Alta takes a chance in Dogpatch
“Let me tell you about the menu,” our waiter at the new Alta at the Minnesota Street Project said, standing between us. “We are a no-tip restaurant and the prices allow us to pay a fair and equitable wage for all positions.”
It’s the way I wish menus would go, where what you see is the bottom-line price, although at Alta, there’s one little wrinkle in this scenario: The restaurant still charges an additional 4 percent for San Francisco employee mandates.
The best way for restaurants to handle these issues have been debated for years, and it’s not getting much closer to being resolved.
However, chef-restaurateur Daniel Patterson has been on the forefront of creating socially responsible restaurants. He made his name at Coi, his restaurant on Broadway, but turned over the kitchen to Matthew Kirkley in 2016 so he could work on his other projects, such as Locol, designed to bring healthy fast food to low-income areas.
All this is well and good, but it’s for naught if what’s on the plate doesn’t resonate. And since his Alta Group continues to expand — there’s one on Market Street, this one at Dogpatch’s Minnesota Street Project and two more in the works — there’s a lot riding on this project.
The menu is interesting, and chef Matt Brimer adds unexpected touches that go beyond what one expects from an industrial-style restaurant where most of the 50 seats are at the bar and two communal tables.
One would surmise that since it is adjacent to the Minnesota Street Project, a collection of artist galleries that opened in 2016, and because there’s a built-in audience from the condos rising around it, that it would be busy. However, on my visits the neighborhood support seemed less than it should be given the high quality of food.
At first glance the dinner menu seems almost too compact with only 14 savory dishes, and that includes bread and butter ($8) and Castelvetrano olives ($7). The lunch menu is even shorter, concentrating on bowls and sandwiches. Yet after eating my way through the menus I found something for just about everyone.
The staff also suggests sharing (naturally!), and that’s best done with the brown rice puffs ($9) on the dinner menu, a stack of thin, chicharron-like sheets served with a small ramekin of pureed avocado with Espelette pepper. They’re particularly good if you’re meeting friends and want to extend the experience. So is the cheese plate ($16), which includes three kinds of cheese, blackberry confit and Marcona almonds.
For appetizers, the local crudo ($18) is excellent, fully embellished with nectarines, turnips, quinoa and lemon verbena. The heirloom tomato salad ($15) allows Brimer to show his artistry, and you see him carefully plating items in the open kitchen in the rear of the dining room. He adds a hunk of burrata to puddles of Green Goddess dressing, and arranges anchovies, mounds of chopped green olives, cubes of fried bread and thin slices of kohlrabi. It comes together flawlessly.
Strozzapreti pasta ($26) has just the right texture and benefits from the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts and pesto, although the firm crunchy wax beans become an unnecessary distraction.
The meat courses are as lavishly crafted as the tomato salad. Roasted chicken breast ($29) is cut in thick slices that act as guideposts for lobster mushrooms, corn, Sun Gold tomatoes and lovage, which adds a celerylike flavor. Wagyu beef ($35) is similarly arranged with chunks of Early Girl tomatoes, eggplant, shishito peppers, romesco sauce and sprigs of Thai basil. There’s a lot going on, but it works.
Desserts have a soft-serve base, with the exception of the cookie plate ($5). A strawberry shortcake sundae includes fingers of lemon poppy-seed cake, with strawberries and vanilla ice cream. The candy bar sundae ($8) is a rich blend of salted caramel, toffee and dark chocolate.
The lunch menu is more casual, concentrating on bowls and sandwiches. The Alta burger ($17) moves to my favorites’ list: a thick patty stacked with aged cheddar, bacon, lettuce and bread and butter pickles. There’s also a fried chicken sandwich ($17). Warm bowls include braised beef ($13), which is a satisfying stew of beef ladled over brown rice and topped with romesco, arugula and rings of red pepper. There are also pork and spicy tofu bowls. When you consider that the 20 percent service charge is incorporated into the prices on the menu so you don’t have to add an additional tip, these are very reasonable, rib-sticking lunch deals. The cold bowls include plum gazpacho ($9) and a generous tomato and bread salad ($11) with Little Gem lettuce, cucumbers and shaved radishes in a red wine vinaigrette.
On my lunch visit the place was also nearly empty, making me wonder whether the restaurant has found its audience.
Part of the challenge of creating an all-day venue could be that this location of Alta serves only beer and wine. However, the bar crew have made up for it by concocting some clever lowalcohol drinks ($12), including four sparkling wine coolers on tap. I particularly liked the Book Worm, with Carpano Bianco, marigold, dandelion and coconut bitters. Three cocktails are made with such low-proof ingredients as Carpano Punt e Mes, Contratto Bitter, Gran Classico and vermouth. The combination of ingredients packs a punch. There’s also a collection of juices such as the Fountain of Roots ($5), which is made with yogurt, beets, carrots and serrano chiles.
Patterson has also been a trailblazer in selecting the location of his restaurants, including Coi on Broadway; Haven at Jack London Square in Oakland; and his first Alta in MidMarket.
He’s taking chances others might not take. I only hope the area grows up around it, and embraces what Alta MSP has to offer.