Alembic

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I'm a huge fan of Alembic.  Its dark, always changing inventive menu, creative drinks, and small space makes me feel like I'm in a gastropub in New York.  Their dishes are just creative enough that you want to try everything and still reorder your favorites.

Sumac potato chips with garlic-lemon yogurt for some pre dinner nibbling.  The potato chips were a little too seasoned for me, but I really liked the thick yogurt for dipping the chips into.

Jerk spiced duck hearts with pickled pineapple.  The duck hearts were chewy, but tender.  Reminds me of chicken hearts I've had at some Japanese izakayas.

Pork belly sliders with Napa kim chee and scallion aioli.  I loved this version of a slider.  Usually I dislike asian fusion items, but the spicy, crunchy kim chee complimented the super tender pork belly.



Roasted bone marrow - #74 on 2012 7x7 SF's Top 100 Eats

Roasted bone marrow has to be one of my favorite dishes.  I actively seek out restaurants that have it on the menu.  Alembic's bone marrow is excellent.  Its served with capers and whole roasted garlic cloves.  I'm not a fan of the roasted garlic pieces.  I think the texture of the roasted garlic gets lost in with the bone marrow, but bonus points for having more than two small slices of bread. 

Slow poached egg with roasted beets, green garlic, coriander, and smoked date.  I wanted to like this dish, but it seemed like it was lacking some flavor, possibly some salt too, maybe with the addition of salmon roe. 

The roasted pork loin was one of the two daily specials.  It was sprinkled with garam Marsala, but I couldn't taste it.  The apple butter was a cute play on the usual apple sauce pairing.  I find that roasted pork tends to be really dry, but this pork loin was incredible tender and I had no trouble cutting it.

Originally, I told myself only one dessert, but sometimes you just feel like having an extra dessert.  Good thing too because this dessert was surprisingly the better dessert of the two.  Carmelized bananas with panna cotta.  Really delicious.

Cheesecake in a jar with meyer lemon curd, huckleberry jam, and candied coconut.  I was hoping this would be similar to the unforgettable cheesecake in a jar I had at Ubuntu (check out my post here -), but the layers of lemon curd and huckleberry jam overpowered the cheesecake.

updated - Working my way through the 2012 7x7's SF big eat 100 things

Address:                          The Alembic

                                                1725 Haight St
                                                San Francisco, CA

Type:                                  American/casual

Popular chomps:    bone marrow
                                                 sliders
                               

Chomp worthy:          bone marrow