Boulevard Restaurant San Francisco Review

Boulevard’s busy Kitchen in Action

We have been coming here for years to Boulevard Restaurant near the Ferry Building in San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront area. It is one of our favorite places as it is pretty consistent.. Always a candidate for the short list of best restaurants. It earned One Michelin Star in 2009. Nancy Oakes open Boulevard, a New American/French comfort food restaurant way back in 1993.

Counter Seating

Decor, Vibe – Pat Kuleto design with an “intimate Belle Epoque aesthetic”. Couples, business people, and groups were all enjoying the fine food.
Boulevard has been voted most popular by Zagat’s guide for years. The place was packed when we entered at 6pm. If you don’t have a reservation, you can get a seat at the bar or kitchen counter, while they last.

The kitchen counter seats let you see the masters in action. Menu changes daily, so some of our review items might not be available or may be slightly different.

Menu Pictures:

Boulevard Menu Pictures

Boulevard Website Menu

Picks:

Baby Beets & Shaved Summer Truffles ($14) with organic mixed greens, truffle tremor cheese, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil was a nice fresh and light summer salad.  5 big tender red beets.  The truffle cheese had subtle flavor, being a truffle fan, we wanted more zest.

Butter poached Maine Lobster ($38.50) with Creamed Brentwood Corn, Summer Frying Peppers Fritto of Cornmeal Crusted Baby Corn & Padron Peppers, Lobster Nage was out of the fresh shell and ready to eat.  Cooked perfectly and nicely accented with the sweet creamed corn.  Not exactly French Laundry’s butter poached lobster, but very tasty nonetheless.

Crispy Maryland Soft Shell Crab ($16.50) with toasted garlic, rice noodle salad, lime vinaigrette, red curry, green papaya relish was a lightly battered fresh crab that had a nice crunch to it.  The noodles added an Asian flavor to the dish. We ate this with one other appetizer instead of an entree. More flavors and variety at the same price!

Crispy Veal Sweetbreads ($17.75) with a Poached Slow Cooked Egg, Baby Artichoke & Lobster Mushrooms, Soubise, Natural Jus was an awesome dish. Not large quantities of sweetbreads but high quality and other items to balance them out.

Monterey Red Abalone ($19.75) Fried Green Tomato, Green Tomato Tartar Sauce, Sydney’s Watercress was an very good dish dish, but very small portion. Double portion would have been more like a normal size.

Seared Sonoma Foie Gras ($25) with Almond Green Tea Cake, Ginger, Dapple Dandy Plums was an ok dish, it could have been better with better tasting foie. The other items were fine.

Caipirina ($10.50) with Sagaliba Cachaca, Sugar, Lime, Blackberry was balanced and a refreshingly good drink that was on the rocks.

Northern Halibut (Alaska) ($36) Wild Caught & Pan Roasted with Crispy Squash Blossom Stuffed with Brandade Summer Squash Risotto, Roasted Chanterelle Mushrooms, Herb Beurre Fondu was a good dish. The halibut was cooked well, but the risotto was really outstanding.  In sitting by the kitchen, we noticed that this was easily the most popular entree.

Berkshire Pork Chop (Iowa) ($34) Wood Oven Roasted with Figs Roasted with Pancetta, Brown Butter & Balsamic, Sauteed Bloomsdale Spinach, Potato Galette, Roasted Pork Jus was a very good entree. It’s almost always on the menu in one form or another, making it a signature dish. Bone-in, Decent sized portion, not overly big. Cooked just right, medium rare-ish. Figs provided good balance.

California Lamb T-Bone (Dixon) ($37.50) Wood Oven Roasted Stuffed With Oven Dried Tomatoes, Feta & Eggplant, Fondant Fingerling Potatoes with Feta Cheese Rosa Bianca Eggplant, Pistachio, Currant & Nicoise Olive Relish, Sauteed Erbette Chard with Lemon & Butter, Rosemary Lamb Jus was a huge entree. Great for meat eaters who like lamb. High quality, No gaminess.

White Sea Bass (California), ($33) Wild Caught & Pan Roasted was excellent. Better than the halibut. Cooked well, super fresh, tender, flaky, great rice bedding.

Braised Pasture-Raised Beef Short-Rib ($30) was an excellent entree. Nice  hearty quantities, tender meat, cooked to a medium rare, good sauce, and meat flavor.

Peaches & Butterscotch Desert ($10.75) Roasted O’henry peaches & Fresh Peach Sorbet, Butterscotch Coated Meringues, Buttermilk Panna Cotta had a little bit of everything and tasted great. So many different tastes made it a fun dessert.

Chocolate or Blood Orange Sorbet ($4.50 eah) was a refreshing lighter dessert. Home made of course. Chocolate was better than the Blood Orange.

Triple Chocolate Napoleon Cake ($11) banana chocolate streusel, fleur de sel caramel, cocoa nib ice cream was very rich and came warm out of the oven. Light but chocolaty.

Warm Vanilla Crepe Suzette & Fresh Blackberries ($10.50) el rey white chocolate, macadamia semi-freddo manila mangos, sauternes syrup was very good. Crepes weren’t very large but everything was balanced. Not too sweet.

OK:

Dayboat Sea Scallops ($16.50) with Lobster Mushroom Risotto, Baby Artichokes, Lemon and Herbs was just Goo. The scallop quality was high, but it did not have enough carmelization. This is a personal preference, so many people may find this dish perfect. The risotto was excellent. They should offer it on its own.

Pan Roasted Squab ($18.75) was just ok. We’ve had better tasting squab at Chinese restaurants. Pick something else unless you love squab.

Mojito ($11.50)  was a decent cocktail.  For this price it cook have been better.  Not a lot of mint.

Pans:
NONE

Boulevard’s service was above average, no need to ask for water or bread. There were some longer pauses but no slip ups. In a revisit in September 2009 the food had improved over previous visits.

We have a feeling food seems to be better if you go early and the kitchen is not in a super busy mode.

Prices at Boulevard have climbed over the years pushing it into more expensive territory and lessening its value. With prices this high, people start to compare Boulevard to places like Michael Mina and Gary Danko. The cuisine here is very accessible, no need for a menu decoder when ordering.

Boulevard: The Cookbook

Book Reservation

Overall Rating: (Excellent)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Excellent)
Service Rating:	(Excellent)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Excellent)
Value Rating:	(Good)

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

Alcohol:	Full Bar
Attire:	Dressy
Hours:	Mon - Fri 11:30am-2:00 p.m. Sun-Thur 5:30-10:00pm, Fri-Sat 5:30-10:30pm
Parking:	Street, Valet
Reservations:	Yes
Prices:	$32 - $43

Related posts:

1. Gary Danko Restaurant, San Francisco