Gamine Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Gamine 2223 Union St (Near Fillmore) San Francisco, CA 94123

Gamine is a French restaurant on the Union street shopping corridor that used to be named Chez Maman but was purchased by the manager and renamed. Everything else remained the same.
They have a lunch menu and serve Sunday Brunch. They focus on more lower cost fare than many of the expensive restaurants nearby. They are know for the friendly waitstaff.

Decor, Vibe – Small homey dining room, French accent decor, with some counter seating by the kitchen. Couples, people in their 30’s, shoppers, and families were enjoying their food.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Dinner Menu

Lunch Menu

Lunch Menu

Wine List

Drink Menu

Picks:

Escargots ($10.50) in garlic butter were of high quality with a strong buttery flavor. Nice and chewy. Use the leftover garlic butter for the bread.

Warm Frisee and Duck Confit Salad ($11.50) with poached egg, lardon, white wine vinaigre was a solid salad with a decent egg and light dressing. Not enough to act as an entree.

Grilled Flat Iron Steak ($18.50) with Bearnaise sauce and french fries was cooked to perfection and tender. Nice but tiny fries. Good sauce.

Marinated Grilled Lamb Loin ($19.50) was very good, tender, not gamey, and cooked perfectly. Quantities of meat were on the low side, but lardon potato gratin was huge.

Berries & Creme Fraiche Crepe ($7) was full of raspberries and blackberries, not a lot of creme inside, so it was lighter than expected. Pretty good quantity.

OK:

Basic Burger on a french roll ($10.50) with Cheddar cheese ($1.50) with fries was juicy and cooked to our desired medium rare. The bun was a little soft, making it a little mushy with the meat juice. Solid but not excellent.

Onion Soup Gratinee ($6) had a lot of dry sherry flavor and decent cheese crusting. Soup was decent, nothing fabulous but solid.

Sauteed Tilipia ($18) with garlic spinach, tomato concasse was good not great but a solid value. Crust was nice, meat was tender, but no special flavors.

Creme Brulee ($7) was huge, especially at this price. Hard crust, lots of custard. Smooth, creamy, and good, but not as delicate as others we have had.

Spinach ($7) was average.  Nothing special.

Pans:
None

Gamine had above average service, not as attentive as we would expect such a small place, but it was adequate. Glasses of wine start at $9, with a great Baileyana.
Food was decent and prices reasonable. You can get a taste of France without flying. Gamine is like a lower cost and better quality Left Bank. Other decent places nearby include Asian fusion restaurant Betelnut.

Restaurant Map: