Served with peaches, raspberries and whipped cream. $9
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
This dessert was very good. The polenta cake was perfectly baked, and I loved the texture. You could feel the polenta grains playing in your mouth. The peaches were simply prepared, but were ripe and delicious. And the raspberries looked beautiful on the plate. The syrup added extra sweetness and moisture to the entire dish. Simple and delicious!
Served with lemon verbena ice cream and a ginger crumble. $9
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
While this desert tasted fine, there was something about it that felt a little flat. Perhaps the portion was too small, or perhaps the plate looked a little sad – I’m not sure. I did love the additional fo the ginger flavored crumble. It added a great flavor and texture to an otherwise boring(ish) plate.
Thick cut shortribs with scarlet turnips, padron peppers and romesco sauce. $30
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
This was one of my favorite dishes at Bar Agricole. I guess you can’t go wrong with perfectly grilled, fatty shortribs, lol! It’s hard to see from the pic, but there was a lot of ribs on the plate. I actually couldn’t finish all of them, but not wanting them to go to waste, I had them boxed up (hehe). The padron peppers were SO yummy, but I’m biased since padron peppers are my favorite. The turnips were good, but some pieces were a little dry. The romesco sauce provided another wonderful flavor and went perfectly with the grilled beef. I would order this again in a quick second!
Rabbit two ways – braised leg and a roasted saddle wrapped in pancetta. Served with Jimmy Nardello peppers, Romano beans, and farro. $30
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
This dish was just OK for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the pancetta wrapped saddle – it was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing! However, the braised leg in combination with the sauce was SO salty! And that says a lot coming from me, a salt monger. I did love the Jimmy Nardellos – they looked great and tasted even better. I’ve recently noticed more restaurants using these lately, as well as shishito and padron peppers. I won’t complain because I love them all. The remainder of the plate was forgettable…
Tender white sea bass with summer squash, plum tomatoes, purslane(?), saffron and aioli. $29
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
The fish was cooked perfectly, but I must say that the broth stole the show. It was so flavorful and refined. The chunky cuts of plum tomatoes and squash were perfectly proportioned and provided great color. What I didn’t like was the purslane. It looked cool as a garnish, but it was too slimy and the fleshy texture was off-putting. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to eat it, lol!
Mixed lettuces with Chioggia beets, avocado, toast and a tarragon vinaigrette. $13
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
This dish was absolutely beautiful with the pinkish red beets, green lettuces and avocado, pale vinaigrette, and dark toast. I didn’t know what a Chioggia beet was, but apparently Chioggia is a coastal town near Venice and the beets have concentric white and pink stripes before they’re cooked. They tasted great! Not sure where the mixed lettuces were though. There was only one type of green, and it appeared to be some type of cress.
Slice of pork pate served with toast, aspic, mustard and caper berries. $10
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
The server explained that the pate was “country style” since it consisted of chunkier pieces, not the smoother pates you usually see. This pork pate was absolutely delicious and filling! I just wish it came with more bread because the pate slice was pretty sizable. I’m guessing that the aspic was also from pork, but I’m not sure. Regardless, everything tasted great together!
Someone at the table didn’t know what aspic was, and I smiled because I remembered having to look it up while reading Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential”, lol! I was happy to explain that it’s a jelly made from a stock (usually meat or fish) and gelatin.
Large bowl of warm corn soup with aleppo pepper, creme fraiche, and chopped serpolette. $14
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
This soup was absolutely heavenly! The flavors were great and the texture was awesome. The corn was coarsely pureed so you could still feel pieces of kernel in your mouth. The garnishes looked great against the soft yellow color of the corn soup. I didn’t get much of a kick from the crushed and ground aleppo flakes and the serpolette was completely lost flavor-wise. It didn’t matter though, the soup was tasty enough to stand on its own. The portion was a generous one, which was great since everyone at the table wanted to taste it!
Serpolette (Thymus serphyllum), more commonly spelled “serpolet”, is a wild thyme. I learned something new, haha!
This appetizer came with a side of dressed radicchio and garnished with sliced, pickled onions. $9
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
I didn’t grow up eating chopped liver, but there are Filipino dishes from my childhood that had plenty of liver in it. I don’t mind the strong, minerally taste that I remember so I’m never scared of ordering it at restaurants. This Jewish staple is definitely not like the liver I grew up with! It has a more mellow flavor and a smoother consistency. Bar Agricole’s chopped liver was well seasoned and had a great texture. It was a rustic preparation and you could see the seasonings and add-ins in the coarse mixture. The toasted bread was cut thick enough to hold the generous slathers of chopped liver. Very good! The radicchio, however, was SO salty. Personally, I love salt and can tolerate plenty of it, but these were inedible.
Brown Derby: bourbon, grapefruit, lemon, honey and bitters. $10
Tequila Cocktail: tequila, sweet vermouth, stonefruit bitters and orange. $10
Brandy Scaffa: brandy, maraschino, raspberry, chartreuse bitters. $10
Bar Agricole, San Francisco
These signature cocktails were absolutely delicious, although on the small side. So at $10 a pop, these are definitely drinks to sip and savor. I love the large (hand cut?) ice cube in the Tequila Cocktail. These always increase the classy factor. In order of taste preference, I would re-order the Brown Derby, Tequila Cocktail, then the Brandy Scaffa. The Brown Derby wasn’t too heavy tasting and you could taste the citrus and honey flavors. The Tequila Cocktail went down really easy – danger, danger! The Brandy Scaffa was a little too dark and heavy tasting for me. Bar Agricole has a nice, long list of house cocktails so there’s something for everyone. Yes please!
