Cafe des Amis reinvents some French culinary classics

A A A Comments (0) By Matthew Stafford Wednesday, Nov 10 2010

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Lara Hata

Updated tete du cochon: silky shredded pig's head with a horseradish kick.

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Cafe Des Amis

2000 Union
San Francisco, CA 94123

Category: Restaurant > Breakfast

Region: Marina/ Cow Hollow

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Cafe des Amis
2000 Union (at Buchanan), 563-7700, www.cafedesamissf.com. Brunch 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat.-Sun.; lunch 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. daily; dinner 5-11 p.m. nightly; late-night menu 11 p.m.-1 a.m. Thu.-Sat. Reservations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Parking: street, valet available. Muni: 41, 45. Noise level: medium.

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The wine list is impressive: 500 bottles organized by region, almost all of them French with a few dozen locals tucked in. Burgundies predominate, but of course, along with Rhones and Bordeaux, and options range from a $24 Val de Loire sauvignon blanc to Henri Jayer's '01 Cros Parantoux at $5,000. Twenty-four are available by the glass and the half bottle. There are also 20 beers, mostly seldom-encountered French and Belgian brews, almost all of them worth investigating. And the bar shakes up several vintage cocktails with care and affection, including a potent Vieux Carré fragrant of rye, cognac, and bitters ($12) and an honest-to-God Picon Punch ($10), rich, bittersweet and warming on the tongue.

Cafe des Amis is at its best when it takes tried-and-true classics and reinvents them into something exciting enough to capture the imagination of the modern palate. The rest of the time it's just a reasonable facsimile of a rich, soul-satisfying cuisine seldom encountered in all its glory outside its homeland, and never in Cow Hollow.