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Refuge: Great pastrami on the Peninsula
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The Refuge in San Carlos serves up to-die-for pastrami sandwiches.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The Belgian beer craze has hit the Peninsula at The Refuge, a deli and pub that features the oddest conglomeration of food and drink I have encountered in 35 years of covering restaurants. French wines, Belgian ales and pastrami sandwiches — the most voluptuous, velvety, meltingly tender, luscious pastrami I’ve ever tasted — all share top billing.
The pastrami recipe was developed by trial and error by Refuge chefs and partners Matt Levin and Michael Greuel, who met in the kitchens of Viognier at the high-end Draeger’s market in San Mateo.
“Delicatessens don’t offer stages [apprenticehips],” Levin told me over the phone when I asked him how he learned to make such extraordinary pastrami. “They keep their recipes a secret. We had to start from scratch.”
Greuel and Levin use beef navel or belly (bacon, if we were talking about a pig). After curing, brining, smoking and finally steaming, this cut delivers the unctuous thrill of foie gras with pastrami’s sweet, salty, spicy, garlicky, peppery seasoning.
The thick, hand-carved slices offer no resistence when you bite into the sandwich.
You get a lot of it between two slices of fresh rye bread smeared with mustard ($13). The Rueben ($16), a pastrami sandwich with melted Swiss, sauerkraut and Russian dressing, also was delicious, but why gild the lily?
The two chefs must have fantasized together about all the things guys love because every one of them appears on The Refuge’s one-page menu — pastrami, burgers, cheesesteaks, “charcuterie,” a few token salads and chicken noodle soup.
The half-pound Angus hamburgers ($13) have big beefy flavor and an exciting juicy, crumbly texture that comes from grinding the meat in-house with just the right amount of fat. The burgers are cooked to exact specification and worth a detour.
Cheesesteaks ($12) need punch. Though the thinly sliced beef is tasty and there’s lots of it, the cheesesteaks pale next to the pastrami and burgers. The boys should get to work on pickling sweet and hot cherry peppers, the traditional cheesesteak condiment. But I’m not much of a cheesesteak fan. (I’m a hot dog gal.)
The chopped chicken liver ($8) also doesn’t do it for me, and I’m an expert on this. It’s too smooth and sweet, as if apple, for heaven’s sake, had been chopped into it. The presentation on a plate loaded with olives, tired pecans, a scoop of grain mustard, raisin compote, crackers and thick hunks of white bread is ridiculous. Oy. What is Matt Levin thinking?
The broth in chicken noodle soup served in a crock ($7) has real, if light, chicken flavor that came to life with a little salt. I liked the bright-flavored carrots and celery.
No less than 13 draught ales are available; I’m actually beginning to like some, like Blanche de Bruxelles ($7), which is lower in alcohol, clean, fruity and refreshing. The problem with these complex beers is that they prevent me from eating a lot of pastrami.
The dramatic copper front of this small pub and deli hidden in a residental block lets Refuge seekers know they have arrived. The more modest interior with a copper bar, a few comfy black booths and high and low tables, has a warm coral paint job — a pared down setting for the ultimate pastrami sandwich and a glass of good cabernet franc from the Loire.
Patricia Unterman is author of the “San Francisco Food Lovers’ Pocket Guide” and a newsletter, “Unterman on Food.” Contact her at pattiu@concentric.net.
The Refuge
Location: 963 Laurel St., San Carlos
Contact: (650) 598-9813 or www.refugesc.com
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday for lunch; 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday for dinner; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday
Price range: $7 to $16
Recommended dishes: Pastrami sandwich, burgers
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa
Reservations: Not accepted
Comments from Examiner Readers
3:39 PM MST on Thu., Aug. 7, 2008 re: "Beef: It’s what’s for dinner"
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5:57 PM MST on Wed., Aug. 6, 2008
re: "Delicious dosas rule at Udupi"
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1:21 PM MST on Thu., Jul. 3, 2008
re: "North Beach Italian done right"
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8:08 PM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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2:34 PM MST on Tue., Jun. 24, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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12:06 PM MST on Sat., Jun. 21, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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12:18 AM MST on Fri., Jun. 20, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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8:46 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 19, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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8:33 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 19, 2008
re: "Lichee Garden knows family-style cooking"
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4:58 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 5, 2008
re: "Perfect pizza is at the ‘Place’ on Noriega"
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12:14 PM MST on Thu., May. 15, 2008
re: "A slice of the Middle East"
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3:01 PM MST on Thu., May. 8, 2008
re: "Take Mom out to the ballgame at AT&T Park"
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7:50 AM MST on Wed., Apr. 2, 2008
re: "Namu’s intricate flavors entice your palate"
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10:51 PM MST on Tue., Apr. 1, 2008
re: "Namu’s intricate flavors entice your palate"
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3:58 PM MST on Thu., Mar. 27, 2008
re: "Jazzy soul food in the heart of the Fillmore"
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4:55 PM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008
re: "Jazzy soul food in the heart of the Fillmore"
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12:28 PM MST on Thu., Feb. 21, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
There's also Anh Hong in Berkeley, Ca. The best place I've ever went to. People there are so friendly. If you ever want to have a birthday dinner or just dinner with friends & families this would be the #1 place to have it. It's a fun place to enjoy with people you love!!!!!!!
4 agree | 1 disagree
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Yoga Mommies From Hell said:
"Postnatal yoga moms with SUV-sized strollers" and their dim-bulb, investment banker/software technician husbands are slowly colonizing and ruining this city. I'm really, really tired of their desperate attempts to remain hip after they've reproduced their odious selves in miniature, and named them Dakota, Paris or some other ridiculous monniker (yeah, that's for you, sf gate mommy files nimrod). One of them was pushing her way to the start line at the AIDS walk with scant regard for anyone in her path. We put her right in her place, and her self-entitled pleas for help from other walkers were completely ignored, signalling once again that San Franciscans are over the cult of the urban mommy. Please, please move to the suburbs where you belong.
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Joey and Eddie's -- I've only been there for dessert, but it was sooo bad. Pistachio panna cotta and cannolis. Huge portions, but way, way WAY too sweet. Total lack of subtlety in the flavor. I think they must order pre-packaged desserts? I don't know, but the dessert was so bad that it scared me off of trying any of the food (although I love this chef from his recent days at Pesceria!).
5 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
let's move to another restaurant already. It's not like there is a shortage in this city.
8 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Lichee Garden is by far the best Chinese restaurant I've had in town. Immigrating here from Hong Kong four years ago, I often miss out on the "authentic" Chinese food except at LG, where you can never go wrong with any dishes. I suggest you to try all Unterman's recommendations (as those are the common orders I make), and try the salt and pepper crab (the best fried crab I've ever had). I go to LG about twice a week with my family, and always enjoy the atmosphere and service from Annie. Always ask for what the chef's recommendation of the day is, and always be willing to try new dishes. The House Sparerib is classic with the perfect sweet and sour sauce. And trust me, LG does not use the same sauce for everything (that's what House of Nanking does). Just order a variety of dishes (like Unterman). I always leave LG with a smile.
9 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
ugh - think Untermann has lost her tastebuds. This is just another in a long line of reviews where she seems to have eaten at the restaurant on the one day it sparkled. More likely, they know who she is and pull out all the stops. I've eaten there two or three times when in North Beach, and never been impressed...sticky floors, aged linens on tables (with original spots, I think) and nothing special on the menu you can't find in a million other Chinese restaurants. You want good Chinese food around Chinatown? Head to Great Eastern - they can even get me to eat the chicken feet appetizer, their food is THAT good!
10 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Gee would you have said a table full of Asians, African Americans, Pacific Islanders, or just is a "table full of caucasions" not offensive? Imagine - "I revisited with a table full of Africans..."
7 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Lichee Garden has sticky chairs and floors. Their food taste the same no matter what it is. They seem to use the same sauce for all their entrees.I equate their food to McDonald's. For authentic tasty chinese food, go to Great Eastern or R&G lounge.
10 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
i misss their dim sum from tea times??
7 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I will have to try the pizza place but from the picture the crust does not look thin it looks california thin.
6 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
layaly have the best middle_eastren food in the bay.there food is delicious and have consistant recepie. what you taste today you'll taste tommorrow. it's a winner. I love the hookah lounge, they sereve very good hookahs & have very unique Tobacco Flavors. the hookah lonuge opens at 8pm -12am & 8pm - 2:00(fri & sat)on the weekends.i recommend this place cause it's a winner
12 agree | 7 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
My mother would beat me like a rented mule if I took her to a baseball game for Mother's Day.
9 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I visited Namu on a trip to San Fran a year back when the restaurant had just opened. The space is minimal and hip, and the food fantastic - the black cod was superb!
10 agree | 10 disagree
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Francis Kim said:
actually namu never closes early. the restaurant that always closes early was written right next to the namu article. I believe everyone is getting confused. And on thursday, friday, and saturday they stay open till 1am!!!! that is awesome.
10 agree | 10 disagree
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M.S. Jackson said:
Ms. Unterman's laughable dialectic suggests she is feeding on some of the large sausages at the Soul Food joint and getting more than her fill!
10 agree | 10 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I suspect they close before the posted closing time to save on staff costs on nights when the amount of business does not cover expenses. I give them another six months.
10 agree | 15 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Go early in the evening because they'll close early if the mood stikes them. Even if you have a reservation.
39 agree | 57 disagree
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