The Commonwealth of Creative Deliciousness

Published on Friday, September 10, 2010, by Cicely Wedgeworth / Edit Post

Commonwealth may be run by Bar Tartine alums, but the food is reminiscent of Commis—at a lower price point, says daveena.

"Dinner here was simply marvelous: it is perhaps among the best meals I've ever had in San Francisco," raves SouthToTheLeft.

The food is fresh, seasonal, and innovative without sacrificing tastiness. Like the restaurant's substitute for a breadbasket: light and crisp house-made potato chips with seaweed flakes. Then there are the great starters. "The tomato salad was genius," SouthToTheLeft says. "Full of heirloom tomatoes, five different kinds of basil, black olive crumble, smoked bread, some sea salt, and a deliciously light and creamy Idiazabal cheese; all of the flavors came together to produce a near orgasmic bite." Rich and refreshing chilled summer squash soup is another knockout, hounds say, with extra dimension from vadouvan and fried blossoms.

Guinea hen with prawns, spinach, artichoke, and a chocolate-almond emulsion "was delicious in every way," says Porthos, adding, "the hen in fact was as well cooked as Manresa’s version a few nights later."

"The squid stuffed with marrow and tamarind pork was delicious, and tasted surprisingly like squid stuffed with juicy, delicious hamburger," says ...tm.... Both the uni-corn (get it?) custard and the light, creamy gnocchi with truffles highlight caramelized corn. daveena notes that the gnocchi is a dead ringer for a dish formerly served at Bar Tartine, but it doesn't mesh well with the rest of the menu.

For dessert, don't miss the cinnamon mille-feuille with house-made cardamom marshmallow and honey ice cream.

There is a tasting menu for $60 ($90 with wine pairings), with $10 going to charity, but singleguychef notes that the regular menu seems like a better way to go: "You get a bit more portion[wise] and there are just as creative dishes on the regular menu [when] compared to the tasting."

Commonwealth [Mission]
2224 Mission Street, San Francisco
415-355-1500

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  • Food in the South East

    I wish I could pour us all insane and say it’s over. It would be nice to use my measly talents and…”kapoof!”…all the rhetoric would be gone. Maybe it doesn’t help that I am without a beer. My Mohawk is per-fuck-sober-fectly shaven…and I’m sitting here now with a Coke, some Black Olives, and that Cabot “Seriously Sharp” Cheese. Is it possible that I could get any more...+READ

    Food in the South East

    I wish I could pour us all insane and say it’s over. It would be nice to use my measly talents and…”kapoof!”…all the rhetoric would be gone. Maybe it doesn’t help that I am without a beer. My Mohawk is per-fuck-sober-fectly shaven…and I’m sitting here now with a Coke, some Black Olives, and that Cabot “Seriously Sharp” Cheese. Is it possible that I could get any more useless and mundane than this?…oh yes. I can. I have a ton of homework to do, a shitload of financial aid refund money to spend, but all I can think about is South Eastern Pulled pork BBQ. I don’t even know if I can call it that. I spose I should call it Pulled pork BBQ from the region in which I live in and it’s the only way I have ever had it. A vinegar based monstrosity of boiled to death, ultra fatty and completely bad for my current Cholesterol and triglyceride levels; pork product. Oh yes, did I mention that this crap is truly delightful. It’s Wonderful. It has become the glass of my 30′s. Yes, I would steal your grandmother’s little rascal for just 5 ounces of this life giving, life taking sweet and, sometimes spicy, mound of piggy flesh. If my doctor was dead, she would have just done a triple axle in her grave. Good thing for me, she’s not dead. In fact, in about 2 months…she’ll find herself prescribing me a higher dose of that Lipah..something.. medicine that is spose to keep me alive, at least, through culinary school.

    Take 8 pounds of Pork Butt, throw it into a pot. Cover it with enough White wine vinegar, white vinegar, red wine vinegar, red wine, oregano, thyme, cayenne, red pepper flakes, garlic, black pepper, SALT (oh yes. Lets throw some more sodium in there!) , Franks, Brown Sugar, Cumin, Chile pepper…and let us not get silly about from what region the chile pepper comes from or what pepper itself it comes from…just BUY Chile pepper, and, oh yeah…some water. Cover it with plastic wrap and tinfoil. Stick a lid on it and boil it for about 40 minutes. Then throw it into the oven…container and all…at about 400F and forget about it for the next 6 hours. Pull it out; at this point…you should only need tongs. Yank it out, shred it up. Cook the remainder of the fluid down by half, skim, and put all of that satanic unhealthy crap together in a container to refrigerate it. Do Not forget to eat more than your fill. Welcome to the wonderfully gluttonous world of great food in which I live. Shove it down your throat, your neighbors throat, you kids’ throat. Freeze some of it to be able to give away the demon food as Christmas presents. It IS and WILL taste just like all of the “Best Pulled Pork BBQ from the region in which you live”.

    PS, Don’t bother snobbing it up and trimming the fat off before you cook it. EAT THE FAT TOO. It won’t kill you any time soon. God knows…If we forget about the fat, then we, as culinary students, will have forgotten what all of Escoffier’s work was about…TASTE! Hell, after that, light a big one and have a glass of whiskey and watch ESPN. It’s gotta be healthy for everyone.-COLLAPSE