Starbelly

The lady and I ate at Starbelly last night in advance of a "Glee" watching date at a friend's house in the Castro. I'd been to the opening night party for the new restaurant, but that was more of a cocktail party and I didn't really have a sense of what to expect on the menu. I do like the interior of the restaurant- it's small and modestly decorated but comfortable and not as tremendously loud as I had expected.

The menu is New Californian (which is a catchall to say it combines a few different cuisines including some American standards as well as some French and Italian touches). We wanted to try some different stuff, but had a hard time deciding. In the end, we picked a starter, a salad, and a couple entrees to share. We skipped the pizza because I DID have that at the opening party and it was mediocre.

As a starter, we got mini corn dogs. Because how can you not order corndogs when they're on the menu at a nice restaurant? There were definitely mini, although yummy- looked to be brats (or another white sausage) in tasty batter. A little steep $-wise at 6.50 for 4 of the little bite size guys, but tasty.

Our salad was good if not a little overdressed- butter lettuce with white nectarines and a shaved cheese of some sort. My dining partner thought the nectarines weren't ripe enough and I'm inclined to agree.

There were a number of entrees we were interested in, but we ended up trying the Porchetta and the half rotisserie chicken. We both really enjoyed the chicken- it was brined so quite juicy and delicious. It was served on a bed of some kind of bitter greens which (we both thought) were too bitter. But chicken was quite good. I'd order it again. (Note to self: look into brining a little more. Brined things always taste good.)

The Porchetta had good flavor and was served with yummy crunchy skin, but Julia found it too fatty for her taste and it was a bit unattractive sitting in a pile of grease. It was quite rich and while it was good I probably wouldn't order again.

We decided to order dessert because they sounded delicious. They also feature my bro's ice cream (Humphrey Slocombe!). We ordered the salted caramel Pot du Creme. Um. Delicious. I love me some salted caramel.

Would I go back to Starbelly? Possibly. It is one of the better options in the Castro (a neighborhood that is somehow bereft of decent places to eat despite a population that loves to dine out). That said, I also noticed a few new spots in the Castro that weren't around last time I lived near there, so perhaps I'm due to check some of em out!