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Flea Street CafeIn Menlo Park, Jesse Ziff Cool keeps the venerable Flea Street Cafe new, organic and sustainableby Stett Holbrook on Jun 16, 2010
MENLO PARK’S Flea Street Cafe is 30 years old. In dog years, 30 is approximately 133. In restaurant years, the conversion rate isn’t quite the same, but the perception is. Thirty is old. But Flea Street Cafe might be built on a fountain of youth. Open since 1980, the restaurant feels fresh and new. Owner Jesse Ziff Cool opened the restaurant with a commitment to seasonal, organic produce from local farms and fish and meat sourced from ecologically responsible purveyors. That may not sound like anything new, but three decades ago it was a rarity. Today more restaurants use organic produce and strive to buy from local purveyors, but few walk the talk like Flea Street Cafe. That, combined with an eclectic but instantly appealing menu of California comfort food and an enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff, makes it easy to understand why Flea Street Cafe remains forever young. The restaurant still occupies an unremarkable, dowdy building on Alameda de las Pulgas (“Flea Street” in Spanish), but inside Cool has done a great job of freshening the place up and making it look modern and inviting with newly painted, earth-tone walls and colorful, original artwork. Meals start out with fresh-baked bread and a little seasonal freebie; on my visits, it was some just-picked long radishes—delicious with a sprinkling of sea salt. Starters are very strong. If it’s still on the menu, go for the Half Moon Bay tempura sardines ($9). Sardines have become a darling of sustainable-seafood advocates because they’re a plentiful, low-on-the-food-chain species that happens to be really good to eat. The Dungeness crab/sweet-potato cakes ($15) are also essential. The sweetness of the potato dovetails nicely with the crabmeat, roasted cauliflower, fried capers and peppery arugula. The puréed pea soup with mint ($10) was spring in a bowl, but the little chunk of tempura-battered halibut served with it struck me as superfluous. The menu changes seasonally, but there are a few constants. The “Which Came First” chicken ($27) is a Flea Street classic. I was skeptical as I am of most restaurant chicken dishes (their purpose is generally to offer refuge for timid, unadventurous diners), but this one was a winner: Fulton Valley pasture-raised chicken baked with green garlic, chunks of succulent pork belly, spinach and farro topped with a zinfandel beurre blanc sauce and a poached egg from Cool’s coop. It’s a messy, saucy dish that won me over with its homey deliciousness. The ricotta and black pepper/chive gnocchi ($20) were delicate and ethereal and a perfect match for the trio of springtime accompaniments—spring garlic, asparagus and sweet fromage blanc. The Marin Sun Farms grass-fed short ribs ($32) are another Flea Street standard that anchors the bottom of the menu. The boneless chunks are is slow cooked to produce supremely tender, beautifully caramelized meat that’s great with celery root/potato gratin, grilled asparagus and curried cauliflower. It’s a satisfying, homespun dish that’s probably a few levels better than what you could make at home. The only dish that left me flat was the grilled salmon special ($32). The fish itself was flavorful and fresh, but the trio of sauces, sautéed greens and bok choy, roasted root vegetables, and battered and fried lemon made for an overly busy plate of food that departed from the restaurant’s simple-is-better aesthetic. During both my meals, service was attentive and gracious. Cool herself is often at the restaurant, greeting regulars and chatting up newcomers. That goes a long way with me. Speaking of wine, I wish there were more available by the glass, but what is offered supports the menu well. There’s a full bar, too. Desserts are good, but not great. The brioche bread pudding ($9) was too, well, puddinglike. I wanted a little more texture and contrast from the butter pastry. A little more time in the oven might have given the dessert a bit more crispness. The chocolate almond cake ($9) is a better choice. The lemon brûlée pie ($9) is really an oversized lemon bar—a good thing if you like lemon bars. Flea Street Cafe 3607 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park Dinner Tuesday–Sunday by Stett Holbrook on Jun 16, 2010 |
 CUSHY: The outdoor seating at Flea Street Cafe features many soft spots. |
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