Ironside – SoMa
680 Second Street (betw Brannan & Townsend)
San Francisco , CA
(415) 896-1127
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VdV Rating: 2.5
Food: Ca/american
Ambiance: Casual
PRO: Cool space, nice people, promising lunch spot
CON: Need to work out some kinks, upgrade the pizza, some people may not like the queue-up routine
Alrighty then. We’ve hit this cool new SoMa spot a couple times now. And we previously talked about how we think the decor is groovy, so I’ll hop right into the chow. We were actually the first paying customers opening day Monday AM, and my buddy Daav and I perused the breakfast menu.
People, do not expect french toast, biscuits and gravy and 3-egg omelets. No si-ree, Festus. This is a ‘grab a snack’ place, with stuff like granola, yogurt, cookies (my kind of breakfast!) coffee (nope, no tea yet) and these things called the Evil Breakfast Bun ($2). Ironside, ya got me at Evil. The Evil Bun is a maple roll with bacon in it. You evil, evil bun you. You need a good spanking. Ooops, sorry.
So, was it so dee-lish it was evil? Well, it’s kind of puck-ish, but I really don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just a dense pastry. Slightly larger than a hockey puck, more maple colored, and sweeter than a puck. But, with about the same amount of bacon flavor that a puck has. Meaning, not so much. I mean, I DIG the concept. Taking sweet and savory to the max. Expecially (don’t you hate people that pronounce it like that?) in the AM. It’s just that the sweetness completely put the smack-down on any flavor of pork. “So, with all those little nit-picky complaints did you only have a couple bites, VdV?” Nope, we both polished the entire buns off!
They also brew Four Barrel coffee. VdV does not imbibe in the brew, nor do we consume caffeine. Our hands are shaky enough as it is! But taking one for the team, as is our Mantra, I had a cup of decaf. This is prolly up there with Blue Bottle or whatever. Like I say, not into coffee that much, but this was strong, not bitter at all and if I liked coffee, I’d love this stuff.
So for the AM wrap-up? Ironside is all in all a great spot for an ‘over coffee and a bite meeting’, doing a little work, or just hanging. Its a very comfortable spot. NOTE: No Wi-Fi yet, so pack your own extra long ethernet cable. OK, or WiFi card for you show-offs.
Then, probably looking like a pathetic loser or new restaurant stalker, a couple hours later showed up again, this time though for lunch. And, with a different friend, Josh. That’s right, we have friendS.
As I forgot to mention above, this is a queue up, order, take a number and grab a table type spot. And the line can get a little long, but really no longer than just sitting down and waiting for someone to wait on you. But it can be weird, standing in line, feelin’ like a number, all that jazz. But not us! So we ordered the Cheese Steak Sandwich ($10) and the Ironside Pizza ($13 for large, $8 for small`) (aka Margarita). I think I freaked the poor woman out when I demanded a Marg, then I looked again at the menu and translated for her – simply, The Ironside.
The food arrived in 15-20 minutes or so. Not bad for a brand new place! I’m sure everything will get streamlined pronto. So, the pizza. Should we have ordered a Margy pie on opening day…Hmmm. Hells yeah! The verdict? Well, beside the fact we’re pizza bitches, that is? I’ll be completely fair: My bud Josh thought the pie was just dandy. And Josh is probably much more representative of your normal person than me. I will give it another try in a few weeks but I wasn’t a fan of the opening-day pie, and here’s why: (Hey I just made a rhyme!)
First, the crust was relatively thin. Yay, that was a good start. They use corn meal, which I’d rather not have, but I don’t mind it. It can help give it a crisp crunch. But it was a combination of both a little tough as well as chewy, not crisp. Waahhh! Next, the sauce. Well, it was very salty. Salt lick salty. And that saltiness made it too…salty. OK, you get the idea. The salt wiped out any other flavors the sauce may have had.
The cheese, you ask? (with bated breath I might add). Hey I wasn’t expecting, and in their defense they did not promote, Bufala Mozzy or anything fancy. So it was mozzarella cheese, but definitely like you get in a basic pizzeria. Not blobs or anything, more like strings or shredded. Feel me? They did put basil leaves on, which I like. They were put on before they fired it, I prefer after.
Key Ingredient Distribution? Although I wasn’t a big fan of the ‘I’ part the ‘D’ part was OK.
Next, the Cheese Steak Sando. I’m not from Philly. My friend (yes we’re up to 3) Elliot would probably pull his well-coiffed hair out about them calling this a cheese steak sandwich, even though they didn’t prefix it with ‘Philly’. So I guess they can make this sando whatever they want, no trademark, patent or copyrights in place to protect it. But y’know what, Elliot? At least they make one!
Why’d Josh and I both enjoy it? First it came on a nice, soft, fresh hoagie-ish bun, but with sesame seeds. The steak was good quality, tender and sliced thin and layered pretty thick. It coulda used a few more onions, and did lack enough cheese to make it a
righteous cheese steak. For the love of Christ where’s the Muenster!? But I’ll give ’em this: It tasted good! I’d get it again.
Another friend…Shit. I can’t lie anymore. It’s an acquaintance, OK?! Said he really enjoyed the Ahi Tuna Nicoise salad. Generous serving of fresh tuna on a bed of roses. Sorry, mixed greens. We’ll try it next time and letcha know.
Bottom line? I don’t think Joshua will ever dine with me again. I think I sucked the enjoyment out of every bite he took!
So the real bottom bottom line? We hit these guys after only a 1-week soft opening. There are so many things to bring together. Nice people, Ryan is a manager over there and super friendly, the folks behind the counter are nice. Hey that makes a difference! Because I think it means they’ll work out the kinks. I mean, even with the 100% completely blah blah criticisms, Id go back here for a quick AM meeting or to just hang and do some work, and we’ll work our way through the lunch menu too. We’ll definitely go back, and are jazzed about checking them out for dinner on October 5 when they start service. Stay tuned, bitches!
VdV Rating: 2.5
Hours:
Mon-Fri 8a-4p
Ironside
680 Second Street (betw Brannan & Townsend)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 896-1127
