Home Food & Wine The Hungry Palate New chef at U Street takes lounge food to a new level

New chef at U Street takes lounge food to a new level

Written by Susan Dyer Reynolds, Northside Editor

Tuesday, 31 May 2005

I first visited U Street Restaurant and Lounge in March, and liked it enough to feature it as that month’s Newly Notable. Much of what I liked about it then is now firmly in place – the chilly space at 1980 Union Street formerly occupied by Morpho Sushi morphed into a spot cool enough to compete in the &uumlber-hip lounge scene, but warm and inviting enough to become a relaxed neighborhood favorite. The team behind U Street – John Lama, John Kelley, Scott Loose, and former Morpho owner Roy Liu – definitely gets it, and that was evident from the beginning, not only in the ambience, but in the food. The opening menu featured simple, reasonably priced small plates that were better than average, but still not as big a draw as the specialty cocktails and the DJs spinning in the back room. Recently, the savvy owners took a step to change that, hiring talented French Laundry and PlumpJack alum Michael Schley to helm the kitchen in his executive chef debut. Unlike many culinary students, Schley had already spent ample time in the kitchen before starting at the California Culinary Academy in 2001. Between 1992 and 1995, he worked his way up from lead line cook to sous chef at the Brass Rose in his hometown of Oklahoma City, and parlayed his experience into sous chef positions at two Southern California restaurants, comfort food trendsetter Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills, and 225-seat celebrity favorite The Gardens on Glendon. When Schley left the Westwood Village eatery in 2000 to attend culinary school, he held the title chef de cuisine. High marks at the academy earned Schley a coveted externship working alongside Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Yountville, which in turn earned him a two-year stint under executive chef James Ormsby at Cow Hollow’s ever-popular PlumpJack Café. At U Street, Schley has created a menu reflective of his past, paying homage to Keller with house-made Kennebec potato chips served with créme fraîche/truffle dip ($9) – the chips are light as Lays’, and like the commercial says, “I betcha can’t eat just one.” While I am still waiting for McDonald’s to add that McTartare, it seems no menu these days would be complete without it, but at least Schley’s petit tuna tartare cones ($14) – tuna, avocado, micro red shiso, Fuji apple and ginger tobiko caviar elegantly wrapped in little pastry funnels – is unique, both in presentation and in taste. I wish Schley used that creativity, along with some of that ginger tobiko, for his mini caviar shooters – halved new potatoes topped with lemon-chive créme fraîche and caviar – which arrive lined up on a slender white platter, tucked into a bed of fris&eacutee. Potato and caviar canapés are familiar hors d’oeuvres at parties because they are convenient to carry around and also because the flavors go so well together. Schley’s version is no exception – the lemon-chive créme fraîche is cool and tart and a perfect complement to the briny fish roe and warm, crispy potatoes – but I expected more inspired presentation from a chef who worked with Thomas Keller. There is an amazing array of flavors, colors and textures available in caviar, and it would have been nice to see the mild potatoes topped with fiery orange trout roe and American Golden, or infused varieties such as bright red beet, green wasabi or heady truffled whitefish eggs. Schley does offer the option of buttery, smooth California osetra, but the $60 supplement seems out of place. On the opposite end of the gastronomic spectrum is what I think will become the chef’s signature dish, fried spring chicken ($12), a clever and tasty take on the small plates craze. Half a pouisson is egg-washed and cream-dredged, then coated with Southern spice-seasoned flour and a touch of Tapatio hot sauce for some kick. It arrives on a creamy cradle of Yukon gold garlic mashed potatoes, delightfully small (think fried chicken dinner for one) but not small on flavor. One bite into the crunchy crust releases the wonderful steam and reveals the succulent, moist meat within. Another standout is the grilled Snake River Farms American-raised Kobe beef bivet ($17), beautifully marbled, tender flat steak accompanied by Schley’s stellar pommes frites which are perfect for soaking up the rich juices. I also enjoyed the maple-glazed pork filet mignon ($15), a happy marriage of sweet and savory served with sweet potato hash that offers a hint of smoky bacon. One item that has changed since the early days is the miso steamed halibut – it was originally miso steamed sea bass, but Schley decided to go with a sustainable fish. A disturbing number of markets in San Francisco, including giants Safeway and Albertson’s and Chestnut Street’s Marina Super, continue to sell Chilean sea bass with wanton disregard. Otherwise known as Patagonian toothfish, they can live into their 40s and breed late in life, so rapid overfishing has landed them on the endangered list. I applaud stores like Real Foods on Fillmore Street and chefs like Schley who buy only sustainable seafood. For dessert ($8), the obvious choice is the molten Valrhona chocolate cake, and it is indeed warm and delicious, but my favorite turned out to be the strawberry shortcake – fresh berries piled on a homemade poppy seed biscuit and topped with whipped cream. The versatile setup at U Street offers a multitude of fun options, one of which is weekend brunch – the roof in the lounge retracts, allowing diners to feel like happy, well-fed frogs basking in the sunshine. The menu is fun, too, featuring bananas Foster French toast with house-made candied walnuts and rum caramel sauce, and steak and eggs Benedict, for which Schley cleverly substitutes organic Dakota filet mignon for the Canadian bacon and tops it with truffled hollandaise. They must have known that the BLT would be the highlight when they named it – the U Street BLT features applewood smoked bacon, Monterey jack cheese and a fried egg served with those stellar fries for sopping up any yolk that hits the plate. Like dinner, portions are generous and prices reasonable, with four people eating well for under $50. In fact, U Street is big on value – the early prix fixe (6 to 8 p.m.) offers three courses for $22 and is one of the best deals in the Marina. I often talk about the importance of location, and U Street is a rare restaurant dichotomy – it is situated on a well-strolled section of Union Street, but directly above the raucous Bar None, which attracts frat boys and sorority girls who graduated from college 10 years ago but don’t seem to know it. As my friend and I left U Street after staying longer than we should have, two twentysomething women obviously unable to hold their cosmopolitans climbed out from the depths of the Bar None and stumbled into our path. The taller of the two fell to the pavement and her friend tried to pull her dead-weight up but slipped on her four-inch stilettos, sending her nearly passed-out partner in crime careening head-first into the plate glass window of the shop next door. She slid slowly down the glass like a character from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon – I could almost see the twittering birds circling dizzily around her head. Both women fell back to the ground, a tangle of designer jeans, laughing, unaware that luck had prevented possible decapitation. The incident made me realize that U Street brings something to this section of Union that was, before it opened, sorely lacking – a touch of class. Not-to-Miss Dish: The fried spring chicken is destined to become a signature classic, but for brunch it’s all about the U Street BLT. U Street Restaurant and Lounge: 1980 Union Street (at Buchanan). Dinner served Tuesday through Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m., weekends until 11:30. Brunch served Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. For reservations, call (415) 409-0150. For more information, visit www.ustreetlounge.com. Susan is the editor of Northside and the Marina Times, as well as a restaurant critic for Gayot.com. She worked previously as the lifestyle editor for LookSmart.com and LookSmart Live, and is a member of the Association of Food Journalists and the San Francisco Food Professionals Society. 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Last Updated ( Friday, 24 November 2006 )