Sweet & Savory

SF Dine About Town: Part II-B

Pommes frites - J and I were surprised to see these two words printed on the dinner menu at Fringale. French fries are a side order typically relegated to fast food status or as an accompaniment to steakhouse fare. What was it doing here? Granted, pommes frites were French french fries, but butternut squash fries with chive mayo seemed more likely to make an appearance on this menu. On a whim, we ordered them as appetizer.

When they arrived in glazed earthenware, they were piping hot, possibly straight from the fryer, and lightly salted. The texture was fantastic - light and airy and perfectly crisp. I found no uncooked soggy potatoes or over-fried oil-soaked sticks, as is common with the mass-produced frozen variety. The gourmet quality of the pommes frites made us feel obligated to eat them with forks.

No sooner than we had finished our appetizer my chestnut soup arrived. The soup du jour was decorated with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper. The texture was smooth and velvety. As such, I wondered how it could have possibly been prepared with the exacting description the waiter had given us - "no meat broth, no dairy, and just a bit of butter". This care had no doubt been taken to give people of all dietary restrictions the opportunity to enjoy the bold flavor of this chestnut purée.

My dinner entrée again featured chestnuts as one of the primary ingredients. Whole chestnuts and sautéed king trumpet mushrooms sat in a pool of sauce and provided a bed upon which the pan-seared king salmon rested. Beyond the crispy exterior, the fish was thoroughly cooked but still surprisingly moist and flaky. The sauce turned out to be an earthy marriage of chestnut and mushroom flavors. I suspect that the chestnut purée used for the soup du jour may have also been used as the basis for this gravy. The fish and gravy were well matched and balanced, neither one overpowering the other.

I was pretty full at this point, but since Fringale's Dine About Town menu included my choice of any dessert, I could not resist having a taste of the hazelnut and roasted almond mousse cake. Alternating layers of airy hazelnut mousse and genoise formed the cake, which was topped with toasted, and perhaps candied, almond slices. Beneath the cake, a pool of dark chocolate shimmered. Together, it was the perfect end to my meal.

On the drive home, J and I agreed to add Fringale to our regular rotation of restaurants, for we could not stop raving about our extraordinary dinner.