No salad as a meal – Eat vicariously: May 2010

Wood roasted local sardine and avocado toasts with pickled onions.

Brett Emerson is one of the most prolific chefs in San Francisco. At Contigo, the charming Spanish tapas restaurant in Noe Valley, the ever-changing menu gives habitués like me a chance to try something new, every time. But some dishes are too good (and too requested) to ever leave the menu. One of them is his simple roasted sardine.

Fresh Monterey sardines are filleted then roasted for a minute or so in the wood-burning oven. They are served over a toasted slice of baguette, creamy avocado purée and topped with pickled red onions. To finish, smoked sea salt is sprinkled over. A beautiful layering of colors, textures and flavors carefully balancing the acidity of the purée, sweetness of the onions and the salty smokiness of the sardines.

Below is the iPad-friendly photo essay and Brett's official recipe (a flash slideshow version is available here). Enjoy.

Roasted Local Sardine and Avocado Toasts
(serves 4 as appetizer)

8 fresh Monterey Bay sardines
2 ripe avocados, pureed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 sourdough baguette
16 rounds pickled red onions (recipe below)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
smoked salt (find it here)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut sardines into individual fillets. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to cook.

3. Cut avocados in half and remove pits. Using a spoon, scoop avocado out of their skins. Puree with lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt to taste.

4. Slice baguette on angle into 1/4-inch thin oval slices the same length as your sardine fillets. Lay baguette toasts on baking sheet pan. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toast in preheated oven until toasts are golden brown and crisp.

5. Turn up oven to its highest setting. When ready to cook the sardines, spread the toasts liberally with avocado puree. Season lightly with salt and lay four toasts on four plates.

6. Season sardine fillets with salt. Oil pan with olive oil and lay sardines in pan, skin side up. Put pan in oven and roast, approximately 2-4 minutes, until the sardines are firm and just cooked through.

7. As soon as sardines are cooked, transfer one fillet on top of each toast. Top with a round of pickled onions. Season with smoked salt and serve.

For the Pickled Red Onions

2 cups vinegar, champagne
1 cup sugar
3 cup water
1/3 cup salt, Kosher
1 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
3 ea cloves
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2 red onions, sliced thin

Combine all ingredients except onions and bring to a boil. Pour over red onions. Cool to room temperature, then chill. Best if pickled at least one day before using.

Local Mission Eatery is a dining concept that celebrates local ingredients, local purveyors, and the community in which it resides. More than a restaurant, it offers cooking classes, a library of 140 cookbooks and a transparent atmosphere designed to promote the values of eating local; here and at home.

Located in the heart of the Mission district, in one of the few commercial blocks that until now showed no signs of gentrification, it’s façade stands in great contrast to the surrounding Latino setting. A foreign visage that breaks the flow of Mexican eateries, lucha libre mask vendors, and small specialty markets.

The restaurant serves appetizing sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch six days a week. But only on Thursday and Saturday nights, it offers a four-course, one-seating dinner.

A few minutes before 7:30pm, diners start gathering outside waiting anxiously for the doors to open. Among local passersby, it’s not hard to spot who’s coming to the restaurant, their high heels and eveningwear standing out, fully lit under the bright spring sunlight. Strangers in a strange land.

As the doors open, each party is taken to their seats. At the host’s discretion, they are assigned between four two-tops, a high communal table and a counter that overlooks the open kitchen. Reservations are recommended.

The space is nicely designed with juxtapositions of concrete floors and warm redwood slats. On the side wall, contemporary images of 24th Street silk screened over wood tiles stand in contrast to two vintage crystal chandeliers that hang from the ceiling.

Blue Heath ceramics tiles are used on tabletops and Flora Grubb wall gardens adorn the entrance giving the room not just a warm feel but also a local signature.

The menu

On the week of your reservation, the restaurant emails you the fixed menu to check for possible dietary restrictions. To avoid surprises, prospect diners are also alerted that no alcoholic beverages will be served (their license is still pending).

Each night’s fare is sourced from season’s peak ingredients, celebrated with pride in all its locavore glory—a picture of the twenty-pound California halibut was posted on their Twitter feed in advance of the dinner.

Running the kitchen is Executive Chef Jacob Des Voignes (Craft NY, Fifth Floor). But Jake, as he’s called, is a hands-on cook too; you will see him behind the stove, plating and serving his dishes all night long.

The fixed menu is comprised of four courses plus amuse bouche and petit fours. The price, $65 inclusive of service and taxes, is one of the best deals in town.

The meal

Not unlike Saison or Commis, Local Mission Eatery is demystifying fine dining by making its tasting menu casual and approachable. Jake’s cuisine brings sophisticated technique to simple preparations that highlight their main ingredients. Flavors are pronounced and well balanced and the freshness of meats and produce shines beautifully.

As an amuse bouche, Chantenay carrot soup. Creamy and tasty.

First course, Asparagus and potato salad. Peppercress, asparagus vinaigrette. Crunchy, chilled asparagus served with dots of with Meyer lemon purée.

Second course, Grilled Monterey Bay squid. Fresh farfalle, roasted carrots, green garlic, lemon thyme fumet. Another celebration of fresh ingredients with house-made pasta and a buttery broth so good it should be accompanied by a spoon.

Third course, Slow-roasted local halibut. Oyster mushrooms, fava beans, sweet peas, turnip purée. Topped with fava leaves, a celebration of spring and, according to a recent article in the Chronicle, the latest “it” ingredient in Bay Area menus.

Local Mission Eatery shares space with Knead Patisserie, from its separate kitchen comes the delicious desserts of Chef Shauna des Voignes.

Fourth course, Roasted strawberry parfait. Ricotta, lemon, lavender. A simple yet perfectly balanced dessert I’d have ordered seconds.

On the lunch menu, all sandwiches are prepared by the chefs, made to order from the same local, organic ingredients. There are five options to choose from ($9), here are two.

Slow-roasted cod sandwich. Preserved Meyer lemon and caper aioli, golden turnips, fava leaves, mixed herbs.

Lucky Dog Ranch steak sandwich. Roasted then pickled spring onions, garlic confit, arugula.

In short

Local Mission Eatery is a fresh concept restaurant that celebrates locavore culture with delicious sandwiches and a great tasting menu. The welcoming, food-centric atmosphere is a proof that, what may seem foreign on the outside couldn’t be more fitting in San Francisco.

Local Mission Eatery is at 3111 24th Street
Dinner reservations by phone 415-655-3422