If you like roasted chicken, then you must try Zuni Cafe on Market Street. I can thank my friends Cheryl and Susan from Boulder for first introducing me to this restaurant; they came here during a business trip to San Francisco, and when I moved from Denver they presented me with a gift certificate to Zuni that said 'GET THE CHICKEN!'.
The one thing you need to know is that it takes an hour from when you order to get the chicken, so upon arrival it usually goes something like, "Hi, we had a reservation for two, and we'd like the chicken, thanks!".
Chris and I went a few weeks ago and did just that! While we waited we enjoyed a beet salad with goat cheese 'toasts' (I love when people say 'toasts'):
Our waiter stopped by to check on us, and since there were 35 more minutes before chik chik time we agreed on sharing a portion of olives (Chris is not a fan of olives, so this was surprising...) and some deeeelicious shoe string french fries (what you see below is a 1/2 order, we like to pretend we aren't total gluttons...):
And, for the piece de resistance, chicken for two roasted in the brick oven; warm bread salad with red mustard greens, scallions, currants, and pine nuts:
The bread salad alone is out.of.control good, but the juicy, tender chicken is so worth the wait. I must say that leftovers the next day might be even better, that is, if you can save any! Our waiter was fab, and spoke at length as to why the chicken is so good; from the exact size of the chicken (2 and 3/4 lbs is ideal), the brining and preparation, to the currants being dehydrated and then re-plumped in red wine vinegar...it's just delicious. The cookbook says it best when it describes the bread salad as, "...sort of a scrappy extramural stuffing, it is a warm mix of crispy, tender, and chewy chunks of bread, a little slivered garlic and scallion, a scatter of currants and pine nuts, and a handful of greens, all moistened with vinaigrette and chicken drippings"...
If you make it to Zuni Cafe, definitely get the chicken!
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