The Slanted Door, Charles Phan's Modern Vietnamese in The Ferry Building - 2014 James Beard National Award for Outstanding Restaurant

[giuinha]

Heading to San Francisco next weekend for a friend's b-day. Dinners are already set at the Cortez [Purchased by Ron Silberstein in 2008, Closed Aug 10, 2009], at the Hotel Adagio and at Lemongrass. Can anyone recommend anything I need to order at these places? I'll also have Sunday evening to myself so is there a not miss restaurant open on Sunday night for someone who just plans on ordering at the bar?

I would recommend The Slanted Door in the Ferry Building. Scrumptious!

[DonRocks]

"Slanted Door Heads to the Forum Shops" [in Las Vegas] by Sarah Feldberg on travelweekly.com

[Tweaked]

The Post on Charles Phan.

[TrelayneNYC]

We went to Slanted Door last night...

Half a dozen oysters served with sweet chile sauce and mignonette.

A good way to start that unfortunately didn't replicate itself the rest of the way.

By the time we had received these, we still hadn't gotten our drink orders. So that was the first strike.

Wild Gulf shrimp and green garlic-chive dumplings.

The exterior was crisped and just right but the interior was undercooked and the whole thing too doughy.

We probably ordered wrong. B said "This is in line with my previous experience here - basically average food in a nice setting but way overpriced."

Lots of intense flavors that mirror the tendency of Americans to like super-pumped up sensations with very little in the way of nuance.

B had been to Slanted Door a couple of times before and this was my first time last night.

Stir-fried Gulf shrimp with shishito peppers and ginger.

Someone in the kitchen went overboard on the salt. Hint: if you can taste it, it's too much.

We paid $33 for the privilege of eating this plate of food.

Sweet corn, pork, shrimp paste, scallions.

This was just ok. Also, it was something I could have made at home. Oh, you want to know what it was like. Well, it was your standard Asian stir-fry with bits of meat, lots of vegetables and a smidge of flavoring. You've had this dish before. The only difference is that this costs $14 and not $5.50 from some Chinese take-out shop in NYC.

Vanilla bean cheesecake, roasted peaches, yogurt, burnt honey cremaux, honeycomb.

They redeemed themselves somewhat with their desserts. This was not too sweet and the contrast between fruit and cheesecake just right.

Blood peach sorbet.

I never thought a sorbet could be bland. B remarked "Not enough fruit purée."

The room is beautiful and it is LOUD which is no surprise. The decor features mostly glass, metal and wood, and there's plenty of square corners and hard surfaces along with very little to zero sound absorption. Also a great deal of open space. While you can hear your neighbor and your tablemate, you're also enveloped in a wall of sound.

Total bill came out to a shade under $200 for two people. A wash in the end.