Tuesday, March 16, 2010

RN74 (San Francisco) - Q

When I heard that Michael Minna opened a new wine bar and restaurant in SOMA, I thought that it would be fun to go check it out. The name RN74 refers to a national road ("Route Nationale") in France and the restaurant is located at the Millenium Tower (301 Mission St). It was a Tuesday night, and it was completely packed when we arrived. Fortunately we had reservations and got seated immediately.


I started off with the Foie Gras Terrine with grilled peaches and toasted brioche. I usually prefer seared foie gras than terrine, but it seems to be harder and harder to find "real" foie gras in SF these days so any foie gras is better than no foie gras! The terrine was actually quite good and very smooth. The fatiness of the terrine was nicely complemented by the grilled peaches.


For entree, I got the Grilled Prime Beef, which came with fingerling potatoes, bacon, haricots verts, and black truffle. The beef was cooked nicely, but it didn't really stand out and you can probably find more flavorful beef/steak elsewhere. And for $28, the portion was quite small (only two pieces of beef). We got Warm Beignets for dessert because I've been in love with beignets ever since going to New Orleans. The were nice and crispy, but it's always hard to find beignets as good as Cafe du Monde in New Orleans...


Of course since this place is a wine bar, we had to try some wine. RN74 has a nice selection of wines by the glass, and I started with a glass of riesling to go with the foie gras terrine and a glass of cab with the beef. The bar was very happening all throughout the night and there were plenty of good-looking professionals getting their fill of after-work stress relievers (aka alcohol). Since it has been a while since I found a good place worthy of a "Q," I'll have to come back soon to enjoy some glasses of wine at the bar!