The No-Resos San Francisco Restaurant Table-Waiting Game

Against my better judgment, we selected one of SF Chron food maven Michael Bauer's Top Ten Restaurants of 2006 for dinner last week with Hank & Jack. Bad move.

Dosa is an Indian place in the Mission District that (like several other new eateries in the Bay Area) doesn't take reservations. I suppose in my younger days the notion of standing out on the curb with the rest of the black-clad masses chatting animatedly would have been a fine apéritif. However, now in my maturing years (like a fine Madeira), I don't have the patience; I prefer a rapid administration of alcohol and a comfortable place to quaff it, preferably seated indoors in the wintertime. It's so infrequently that we get into The City, that when we do, I would like to ensure that we have a table within a reasonable timeframe of finding a parking space (say 15 minutes). As if parking isn't hard enough in the Mission, then having to wait for a table is a massive disincentive for venturing into that increasingly popular culinary Mecca.

When we were told by the smiling front-of-house person that it would be "about 20 minutes," I had my finger poised on the number already punched in for another place in the Mission, Limón, a Peruvian seafood place I had been meaning to check out.

H & J didn't seem put off by the wait (after all, they LIVE in the City, so they're used to this sort of punishment). It was their weekly "adult night out," so compared to the rigors of parenting; I supposed this could be construed as fun. We hadn't seen them in a while and had some catching up to do, so I figured 20 minutes would fly by. My spirits were buoyed by the wafting spicy fragrance of the place, so we held our ground astride the bus stop. Of course, it's never just 20 minutes.

Both Kimi and I were recovering from colds, and with the SF temperature plummeting into the mid-40s; it was not entirely pleasant standing there. When everyone was seated except for the homeless person on the bus bench who had been chain-smoking, we were told it wouldn't be much longer, that two tables were just lingering over the check.

I contemplated how I could urge the lingering diners to depart, but instead of acting on this impulse I asked the young host why the no reso policy. "Is it that people are unreliable about keeping their reservations?" I ventured. "Oh no," she replied. "It's just we wanted people just to walk in spontaneously." I was going to tell her how much I wanted just to walk in spontaneously right now, but I think she was feeling sheepish enough as it was.

One hour after our arrival, we were ushered through the crowded dining room to our tightly situated table. When the server asked how we were, "cold," was my reply. While not intending it as a complaint, she got the message that food and drink would be welcome sometime soon.

From their travels to the subcontinent, H&J were most familiar with Dosas as breakfast fare--delicate south Indian crepe-like offerings made from fermented lentils and rice. They are served with sambar, a thick soup of lentils into which you are supposed to dip the dosa.

Dosa, the restaurant, offers a three-course fixed-price menu for about $35 dollars, which may seem like a lot for those used to cheap curry places, but the quality of the food warrants to the price.

Quick culinary observations:

The mung bean salad was a fresh, crunchy reminder of 1970s macrobiotic restaurants--but good.

The "Potato Croquet" was bland (not spicy as promised) and the dipping sauce not offer much improvement. Only a subdued mintiness.

The "Cochin Calamari" were to notable for their succulence and piquant coconutty sauce.

The warm, comforting sambar ("lentil dipping soup") is what really made the dosa course. Considering that we each ordered a different variation, none actually were head-and-shoulders better than another. The "Chanti Masala" with the bits if baby eggplant, was the most delectable. All were savory and savored by those around the table.

Indian desserts have always motivated me to ask for the check before that course. Overly sweet, rosewater-perfumy concoctions of puffy-grainy milk or cheese "Nerfballs" floating in a syrupy sea were never quite inspiring. Dosa offers such Nerfballs ("Gulab Jamoon") which were superior to those I have had at other Indian restaurants, Dosa's being less sweet. "Kulfi," (not to be confused with Brooklyn-accented "coffee") a pistachio, saffron, mango creamy frozen timbale is recommended. They also serve Cíao Bella gelatos (the coconut flavor served in a half a coconut shell).

I particularly enjoyed the surgically chosen wine list. H&J gently dissuaded me from ordering the Indian subcontinent Chenin Blanc (as they have been to India, I took their cue), so we opted for the frisky 2005 Serra Da Estrela Albariño from Rias Baixas, Spain for a reasonable $28 to serve as our apéritif. When our main courses of the fixed price menu arrived, we followed the while up with and an obscure Cab Franc-like red from Bierzo, an up-and-coming wine region of the province of León in northwestern Spain (not too far from Rias Baixas in Galicia), Spain , the 2003 Baloiro Mencia. The wine offered plum and licorice highlights with a rustic finish that worked well with modest heat-generating dosa dipping sauces.

The food and overall experience at Dosa, while quite good, still wasn't worth risking a bout of pneumonia or getting hit by a bus.

For more info about Dosa, see:
http://www.dosasf.com/