East Coast West: Jew Food in the Heart of Polk Gulch
Written: Jun 26 '03 (Updated Aug 11 '03)
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Pros: Great bathroom. Recognize!
Cons: Service is shakey, but they make up for it with friendliness
The Bottom Line: Sometimes you don't want a crepe or a long line. At those times, try East Coast West
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| Mr.Eyore's Full Review: East Coast West Deli |
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: There ain’t much in the way of Jewish delis in San Francisco. And that’s a shame, given that the Bay Area is home to more than half a million Jews, and a hell of a lot more people who would surely enjoy a decent matzo brie for breakfast.
East Coast West has, for a little under two years, made some headway in introducing the joys of the Jewish Deli to residents of Nob Hill and its surroundings. But its Polk Street location may be the area of the city least in need of such a place. There are more than a few decent bagel shops along the stretch between California Street and Jackson, as well as Swan Oyster Depot, home of about the finest smoked salmon (and any other fresh fish you could ask for) in San Francisco. Polk Street also boasts a number of perfectly respectable coffee shops, crepe houses and inexpensive diners. Nevertheless, I’ll take East Coast West in a neighborhood where it’s not needed over no East Coast West at all.
the nosh
Much of what East Coast West serves up is, well, serviceable. Which, I guess you know, isn’t like the most raving thumbs up you can give. Serviceable. But then, when you think about it, even great jewish delis don’t have the best food in the world. They’re diners, at heart, and judged by that standard, good delis are world-class diners. But compared with real restaurants, well, serviceable is about as good as it’s gonna get. Sure, there are places that are world renown for their top quality nova, or respected for their perfect barreled pickles, or known for their lean heaps of pastrami sandwich. But still.
East Coast West doesn’t really deserve to be “known” for anything. It might not even survive in New York. But they do what they do pretty well. And among the things they do best, if y’ask me, is provide a nice, big, super-clean, white bathroom with a working lock on the door. Because, truth be told, after packing in some taters and eggs and stuff with a coupla cupsa coffee, on a Saturday morning, a nice, clean bathroom is really what you need, especially if you’re about to hike up Nob Hill to get home after brunch. That’s not a hike you want to make with your butt all scrunched together.
On my first visit, I had a simple Cheese Omelette with potatoes. The Omelette was well made, light and fluffy, and utterly packed full of dripping, nice quality cheddar cheese. The potatoes were really tasty, spiked with chopped onions and scallions, but they lacked the crusty exterior I prefer in fried breakfast potatoes. On subsequent visits, I have found the potatoes to be a little greasy and cold, even though they remained quite tasty.
A side order of bacon ($2.25) was ordinary, which, in a town where Applewood Smoked is the expected norm, isn’t too good.
The Potato Pancakes were very large, with apple sauce that was home made and chunky and sour cream that was plenty sour and plenty creamy. The pancakes themselves tend toward the greasy, but they have that nice, natural, earthy potato flavor, unhindered by a too-powerful oil, that one hopes to find in a decent latke.
Recently, I tried their matzo brie, a dish I hadn’t eaten since I was a child. They offer three versions, one with jam, one with something else, and the one that I had, with nova and sour cream. It was nice and fluffy, perhaps not as buttery as I had expected it to be, but generously studded with thick pieces of delicious lox.
A have also had a perfectly respectable lox and bagel platter there, with all the good fixins, including capers, which you usually don’t get at a deli, but I much appreciate. The rest of the deli standards are available to eat in or for take out, and the turkey, roast beef, pastrami and the rest all look just fine. We ordered in some of their sandwiches recently, and the roast beef looked phenomenal, in fact. Rare and piled high, high on a soft, poppy-seed Kaiser roll. Likewise, the turkey sandwhich on rye looked respectable in, uh, all respects. I had the Philly Cheese Steak, though, which was almost inedible. The bread was all wrong and the meat wasn't quite thin-sliced and broken up enough. The cheese had no "pull" to it, and the sweet peppers left such a bad taste in my mouth that I regreted eating the sandwich almost immediately. Plus, anyplace that offers a cheese steak and a mushroom steak, really ought to have a pizza steak too. And at around 10 bucks a sandwich, I'd be hard pressed to really recommend any of them.
service
The staff at East Side West is extraordinarily friendly, eager to please and knowledgeable about the menu. However, even when the place is empty, they seem a little frazzled, as if they were responsible for some whole nother room packed full of patrons that we couldn’t see. When they’re full, they are near hopeless (though still friendly). On my most recent visit, it took perhaps ten minutes to get us some water, and my order came without one of its ingredients, which, after I reminded my waiter, he forgot about again. He finally brought a side, and offered an apology, but by then, the rest of my food was cold.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
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Mr.Eyore
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Reviews written: 129
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I come for the pervasive sense of elitist self-importance and semi-witty expressions of faux camaraderie
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