Week in Reviews: Jack Falstaff Upgraded to a Tres

Baueriffic goes PlumpJacking again this week, and the man likes what he sees from Jonny Leiva at Jack Falstaff. The review is a short update, but it's a solid rave, asserting Jack Falstaff's status as a mature restaurant in its own right:

The food [Leiva] has created at this PlumpJack sister property is some of the best I've had in some time. The flavors are clean, the concept is clear, the execution is nearly flawless, and the combinations are intriguing.

... I was equally impressed with a pasta ($12/$21). The handmade egg fettuccine draped over the fork like a satin ribbon, flavored with a ragout of oxtail meat, precise dices of still crunchy carrots and whole nearly raw peas and shavings of Parmesan. The contrast between delicate pasta, meaty sauce, sweet peas and nutty cheese was remarkable.

Sprinkling in happy buzzwords like "brilliant," Bauer boosts up Leiva to three stars, along with a plea to a dining public that has yet to take notice: "On both visits the dining room was only half full. Given the atmosphere and what Leiva is doing, Jack Falstaff should be one of the hottest spots in San Francisco." [Chron]

Amanda Gold rides shotgun in the dining section this week, and she has a pair of stars for the Castro's Filipino joint Palencia: "... a meal at Palencia can be uneven. Though our first two visits were thoroughly enjoyable, with well-informed, efficient and buoyant servers and a bevy of interesting plates, our third wasn't as successful ... It might be inconsistent, but if you hit it right, it's good value and a solid introduction to Filipino cuisine." [Chron]

Paul Reidinger tries something that you've always been curious about: the special pizza night at Goat Hill Pizza: "Goat Hill is more than a pizzeria with a view (though a better view you won't easily find), more than a place long famed for its Monday night, all-you-can-eat pizza dim sum extravaganza (though a better deal you won't easily find): it's a kind of community center, a locus of mingling... I love pizza, and I retain an affection for the sort of pizza gluttony Goat Hill enables, but the older you get, the more likely you are to be sorry the next day not to have exercised more restraint in enjoying your pizza." [SFBG]

At the Weekly, Lady Brody takes a break from her usual hijinks to share a few of her favorite "secret" places, or as she puts it, "the inexpensive ethnic eateries with dishes so luscious that I not only wanted to eat them again, but I had also done so frequently." On her Oakland-centric list are Ohgane, Chai Thai Noodles, El Huarache Azteca, Brown Sugar Kitchen and here in the Mission, Cafe Ethiopia. [SFW]

THE ELSEWHERE: Across the Bay, the EBX visits Albany's version of the classic fish shack at Cape Cod, the NVR goes fancy at the glorious Meadowood, Leslie Harlib takes her turn at Marin's Portelli Rossi last week, the Merc is at Mountain View's Vive Sol, Team Bunrab does breakfast porn at Pork Store, AFR loves Ubuntu, and lest you forget, the Sunday Chron review was a three-star affair at the controversial Camino.