Anchor & Hope

July 10, 2008

After work, some work peeps went out for happy hour at Tokyo Go Go in the mission, where they feature $3.50 sushi handrolls and drink specials on Mon-Sat 5:30-7 PM. Will and I joined the crew for a couple drinks (I heart the lychee martinis!), no handrolls, as we had dinner plans later in the evening.



Will and I took off and met up with James for dinner at a newish restaurant called Anchor & Hope, located on hip little Minna street in SOMA, just down the street from the always great 111 Minna Gallery. Anchor & Hope, touted as "fish house" that hints of "gastropub", is brought to SF by the same folks who created and manage Town Hall and Salt House, two great SOMA restaurants. The head chef is Sarah Schafer, former head chef of Frisson, who has created a menu dominant in seafood dishes.

The building that now houses Anchor & Hope was a former auto shop, retaining the primary building features of old brick, with industrial finishes and great design that makes this big open space very homey.

The details of Anchor & Hope are very remniscent of what we've seen in the previous restaurants. Great, quirky menu with a letter press finish, they bring the fresh daily bread in a little brown paper bag:

A couple appetizers to start: Angels On Horseback, smoked bacon-wrapped oysters. Delish. Love the philosophy that you wrap something (particularly something yummy like oysters) in bacon, which makes everything better. Indeed.
Salmon gravlax with crispy potato cake, and mustard creme fraiche. Very subtle and tasty, the potato cake was lovely. Now that I cure salmon at home (though not as good as this), I rarely order gravlax in restaurants. But it was great that James ordered this so I could get a taste.
I had the Anchor & Hope Lobster roll, with Old Bay kettle chips and sea salt. The lobster roll was tasty, great toasted bread roll and large chunks of delicious lobster.

Dessert to share was a chocolate-espresso cake with salted pistachios, a wonderfully moist cake that was one of the better desserts that I've had in quite some time.

Anchor & Hope was a great experience, I would highly recommend it. It looks like a great place to check out for after-work oysters and drinks, and for dinner in a great atmosphere.