Quince Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Quince is a high end Italian / French restaurant in San Francisco’s Jackson square area, near the Financial district. They focus on local, organic, seasonal ingredients. This restaurant moved to the space vacated by Myth, after a six year stint at their cramped location on Pacific Heights. Parking is slightly easier at the new location. Michael Tusk is the chef owner. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, has cooked extensively in Europe, and used to work at Stars, Oliveto, and Chez Panisse. Quince received one Michelin star in 2010.

Menus are totally revamped. They have an ala carte menu, five course prix fix menu ($85), and Eight course tasting menu ($115). Prix fix menus are for the entire table. Menus can change every couple days. Quince will have a more casual restaurant next door called Cotogna.

Decor, Vibe – This is a modern elegant, dimly lit romantic restaurant with stylish chandeliers, exposed brick in the back, and high ceilings. Large main dining area with peripheral area in the back, long bar to the side, lounge in front, and a private dining room. Huge 10,000-bottle wine cellar. Clearly this is an special occasion restaurant. The restaurant just moved, so it was full of dressed old customers, foodies, and the well heeled. Most folks were 40+.

Menu Pictures (Click to zoom into any picture)

A la Carte Menu

Prix Fix Menu

Dessert Menu

Old Website Menu

Amuse Bouche of deep fried pumpkin. Crispy goodness.

Amuse Bouche of Fried Flat Bread and Ahi tuna. Oily transparent fish.

Nice selection of house made breads. Bread sticks, rosemary, baguettes, Levitan, sour dough. Several were still warm when we first arrived.

Picks:

Sea Scallop ($17) La ratte potato, agretti, and sea urchin. Two good sized scallops with some carmelization on top, but very good flavor. Nice accompanying potatoe puree, and fresh uni for a California touch.

Four Story hill farm veal ($14) Tuna, caper, and celery. Unusual dish with very fresh ahi tuna on top of raw thin veal slices. Sorta like a surf and turf. A weird combination that worked together.

Paine Farm Squab ($16) Tropea onion, fig, and licorice. Nice looking dish with squab cooked several ways and cooked fig. The rare breast was the best part, with strong flavor and chewy texture. The mini friend drumstick was a fun touch. A cooked squab relish added some sweet elements.

Poached Alaksan Halibut ($32) Corn, Squash blossom, and lobster sauce was excellent. The fish was cooked perfectly to a tender level and wrapped in a thin cabbage. The light lobster sauce with lots of foam added to the fish.

Duck “Tagliata” ($29) Quince, Turnip, Mulino marino polenta and Barolo chinato sauce was also excellent. Cooked to a medium rare, the duck had a perfect combination of texture and juicy flavor. Accompanying items were on the delicate side though. The onions stuffed with cooked duck was a big too savory. The greens under the duck were too salty.

OK:

Raviolo di ricotta

Raviolo Egg Yolk

Raviolo di ricotta della casa ($18) Farm Egg, brown butter, and vacca rossa, parmigiano reggiano. A big ravioli filled with egg yolk and ricotta cheese. The wrapper was nicely done and the internals tasty, but again this dish was on the salty side. Someone needs to recalibrate taste buds. This place is not Olive Garden.

Capelletti ($17) Anjou pear, pecornio di fossa, and poppy seed. Four good sized pieces of egg pasta. The wrappers were on the dry side and not soft, making it seem like this was dried pasta and not fresh. We were told all pasta was made from fresh dough except for the spaghetti.

Pappardelle ($20) Suckling pig, wild fennel, and black cabbage. The heavy egg based wide noodles were very good but overshadowed by lots of grease and saltiness. The pig was plentiful, tender, but overshadowed by other elements.

Pici Toscani ($19) Juniper scented boar ragu, topped with dried mushrooms. Very meaty dish with lots of hearty boar meat and chewy home made pasta. The dish tasted ok but was extremely oily and salty.

Pans:

Warm Butternut Squash Fondant ($12) Brown butter ice cream, meringue, and carmelized honey. You would expect a fondant cake, but this is a modern interpretation. This was a unique small dish with the rich ice cream and the sweet cooked squash. It was good but not stellar.

Compose of pluot ($12) Toasted sesame and riso nero sorbet. Nice sorbet, but the biscotti like cookies were pretty stiff. The fresh plums and plum gels were nice but the entire dish really did not work together.

Petit Fours – Nice assortment of candies, mini cakes, and a plum fruit gel

Quince is ratcheting up service towards top level places like Gary Danko. You could see servers roaming through ever so often. Serving and removal of dishes in synchronicity. Prices are high at Quince, so expectations are equally high. There is a lot of inventiveness here, but portion sizes are small and pastas were largely off the mark. Right now we would have to say the value proposition is not there yet. Hopefully with some time and fine tuning, everything will be refined.

Has Quince made the move with the food quality in tact? No. Pastas used to be their strong suit, now entrees and appetizers seem to be.
How does it compare to top Italian spot, Acquellero? The server called Quince a California restaurant, so one really cannot compare them head on. We ate at Acquellero a couple weeks ago and found the food excellent and the prices lower.

Quince has an extensive wine selection with glasses from $8, bottles from $30. Speciality cocktails $11.

Book Reservation

Overall Rating: (Good)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Good)
Service Rating:	(Very Good)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Excellent)
Value Rating:	(Above Average)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Fair/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Mon - Sat 5:30 - 10pm. Closed Sunday
Parking:	Street
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$26 - $115

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