Absinthe Brasserie & Bar

Wow, I was completely blown away by this place!! I would rank Absinthe as one of my top three food experiences in the city. The service wasn't great -- the hostess had a worst case of the bitch-face that I've witnessed in a while, our waitress was friendly but absentee and the busboys were ill trained, but the food, wow, the food was fantastic!!


To start things off, Absinthe lived up to its name with an expansive list of creative cocktails. I had the Galapagos, which consisted of kaffir-lime leaf muddled in pepper syrup, Barsol Pisco, lemon-lime and grapefruit juices. I was expecting a bit more lime leaf, which has an extremely distinctive flavor, but the drink was very yummy nevertheless. The boyfriend had a Manhattan and thoroughly enjoyed his beverage. The night was off to a racing start.


The restaurant has a seasonal menu with large plates, small shared plates and eclectic cheeses and raw bar. We decided to play it safe and share the beef tartare, the sous vide pork loin and the burger with gruyere.


The beef tartare, we both agreed, was bar none, the best that we've had the pleasure to enjoy. If you're a fan of steak tartare, this is a must order. Heck, even if you're a bit freaked out by the idea of raw beef topped off by a raw quail egg, this will make you into a believer. The preparation was simple -- violet mustard, green apple, red onion, cornichons and the quail egg yoke, and the flavors welded together in the most wondrous fashion. The beef, I'm guessing, did not go through a meat grinder and was painstakingly chopped by hand. The result was truly worth the effort because it simply melted in your mouth. It was super fresh and didn't have any raw taste to it at all. I can wax poetic about this dish for paragraphs and paragraphs, but you get the idea. Order it!!

The steak tartare

Not long after we polished off the tartare and sat starry eyed, still trying to savor the last bits of flavor on our tongues, our entrees arrived on the table. I took stab at the burger while Orin dug into the pork. The burger was juicy and the beef tasted fresh and of obvious high quality. The accompaniments were simple, just lettuce, tomato and onion, between a brioche bun. I would say this was the second best burger that I've had, right behind Gamine. The fries were skinny and crispy. Burger and fries, you can't go wrong.

Burger and fries

The pork loin was absolutely fabulous. Even though the meat was sous vide, the chef put it under the boiler to crisp up the skin because it was crunchy. Pork belly is basically a less threatening way to describe bacon, but the meat was slow cooked to perfection and did not taste fatty at all. The carrot puree and the black truffle jus accentuated the sweetness of the pork. All in all, I would say 9 out of 10. 

The pork loin

In a quest to exercise caloric austerity, we skipped dessert, not that I'm complaining because we were stuffed to the brim. I saw the table next to us ordered a custardy-looking concoction and they thoroughly licked the jar so I'm assuming it was good. I was so happy to find a restaurant with such a high level of food across the board because our last few date night restaurants were a bit disappointing. Absinthe is well worth the price and a true SF gem. I will definitely be back!!