PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

No other dining room makes wine as integral to the meal as popular bacar. Up to 250 eclectic, fashionable diners pack into this warehouse-restaurant's three distinct areas -- the casual (loud) downstairs salon; the bustling lounge, bar, and main dining room; or the more quiet upstairs mezzanine, which looks down on the lounge and bar's action -- for the creamy salt-cod and crab brandade (purée) and zesty roasted mussels with a chile-and-garlic sauce that begs to be soaked up by the accompanying grilled bread. Ditto the grilled mesquite pork chop with mashed yams and pineapple-mango chutney. Just as much fun is the wine selection, which gives you more than 1,400 choices. Around 65 wines are served by the glass, 2-ounce pour, or 250- or 500-milliliter decanter. If you want a festive night out, this is the place to come -- especially when jazz is playing Monday through Saturday evenings. Note: bacar is open only 1 day per week (Fri) for lunch.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's San Francisco 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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