Nob Hill Grille

I swung by this place on recommendation from Justin while we were looking over San Francisco's Dine About Town restaurants. The event runs for about two weeks, and participating restaurants create a two-course menu for lunch and a three-course meal for dinner. The price is fair at $34.95 for dinner per person, considering that you get an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert, with small perks depending on the venue. We picked the Grille, because the menu seemed like elevated comfort food which appealed to all of my friends.

We arrived about 45 minutes early, and the maitre'd gave us a little bit of attitude but led us down to the table that we had prepared. Since we were still waiting on three folks, we ordered a round of drinks and truffle fries to begin. These are the standard cut fries with a better truffle oil than Yard House, though I much prefer the matchstick cut. Served with mayonnaise, they cut out the trouble of asking for some aioli or something else to dip. I found that the truffle fries were tasty, but nothing spectacularly different about them compared to other restaurants.

I had the poutine, which is french fries with cheese and gravy (which ultimately seemed like a bit of a mistake after the truffle fries). The gravy was delicious and thick, strong in the stock, and the fries were a lovely repeat of the fries earlier, less the truffle oil. I had to cut myself half of my portion to take home to avoid a full stomach before dinner.

For my entree, I had the baby back ribs, mac and cheese, with chard. Here is where the Grille surpassed expectations. The meat fell right off the bones (eatable with merely a fork), the rub and sauce on the ribs was a delectable chipotle barbeque adding just enough heat to make the rib stand out, and the portioning was much more than I expected from this sort of course meal. The mac and cheese was fair, had a nice subtle cheesiness, but paled in comparison to the stark tastiness of the baby back ribs. I don't really like chard (and other spinach family greens unless it's in a sour cream and mayonnaise laden dip). I ate every last piece of meat and about half of the mac and cheese before I realized that I had dessert to look forward to.

Served as a part of the prix fixe meal, the Noval Ruby Port exceeded our expectations for something seemingly just tacked on to possibly entice further customers. It was a rich drink to finish up our night and warm the belly for the cold wind of San Francisco. Apparently, it was amazing with the chocolate cake dessert, which I did not have. Instead, I had the lemon cheesecake, which was fluffy and had strawberry bits on top to add texture and sweetness. I've been disappointed by cheesecakes lately it seems. However, with a swig of the port, the full bite of the cheesecake really did shine with its coconut-y crunch, creamy cake, and crisp fruit.

When the bill came around, it was fairly reasonable for what we had consumed, though we had a little hiccup with the credit transactions. Overall the experience was pleasant for a small corner restaurant. Definitely tasty and worth it if you're in the mood for slightly-fancier comfort food.