The menu is divided into five sections, with three of them leading up to dessert: “teasers,” “shorts,” “premiere,” and two of them being dessert: “naughty” and “nice.”
“teasers” has, for example soup shots ($2), served in tequila glasses. Last night the soups were oyster, cauliflower, and shiitake mushroom/parmesan cheese. They were all intensely flavored, but easy to down in a single shot. Another example: duck fat French fries, with brown butter béarnaise. ($6).
“shorts” offers things ranging from the everyplace-seems-to-have-it-these-days house made charcuterie – rye salami, spiced tri-tip, peppered shoulder, ($5 each) to the more exotic charred octopus, with beef tendon and sprouted nuts ($11).
Moving along, the “premieres” include an intensely fennel-flavored chicken sausage with dino kale and candied pistachio pesto ($13) as well as blood sausage served with grits, pear, and rye crisp ($13).
These do look like very reasonable prices, but diners need to be aware that Orson serves small plates. The blood sausage is a few slices, and the chicken sausage was two pieces each about an inch and one-half long.
The meal started with a complimentary chocolate covered Foie Gras bonbon, which was surprising and yummy. All of the dishes I tried were good, but the desserts were a standout. From the “nice” section, “gleaming the cube” was described as having “date soft chocolate, stout foam, caramel gelato, and brown butter sauce” ($10) The soft chocolate was served in a small log and tasted like the inside of a chocolate truffle mixed with chocolate mousse. The stout foam was a nice touch, obviously stylistically related to the molecular techniques pioneered at Ferran Adria’s El Bulli. Also from the “nice” section was “fleur de bleu” (lavender violet ravioli custard, citrus cells, chocolate slates, and lavender ice cream) ($9).
So, what's the verdict? Orson inhabits a big, loud space that will be quite the scene if it stays full, and features some familiar food mixed with edgy and adventurous food. (The wood fired oven isn’t operating yet. When it does, they will also have pizzas, but I’m going to guess there might be some duck breast and arugula on them). Orson’s menu is very creative with foams and mysterious deconstructed crumbles of chocolate strewn artfully around the plates, and I’d love for it to succeed. But given the large space and the small portions, and the fate of Winterland, San Francisco may not be sophisticated enough to make this happen. I hope I’m wrong. Recommended
Orson
508 4th Street (at Bryant)
San Francisco, CA 94107
Update: Other reviews are starting to appear in the foodie-blogosphere. Here's one from Sam at Becks & Posh: One Enchanted, Magical Evening: An Early First Impression.
Further Update: Here is the pizza list. I was wrong, no duck breast, but they do have a pizza with chocolate, olive oil and salt!!!! Now there's a pizza I've GOT to try.
tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil ($13)
chocolate, espelette, sea salt, olive oil ($14)
leeks, chevre, olives, walnuts ($13)
tomato sauce, fontina, sausage, scallion ($15)
mushroom, taleggio, red onion, escarole ($14)
Sounds pretty good to me ;)