Sherman's Food Adventures: Tartine

Tartine

If you know me by now, I am a sucker for really cool signage on storefronts. It has already burned me a few times since the sum doesn't necessarily add up to all the parts. I might as well buy everything I see on TV commercials then since I do this with some restaurants. Oh wait, I did that once. I was falling asleep watching TV and saw one of those commercials advertising compilation CDs (yes, it was a while ago) of the 80's. Half in a daze and listening to A Flock of Seagulls, I vaguely remember ordering it over the phone (yes, as I mentioned, it was a long time ago) because if I acted within the next 20 minutes, I'd get a bonus CD! Of course they would, for the 20 minutes after that and so on... Hey, at least the music was good, nothing beats a Funky Cold Medina!

Today, we were in the search for Tartine out on Guerrero; but we weren't sure if we found the right place. After all, it had an all-black exterior without any visible signage as we were driving by it. We did noticed the large amount of people congregating outside and made the assumption that it must've been the right place. Even with the availability of parking along the median of the road on Sunday, it was not the easiest place to find a spot. When we finally did, we then needed to lineup. Yup, Tartine is a busy place, especially on weekends. For me, I had to come here, it's a must visit for a foodie while in San Francisco. Too bad I was already a bit full from breakfast, otherwise I would've tried the Croque Monsieur (which I already had earlier at Lulu). Instead, I picked up a collection of tarts to go.

The star of the bunch had to have been the Lemon Tart. Within the paper thin walls of the buttery crust resided a sweet zing of lemon in a silky smooth sabayon. This was indeed a OMFG moment. I know it's only a tart; but a darn good one at that. Knowing I had way too many tarts for myself, I gave Sal the Chocolate Hazelnut Tart and the Frangipane Tart. She has lived in France before and knows a few things about French food. I knew she could appreciate the precision and delicate nature of these baked products. From all accounts, she was not disappointed. Although she did remark that the chocolate tart was quite dense and the shell was a bit hard. She said the shell was too cookie like and she needed a fork to pierce it. She much preferred the frangipane since it was fruity and much lighter to eat.

For the amount of pastries I purchased, I thought the price was quite reasonable. Moreover, the tarts were huge! I particularly liked the lemon tart. One of the best tart shells I've ever had. Mind you, not all the tarts were winners, I had also gotten a Banana Cream Tart and some other pastry that I don't remember; but it was a fruit cake with crumble on the top. I gave that one to Rice-a-Ronnie and she didn't really like it. I never got to try the cream tart; but it sure looked good. Whatever the case, you gotta visit Tartine if you're even in San Fran.

The Good:
- Really big pastries, especially the tarts
- Supposedly great savory items, that I didn't get to try this time!
- Reasonably-priced

The Bad:
- Minimal amount of seats
- Hard to find parking around there

Tartine Bakery on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

KimHo said...

Although the descriptions are good, I will have to ask one thing: Assuming you have been to Thomas Haas, how do they compare?

Sherman Chan said...

Honestly, I felt that Thomas Haas and Tartine are pretty much the same. Tartine probably has the advantage of being there longer and more well known across North America. But comparing lemon tart to lemon tart, I think the crust at Tartine is better; but the filling was pretty much a wash. I liked both.

Unknown said...

Oh yum - sounds heavenly! It's been fun hearing about your SF food adventures, especially of the dessert kind!

trisha said...

wow, in the picture of the diplay case... bottom left corner to the right of the coconut looking things. what is that? looks amazing!!

Anonymous said...

A OMFG moment-inducing tart? Dang. I don't like sweets much, but you even got ME intrigued. These look like the bomb!

Sherman Chan said...

Yah I know, I'm not even a dessert guy, but that was one good tart!

Thanks Nina!

Trisha, I'm not sure what the coconut thing was, but it probably a coconut cream cake? It's probably good... LOL..

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