Park Tavern brunch in North Beach, SF

When Jonathan’s mother comes to visit from DC she let’s our gluttonous fantasies play out, because deep down, although she’s on the Paleolithic diet and only eats foods that the hunter-gatherers did in pre-historic times (talk about boring), she’s secretly pining for a plate full of butter, sodium, cream and sugar. So she takes us out to eat and makes sure both of us order the guilty pleasures she can indulge in without the guilt. It’s a Jewish mother thing I’m sure.

For me, I’m obsessed with the fact that she always picks up the tab! Thanks Bobbi!

So we took her to Park Tavern in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood for an American brunch on one of her recent trips. It was one of the places on my friend Bianca’s list who was also visiting SF that same weekend. Bianca is one of my waifishly-thin LA foodie friends who loves to travel to cities across America for a two-day weekend just to do a food-crawl to all the best places. And apparently she won the metabolism lottery!

She once flew from LA to Phoenix, AZ for the day and waited for three hours in order to get a slice of pizza at Pizzeria Bianco…I know, she’s a little meshugana, but that’s what I love about her.

So Bianca, Bobbi, Jonathan and I had brunch in North Beach at Park Tavern and boy did we indulge. The place has a modern décor (sort of reminds me of Tyler Florence’s Wayfare Tavern, coincidence?) and is very clean and crisp feeling. Lot’s of white marble, white tiles, dark woods, and simple glasses with clean lines.

One of the best things we ordered was actually on their specialty cocktail list. They call it the Boozy Smoothie and it’s made from Bulleit bourbon, bananas, and espresso. Yum! Just be prepared they serve it in a cocktail stem glass and not a large water glass like you’ll want once you try it.

The food was great and I look forward to checking out Proprietress Anna Weinberg’s other restaurant MARLOWE for dinner very soon.

Here’s what we had:

Anson Mills cornmeal pancakes, blueberry-thyme compote and Meyer lemon curd

Then we moved on to an off-menu item that you have to order if you can. They’re known for their crispy roasted brussel sprout leaves. I would venture to say they were better than a bowl of french fries.

Butter lettuce and main lobster, cucumber, shaved market vegetables and dill vinaigrette

Cast iron baked farm eggs, sautéed baby spinach , Mangalista prosciutto and Gruyere cheese

Crispy polenta cakes, wild mushrooms, poached eggs, wild arugula, truffle salsa verde and shaved parmesan

And the Boozy Smoothie (the most terrific breakfast shake I’ve ever had). And yes, I seem to have an affinity for Bulleit Bourbon….I used it to braise oxtails recently too)

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