Dine about town lunch number two was at Epic Roasthouse, a steakhouse located right on the water, next door to its seafood focused sister restaurant, Waterbar. Both restaurants offer gorgeous sweeping views of San Francisco bay and the Bay Bridge, which is beautiful by day and dazzling by night, with the current art installation of light designs starting at sunset daily.
Epic has had a reputation of being prohibitively expensive since it opened, so I’ve avoided it until now, when a deal popped up. Not that we got out of there for less than $100/piece, but that was because we sat there for four hours and ordered an absurd amount of food and alcohol. The prices were actually quite reasonable, or at least comparable to other restaurants of their caliber.
I think the design at Epic just misses the mark by a hair. It’s pretty, but it has a bit of an 80’s feel to it. It’s a really large restaurant, with huge, high, wood beamed ceilings and a fireplace in the main dining room, but it just has that wrought iron, sandy castle wall look. We sat upstairs at the bar, where the view is really spectacular and the TV’s show the Giants and A’s games (very high on the list of priorities).
My starter cocktail was the “Fire in the Hole,” a slightly spicy number composed of Hangar One Mandarin, Muddled Jalapeno, Orange Juice, and Bundaberg Ginger beer.
Our meal began with a dozen Drake’s Bay oysters, a local company which may not be open much longer due to legal troubles:
The oysters were served with cocktail sauce, mignionette, and oyster crackers. I really wanted some tabasco or horseradish, but they were understaffed and in the weeds when we got there so I just went without.
Next up, the white corn soup, ordered off the Dine About Town menu. It was absolutely perfect with intense corn flavor and just the right amount of sweetness.
We also ordered the beef tartare from the regular menu. I thought it was pretty boring, but, it was beef tartare. It’s just not really my thing.
We started our mains with a porcini and crème fraiche omelette, for a little French flair, and it was just fine. Jake was way more into it than I was, though I did really enjoy the salad of little gems dressed with vinaigrette that came with it.
The next dish was a miso brisket from the Dine About Town menu. The pile of rice under the brisket was crisp on the top and the edges, and it had this great toasty flavor, and the brisket itself was really juicy and rich. This was hands down my favorite dish. No surprise there, I’m a whore for brisket.
After that came our big ‘ol steak, with mushroom duxelle, something creamy on top (can’t remember) and brocollini.
Nothing much to say about that one, it was pretty much what it was supposed to be.
We ordered a side of fries because we obviously needed more food than we had already shoved in our fat faces. I really liked the fries, they were all soft and hot on the inside and the whole lot of them were nice and thick. I wasn’t a huge fan of the tarragon dipping sauce they came with, or what tasted like house made ketchup, but the fries themselves were great.
Next up was a cheese course, which again, was a cheese course. Nothing earth shattering.
And, for the grand finale, the chocolate mint sundae…AWESOME:
The chocolate twiel cookie was SO decadent, and the mint ice cream tasted like the herb, not like a mint flavoring. There was a delicious strawberry sauce involved as well, that struck a great balance with the extreme dark chocolate of the cookie-highly recommend that dessert.
All of that, plus two bottles of champagne, two cocktails, and probably four beers and four fernets ran us $330, before tip, $400 out the door.
I’m not sure it’s worth sitting in the restaurant and spending a ton, but with its proximity to the ballpark, Epic’s upstairs bar is a good before/after ballgame option and definitely a good spot for a tourist to grab a pop.
Epic Roasthouse: http://www.epicroasthouse.com
369 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105
HOURS:
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday 11:00-2:30PM
Lunch: Monday-Friday 11:30AM-2:30PM
Dinner: Sunday-Thursday 5:30-9:30PM, Friday & Saturday 5:30-10:00
Reservations: 415-369-9955
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