Citizen Cake
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 861-2228
- Price:
- $$
- Cross Street:
- Gough Street
- Best of Citysearch:
- Dessert 2007, Dessert 2007, Dessert 2004
- Hours:
- Tue-Fri 8am-10pm, Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-5pm
Editorial Review for Citizen Cake – by Katrina Hendriks
The Scene
Huge wraparound windows encase a spare, modern-industrial space frequented by a stylish Hayes Valley crowd. While both lunch and dinner can be busy, the decor lends a subdued air. The restaurant is especially crowded on performance nights at the nearby symphony hall and opera house.
The Food
The kitchen turns out all-American comfort food with gourmet trimmings. A typical menu, which changes every three to four months, includes sandwiches prepared with house-made breads and salads made from local, seasonal produce. Other entrees might include apple-accented pork loin with homemade mustard spaetzle, and lamb chops with lavender-spiked sea-salt crust. The real star here, however, is dessert, which includes several marquee selections, such as a peanut butter mousseline and vanilla ice cream sandwich, or vanilla cheesecake with pineapple sorbet and mango panna cotta. Along with these elaborate dishes, the glass display case holds a wide selection of pastries and tarts.
Editorial content is independent of paid advertisers. Any expenses are paid for by Citysearch.
User Reviews for Citizen Cake
08/27/2008 Posted by tl83
The first time I visited Citizen Cake was about a year ago after seeing it featured on Food Network. Plus I'm a cupcake fanatic and always make my friends and family cupcakes for special occasions. I even stuff the centers like a hostess cupcake! Anyways, I was so excited to try their famous cupcakes - one more chocolatey and the other a vanilla and fruit mix. They were dry, not very flavorful, and lacked the fun and fancy allure everyone had raved about. Not one to judge a restaurant based on just one visit, I returned last month. Again, not impressed by the dessert selection. Very limited, tiny, expensive items that just weren't appealing. We decided to try the cupcakes again. Not any better this time around. They weren't moist and didn't have enough frosting - the best part of any cupcake! Plus the service was horrible. We were ignored for about 4 minutes in the store before someone asked if we were ready to order. Then they didn't have any insight to offer when we asked for a recommendation of what to purchase and take home. Totally useless service and desserts that aren't yummy enough for their price tag. Overall, not impressed and I won't be giving Citizen Cake a third opportunity to wow me...at least not any time soon.
07/18/2008 Posted by nyfoodie21
My mom and I are vacationing in San Fran, and went to salon Oxenrose (another CitySearch find) for hair styling, and were delighted to see that we were on the same street as Citizen Cake. We saw on CitySearch that it's #1 for desserts, but decided to try it for lunch and dessert. The atmosphere is very minimalist/trendy. The menus are very clever. To start, they brought us some incredible biscuits, they were scallion biscuits, moist, flavorful. My mother wanted to buy them in the bakery afterwards, but they were not available. We each wanted soup and a salad, but didn't want a bowl of soup - they reduced the portion that was on the menu, so don't be afraid to ask. The soup of the day was a carrot puree - full of flavor - fennel and cumin...topped with yogurt, very delicious. My mother ordered the tomato salad, it was 3 types of local tomatoes (a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds), chives and fabulous feta cheese....with a lovely vinagrette. I ordered the spinach salad. The most creative spinach salad I have ever had. The only thing traditional was the warm dressing. The salad had a warm dressing, a finely diced bacon (I'm guessing it was salt pork?) - small cubed potatoes, and (are you ready for this?) a poached egg on top. TO DIE FOR! The dessert menu was pricey and very eclectic. We chose a dessert called 'The Sting'. WOW, WOW, WOW!!! The sting comes with a shot glass of the most fragrant, unusual, amazing spiced pineapple liquid - the dessert itself is a molton chocolate concoction, with a vanilla cream, and a pile of toasted hazelnuts and crunchies. You take a sip of the spicy liquid, and while it's in your mouth, you scoop some molten chocolate, some vanilla sauce and WOW. The most creative dessert we'd ever had. Really recommend this place., try it for lunch!!
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