Commonwealth

March 18, 2011 Commonwealth

Some people don’t like to travel or go out to eat alone. I don’t mind doing either. You can end up having the meal of your life sitting alone at a restaurant bar far from home. I did at Commonwealth. Located in the Mission district of San Francisco, Commonwealth is one of the hottest new restaurants in a city that is full of outstanding dining establishments. Needless to say, it was high on my list of places to eat while in SF. I made a reservation, but opted to sit at the bar for my meal. This was a decision that would pay off. I ordered the tasting which consisted of 5 courses and wine pairings. The bartender was very friendly and it was early in the evening, so he had time to chat. We talked about food and how it was the driving force behind my trip to his city. The open kitchen was located next to the bar and the bartender went and had a brief conversation with the chef. The chef personally brought out and explained each of the 9 courses I had. The tasting includes 5 courses, which is more than enough food, but I got to try nearly everything on the menu. This is the stuff dreams are made of! The night before I had a spectacular meal at Sons and Daughters, a meal so good that it set an extremely high bar. My experience at Commonwealth exceeded that newly set, yet formidable standard. There was even more imagination and creativity in the dishes and molecular gastronomy was at play, but not to the point of overkill. The chef was a mad scientist with menu development and each dish was executed to perfection. The wines were on the money and enhanced an already great meal. Every bite sung to me and, more than two hours later, I rolled out of Commonwealth a very happy and extremely full person.

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