I have a running list of Restaurant To-Do's on my iPhone and Commonwealth has been sitting comfortably at the top for months now. It's been accredited with spurring a "fine dining in casual atmosphere" movement. If you don't feel like reading all of Michael Bauer's review in the Chronicle, I will sum it up for you: "I would sacrifice my left foot to eat at Commonwealth." I agree with his main arguments: food presentation is dramatic, juxtaposition of ingredients is innovative, yet the ambiance feels like an old friend's Tahoe cabin. My jaw dropped as each dish was placed before me, but the actual consumption wasn't quite as exciting.
Brooke and I ended up ordering five dishes to share, which was plenty - if not a bit too much. The problematic part for me is I feel I can speak about all five at once; even on the car ride home, I had trouble differentiating them. The chef obviously has a personal style that influences every dish: fresh, colorful ingredients married together in unlikely combinations. For example, we ordered the asparagus, crushed avocado, nasturtium, olive, chicory root, almond, meyer lemon salad. Setting aside the fact I don't know what anything is past the avocado, I don't know if unusual combinations can carry a dish alone. Sure, kudos for creating such a unique arrangement, but innovation isn't necessarily execution. While I don't think the plates ever missed the mark, I do think too much emphasis was placed on "being original" rather than being freakin' good.
The dishes are so fresh and healthy that I actually felt like I was on a really nice, pre-made diet meal plan. Across all the dishes, I had asparagus, peas, fish, fennel, and swiss chard. This isn't comfort food. The most scandalous component was a thin slice of cheese. Nothing is painfully irresistible where you can't stop yourself from having just one more bite. These are the kind of plates that you eat very slowly to observe the various flavors.
My favorite was a sea urchin mousse (which was nearly tasteless) on top of fresh scrambled eggs and thin toast. It's a beautiful rainbow of colors (see second photo). The eggs I buy at the store must be terrible because every time I have a good quality egg, it just totally blows me away. There were some fresh red peppers and snow peas to give meal nice crunch. No bacon, though. That would have been good. Another mainly vegetable dish had a thin cheese "veil" (their words, not mine) which was a neat touch.
As I approached 18th & Mission, I thought for sure I had the wrong address. It's surrounded by graffiti'd walls, run-down markets, tattoo parlors, etc. The entrance is on the side of the restaurant and is dominated by - presumably - the former tenet's artwork. Commonwealth's sign is small and is missed unless you're really looking for it (see photo). The interior itself is small (maybe 15 tables) and a minimalist decor which made me think they were leaving the main focus on the food. We had an early reservation (5:45) and I was slightly surprised to be the very first person there. The small space never filled up more than half way, which is extremely surprising to me for a Thursday night at a trendy new spot in the Mission. The first sunny evening in awhile, at that.
The Verdict: Go! Prices are totally reasonable ($15/dish), the service is the best I've had in a long time, and the food really is unlike anything you've had - up to you to decide if that's a good thing or not. Go!
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