By Camden Avery - Published on July 19, 2014.
On July 1st, Sparrow Bar & Kitchen added a new executive chef, Michael Goldfarb, a veteran of popular local establishments like Mission Beach Cafe and Spruce. We sat down with owners Veronica and Marc Lopez to hear the plans for Sparrow, and get a personal tour of Goldfarb's new menu for the restaurant.
It's in the same style as earlier menus for Sparrow, Veronica said, but Goldfarb, with a background in sushi and classic French cuisine, is freshening it up.
Goldfarb explains that the lens for his focus on contemporary California cuisine is through Asian flavors and French technique, and that the key to great offerings is fresh, locally sourced produce.
To that end, Marc and Veronica said they source their produce from trips to area farmers markets (including ones at the Ferry Building, Marin, and Upper Haight). There's even a new garden behind the restaurant's patio, planted earlier this year, which Goldfarb uses to pick herbs for his cooking.
"Michael has a lot of plans to make [the menu] even more dynamic that before," Marc added. Sparrow will be gradually rolling out more of his signature dishes, including a chef's burger that'll change every couple of weeks, according to the season and whimsy.
Goldfarb will also be expanding the restaurant's offering of homemade condiments with smoked pickles and smoked homemade ketchup.
He says highlights of the new menu, which he prepared in a couple of weeks, are lamb tartare, chilled avocado soup, a lunchtime fried green tomato sandwich (today marks the entry of the fried green tomatoes onto the brunch menu), and egg in a nest with bacon and warmed arugula. And with a menu that will still change seasonally, this is just a warm-up.
The owners' new favorites are the beef short rib with sweet pea cream and butter braised carrots (Marc) and the fisherman's mussels, with chorizo broth, fennel and toast (Veronica).
Items on come in at the same prices as before ($20 or less) with two exceptions: the petrale sole almondine ($21) and the beef short rib ($26).
