The Pig with the Sexy Stomach @ Bar Tartine

I never thought that I would have to make a reservation for brunch on a Sunday anywhere in the Mission, but such was the case yesterday on Father's Day, as I and a friend wanted to channel our inner white person and exercise our affinity for brunch. We tried Maverick on 17th in between Mission and Valencia and were told that they wouldn't have anything available for the next two and a half hours if we didn't have a reservation. The host was chivalrous enough however to recommend walking up to Bar Tartine (from the same people that brought us Tartine Bakery) and up 16th as there would be other places along the way. We arrived at Bar Tartine and their hostess told us that it would be about an hour wait. Thinking that it was going to be the same scenario for pretty much any place that we might stumble upon, we put our names down and went to The Monk's Kettle for a beer, and returned an hour later.

I don't claim to be an aficionado of interior and spacial design, but I will say that I enjoyed the minimal candor of Bar Tartine. Dark, rich, wooden tables parked against white walls, while the flooring was dark chocolate and weather hardwood. The bar appeared to be white and earthstone tonal marble. And its silhouette was lined with hanging, exposed light bulbs. Nevertheless, this post is really about the pig. So let's proceed...


My picture doesn't really do this hearty helping justice. It's an open faced pork belly sandwich with avocado, pickled jalapeno, egg salad, and shoe strings potatoes. The pork belly was succulent, roasted crisply on the exterior with layered tiers of fatty nourishment. The egg salad reminded me of my friend's deviled eggs, emanating a subtle sweetness, which made me wonder if they used japanese mayo. The avocado was lush and creamy. It was topped by some sort of micro green that was touched with a lemon vinaigrette. It was nice to get a little acid to cut the fat, but I was hoping for a little more. I thought that the jalapeno wasn't piquant or spicy enough. I could have used just a tad more heat or a sharper acidity to assist in balancing the heft of the dish. Overall, despite the desire for a hint more brightness in the sandwich, I still thoroughly delighted in it. The shoe strings were an after-thought. As you may have read, in my previous post, I love fries. However, I didn't really revel in these. They had no 'meat' to them. And they were more like potato chips. Perhaps that is what they were trying to accomplish so that the entire plate wasn't too heavy, but when hear shoe strings, I immediately think of the ones at Zuni Cafe and I smile.

Below is what my friend had. Sonoma foie gras panini with cherry and black pepper jam, brioche, mache, and a side salad. I am ashamed and embarassed to say, that I didn't even have a bite. But then again, I was never offered one. So I guess that I will simply have to visit again.