Hoffmann’s Grill & Rotisserie is another place I reviewed over the holidays that hasn’t been around forever, and certainly isn’t what you’d call a dive. But it is owned by two very local women, Chef Karen Hoffmann and her partner Chandra Asken (by day, a computer scientist/fundraiser for the San Francisco Symphony, and by night, front-of-house/manager extraordinaire). Hoffmann’s has been around for a little over a year in this incarnation – it was called Company earlier and Hoffmann cooked there as well.
Chef Hoffmann brought a rotisserie oven to the restaurant, which glows warmly and mesmerizingly behind the bar, along with her house-made breads, pasta, and sausage. There’s always a bird or two, or a roast of some sort on the rotisserie. This is a comfort food, neighborhood-y, casual place, and yet it has a definite upscale feel to it. Industrial warmth, perhaps, is what springs to mind. And you’d not be out of line to call it an American Bistro.
The food isn’t dirt cheap, but it isn’t crazy either, and the portions are quite generous.
Our first meal here, we found the quality of the cooking to be a bit uneven. A friend and I split everything, and started out with the Puget Sound Mussels in a white wine & red pepper broth. The mussels were drizzled with a lemon aioli but were otherwise quite oddly bland themselves. Spoonfulls of the broth also revealed a lemony taste, but no evidence of red pepper, and even though you could see thinly sliced garlic, the broth was not at all garlicky.
The broth was actually nice, and the mussels tastier if dipped in the broth, but the dish would have been better if we’d had a couple of slices of toasted bread to dip into it, or maybe frites.
At that point, we hadn’t yet noticed the sign on the menu that bread was available on request, but request we soon did. We were so happy to learn we’d gotten some of the only two loaves Chef Hoffmann makes a day. This was quite a wonderful levain, served with butter on our first visit, and with extra virgin olive oil on the second.
Next up was a duck salad, with a good amount of very flavorful, tender and juicy duck, roasted beets, grapefruit sections, radishes, and arugula, in a tart dressing I couldn’t quite identify but loved .
Duck is good food. This salad could easily be a meal by itself (this is only the portion I put on my plate.)
The wine list carries mostly small, California producers, but also some very good Argentinian and Chilean reds.
We also split a panisse – a chick-pea flour cake thingy. I have to say, I’ve had a version of this dish at Frances (another restaurant in the Mission), and I’ll order it even when it doesn’t appear on their menu, it’s that good, but Hoffmann’s was a bit of a disappointment. It looked more like tofu logs and, at least on the exterior, parts were burnt almost black. Strangely, though, they did not taste burnt, except every few bites or so you’d get a bit of a charred flavor. Our server that night even admitted that sometimes they come out very dark. They were mostly a textural thing, without much flavor, except for the romesco sauce they sat on, which tasted mostly like Tabasco. This was my least favorite dish of the two visits I had, and while I’m describing it as if it were horrible, it wasn’t; it was just unattractive and not a wow.
We also ordered the spätzle – a kind of soft noodle in the shape of tiny birds (or at least, that’s where it gets its name) – which is one of my favorite dishes to order anywhere. Sadly, this evening they were dry.
I know, they don’t look dry – they’re glistening! They had really good flavor, paired with butternut squash, gruyere, and crispy sage, but there was not enough cheesiness to them, and they were simply dry.
For our entrée…
…we split the beef brisket. Yes, we got a LOT of food. I loved this – cooked on the rotisserie, it was tender, a bit smoky, fatty enough for me, with a warm potato salad underneath, shallots and delicious broccolini, and a tangy horseradish cream over the top. Not pretty, but a great, homey dish, where all the components really worked together. I would come back and split this with the BF next time, with a lighter salad, and be very happy.
Being with a friend who wanted it, we also had dessert – an apple crisp with house-made cinnamon ice cream. Salty/sweet, really good. I love that there are so many house-made items here. I was maybe a tad too full to appreciate it as much as I could have, but it was delicious.
On my second visit, our server steered the BF and I to a few things, which was greatly appreciated. This time, we loved everything from start to finish.
To begin with, he suggested a really good, inky Malbec from Argentina, of which I had two.
He also suggested the grilled romaine lettuce salad, with avocado, tiny toms, radishes, and buttermilk dressing. Oh my! What a fantastic salad! Such a nice, smoky char on the still-warm lettuce, with the creamy/tarty dressing. I don’t think I could come back here and not order this.
We also ordered the roasted multi-colored cauliflower, which almost tasted – deliciously so – like it had a little anchovy mixed into it, but our server said no, that was just the capers. The dish was lemony, with a good amount of Parmigiano. Fantastic. This was maybe my favorite dish of the evening, in an evening in which everything was great.
The BF’s deluxe burger, served on a house-made pretzel bun and topped with bacon and gruyere, was maybe a tad underdone for his taste – we ordered it medium rare, it came a bit closer to rare. Still, very tasty, with nice house-made sweet pickles and pickled carrots. Perfectly done fries. Definitely a good burger (although those onions on top would have been a bit underdone for my taste).
Note of cuteness that we appreciated: the letter “H” for “Hoffmann” is emblazoned on her pretzel rolls.
For my entrée, I went with a special that night, a game hen cooked in the rotisserie, with spätzle (I took a chance!) with gruyere and chestnuts. The spätzle this time came under the chicken, and was very moist and flavorful – almost mushroomy. The dish tasted like Thanksgiving. The bird itself was gorgeous, spatchcocked, well-seasoned, and had a bit of frisee and pickled not-hot peppers strewn over the top.
Not only is “spatchcocked” a fun word to say at the table, it’s a great way to cook a bird for optimal all-around crispy skin.
The BF said that he could see being a regular haunt for us (high praise from him). I agreed. The food was mostly wonderful, and cooked with care, especially on this second visit; the prices were decent; and the service warm and welcoming. We’ll be seeing you again, Hoffmann’s!
Hoffmann’s Grill & Rotisserie
1000 Guerrero St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 374-7479