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Comments (0) By Greg Hugunin Wednesday, Mar 8 2000

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If you're a fan of saltados -- a sort of stir-fry invented by Chinese Peruvians -- the saltado de vegetales with shiitake mushrooms ($10.95) may prove worthwhile, though the mélange of tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, french fries, and onions may also resemble something you'd whip up at home. If, on the other hand, you gravitate toward all things macho, you should try the pescado a lo macho ($12.50), a pan-fried fish smothered in a rich, tomato-based sauté of bay scallops, mussels, and calamari. Of course, this item did have one problem when we visited -- the lack of a pan-fried fish. Which seems an odd thing to omit, but, like I said, Fina Estampa isn't the most polished restaurant.

We tried only one Spanish dish, a traditional paella valenciana ($13.95): mussels, clams, shrimp, chicken, and sausage over saffron rice, served in shallow, black, two-handled pan. The paella seemed bland compared to its Peruvian counterparts, but got better with each bite. In the end, though, it didn't satisfy, just like every other goddamned worthless restaurant-made paella I've ever eaten. This is because, as everyone knows, the best paella in the world is made by my father, although 20 years of tinkering (the addition of tomato broth and basmati rice, in particular) has so bastardized the dish it now resembles a saffron-infused cioppino.

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La Fina Estampa

1407 Bush St.
San Francisco, CA 94109

Category: Restaurant > South American

Region: Nob Hill/ Russian Hill/ Fisherman's Wharf

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Details

1100 Van Ness (at Geary), 440-6343. Open for lunch Tuesday through Thursday from noon until 2:30 p.m., dinner from 5 until 9 p.m. Open Friday through Sunday from noon until 9 p.m. Reservations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Parking: not so good. Muni: 2, 3, 4, 42, 47, 49, 76. Noise level: moderate

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We finished with two very spare desserts: a flan ($2.50) that was adequate and no more, like most flans, and delightful pair of alfajores ($1.50), powdered-sugar-dusted Peruvian cookies with a layer of rich, brown dough sandwiched between them. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to weigh us down, either, leaving room for a nightcap and tall tales at my favorite near-Tenderloin Irish bar, Mulligan's.

If you like the soundtrack from Trainspotting, you'll undoubtedly feel at home at 1176 Sutter St. (at Polk), where that particular CD has been featured on the jukebox at least once every time I've visited. Mulligan's didn't used to have Absolut mandrin, but now it does, and, realizing I'd missed my daily dose of vitamin Q (quinine), I ordered a pair -- with tonic, of course -- then guided wise Olya to the back of the room and begged her to ply me with more stories of Central Asia. Which she did, and as the mandrin flowed the conversation turned inevitably to Russia. There, as you may know, they also drink vodka -- unflavored, straight up, downing it in a frantic gulp like the medicine it once was. You simply can't get the good stuff here, Olga told me, but she said she was nonetheless taken by this sweeter, more sippable version.

Or at least I think that's what she said, since, every so often, the stereo at Mulligan's is cranked to a volume that rattles the follicles right out of your scalp. When our hearing returned, I told her this was simply Mulligan's style. Actually, though, I imagine no explanation was needed, because, as mentioned above, Olga has traveled quite a bit, and seen remarkable phenomena -- or at least, phenomena more remarkable than anything a Tendernob Irish bar could produce.