Zuni Cafe
1658 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Yelp

Besides Tartine, Zuni Cafe is  another one of those must-try San Francisco places, that have been on my bucket list for some time now.  It’s most well know for its roasted chicken.  How can roasted chicken be that good?  I don’t know, so I’ve always been so curious about the place.  The Pouter was kind enough to leave her ailing husband at home to join The Annoyer and me for brunch.  I’ll be honest, the brunch menu wasn’t that exciting to me.  Between the 3 of us, the chicken was sure to be enough so we just added a few things here and there to supplement.

Warm Biscuits house made strawberry jam, salted butter
I do love me a good warm biscuit.  Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside is how I like it.  These were perfect.  The house made jam was just the right amount of sweetness.  If anybody has a good biscuit recipe, please leave it below in the comments!

Picchiapò fried egg sandwich, beef shank simmered in tomato and onion, wild arugula
A lovely dish, of hearty stewed beef made into a breakfast dish with the addition of a fried egg.  Well balanced, but nothing particularly special or outstanding.

Oysters
Unfortunately, we gobbled these up before I could remember to snap a picture.  They were a good addition to round out the brunch.  Very fresh and clean tasting.

Chicken for Two Roasted in Brick Oven warm bread salad, scallions, garlic, frilly mustard greens, dried currants, pine nuts
I didn’t know the chicken takes 60 minutes to prepare.  The long wait only built up the expectations even more.  I must admit, this is probably one of the moistest roasted chickens in recent memory.  I ate the white meat and found even that to be juicy and flavorful.  I found the accompanying bread salad to be a little lackluster.  The dressing was a bit too simple, just olive oil and balsamic vinegar by my guess.  I definitely appreciated a subtle smoky essence to chicken, which added a little extra wow.

I can see the appeal of Zuni Cafe.  It has a well deserved reputation for that roasted chicken.  But at the end of the day, the only kind of chicken that’s really going to get a genuine and excited YUMS! out of me is probably of the fried variety.  It’s tough to justify spending $58 on a whole roasted chicken and waiting an hour for it.  I understand the high cost probably comes from owning and operating a restaurant in a high overhead city like San Francisco.  I wouldn’t say Zuni is as overrated as Tartine, but one try is good enough for me.

 
10 – You NEED to eat here
9 – Awesome
8 – Very good
7 – Good
6 – OK
5 – Average
4 – Not bad
3 – Not good
2 – Terrible
1 – Do NOT eat here