Too Cool for Skool?
This exciting new restaurant in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood is the kind of Skool even the worst speller will love. Implying a school of fish and all it has to offer to a discriminate diner, the restaurant boasts a menu of earthly [watery] delights.
For moi, it all started with Chef’s choice oysters on the half-shell, Beau Soleil, which I guess means “beautiful sun” in French. Coming from New Brunswick, Canada, these lovely mollusks, creamy in both color and texture, just fill your mouth with sunshine. I realized we were on the same page with the Chef, so I pressed my dining companion to order Chef’s special appetizer. It was poppy seed-crusted albacore tuna, served over shaved zucchini and topped with raspberry-pickled quail egg yolk. In a mini festival of textures, bursting seeds played well around meaty fish slices and a gooey egg yolk.
My Squid Ink Spaghettina, came in a white bowl, enlivened with colors of garlic tomato compote and Japanese red curry. Tiny rings of Monterey squid, whole white shrimp, and baby octopi peeked through the delicate black noodle topped with green onion shavings. Good thing our server didn’t forget to bring me a spoon!
A side of French fries was served with delightfully-hot Japanese 7-spice sauce, and a Japanese eggplant, fried on its skin to produce the lightest non-greasy flesh, was topped with a snow daikon radish for an addictive spike.
My dessert of lavender panna cotta came with a sprig of lavender across the cloud-white island of pure joy. It melted in my mouth before I realized that I came this close to licking my plate.
Owner Andy Mirabell, Executive Chef/Partner Toshihiro Nagano, Director of Operations Olia Kedik, and Dessert Chef Hiroko Nagano are the two husband-and-wife couples behind the magic of Skool. Its cozy yet spacious dining room has a modern feel with floor-to-ceiling windows, an open kitchen, refurbished walnut tables, a bar with a tall communal table, and a nice bamboo-framed patio. And what a relief for a jaded San Francisco motorist: free parking on the street—come one, come all! Skool Restaurant and Bar is open for lunch Monday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and nightly for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
It is located at 1725 Alameda Street, at the corner of De Haro, San Francisco.
For more information and reservations visit their website or call 1-415-255-8800.
