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Trevor Felch
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"The Manila" at the Inner Sunset's Pomelo on Judah
The Inner Sunset’s
Pomelo is a bit of a rebel when it comes to menu inspiration. So often restaurants zero in on a very specific cuisine and theme, dead-set, zoomed-in on a place as small as a sparsely populated Greek island where the chef recently honeymooned or a certain arrondissement of Paris where a chef grew up or backstreet alleyway of Tokyo that is home to the world’s best yakitori. Pomelo’s vision spans the entire globe. They aren’t going for the niche. They are going for it all. The menu stops in the Philippines, Japan, Mexico, Santa Barbara, Cuba, and even Gilroy. Just because the menu thinks big doesn’t mean the flavors can’t be big, too.
The “Manila” ($9 with tofu) follows suit with a Filipino standard that originated in China,
pancit bihon, brought in a generous mound to the table. Tender, nicely bronzed tofu cubes get tossed with snow peas, cabbage, and carrots in a stir-fry with the thinnest of rice noodles that manage to remain springy and crispy simultaneously, all coated by a flurry of scallions.
Half the menu is listed as vegan or vegetarian. Then when asked for recommendations, almost the entire rest of the menu was revealed to be easily adaptable to vegetarian, as well, making decisions even more daunting. The pomelo salad ($5 for a small) that proves basic salads still can captivate. Everything is in the right ratio between the pockets of Laura Chenel goat cheese, toasted hazelnuts, and light coating of balsamic-grapefruit vinaigrette, all tied together with field greens and red radicchio, and of course, pomelo segments. This is the California cuisine we’ve come to know and love how beautiful ingredients don’t need elaboration.
Those two dishes are just the start of your trip. Havana will provide tofu over fried rice with plantains, black beans, and an avocado salad, while a drive down 101 to Gilroy brings garlic with bok choy and pepperoncini flakes. If staying in the Philippines, there is a spicy sizzling tofu in a soy and chili peppers sauce.
Strange how, with a menu so geographically grand, the dining room itself, just a block from UCSF’s medical campus, is as diminutive as Luxembourg. Barely twenty seats squeeze in, almost half at the counter for a fun front row view of the equally small kitchen. It’s the definition of an intimate, personal experience. (There is also an outpost in Noe Valley that isn’t huge but seems gigantic compared to the Jadah shoebox room.) If I were a doctor needing a local go-to for my lunch break, I’d make the trip here weekly. The question is where to visit on the menu. I’ll usually start with pomelos and the Philippines.
92 Judah; 731-6175
