Wayfare Tavern

San Francisco, CA

The thing about TV chefs is that they're really about the personality more than the food right? Well Tyler Florence has been on a rampage this past year opening restaurants from Napa to SFO in attempts to dispel that theory. And for the most part, he has convinced San Franciscans that he's the real deal in the kitchen. People were saying the fried chicken and the Wayfare burger were amongst the best in the city. So that's exactly what we went to get. Joined by our friend P'licious, we entered the noisy, packed restaurant on a Thursday night seeking some good fried chicken and drinks. Tempted by the savory menu, we started with the bone marrow and poutine.

Roasted bone marrow, grilled sourdough, onions, parsley. sea salt, smoked olive oil

Since having bone marrow at CUT in Beverly Hills, I've been looking for one just as good. And the search continues, because although Wayfare's is fine, it is not special. The dish was predominately onions and parsley, but a minimal amount of actual marrow. 

Poutine - French fried potatoes, mozzerella curd, briased short rib, truffle gravy

Chu-toro loves poutine, as should all people. What's there not to like? Messy fries in gravy and cheese. YUM. Wayfare's version is HEAVY. There is a good amount of tasty braised short rib and gravy on every surface area, so you definitely get your money's worth out of this filling starter.

Organic Fried Chicken buttermilk brine, roasted garlic, crisp woody herbs, lemon

Both Chu-toro and P'licious ordered the infamous fried chicken and despite the gorgeous presentation with fried herbs atop the pile of chicken, we were all underwhelmed. I did enjoy the heavily infused herb flavor, but the skin lacked the crispiness I expect in fried chicken. In fact, the skin was soggy on most pieces. The meat was tender, but not juicy and for $22 I was hoping for something more memorable.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Jack Cheese, garlic bread crumbs,
chives, smoked olive oil

The $22 order of fried chicken does not come with sides, so we order some mac and cheese to go with it. This was the creamiest, thickest, richest mac and cheese I've ever had. I liked it but could only have about four bites of it.

WAYFARE BURGER “LE GRAND” - grass-fed proprietary grind, Mt. Tam cheese,
roasted onion, smoked bacon, brioche, sunny side Petaluma egg

There seems to be a trend of gourmet burgers the past couple years and I'm glad to say that I tried Wayfare's. I'm a sucker for gooey eggs in my burgers (blame Thomas Keller recipes) and like that addition to this burger. The burger was flavorful, better than the one I had a Marlowe the week before. The creamy Mt. Tam cheese is always welcomed as is a brioche bun. I liked all the ingredients on paper but I think there needs to be some modifications to the execution of the dish. It could be really great if they modified the patty to incorporate a little more fat and juiciness. 

I really had high hopes for Wayfare tavern, which may be why I didn't like it as much as I had hoped. I'm not sure the burger was good enough to be something I'd crave in the future and the chicken was definitely a letdown. It was a split in appetizers also, since we liked the poutine, but were lukewarm on the marrow. It's a loud, trendy dining hot spot right now, and probably will stay that way for the next few years so in that respect Tyler Florence has succeeded. But from a culinary perspective, the cost to quality ratio doesn't stand up to the bill and I probably won't be back anytime soon.

Rating 6.5/10

April 14, 2011