TWO - Hawthorne Lane's Reinvention

Last week, I had a date with a cute boy named C.

(Yes, that C. Practice patience, and perhaps you'll get the full story.)

I was picking him up at the airport, and we wanted to have a late-ish, low-key but delicious dinner. I'd heard a gentle bit of positive buzz about Two, and was able to get us a reservation for 9:15pm. Any menu that's friends with roasted marrow bones is a friend of mine.

A quick perusal of the "50 under $50" wine list found us a bottle of As Laxas Albarino ($34). This particular Albarino was nicely crisp, with a floral nose and lots of food-friendly acidity to make a great pairing for the seafood-heavy menu.

We started with Eastern fluke, over celery and cornichon salad ($9) -- sweet and tender slices of the freshest fluke were a nice appetite whetting bite. Moving on to Crispy-fried Hama Hama oysters, celery root remoulade and Slow roasted marrow bones, tomato stew, crusty bread (both $11), we got a nice idea of the breadth of the kitchen. The oysters were served on the half-shell, set it a rock salt bed as though they were raw. The remoulade with light and flavorful, far from the overly greasy remoulades that so often drown the flavor of delicate shellfish. Meanwhile, the marrow bones, while perhaps a bit on the smaller side than I would have preferred, were well-seasoned, and the tomato stew that accompanied them was incredibly rustic and delicious. We couldn't help but sop up every last drop with the crostini that were proferred.

The Duck confit pizza, caramelized onions, Swedish fontina, sage ($13) was heaven. Really. The crust was perfect. The duck? Perfect. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. Just one of the best dishes I've had all year. In fact, I took three slices home for lunch the next day, and never even had to heat them up. A GREAT pizza. C ordered the Bacon and egg raviolo ($9) which he proclaimed delicious, even though it had to sit several feet away from me on account of my runny-egg-yolk phobia.

We finished things off with the Cast iron pan half chicken, garlic, Italian parsley, quinoa salad ($16). Flavor-wise, this dish was firing on all cylinders -- crispy, delicious skin, great pairing in the quinoa, etc. Unfortunately, it was so badly oversalted that our tongues were burning after two bites. Regardless, I'd easily give the chicken another shot because it was so incredibly well-cooked.

David Gingrass has done a phenomenal redesign of the old Hawthorne Lane space, bringing it up to date with cork walls, sexy lighting, lots of warm woods and metals -- it's just an overwhelmingly warm and inviting space. Meanwhile, Bridget Batson has modernized her menu while keeping a sense of the familiar. Plus, it's incredibly reasonable as small plates in this city go.

Service was lovely, and even though we shut the place down and the staff were ready to go home, we were encouraged to take our time and enjoy the last of our wine. Two is one of those very rare, but often-sought restaurant reincarnations done right.

TWO
22 Hawthorne Lane
San Francisco, CA
415.777.9779

Tags: Food, Food + Wine, San Francisco, Restaurants

Comments

[sam]

you are kidding me, right?
The best pizza, nay dish, all year and you had no less than THREE slices left to take home?! You need to take me next time, I'll polish off your leftovers! I used to live a block or two from Hawthorn and for some reason never quite seemed to make it there. Maybe now I will. I've been hearing a few good things.

Ok - I am confused about your remoulade as there are two types - the French white style most commonly salad with celery root, mustard, mayo and the Louisiana style red sauce served commonly with shrimp. I am not sure which one you are referring to as the one commonly served with shellfish isnt the same as the one that commonly contains celery root? SOunds like you had the French style one to me.

xxxx

[Melissa]

Runny egg yolk phobia? ...I just...would never have guessed that about you.

[Catherine]

Thanks for going -- I've been eager to read an early first review. Sounds like good stuff to me; maybe another Coco500 in the making, now that Coco's service has gone to shit?

[C]

The food, the wine, and most of all, the COMPANY, were absolutely fantastic!

I’m very much looking forward to our dinner tonight…

C

(Yes, THAT C – shhh, tell no one!)

[sam]

catherine - I wouldn't give up on Coco500 just yet - they just had a management change and I am hopeful they are just teething problems in the couple of weeks after that happened, plus I think it was the front of house that were at fault in particular, not the servers themselves. I think what they did to me and to NS and to the other customers we saw wasn't great behaviour, but I am still willing to give them another chance. They actually comped us when it happened to us, so not everyone is falling through the gaps. I guess I just love them SO much, I have the wool pulled over my eyes.

[Tea]

Sometimes chapter two is even better than chapter one...don't you think?

Okay, I'll be quiet and patient now.

[Shuna]

did you touch the lamps? they're made of...... coconut! (not a dirty joke, a fact.)

I had a nice meal there as well with three other people. But... we ordered a lot of desserts because they sounded so good and they were ALL underwhelming. Also only one seasonal fruit dessert, which, whatever, but it didn't match the lively savoury menu.

will sit at the edge of my seat for "more."

[Allison]

Ooooo, good luck with C!!!

[sam]

Ok - ate there last night and to food was disappointing.
I can't quite belive we have dined at the same place.
To me this is no Coco500 in the making, not even close.
Loved the space though and the cocktails.
Next time maybe I'll just go for a drink I think.
I will give it another try, but perhaps I;ll give them time to settle down first.

[Fatemeh]

Well THAT'S a bummer!! Are you going to tell us more?

[sam]

well - I wouldn't review it officially yet because I would have to give it at least one more chance. But if you read my personal food diary (there is a link to it in the about section of my blog roll) - that is where I now keep all my dining notes. And indeed I have dining notes for TWO, unedited, free flowing, not well written, just a recap to aid my memory in the future. I saw Amy at the weekend and she had been too, with a similar reaction to me.

[Amy]

Of the 5 or so dishes we ordered only one was anything special. I found the homemade pasta a bit tough, the marrow bones were overpowered by the tomato confit and the chopped salad was good but a very small portion. The best dish was a spaghetti with uni and I would go back for that one, but not for a while. I think they still need time to get it all right.