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B44

Comments (0) By Matthew Stafford Wednesday, May 17 2000

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Another entree, romescada ($20), also served in a paella pan, bore no rice to distract us from its essence and cynosure: seafood, that mainstay of the Spanish diet. It was here in abundance -- clams, mussels, prawns, squid, monkfish -- perfectly, succulently prepared and served with a silky, addictive romesco sauce: the best dish of the evening. Runner-up: the tiny, grilled lamb chops ($19), a perfectly simple dish but memorably moist and smoky, with a dribble of aged sherry vinegar and the aforementioned pepper-eggplant escalavida on the side. And the roasted rabbit ($17.50), sparse of meat but nicely sweet and succulent for all that, was perfectly set against a vinegary, Zuni-like grilled frisée-and-bread salad studded with currants and pine nuts.

For dessert we had the comforting, Christmas-like rice and cinnamon ice cream ($6.50), soothing as a gelid rice pudding, and a ridiculously enjoyable example of interactive culinary show biz, Mel I Mato ($6.50). When you order the latter, you are presented with a plate of milky-fresh soft white cheese drizzled with honey and studded with walnuts, and a porronet of cream sherry not unlike the bota bags you use to shoot a stream of wine into your mouth after a hot day of picking grapes. You stick a forkful of cheese, honey, and walnuts into your mouth, then zap a squirt of sherry in to chase it down. Not only are the gustatory combinations delightful, it's a fine way to end an evening of Barcelona-style conviviality.

Anthony Pidgeon

The Ideal Location: B44's Jorge Riog heads alley-ward.

Location Info

Map

B44

44 Belden
San Francisco, CA 94104

Category: Restaurant > Small Plates

Region: Embarcadero

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Details

44 Belden Place (between Pine & Bush and Kearny & Montgomery), 986-6287. Lunch served Monday through Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., dinner Monday through Saturday 5:30 p.m. to midnight. Closed Sunday. Reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessible. Parking: possible (the Sutter-Stockton garage is three blocks away). Muni: 15; the 2, 3, 4, 12, 30, 42, 45, 76, and California Street cable car pass a block away. Noise level: lively

More About

Sandwiches are offered at lunchtime, the perfect hour in which to sit at a sidewalk table and soak up any available sun- beams. There's roasted pork with honey mustard and roasted onions ($9), sautéed fish with watercress and aioli ($9.50), and the Catalan BLT -- smoked bacon a la plancha with Idiazabal, lettuce, and tomato ($9). The 37-item wine list is properly Iberian, with three jerez by the glass ($5-8), a cava from Penedes ($20), vinos from Rueda, Valdeorras, Galicia, Jumilla, and Rioja ($20-48), and five after-dinner brandies and anisettes ($5.50-10). Or try a glass of the house sangria ($6.50); the sparkly cool cocktail of red wine, brandy, gin, peach schnapps, several breeds of fresh citrus, and a pinch of cinnamon is audacious and effusive, a grand slam of tradition and innovation served on the rocks -- a potable artistic statement not unlike Barcelona itself.