Kate's Kitchen (San Francisco, CA)

Kate's Kitchen was a memorable mark on our trip to San Francisco. Thrown off by the cool days (and cold mornings) we kept gravitating towards hearty stick-to-your-ribs food. This is why we gained five pounds after three days.

Kate's did not disappoint. It's a small restaurant with mostly two tops and 1 or 2 four-tops with a open view of the kitchen in the back where a fully-kitchen was busy over the stove and juicing carrots and apples. Colorful and warm with a family and a young baby to our left and some couples to our left, we're struck by the giant mural of the United States on the main wall. 

We start with the hush puppies (which, if you remember, I had just introduced Chris to earlier this summer). Delicious, deep-fried cornmeal goodness was presented to us with homemade (crazy delicious) jam and "pooh butter" to dip- (honey butter). Dense, with a generous portion size, I could imagine myself coming to this place once a week just to eat these.

My entree was their biscuits with veggie gravy. I have to say that they were [almost] perfect. If there was just a dash more salt to bring out the flavors that had been developed, I think it would have been amazing, but I find that over-salting is a common fear of most restaurant these days. The biscuits texturally were between that of a typical biscuit and a scone (think hard edges and crumbly bits). With cheese and green onion inside, it was pleasant to eat on its own, but definitely improved by the veggie gravy underneath. I have no idea how they made the gravy, except to say that they must have used some type of wheat/flour with some stock, herbs, etc. Delicious- and something I wish that they bottled and sold so I could take it back home to the East Coast to eat with all of my meals. THIS is how you do a vegetarian breakfast. It wasn't just a non-meat version of something, but a legitimate menu item of itself.

I must say even as a meat eater I am impressed with how the west coast does vegetarian. It actually brings me down a little when there are no items on a menu tailored to my girlfriend's lifestyle. It's not like being a vegetarian is a new concept; the Mid-Atlantic corridor seems to vegetarians will be OK with asking for the same item on a menu, but with no meat, and paying the same price. Kate's Kitchen shows more than acceptance with a unique menu with variety of items, they also show creativity and an ability to cook. They do a pretty good job too.

With all of that said, I decided to appease my carnivore side. I ordered the Big Guys Breakfast, which unfortunately didn't make me feel like a "big guy" ordering it out loud. Eventually two plates were brought to me that consisted of two cornmeal buttermilk pancakes, two eggs, two slices of bacon, one sausage patty, and a side of homefries! Talk about using quality products. Kate's Kitchen nailed it with their eggs and bacon. The over medium eggs were super rich with velvety yolks and the bacon was the thick cut stuff. The strips had awesome marbleization, they were packed with flavor and had the perfect amount of salt. The sausage, which was a chicken sausage, was even delicious. It feel flat from a lack of fat leaving it a little dry, but it was still very delicious. The homefries had the low mark of the day. Even though their potato flavor was never in question (still clearly using top shelf ingredients) they were a little burned and I'm not sure anyone through some salt on them leaving them very under seasoned.



Back to the good stuff. The cornmeal buttermilk pancakes were pretty special. The extra sweetness from the cornmeal plus the texture will probably ruin other pancakes for the rest of my life. I might even swear off of pancakes that don't have cornmeal as an ingredient. They were that good.





P.S. Coffee in San Francisco is delicious. Does everybody use Peet's or do they just have extra-spectacular coffee presses? Also, Kate's Kitchen gives you a generous pitcher of (non-individually packaged, and actually containing dairy) cream.