Tartine Bakery and Cafe

I'm in San Francisco this weekend for a much needed vacation. My friend Jeff has been gracious enough to let me crash at his apartment on Balboa overlooking the bay. I’m only here for a couple of days so I really want to take advantage of my time and hit as many restaurants and bakeries as I can. I have a feeling this weekend is going to be like my last trip to New York; 5 restaurants in 15 hours. Don’t worry I’m a pro…

Going in I had really high expectations. We’re lucky enough in Portland to have some incredible bakeries so I was ready to compare Tartine with Kens and The Pearl. I’m here to say that Tartine is magic. Getting there was a little tricky. It’s located near 16^th and Mission, which is where I got off the BART. That is a stop I would recommend avoiding. I’m down with methadone clinics, but even I was scared for a minute. Anywho… One block over and the neighborhood is charming. If you’re from Portland, just think Hawthorn Blvd.

Lets get down to business. Tartine is amazing! I got there around 11am and the line stretched out the door. That is a good sign. Inside it felt very comfortable and the place was running like a well oiled machine. The display case was beautiful and I had a hard time narrowing it down. I decided on two very different items. The first was the Croque Monsieur, which I thought would be a great way to compare it with other bakeries or bistros. The second item I got was the Coconut Cream Tart. This item was suggested to me by a member of Portlandfood.org. Oh, and not to be ignored was a perfectly prepared latte, which was served in what I might describe as a cereal bowl. It worked…

The Croque Monsieur was great. They use a tender country bread layered with béchamel, gruyere, thyme, Niman ranch ham and seasonal vegetables. This dish is so popular at Tartine that they make entire sheet pans filled with them and they are devoured within minutes.

Now for the Coconut Cream Tart. All I can say is that it was one of the loveliest things I have every eaten. .!. This crust was impossibly crispy and flakey. The crust was then coated with a thin layer of chocolate which gave it a crunch like a dipped cone from dairy queen. It also served as a protective barrier to keep the coconut cream from turning the pasty soft. I think there was some caramel in there as well, but it’s not part of the official description of the tart. It was topped with whipped cream and large shavings of toasted coconut. This tart is what it’s all about. They took something great and made it lovely and ephemeral.

If I’m lucky I will make it back a couple more times this weekend. If not I’ll be taking a hard look at the cookbook and replicating some the dishes myself.