The best of the raw bar and beyond...
WARNING: If you are one of those freakish folks who think fish is utterly gross, or if you are slightly less freakish and simply insist on having your fish cooked, this isn't necessarily the joint for you.
Bar Crudo is the most lovely semi-recent addition to the SF restaurant rat race. It provides beautifully prepared, top-grade raw seafood at a wonderfully leisurely pace. It has a raw bar to beat the band, with not only a variety of oysters, but the others in the family of bivalves---clams and mussels, namely. Plus, a mouth watering pile of chilled dungeness and lobster. You can order a platter piled high with all these goodies for two or four people in preparation for the zenith of the meal, the crudo.
Your best bet is to start with a crudo sampler which does change here and there, but is always wonderful. The sampler, for two or four people, features bite-sized packages of perfect fish, prepared with ingredients that create an all-night party of flavors and textures in your mouth. Each bite is especially designed for the fish that comprises the center piece of it, and you will receive instruction from your friendly and knowledgeable server regarding the most advantageous order of consuming the fish. Some examples of the crudo goodness from their latest menu: Spicy yellow fin tuna cubes with ginger, soy, sriracha, green onions, Rhode Island black bass with hard quail egg, habanero tobiko and blood orange reduction and my very favorite, the Arctic char cubes with creamy horseradish, tobiko and dill.
They do have a few offerings for hot dishes, the most remarkable of which is the seafood chowder. A rich, creamy delight, made from scratch for every order with an ocean's worth of fine seafood within. Worthy of splitting it's so big, but it's so delicious, you may want it all for yourself.
The cherry on Bar Crudo's sundae is the stellar beer list that features Northern California craft brews and the finest Belgian ales available today, including the intense and delicious Au Chouffe Dopple Tripel---a Belgian ale made with North American hops---that is a dreamy accompaniment to the seafood chowder. The wine list is also very good and very carefully selected to complement the delicate flavors of the seafood.
Bar Crudo
603 Bush Street @ Stockton (top of the tunnel)
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 956-0396
www.barcrudo.com
