At first glance, 1300 is intimidatingly stylish, with really well-matched brown decor — everything kind of fits together. It’s a large space, divided into a bar with performances and a big dining area. However, once you get settled, you start to notice that a lot of the details are actually pretty goofy and tongue-in-cheek, like the patterns on the lamps or some weirdly incongruous paintings. They subdivide the restaurant into two parts with a deep dark curtain to make it look cozier (and more full — not a bad thing during a horrible recession, even though this place thankfully seemed to have enough guests on a Sunday evening.)
The menu also is somehow slightly “off” — making it all that much cooler. All the food is Southern-oriented, with lots of things like chitlins or ribs. David the chef-owner (he’s an amazingly friendly, towering British-Jamaican) is another unexpected element — you don’t somehow imagine a big English black guy cooking dishes that sound like something from a Georgia backwater. The chef and his wife own and run it, which makes it feel even more homey and comfortable.
The food is all delicious and subtle, and the wine list is amazing. It’s not huge, but they have some cool grapes, like petit verdot, grenache and mourvedre, that you don’t normally find outside of blends, and the fact that it’s all California bottles was pretty nifty. Check it out.
1300 on Fillmore
1300 Fillmore St
San Francisco, CA 94115
+1 415 771 7100
http://www.1300fillmore.com/
