the meal was and if there were enough vegetarian options (there were). The actual menu is short. Most dishes are not on the menu, but are based on what was available and fresh that day. Waiters bring the dishes by on trays with tags noting the price.  They are all small plates.  The options for vegetarians are tasty ranging from spiced tofu skins or yuba to quinoa and miniature pancakes. 


Quinoa

Yuba with almond pesto.
Burrata on fried bread.
Signature pancakes of sourdough, sauerkraut, Pecorino and ricotta.