Moose's

Dined at Moose’s last evening. Moose’s is located right on Washington Square in North Beach, so parking is a nightmare. Valet parking is available for $9 for three hours, with a $3/hr charge beyond that time. We were seated immediately on arriving approximately 10 minutes early for our 7:00 reservation. The restaurant was reasonably busy for a summer Tuesday evening with better than two thirds of the tables filled. The dining room is pleasantly appointed, with an open kitchen at the far end of the room, and a satisfactory noise level making dinner conversation quite easy. Moose’s boasts a reasonably extensive wine list, with very good regional, varietal, and pricing diversity. Wine markup is about average, and corkage is a reasonable $15.00. What drew us to Moose’s on a Tuesday evening was the fantastic deal offered right now Monday through Wednesday. Moose’s is celebrating their 10-year anniversary by offering a three-course prix f ... more

Dined at Moose’s last evening. Moose’s is located right on Washington Square in North Beach, so parking is a nightmare. Valet parking is available for $9 for three hours, with a $3/hr charge beyond that time. We were seated immediately on arriving approximately 10 minutes early for our 7:00 reservation. The restaurant was reasonably busy for a summer Tuesday evening with better than two thirds of the tables filled. The dining room is pleasantly appointed, with an open kitchen at the far end of the room, and a satisfactory noise level making dinner conversation quite easy.
Moose’s boasts a reasonably extensive wine list, with very good regional, varietal, and pricing diversity. Wine markup is about average, and corkage is a reasonable $15.00.
What drew us to Moose’s on a Tuesday evening was the fantastic deal offered right now Monday through Wednesday. Moose’s is celebrating their 10-year anniversary by offering a three-course prix fixe menu priced at $19.92. The menu changes for each of the three days offered, and represents a stunning value for this quality restaurant. Please note that Moose’s web site is not fully updated with these daily offerings – in this case, two of the three courses did not match what is listed on the web.
1st course: Squash Tempura with corn relish and mushrooms. How did they do this?? Packed with flavor, savory to the last morsel. The Tempura was impossibly light and airy containing a perfectly cooked, steaming hot little squash, served over a wonderfully flavored vinaigrette based corn relish with mushrooms and parsely. The If you think you don’t like squash this could easily change your mind. Paired well with a split of 1997 Trimbach, 'Cuvée Frederic Emile Riesling (served a bit too cold, but superb as it warmed up just a tad).
2nd course: Red wine braised veal short ribs, French green lentils, red onion relish. Perfectly prepared short ribs were fork tender, incredibly meaty, and had a rich yet delicate flavor. The lentils were just slightly undercooked for Teri, but I found the firm texture very pleasant. The components all married well to provide a harmonious flavor, with the red onion adding a nice zing to the other flavors. Surprisingly filling dish and paired will with the 1997 Dante Rivetti Barbaresco “Bricco De Neveis” that I had brought in (see comments soon in the tasting notes forum).
Finally, dessert was a lush warm chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream, boring on the outside until you mined the decadently rich gooey chocolate filling in the center. No dessert wine, enough was enough.
Very nice meal and a bargain that’s hard to beat. less

Excellent food with creative appetizers and entrees. Since the menu changes daily, - I mean they put out a new menu every single day! I'm sure that some of it stays the same. They say that the chef buys only what is in season. The salmon at a recent visit was probably the best we've ever had -- great grilled flavor, delicious flaky and seared just right - tons of flavor. It was served with ratatouille, and a fresh heirloom tomato sauce which was very tasty and complimentary. I started with ricotta stuffed squash blossoms, that had arugula croutons and cherry tomatoes. You could tell that the tomatoes, in fact, all of the veggies were full of ripe flavor. Definitely not greenhouse veggies the way some restaurants give you. Another dish was very juicy halibut with served on top of a crabmeat tart. -WoW- this was really good - we switched plates several times. Since halibut can be dry if even slightly overcooked, the chef showed that he really knows h ... more

Excellent food with creative appetizers and entrees. Since the menu changes daily, - I mean they put out a new menu every single day!
I'm sure that some of it stays the same. They say that the chef buys only what is in season.
The salmon at a recent visit was probably the best we've ever had -- great grilled flavor, delicious flaky and seared just right - tons of flavor. It was served with ratatouille, and a fresh heirloom tomato sauce which was very tasty and complimentary.
I started with ricotta stuffed squash blossoms, that had arugula croutons and cherry tomatoes. You could tell that the tomatoes, in fact, all of the veggies were full of ripe flavor. Definitely not greenhouse veggies the way some restaurants give you. Another dish was very juicy halibut with served on top of a crabmeat tart. -WoW- this was really good - we switched plates several times. Since halibut can be dry if even slightly overcooked, the chef showed that he really knows how to treat fish.
The server, Gracie, was attentive and so much fun. She was very creative, yet professional and made outstanding recommendations.
For dessert we had a chocolate trio of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and a dense flourless chocolate ganache - the perfect way to end a delicious meal.
Also, the wines by the glass were superb! I started with the Martine's Viognier, and my date had a Mont St. John Pinot Noir from Carneros. Then we had a 1996 Cabernet (I forget the producer - but it was good) and a Fife Zin. They also have a huge list of dessert wines and ports but maybe next time.
The whole bill was less than $90! A fantastic experience! less