I ate in a lot of coffee shops and diners growing up in New Jersey, but none of them ever had a bookshelf holding a copy of Marijuana Growers Handbook. Hell, none of them ever had a bookshelf. Enter Canteen, Dennis Leary’s stylish coffee shop in the vibrant Commodore Hotel, which not only has loaded wooden bookshelves, but also offers food that’s much more intriguing than typical coffee shop fare.
Canteen is tiny, consisting of six stools at a green counter, five booths, and a lit-up electronic arrow pointing toward the kitchen.
The only other decoration is a colorful Italian-style clown lamp by the entrance, which also serves as Canteen’s business card stand.
Leary’s lunch menu featured a short list of brunch-style options. I bypassed the seemingly sure-fire corned beef hash and ordered two lunch dishes instead.
The sliced duck breast ($10.95) came de-fatted, on a bed of Dijon sauced lentils. Prunes were also listed, but were nowhere to be found. Still, it was a tasty dish. The quacker tasted high-quality, even if it was a dark color I wouldn’t normally associate with duck.
The smoked mackerel with bitter orange and treviso ($10.50) was very good, but too light. I didn’t taste any bitter orange, which was either disappointing or a blessing. There were hunks of tender white fish with a big bed of a cabbage that looked like radicchio, only not at all bitter. My girlfriend was craving a hamburger.
The closest approximation on the menu was the pork tenderloin sandwich ($9.95) on a soft roll studded with poppy, sesame and pumpkin seeds, slathered with spicy mustard. It was amazing. The pork was truly tender, and absolutely delicious. So was the roll. I also like the accompanying pile of diced celery, which was very refreshing.
We each drank big cups of homemade chai ($2.75 apiece), both turbo-spiced with ginger.
We were excited to try the only listed dessert, buttermilk cake with blueberry ice cream. It wasn’t even 1 PM, but they already sold out. Our waitress offered tangerine sorbet instead, but it was cold and rainy outside. No thanks. Eager to please, the waitress asked if we wanted a slice of blueberry French toast or a pancake. Negatory.
Considering the simple setting, and how little we were paying, the food was solid. Even if I didn’t get my prunes and bitter orange. I’d be interested to return for dinner, when Chef Leary apparently gets more ambitious. I’m also interested to revisit Canteen’s tantalizing bookshelves. Just for the record, I never inhaled.
On the way out, in the lobby of the Commodore Hotel, was this wheel of offbeat San Francisco tourist attractions. The Presidio Pet Cemetery, Tattoo Art Museum and Musee Mechanique weren’t exactly on my radar before. Now, I’m intrigued.
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