San Francisco

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I wisely decided to have dinner at Boulevard, located just by the Ferry Building. I have long admired the culinary vision of Nancy Oakes, who teamed up with noted designer Pat Kuleto to open the restaurant in 1993 (hard to believe!). With its Belle Epoque flair and first-class staff, the place hums with a liveliness that never distracts from the excellent food. My starter of thinly sliced ahi tuna brought together a world of Japanese flavors and textures, including pieces of fried tofu and a little salad of seaweed and turnip, all with a sherry-soy vinaigrette. The equally imaginative and beautifully prepared Berkshire pork prime rib chop came with dumplings of sauerkraut and bacon, turnips with a glistening cider glaze, apple crème fraiche as an accent, and a dressing of pork jus with sage.

When we first ate at chef-proprietor Roland Passot’s restaurant, it was a casual brasserie. Since then, he has upped his game and made the restaurant more congenial by enlarging the tables and covering the walls in wood panels and fabric. Passot sticks fairly closely to the French canon, with some interesting innovations, so look for starters such as goat cheese tatin with roasted eggplant, artichokes, tomato confit and portobello mushroom; or Dungeness crab salad on pea panna cotta with a yellow-curry tuile (savory cookie) and spiced crab vinaigrette. Main courses might be roasted king salmon with parsley gnocchi, sweet onion purée and morels; or rack of lamb with butter beans, merguez sausage-wrapped loin and lamb jus.

Chef Gary Danko has a taste for the theatrical, which manifests itself in soft taupe walls, striking artwork and dramatic pin-spot lighting. The setting is a fine showcase for Danko’s brilliant contemporary California cooking. The menu changes regularly, but starters might include lobster salad with Asian pear, mango, avocado, cashews and a zesty lime-chili remoulade; or glazed oysters with Osetra caviar, zucchini pearls and a lettuce cream. Main courses could be branzini with fennel purée, Niçoise olives and a saffron-orange emulsion; or a seared filet of beef with Yukon gold potatoes, Swiss chard, roasted pepper-eggplant marmalade and a soy-mustard glaze. The cheese service is exemplary, and the wine list features more than 1,200 selections.