Out the Door - San Francisco, CA Review

Located in San Francisco's Westfield Center, Out the Door is part of a wonderful retail experiment: top-of-the-line dining in a shopping mall setting. Among the many upscale restaurants at Westfield, Out the Door just might be my favorite.

Serving up scrumptious, fresh and beautifully presented Vietnamese food, Out the Door is the little sister of SF's more famous The Slanted Door - one of the City's most popular restaurants. Ensconced in the mall's lower level, just a few dozen feet from the subway entrance, Out The Door somehow manages to feel as if it's nowhere near public transport. The design of the place is clean and minimalist: stainless steel tables, all lined up in rows: it's as easy to show up alone and get a table for one, as it is to show up with a group of 20 and all be seated together.

The menu is deceptively simple: starters and shared plates. The starters are large, and most are big enough for two. The shared plates are exactly what they sound like: dishes that are big enough for two to share. I find the best thing to do when eating with someone else is order a few starters and a shared plate. What's the deception I refer to, you might ask? The simplicity: while the menu is not huge, it covers a vast array of flavors and textures, ingredients and colors. Vegetable-based dishes are made with the freshest veggies possible. Eating veggies at Out the Door makes you feel as if you're doing something really virtuous. On the other hand, the meat dishes are hearty and flavorful, but not at all fatty. It's all about flavor at Out the Door: Vietnamese cooking is heavily influenced by French cooking, where sauces rule. Some of the sauces used for cooking at Out the Door include those made with ginger, coconut cream, peanut, curries, basil, coriander, etc.

If the food of Vietnam is influenced by the French, so is the coffee. Don't pass up a chance to have ice Vietnamese coffee at Out the Door - it's a special treat.

My only complaint about this restaurant is the rush to clear tables. I love to sit and linger over a really fine meal - especially when someone else has cooked. More so if I've paid quite a bit for the meal. Out the Door isn't extremely expensive, but it's not cheap. Newsflash to busboys: just because I've put down my fork, doesn't mean I'm done. If there's anything, at all, left on my plate (even just the corner of a spring roll and a dollop of peanut sauce) think of me as being mid-meal and come back a few minutes later - I'm taking my time because it's so damned good.

Highly recommended:

Pork and shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce
Any of the Niman ranch dishes
Bok Choy with shitake mushrooms
Vietnamese coffee, iced. YUM!