I must confess that it wasn't until I was writing my review of Murray Circle last month that I discovered the entirely separate menu served by Farley's Bar, the casual suitemate to the larger, more formal and often fully booked restaurant. Farley's doesn't take reservations, so you take your chances on whether it will be packed with conference attendees and assorted upscale lounge lizards, but you can drop in for a drink and a meal anytime you want. That seemed to me to be reason enough for a return visit and a review of Farley's in its own right.On a fine night you can dine on the heated porch, ensconced on a cushioned bench with the Golden Gate Bridge towers soaring skyward beyond the quiet green and the headlands, and watch the boats cross the bay in the distance. It's worth remembering that all this is taking place on national park land, and that the movers and shakers of Cavallo Point are devoting a great deal of thought and care to showcasing environmental sustainability and foods produced locally by an agricultural community looking toward the future.
The bar, named for the late Phil Frank's comic strip character Farley, whose curriculum vitae included stints of park rangering, is to the left of the foyer as you enter the John Muir Hall. The décor, done in shades of brown, pale yellow green and taupe, is clubby and comfortable, with stools, high and low tables, and cozy nooks near the two fireplaces for quieter conversations. There are leather cushioned wicker easy chairs, as well as some upholstered in jade colored corduroy, and portieres at the tall double hung windows. The bar is a giant slab of wood, and the original tin ceiling has been restored. Framed enlargements of the Farley comic strip adorn the walls, along with a large framed photo of Phil Frank over one of the fireplaces. The look is at once modern and timeless, in keeping with the general theme of Passport Resorts' renovation of the site.
Executive chef Joseph Humphrey, who earned two Michelin stars at Meadowood Resort in St. Helena, oversees a huge kitchen that serves both Murray Circle and Farley's. The menus, although thematically similar, do not overlap, although of course the wine and drinks lists do. The cocktail list is actually a leather bound tome that describes the wines served by the glass ($8-$29) as well as beers, classic cocktails and a page of lovingly detailed organic cocktails (all $14). With names that include Free Radical Fighter, Healing Zen Elixer and Farmer's Market, you might actually come to believe that drinking is good for your health!
As at Murray Circle, all the breads, pastries, desserts and condiments are housemade. Pastry chef Ethan Howard puts his own spin on traditional American desserts such as carrot cake and chocolate bread pudding.
The bar serves a standard menu from 11am, with nightly specials kicking in after 5pm. On a warm evening, we opted for Dungeness crab cakes ($16), a standard heirloom beet salad ($12), and a Monday special Savoy spinach salad with warm bacon vinaigrette ($10). As you can see, the prices at Farley's are comparable to those at the larger venue. While Farley's is a place to go for a grass-fed burger ($17), your burger will cost you.
The crab cakes arrived first. They were plump and crisp; three golden brown cylinders resting on a bed of romesco sauce. They looked yummy, but their interiors were oddly dry and tasteless. The sweet, tomato sauce did nothing to bring out their crab flavor. I requested salt, pepper and lemon, hoping to kick them up, but even these additions helped only minimally.
The spinach salad leaned to the other end of the flavor spectrum, awash in a strong and salty vinaigrette. I took to forking up bites of salad to add to the crab, and together they worked fairly well. Perhaps it was the dim light on the porch, but the bits of bacon in the vinaigrette looked so black that it took me a while to remember what they were. Thinly sliced radish and carrot completed the salad. It was pretty, but the carrots had dried out after slicing, causing them to buckle and toughen.
The beet salad was most puzzling of all. Three tenderly roasted beets rested on squashed lumps of Burrata cheese. Burrata, an Italian cheese originally made from the milk of the water buffalo, is now produced in the Bay Area from cow's milk. It is formed using fresh mozzarella and cream into a pouch traditionally wrapped in asphodel leaves. How romantic is that? When fresh, it oozes cream, and has a rich, buttery flavor. But ours was tough, with a bitter aftertaste. That the salad was dressed with nothing more than a few sprigs of peppery microgreenery did not help.
We forged onward with a dish from the regular menu of grilled local petrale sole ($17). It had been wrapped in a thin slice of smoked bacon, and was served over very salty broccoli de cicco, with some dabs of anchovy and capers at the end of the plate. My companion liked the smoky flavor of the fish, and I wanted to as well, but every time I took a bite I thought of tires. Not that I've ever tasted tires. But they did come to mind.
My special domestic Wagyu beef short ribs ($19) was much more successful. One large rib that managed to be at once crispy and meltingly tender was draped over a bed of fluffy, creamy polenta, with more of the broccolini on the side. It could have used some sauce to moisten things, but in general the dish was tasty and satisfying.
Our uniformly gorgeous young servers were always friendly and responsive, and all the dishes came quickly. Still, I left feeling bewildered and forlorn. How could this kitchen put out such an uneven meal? And how could I write about it? I hate writing negative reviews!
There was nothing for it but to go back to try the burger. I did so during lunch, and was treated to the daylight ambiance of the bar, where hikers and cyclists stop in for a drink or a meal, and quiet jazz wafts through the room. While my thick mound of grass fed beef was juicy and flavorful, served on a soft house made bun and studded with a tiny mince of shallot, it was considerably beyond the specified medium rare, and there was only minimal evidence of the advertised artisan cheddar. It was served simply, with butter lettuce, tomato and nicely seasoned crisp fries, and big enough to share, if you're not super hungry. Still, I thought it on the pricy side.
I had hoped that Farley's would provide a more accessible and down-to-earth way to dine at Cavallo Point. I still think it has that potential, but someone needs to more carefully oversee the food to achieve a better level of consistency. It's a lovely spot in which to relax over a drink, but at this point I can't wholeheartedly recommend it for dinner.
