Spritely Timo's Leads The City's Tapas Bars
MICHAEL BAUER, Chronicle Food Editor
Friday, July 14, 1995
©2000 San Francisco ChronicleIn the past few years tapas restaurants and bars serving tapas have sprung up in just about every neighborhood, but they'll have to go a long way to compete with Timo's.
Yellow and black table tops and bright colors -- purple ceiling, lime green walls and just about every hue visible in some accent -- give a dash of style to this fairly bare-bones restaurant. About the only thing conservative is the terra cotta tile floor, which is a bit uneven, making the chairs and tables rock and roll.
Service is casual -- a little lackadaisical, in fact -- but the food that comes out of Carlos Corredor's kitchen is so good that everything else fades into the background. The tortilla espanola ($3.75), as tall as a bundt cake and almost as light, consists of dozens of layers of thin-sliced, tender potatoes perfectly seasoned with onions and very lightly browned on the bottom.
Asparagus ($5.50) picks up a lot of smoke from the grill and is splayed over a romesco sauce that maintains a pleasant heat until the next bite. Sauteed spinach ($4.75) benefits from the sweetness of raisins and bits of dried apricots, providing an interesting contrast.
I don't know when I've had pico de gallo done better than at Ti mo's. Precisely cut, tiny dices of jalapenos, onions, bell peppers and other ingredients serve as a piquant bed for meaty tuna fillet ($8.50). I wished I had some of the salsa for the quesadilla ($5.75), crisp-browned tortillas filled with cheese and wild mushrooms.
Any French restaurant would be proud to serve the cassoulet ($8.75), outfitted with duck confit and tender white beans flavored with pork, all topped with buttery bread crumbs.
For dessert the Catalan flan ($4.25), rather like a lighter version of creme brulee with a warmed glazed crust, was much better than the house-made puff pastry filled with almond paste ($5.25); the creme anglaise around the base had a commercial flavor, the only off note in the entire meal.
TIMO'S
ADDRESS: 842 Valencia Street (between 19th and 20th streets), San Francisco
PHONE: (415) 647-0558
HOURS: Open for dinner 5-10:30 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 5-11:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Full bar. Reservations and credit cards accepted.
BC: OVERALL: TWO AND A HALF STARS Food: THREE STARS Service: TWO STARS Atmosphere: ONE AND A HALF STARS . PRICES: $ --------------------------------------------------- RATINGS KEY FOUR STARS: Extraordinary THREE STARS: Excellent TWO STARS: Good ONE STAR: Fair (box): Poor . $ Inexpensive: entrees under $7 $$ Moderate: $7-$14 $$$ Expensive: $15-$20 $$$$ Very Expensive: $20+©2000 San Francisco Chronicle