New restaurant opened in a location in our neighborhood that’s seen turnover over the years. This is the first (i think) San Francisco location of Grand Lake Kitchen based out of Oakland. They had a soft opening last weekend and I was interested in giving it a try. I went on my run and was definitely looking for something to replenish. All the tables were full, but they had seating at the bar so I took that. Since I was at the bar, may as well order a cocktail so I had a Bloody Mary. It was fine, pretty basic. I saw they also have various mimosas and you can order a mimosa flight (couple seated next to me did that as well as an espresso martini later).
The menu is quite varied so there was no shortage of things i wanted to try. I went with the Matzoh Ball Soup and the Pastrami Benedict. The soup came in a large bowl, shallowly filled so it was the right amount of soup. Broth had decent flavor and a good amount of chicken. The Matzoh ball was very soft although it didn’t taste as much like matzoh and bit generic dough.
The pastrami benedict was something unique and I love pastrami so I was very interested. The pastrami was so so, not particularly seasoned or peppered and the bread was not the promised “hand-sliced ny rye toast”, but was white bread (sourdough?) that didn’t seem very toasted. You pretty much get what it is from the picture. The eggs were nicely poached though. So not a great benedict and disappointing for what it could have been, but I was starving after my run so I definitely ate it all.
The menu has a lot of variety on it and I’d be curious to try more, esp. with Andrea, but I don’t have particularly high hopes, but I do hope is does better in our neighborhood than the previous couple restaurants here.
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