Volta - Westfield SF mall

The new “French-Scandinavian brasserie” from the Perbacco-Barbacco team opened quietly Tuesday in the old 'Wichcraft space on Mission near Fifth.

A friend and I had been hanging out at Mikkeller Bar and wanted steak for dinner. Alfred’s was fully booked so I figured we might as well check out Volta with Lark Creek as a fallback. They had three steaks on the menu so we went in. Normally I’d avoid a restaurant on its first night but I went to both Perbacco and Barbocco right after they opened and both had their acts together from the start.

The place is so big it’s hard to imagine how Colicchio and his partners thought it was an appropriate size for a sandwich place. The remodeled layout is a bit reminiscent of Perbacco with a loft mezzanine along one side for private parties. Seats were quite comfortable. There weren’t many customers so it was quiet.

Amuse of radishes and herb butter was nice, I could have eaten a lot of those.

I forgot to take a picture of the “herring x 5” ($15), a board with five kinds of herring, a little Västerbotten cheese (traditionally served with herring in Sweden), and more of that herb butter. My favorite item was the herring with curry, if they put that on the menu a la carte I’d make a special trip to eat more. The sommelier recommended a draft beer to go with the dish, it was a style I would not normally order but it went really well with the herring. A brasserie needs a good beer program to justify the name, so full points on that score.

We shared the côte de bouef for two ($88): 28 oz. bone-in ribeye steak, a couple of nice marrow bones, glazed shallots, hasselback potatoes, very nice watercress, and bearnaise sauce, a lot of food for the money by SF or even East Bay standards. Everything was excellent. Not pictured: marrow spoons.

Unfortunately there weren’t any affordable Bordeaux on the list. The sommelier recommended a 90% Tannat Madiran, very nice wine but but a bit overpowering for the steak, probably pair very well with some of the richer dishes such as the boeuf bourguignonne.

http://voltasf.com (no info there yet)

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2015/12/22/staffan-terje-and-umberto-gibin-reflect-on-a-decade-in-business-together/

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I wish I’d gotten in there a few more times. Oh well.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2016/09/26/volta-closes-after-nine-months-of-business/