REVIEW - Commonwealth

Well, this place gets a big "Meh" from Mr & Mrs Page.

Michael Bauer - San Francisco's self-appointed official restaurant critic - can blow his glowing review of Commonwealth out of his Bauer-hole. Heaven knows what he saw and tasted that warranted glowing praise for this overblown and ordinary place.

I should have recognized hyperbole when I read it first at their web site. The self-important "questions and answers" section posed altogether pointless questions, with out of date answers. What turned out to be a series of trumpets blown by the restaurant owners just led to a big let-down when we sat there waiting to order our meal. The decor was bland - so much for the "Aztec art work", the "disco ball", and the "Chinese posters in the restrooms". They were either dull, or non-existent.

"But what about the food?" I  hear you clamor. What about the food indeed? It was fussy but poor. Complex but shallow. There was great attention paid to the arranging of miniscule portions of food; the size and taste of which did not justify their too-high-for-what-they-served prices.

We both had the tasting menu, which gave us ample chance to experience what Commonwealth had to offer.

The shishito peppers, goat cheese mouse, and rose petals made for a tasty appetizer, as did the grilled rabbit sausage, with peach mostarda. So far so good. 

But then the radishes, fromage blanc, lovage, ancient grains, parslane, cucumber, almond, and black olive had, as quipped Mrs P, a list of ingredients that took longer to read than the dish took to eat, yet still looked "like a lettuce cut up and arranged all over the plate".

I had the cherry tomatoes, idiazabal cheese, shelling beans, smoked crostini, and tomato consomme, which tasted fine, but again lacked enough volume to be described as a course.

Next, madame had the dayboat scallop, popcorn purée, hearts of palm, and yuzu kosho emulsion which, being a single scallop, looked lonesome on the plate, and while it was cooked and tasted perfect, really could have done with something to accompany it.

Then she had the pork belly, salted and fresh plum, wheat berry, romano bean, radish, and cilantro which was good, but not as good as that served at Redd, or RN74 for example.

We sampled the brandade stuffed squash blossoms, chilled artichoke cream, celery, and soft boiled egg, which was my favorite dish of the night, but then ruined it all by having the grilled wagyu beef, burnt eggplant, siracusan onions, haricot verts, horseradish, and kinome, which was extremely disappointing.

Commonwealth crows on its web site that it donates ten dollars from each of its tasting menus to local non-profits. On last night's performance we, the customers, were clearly making that donation.