Flower of Frisco
Haight-Ashbury, or the Haight, as locals call it, is a pastel-splashed, tie-dyed neighbourhood of San Francisco stuck somewhere in the 1960s. New Age shops sit next to carrot-cake cafés and the people still wear flowers in their hair. This wasn't much of a culinary centre, until Eos came along.
With the blossoms of Golden Gate Park within sniffing distance, the 70-seat restaurant, with a 30-seat wine bar next door, competes with the rumble of streetcars rattling by. Even on a Monday night it's packed, to the tune of about 350 covers.
The food is constructed, rather than cooked, sometimes rising six inches off the plate. So intense are the colours of the ingredients and so artistically arranged, that it comes as no surprise that chef-proprietor Arnold Eric Wong had always wanted to be an architect before baking for the family deli.
He started developing his own style as sous chef at Café Kati, another San Francisco hot spot. At the same time he produced the spin-off family business Skones, a baking company that still supplies 65 accounts with more than 1,400 scones a day, giving Wong the financial back-up for Eos. He opened Eos with his brother Richard in December 1995.
Blackened Asian catfish sits with a creamy lemon grass risotto ($14.95); a huge, green papaya spring roll comes with a peanut miso sauce and plum kumquat chutney ($7.50); juicy shiitake mushroom-stuffed, thick-skinned dumplings are eaten with san bai su, a rich, reduced, soy-based sauce ($8.50).
Accompanying vegetables (the mini varieties) are cooked for seconds in the steamer to warm them through, and they arrive still crunchy and whole. Skinny green beans are tied in a reef knot. Yard-long strands of golden and red beets, daikon and turnip naturally shape themselves into nests after being shaved finely with a mandolin, then soaked in water. The beets make an appearance on many of Wong's dishes and have become his signature. Diners seem to have fun dismantling them, eating them with spaghetti-like dexterity.
Wong tries not to use hothouse-grown produce, which he says "lacks flavours". But he goes against the tide of using exclusively local produce, neither does he make a big thing about seasonality. "I like to think food is not forced on to the menu just because tomatoes, for example, are at the height of the season. Seasonality is not so important to me."
Wong will look to Chile, Brazil and Mexico for produce from the smaller supplier because "we feel they take care of us better". He would rather buy venison from New Zealand, or guinea fowl from eastern Canada for its "consistent level of quality" than look closer to home.
Like many of San Francisco's eateries, and like much of the West Coast, the kitchen at Eos is open. Diners can see the 15-strong brigade cooking seven nights a week under the earthquake beams that support the building - a practical necessity that lends the restaurant an industrial chic. Eos has polished, black granite table-tops, canister lights, stainless steel, and softwood floors. Napkin rings are metallic holders made from hose clamps.
The 400-strong wine list is almost as legendary as the food. Debbie Zachareas, wine manager (sommelier), has created a list that includes more than 35 by-the-glass wines and 20 half bottles. Weekly wine "introductions" and tastings are held on Thursday evenings in the wine bar.
Eos Restaurant and Wine Bar, 901 Cole Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. Tel: 00 1 415 566 3064
