We asked Chris Spencer, vocalist/guitarist of noise rock bands Unsane and The Cutthroats 9, to pick a restaurant and review it. He went with one of his old favourites: San Francisco’s Tadich Grill.
Spencer: I have a favourite place in San Francisco. It’s really old school; it’s one of the oldest places in California, I think. It’s called the Tadich Grill and it’s pretty much all seafood. I mean, there’s steaks and stuff, but it’s generally crabs, shrimp, scallops and stuff like that. And they make a mean martini as well.
So it’s a traditional seafood place, or is there a twist to it?
It’s super old-school and the menu is huge. It probably has 80-100 different things on it. But it’s pretty classic, pretty old-school San Francisco. Generally, I get this seafood sauté, which has shrimp and scallops and crab legs, all cooked in a white wine butter sauce with some fresh vegetables and rice. It’s very good.
You’re speaking our language. We’re huge seafood fans over here from living on the coast in British Columbia. So, you would recommend this place to people who are coming through San Francisco?
Definitely. It’s kind of on the expensive side, so it’s an every-once-in-awhile place, maybe for a special date with a girl you like or something. But it’s really good.
What’s the atmosphere like?
Super old-school, and sometimes in the evening it gets pretty packed, so you have to try and avoid the tourist times because it is sort of a tourist spot. But when you do avoid the tourists, everyone there is super nice; it’s great food and a good place. They haven’t really changed much, décor-wise; it has this weird ‘30s lighting things hanging down and super high ceilings. It’s been there forever.
Is there another dish you could recommend there, besides the sauté?
The cioppino is very good; it’s a seafood soup with red broth and a huge assortments of different kinds of seafood. And it has more of a spicy red broth.
So you’ve had some memorable meals there?
Oh, yeah, definitely. If I have a friend in town and I really want to take them somewhere good, I’ll take them there.
-Jason Schreurs
The Cutthroats 9’s Dissent is out now on Lamb Unlimited.
No Comments