Chapeau!, San Francisco

Reviewer: Foodnut.com Chapeau! 126 Clement Street (Between 2nd and 3rd Ave) San Francisco, CA 94118 415-750-9787 415-750-9677 (Fax) Chapeau! Website Book Reservation

One of San Francisco’s charming restaurants.. Chapeau! is a French Bistro located in the San Francisco Richmond district in the middle of the Clement Street shopping district. Chapeau! SF opened in 1996 and it means hat or wow in French.

Chef Philippe Gardelle and his wife Ellen, run this cozy restaurant and are often times seen warmly greeting guests. Chapeau! specialize in value oriented French Bistro cuisine. Special deal: You can get 2 course meal Wed/Th/Sun for $47, 3 course $55.  They used to have a parklet during the Pandemic.

• This review is a culmination of many visits over the years, the last of which was in Summer of 2024.

Decor, Vibe – Chapeau has a compact dining room, bar area, decorative paintings on the wall. The place is cozy so it gets cramped, crowded, and loud, which is part of the atmosphere. If they moved to a larger location, that would get lost. Families, couples, friends, neighborhood folks, and others were dining. Most people were in the 40-60 range.

The menu changes every couple of weeks and features a wide variety of classic French dishes. Some dishes left after the Pandemic. Many of the same items change only slightly. The multicourse prix fixe menus are of better value.  Prices have risen over the years but are still an good value.

Website Chapeau Menu

Chapeau! SF started strong with very good, friendly service then faded as the dining room filled up, a typical sign of not enough support people. This restaurant has solid food at reasonable prices.  While not as shiny as it was pre-pandemic, we would definitely come back and recommend this homey place. Also check out Routier.

Compact wine list with reasonable markup. Glasses of wine from $7, Bottles from $34, $18 corkage.

Chapeau SF Picks:

Amuse Bouche of Asparagus soup was a nice complimentary refreshing start to the meal. Their warm bread is excellent.

Mescalan Salad ($18) with Crème Dijonnaise, Red Seedless Grapes, Pistachio, Fried Camembert & Walnut Bread was very good with a slightly sweet dressing and well tossed greens. A bit over-dressed. 8/10

Traditional onion soup ($18) croutons, gruyere was another great appetizer. No cheese crust on top, but excellent onion and cheese flavor. A bit on the sweet side. 9/10

Black Cod ($44) haricots verts, potato, trout roe, coconut sauce is cooked well and tender. 9/10

Filet Mignon ($49) turnip, broccolini, spinach puree, veal sauce is incredibly small and has shrunk over the years. Almost 50% smaller and more costly. 7.5/10

Pre-pandemic Food Review
Mojito ($12) is an excellent version of the classic cocktail. Slightly on the sweet side.

Pan Seared Scallop Special Appetizer is available from time to time. A wonderful dish with a bed of well done risotto.

Trio of Salmon ($15) Gravlax, Tartar & Caviar/ Egg Mimosa, Fried Capers & Crème Fraîche/Micro Herbs with Lemon Dressing was a mismash of fish and egg goodness with some fish eggs. It looked beautiful and tasted even better.

Oysters on the half shell ($3 each or + $6 on the set menus) with red wine vinegar mignonette had 6 fresh oysters on the half shell. Hard to go wrong although the other appetizers were much more imaginative.

Traditional Escargots de bourgogne ($9.75) on rosemary skewer, warm fingerling potato salad with shallot and garlic confit, roasted garlic cream was a fun dish. The escargot were tender and did not possess any gaminess or pungent flavors. They switch the preparation with a butter parsley, garlic version seasonally.

Prince Edward Island Mussels ($12.50 appetizer, $25 entree size) Steamed with White Wine, Shallot & Parsely, Pommes Frites & Rouille was an excellent dish with lots of shell fish and top notch fries.

Mescalan Salad ($10.50) with Crème Dijonnaise, Red Seedless Grapes, Pistachio, Fried Camembert & Walnut Bread was very good with a slightly sweet dressing and well tossed greens. Excellent bread and cheese.

Salade Nicoise ($14.50) Ahi Tuna, Haricots Verts & Fingerling Potato Salad, White Anchovy & Kalamata Olive, 1:42 Quail Egg, Cherry Tomato, Mache with Lemon-Honey Aigre-Doux was a beautiful looking salad with fresh sashimi.

Porcini Crusted Veal Sweetbreads ($17/$34) King Trumpet & Oyster Mushrooms/ Baby Carrots & Turnips/ Truffle Sauce/ Fried Leeks/ White Truffle Oil were some of the best sweetbreads we have had. Very tender, very flavorful. If you love them try this dish. If you have not tried sweet breads, give this a try.

Deep-fried Tiger prawns ($13) with shredded phyllo dough, tomato and onion marmalade, herb aioli, petite legumes was excellent. Crunchy at first bite from warm to see and soft inside.

Sautéed Foie Gras Special ($25 or $8 upcharge on a price fine meal) with Apple, micro greens, had 2 medium sized pieces and was very good. Melts in your mouth with the included house made brioche. When they have the Foie Gras Au Torchon on the menu ($22), they usually can also create a sauteed version. Glad the ban is over!

Traditional onion soup ($13) was another great appetizer. No cheese crust on top, but excellent onion and cheese flavor. A bit on the sweet side.

Cote Boeuf – Bone in Ribeye for Two ($88) was available on our last visit in 2018. We had to give this a try and found that this decadent cut of meat and bone marrow would satisfy any meat lover. It is carved table side and comes with several bone marrow pieces, a stellar potatoes au gratin as well as vegetables and truffle sauce.

Filet Mignon ($34 or + $8 on the menus) Pommes de Terre Landaise, King trumpet and oyster mushrooms, sauce à la Perigourdine was one thick and super tender steak, cooked perfectly. Optional bone marrow for the hard-core! (+$5)

Cassoulet de Toulouse ($27) is a classic French dish that we needed to try. Visually not very appetizing, but a very good and hearty version with tender canellini beans, solid duck leg confit, nice sausage, and nice braised lamb shoulder.

Lightly Smoked Atlantic Salmon ($27) Olive Oil Crushed Potatoes/ Braised Green Swiss Chard/ Snow Peas/Saffron Shellfish Velouté had a large perfectly cooked piece of fresh salmon with a heavenly sauce. Sometimes they have Sauteed Striped Bass instead of salmon.

Canard au Miel & aux Épices or Duck Leg Confit & Pan Seared Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast ($29) Soft with white truffle oil/ Pears & Grapes/Peppered Duck Sauce was excellent. We asked for Medium rare but got Medium. The duck was tender and made extra great with the perfect duck fruity au jus gravy. Fruits made for a nice accent to this meaty sauce. On another visit, Chapeau they had a Peking duck special similar to this dish.

Chicken (Early Bird) was a huge portion of tender chicken stuffed. A good bet for early bird diners.

Poached Wild Alaskan Halibut ($27) in saffron broth, celery root “facon fettuccini ala creme, grilled fennel, country bread with rouille and gruyere was as the waiter termed it, a Feminine dish. Cooked correctly, subtle flavors, and deliciously accented with the noodles. Other times they will have Wild Caught Skate Wing.

California black cod ($25) braised fennel and leaks, bacon flavored fingerling potatoes, shallot confit, saffron emulsion was excellent. The fish was cooked perfectly and was very tender. The sauce was excellent and complement the fish perfectly.

Sautéed Striped Bass ($34) Fennel Purée, Bell pepper piper aide, grilled asparagus, shallot confit, jus de poulet was another well cooked dish. The accents were more on the veggie side that we expected but they did not overshadow the fish.

Pain Perdue or French Toast ($9.50) soft caramel, hazelnut ice cream was recommended by waiter and proved to be awesome. While we equated this with breakfast, this brioche was a perfect dessert and we highly recommend.

Nuage de Noix ($11) roasted pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts in a frozen Chantilly an Italian meringue was also recommended by our waiter. Another excellent dessert that looks like a big ice cream cake but proved to be a light meringue with subtle flavors in a soup of fruity goodness.

Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake, Banana Flambée/ Rum & Raisin Ice Cream/ Caramel Sauce ($11) takes about 15 minutes but is well worth it. Hot out of the oven, you cut it open and watch the chocolate filling droll out – stellar.

Tahitienne Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee ($11) had a classic super caramelized crust on top of a good sized portion of creamy and smooth custard.

Trio of Sorbet ($9.50) with Hazelnut Basket, Apple Compote had 3 homemade flavors, a robust Cabernet, a very tart passionfruit, and a more neutral lemon.

If you do not like these desserts, you can call ahead and ask for a panna cotta.

OK:

Salade Landaise ($12.50) Frisée/ Duck Confit & Smoked Duck Magret/Fingerling Potato Chips/ Classic French Vinaigrette was a huge salad tower full of greens with a nice chunk of super delicious Foie Gras on top. There was a small amount duck meat. The potatoe chips and croutons made a crunch balance out the greenery.

Pork Tenderloin (Early Bird) Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, Gratin Dauphinois, Spinach Soubise, Apple-Calvados Sauce possessed a chemically after taste that didn’t work for us. It was cooked to a fine medium rare. On our last visit in 2018, the pork was still a laggard.

Roasted Quail Stuffed with veal sweetbread & chicken ($34) was a bit too meaty. We would just order the sweetbreads separately.

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