HOME Restaurant - San Francisco

Home Sweet Home
Dining Out by Michael Bauer, SF Chronicle - August 14, 2005
For nearly 25 years, Cafe de Paris L'Entrecote was a neighborhood fixture, known for its steak with herb sauce and the prominent glassed-in patio overlooking Union Street. Other places in the area came and went, but L'Entrecote endured, becoming a little more shopworn with each passing year. People would come to sit on the patio and watch the interesting parade of pedestrians, but rarely did patrons venture into the back reaches of the restaurant, which was as dim as a catacomb.

A few months ago, the space became Home , a branch of the restaurant that opened several years ago at Market and Church streets. The cold, black metal chairs that looked like relics from the 1980s were replaced by sleek wooden ones, windows were added to brighten the interior, and cheery yellow walls and red banquettes filled the 125-seat dining room with color. The new owners introduced a menu that's a bit more expensive but similar to the Market Street location, featuring proven items such as a very good hearts of romaine salad with a creamy garlic dressing ($9), comforting macaroni and cheese with a little bite ($6) and roast chicken with rosemary jus ($17).

With its bright upgrade of the space, Home has quickly become a popular neighborhood gathering place, with a bar that prepares trendy cocktails, an open kitchen that adds to the natural pandemonium, and a constant procession of locals, particularly young Marina trendies. Singles stop in for a drink or to eat at the bar. Shoppers tuck their shopping bags under their chairs. Parents with children in tow come in for comfort food.

All day long, the restaurant boasts a congenial party atmosphere. When a busboy broke a plate next to us, the woman dining with two male friends a couple tables away shouted, "Happy New Year,'' and giggled loud enough to attract just about every eye in the place. (Cut her off from those cucumber cosmopolitans, please.) Seconds later, when she wanted a glass of wine, she called the waiter over and punctuated her words with her fork swinging in the air like a conductor conducting a symphony. When the busboy came to refill water glasses she pushed hers toward the pitcher, yelling, "Me, me, me, me, me" like a really annoying macaw.

Our eyes met as I was laughing at a conversation taking place at my table. "Go ahead and laugh at me,'' she squawked, fanning the air with her hand. "I'm going to tell my story anyway. It's really good.''

Everywhere I looked, people were in animated conversations, telling lots of good stories in a loud, convivial way. It's the type of restaurant that seems to foster this type of interaction, and the staff is cool and takes it all in stride.

The food has broad appeal, too. It's simple and straightforward, satisfying a wide range of palates.

The strength of the kitchen is the salads, which comprise a large chunk of the menu: Aside from the hearts of romaine, the torn butter lettuce is nicely coated in a creamy dressing with Point Reyes blue cheese, spicy pepitas, shaved red onions and tangy red wine vinaigrette ($9). The kitchen also produces really good mixed greens with dried cranberries, feta cheese and Champagne vinaigrette ($9) and, at this time of year, ripe slices of heirloom tomatoes topped with avocado, balsamic vinegar and shavings of Parmesan ($9).

Executive chef Jeff Banker, who also has the same role at the original restaurant, brought over a dozen of the most popular items from the Market Street location, including the duck and vegetable spring roll ($9), served with a sweet -spicy chile dipping sauce. He also offers a chewy wild rice pancake that covers the entire dinner plate, topped with thin slices of smoked salmon, a drizzle of creme fraiche and micro greens ($9).

Look for the popular Meyers Ranch hamburger with fries ($10) and the pot roast, a big hunk of meat smothered in an onion jus ($16) and served with buttermilk smashed potatoes. It's the best of the signature dishes.

While many of the others are good, they're not up to the quality I remember at Market Street. The grilled pork chop ($16) would have been better without the too-generous mound of peach chutney on top, although the bacon and fingerling potato hash that completed the plate was very good. Flat-iron steak with a red wine mushroom sauce ($17) was very tender, but its texture was reminiscent of liver.

However, many dishes created for the new restaurant may well become signatures, particularly the two fish dishes on the seven-item main-course menu. Alaskan halibut ($22) features a generously peppered and seared fillet, hoisted on tomato-y braised Romano beans and crowned with a flourish of thin fried onion rings and swirls of basil oil. The kitchen glazes grilled wild salmon ($21) with smoky chipotle butter that melts into the corn and roasted pepper melange underneath. Fried strips of zucchini add a pleasant crunch to the mix.

The menu also features two pastas; the best is the wild mushroom pappardelle ($16), its pleasant, earthy flavor enhanced by truffle oil and balanced by fresh bursts of roasted zucchini. The kitchen stumbled on the fusilli ($16); I liked the spicy tomato cream sauce with bits of pancetta and Swiss chard, but the pasta was pulled from the pot too soon and was a bit too chewy and floury.

Pastry chef Lori Baker also reprises her role at Home , bringing her rich and buttery banana bread pudding ($7), served piping hot with slices of fresh bananas, bourbon sauce and whipped cream. One of the best choices is molten chocolate cake ($7) with a white chocolate surprise in the center that gushes out when cut. It's served with the restaurant's version of cookies 'n' cream ice cream. Baker also does a really great version of creme brulee ($7), topped with sliced peaches and blackberries, and served with chewy, moist coconut- peach macaroons.

Our server practically insisted we order the black raspberry ice cream ($7) studded with big chunks of chocolate. I would have preferred smaller pieces, but overall she was right -- the flavor of the fruit mellowed with cream brought back memories of long, warm summers.

The waiters at Home are part of the allure of the place. They're efficient at cleaning the table and doing all the rudimentary chores, but they also add a bit of their own personality. Their approach is familiar, but strikes the right note for this type of restaurant.

With its second location, Home is building a good track record. On Market Street, the restaurant took over a dreary location and turned it into an exciting destination; it seems to be doing the same on Union Street, filling a niche that was missing from the neighborhood. Home may well become known as the neighborhood picker-upper.
Wine list is right at Home in restaurant

The 50 wines on the list at Home are straightforward and unpretentious, just like the food or surroundings.

While the selection highlights wines to be drunk, rather than savored, the list offers some good choices in all price ranges. Whites and reds start at $28 for the 2003 Benziger Carneros Chardonnay and the 2003 Hill of Content Shiraz from Australia.

Markups are good at the lower price ranges and even better on the more expensive wines such as the 2003 Rombauer Carneros Chardonnay ($54). Another good option in red is the 2001 Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva ($36).

In addition, diners can select from 11 half bottles and 19 selections by the glass.

The list also features a page of dessert wines, Irish whiskey, Scotch, bourbon and liqueurs. The specialty cocktails offer an interesting juxtaposition of flavors, such as a strawberry basil martini ($7.50) or a cucumber cosmopolitan with cranberry juice and Cointreau ($7.50). We had a couple of drinks that tasted like cough syrup, yet others, like the ginger mojito ($7.50), were fresh and lively. It all depends who's mixing the drinks.

A Home for everyone
What's New-San Francisco Chronicle - July 22, 2005
Like the original Market Street location, the new Home restaurant on Union Street aims to please everyone. With a menu that spans several types of cuisine, it draws in a mix of young couples in track suits eating burgers and older neighborhood gentlemen in jackets deconstruction dainty plates of smoked salmon on wild rice pancakes.

Michael Levine, Scott Rodrick and Stuart Gordon opened Home last week in the space that housed Café de Paris-l Entrecote for more than two decades. The long, narrow restaurant opens onto an atrium in front and is done in earth tones accented by fire engine red bar and banquettes.

Though the same chefs Jeff Banker and pastry chef Lori Banker are in charge at both locations, the Union Street restaurant offers a mostly different menu, with more of an emphasis on contemporary cuisine and sustainability than on comfort food. Price also are somewhat higher.

To start, a delicate butter lettuce is tossed with blue cheese, pepitas and red onion. Grilled porcini, fava beans and truffle oil top with wild mushroom ravioli. On the list of entrees, grilled salmon is all about summer, with crispy zucchini fritters and a corn and cherry tomato relish. Or, diners can opt for a classic Home dish like pot roast with buttermilk mashed potatoes.

Desserts have a homey and decadent bent, such as molten chocolate cake with homemade cookies-and-cream ice cream, and an intense peanut butter crème brulee with chocolate cookies.

Created by Christie Dufault, former wine director at Gary Danko, the wine list emphasizes California bottles, with about 18 wines by the glass.
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Home on the Range
Daily Candy - July 17, 2005
When trying to win someone's love, it's hard to know where to begin.

Just remember: Home is where the heart is.

So your first stop on the courtship express should be Home, a new restaurant that just opened on Union Street. From the same guys behind the outpost on Market, Home serves comfort food with a twist in a cozy, modern setting: red booths, yellow walls, dark wood, skylights, and a display kitchen to give diners something to chat about.

But the real draw is the food. Start with duck and vegetable spring rolls or prosciutto salad with figs, walnut vinaigrette, and goat cheese crostini. Entrees include pappardelle with sweet corn, fava beans, parmesan, and shaved truffles or grilled salmon with corn and tomato relish and zucchini fritters. For dessert, the black and white molten chocolate cake with cookies 'n' cream ice cream is not to be missed.

You're sure to leave with a full belly.

And if it turns out that the way to your date's heart is indeed through his stomach, well, you've got your bases covered.

Home On Union Street, 2032 Union Street, between Webster and Buchanan Streets (415-931-5006).
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The food is mostly as good as you recall at Home
San Francisco Chronicle - March 25, 2005
By Michael Bauer, Chronicle Restaurant Critic
Home has had a checkered past. John Hurley opened it as JohnFrank in 2000, but after the dot-com crash, he and chef Lance Dean Velasquez made some substantial changes. They lowered the prices, remade the sleekly handsome interior into a country-inspired haven, changed the name to Home and changed the menu to highlight down-home American classics.

After a couple years Velasquez left to open Bendean in Berkeley, and Hurley sold Home to Stuart Gordon.

A change in owner can often signal a change in quality or direction, but that hasn't been the case at Home. Jeff Banker seamlessly took over the kitchen, and Gordon maintained the cheery ambience of the dining room, with whitewashed walls decorated with old-time tin advertisements, and red accents in lamps, light fixtures and arrangements of fiery gladiolas and tulips. The enclosed patio and bar in the back features an oversize slate-tiled fireplace for foggy, cool evenings.

Knowing that comfort food in San Francisco is more than mashed potatoes and meat loaf, Banker offers dishes like duck and vegetable spring rolls ($7. 95), which have a fresh, meaty filling and a crisp, blistered skin. The spicy chile dipping sauce alongside is probably straight out of a bottle, but I don't know of many mothers who would make it from scratch anyway.

Mussels ($8.95) are also excellent, bathed in a sauce that tastes like Thai coconut soup, a smooth broth with just a hint of bite. Banker also includes smoked salmon that paves a plate-size pancake studded with chewy wild rice and a generous drizzle of creme fraiche; it's a great deal for $7.95.

He doesn't ignore the familiar classics but sometimes adds a twist. For example, he makes the sloppy Joe into a dip that's served with corn chips ($6. 95). He tops a 1950s favorite, a wedge of iceberg lettuce, with bits of bacon, shaved carrots and a buttermilk ranch dressing ($6.95), and he generously douses hearts of romaine with a creamy garlic dressing and crunchy croutons ($4.95/$7.95).

When you add in the pizza ($9.95), hamburger ($8.95), French onion soup ($4.95) and the daily specials such as ranch pork chile rojo on Monday; chicken pot pie on Tuesday (both $11.95) and a turkey dinner ($12.95) on Sunday, there's something for everyone. That's probably the reason the restaurant attracts such an eclectic crowd in both age and ethnicity.

Diners can't go wrong with the roast chicken ($14.95), served with slow- roasted potatoes and other vegetables in a gravy perfumed with rosemary; or the flat-iron steak ($15.95) with red wine butter, although I don't care for the Worcestershire-based sauce dribbled across the fries.

However, if the recipe for meat loaf ($10.95) comes from someone's mother, she must have worked in a school cafeteria or on the assembly line at Swanson's. The preformed-looking slice of seasoned ground meats is doused in a gloppy brown gravy and accompanied by mushy brown-sugar-glazed carrots.

It's the opposite of the Hawaiian tuna ($16.95), that makes it seem as if Mom must have worked at Masa's and is slumming at Home. The seared tuna is sliced on a bed of lentils and topped with a chopped salad with pancetta, frisee and other sturdy greens. It's a simply executed but complex blend that comes together beautifully.

Pastry chef Lori Baker also has a deft hand with classic American desserts (all $6); in fact, the Meyer lemon buttermilk pie, served with coconut sorbet and toasted almonds, is one of the best I've had. I was also drawn to the rich, buttery banana bread pudding moistened with bourbon sauce and a puff of whipped cream, and the black and white molten chocolate cake accompanied by house-made cookies and ice cream.

Service is down-home friendly, too, as if June Cleaver had served as a role model. The waiters are casual and helpful and check back to see if you like everything. If not, you almost believe that they'd be happy to go back to the kitchen and cook you something else. Yet they sometimes miss the finer points. The waiter on one visit described the salad on the tuna as "fillet greens.'' After asking him again and getting the same answer we didn't press for an explanation, but discovered when the dish was served that he meant frisee.

It was clear that he was more comfortable telling us about such things as the Friday special: Mrs. Cleaver's tuna casserole ($10.95) or the $3 margarita, the drink special on the same night. We took his advice and ordered a couple and they went down smoother than lemonade. June might not have approved, but Ward would give a knowing nod.
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Zagat Survey Review 2005
Zagat
A new owner and chef have taken over this celebrated Castro citizen at press time. Well aware there's no place like Home, they intend to keep the focus on well-crafted comfort food at comfort prices, while expanding the hours and the take-out business. The romantic Backyard Bar should remain home base for the local beautiful people.
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Home pays Homage to Comfort Classics
SF Station
Within any melting pot of cultures, diversity is bound to be present. And diversity, my friends, can be a good thing especially when it comes to food and, in this case, comfort food. In San Francisco in particular, one's idea of comfort food may differ greatly from his neighbors. To me, a midwestern transplant, comfort food equals mac and cheese and pot pies. To a person of Indian descent, a spicy curry might be the first thing that comes to mind. To a friend of Latino descent, any dish containing pork and chiles would most certainly do the trick. So where to go to make everyone happy? Where else, other than Home. And with the recent kitchen take-over by former sous chef, Jeff Banker, expect things to get even more diverse at Home.

Banker, who took over the reins after former head chef Lance Dean Velasquez departed for more eastern pastures, is breathing new life into the eclectic menu. You'll still find old favorites like the decadent macaroni and cheese ($5.75), thick-cut Meyers Ranch hamburger ($8.95), and oh-so-satisfying pot roast with horseradish cream ($14.95). Banker, however, is broadening the menu by adding not only more "American" style dishes, like meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy ($10.95) and chicken noodle soup ($4.95), but many culturally diverse dishes as well, such as the red curry & coconut milk vegetable stew ($8.95), and the always popular (in England at least) fish & chips ($12.95). Some dishes need a little work, such as the pappardelle with mushrooms ($10.95), which was begging for just a touch more truffle oil, and the flat iron steak with french fries ($15.95) which tasted delightful but was plated in such a way that I was left asking, where's the color? A word of advice: garnish.

Desserts are as comfort-y as comfort can be, and the pastry chef responsible for such delights as banana bread pudding with bourbon sauce and a fudge brownie sundae with "home"made mint chocolate chip ice cream (both $6) is none other than the wife of the head chef himself. How fitting in a restaurant that revolves around the concept of home.

The restaurant is divided up into two rooms: the main dining area, which is reminiscent of an upscale diner with lots of whites and blacks and the Back Porch, an area complete with roaring fireplace and communal tables which has a decidedly more cozy feel.

And what of the potent potables? Again, Home aims to please everyone. With nightly $3 drink specials (Cosmos on Wednesdays, Martinis on Thursdays, you get the picture), you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal in the city. The wine list is also very well thought-out and varied, and includes a selection of Old World and New World vintages.

Look for further changes on the menu, as Banker takes us to new heights of "upscale" comfort. When asked what his overall goal was in reforming the menu to his liking, he was brief in his response: he's trying to do things "like mom used to do". And to him I would say, "Mom would be proud."

Additional notes: Home offers an "Early Bird Special" ($10.99) each night from 5pm - 6pm, which includes a salad, an entrée, a dessert, and a glass of wine (oh the value!). They also offer a brunch every Sunday from 11am - 2pm, complete with a build-your-own-Bloody Mary bar. Comfort has never been so fun! -- Heather Thompson
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Bargain Bites: Early bird specials
San Francisco Chronicle - September 19, 2004
HOME: A Castro favorite serving up satisfying comfort food that won’t break the bank. A three-course meal plus a glass of red or white wine subtracts $10.99 from your wallet. Daily specials from 5 to 6 p.m. might include a mixed-green salad, mussels in garlic white wine, fried chicken or a steak sandwich, with pound cake or cupcakes for dessert.
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Feast of the senses
SF Weekly - August 4, 2004
...Home, which renamed itself in 2002 from JohnFrank when it changed from an elaborate, high-priced menu to a moderately priced comfort-food one under chef Lance Dean Velasquez, recently announced a change of chefs and ownership, but the menu looked reassuringly familiar, as did the room, already quite full less than half an hour after opening for dinner. We were there in plenty of time for the Early Bird Special, served from 5 to 6, and amazingly a dollar less than before -- now $10.99 -- for a salad, entree, dessert, and glass of wine, but we didn't feel like having the vegetarian pasta that was that night's main course. Instead we shared an order of duck and vegetable spring rolls with a spicy chili dipping sauce as Hilary and Martine daringly quaffed margaritas (which would have rendered me too groggy for the screening that awaited, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) while we decided what to eat. We all wished it were Thursday, when the nightly special is country fried chicken, but skipped Saturday's barbecued ribs served with grilled corn slaw and fries in favor of a grilled pork chop, pot roast, and roasted halibut (though Martine was sorely tempted by the red curry and coconut milk eggplant stew).

Home has always shone in its careful pairing of interesting vegetables with meat and fish, and tonight I loved the combination of still-toothy braised romano beans in fresh tomato sauce and tons of crispy onion shreds that came with the silky, pale halibut slicked with basil oil, and the fat little wild rice pecan pancake and braised green beans that accompanied the sturdy, thick grilled pork chop with its mildly sweet wild cherry sauce. I didn't finish all of my knowingly cooked, luscious Niman Ranch pot roast, but the leftovers came home without any vestige of their sides of gravy-drenched garlic potato purée and tangy horseradish cream -- I'd seen to that. (The menu changes daily; on another occasion, the pork chop was molasses-glazed and came with baked beans, grilled corn on the cob, and a sweet potato pecan biscuit, while the pot roast's accompaniments were buttermilk smashed potatoes, glazed baby carrots, and a roasted onion jus.) My favorite dish of all on the table was the side order of tender sprigs of broccoli napped in a delicious, sticky cheddar cheese sauce. I ate more than my fair share.

We finished with a bright-tasting Home-made melon sorbet served with shortcake cookies and a half-portion of banana bread pudding... -- Meredith Brody
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Dinner at a discount
San Francisco Magazine - April 2004
Market Street's temple to kitsch and comfort food offers one of the cheapest dinner deals in town. A mere $10.99 buys you three courses and a glass of wine as long as you get your butt in the chair and your order to the waiter before 6 p.m. The set menu changes nightly, but count on a salad, followed by something solid such as baked pasta carbonara or pot roast and an old-fashioned dessert, like chocolate icebox cake, to end it all. Hang around after dinner and enjoy a $3 cocktail at the Backyard patio bar. At prices like these, you can't affort to leave Home.
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Comfort food taken to a higher level
AOL Home & Garden: San Francisco - Dining - Home - Overview
Home is the latest restaurant incarnation to occupy the very prominent corner of Church and Market. Without sacrificing comfort and style, Home completely elevates the value-comfort-dining experience to a level that its competition (including the ever-pope Chow across the street) hasn't yet achieved.

Gone is the extreme chicness, the fussiness of the waiters and, even better, the $80 checks for two. The main dining room, bathed in white and surrounded by the still-wonderful people watching window is now separated from the bar area by a wood and glass partition. Tablecloths are gone but white linen napkins remain. Red Jell-O molds line one wall and vintage food company plaques adorn others for a down-home feel. The second room is an outdoor patio known as "The Back Yard." With a covered "roof", it features a stunning fireplace and is so well heated that one could dine in this room every night of the year.

Great decor doesn't mean a thing if it's not supported by good food. But Home's food isn't just good -- it's excellent. Outstanding entrees include pan-seared medium rare salmon with garbanzos… or the completely delicious and tender pot roast served on a bed of very buttery potato puree and topped with horseradish sour cream. Unlike similar places where value is important, Home's portions, while fair for the price, are smaller than most. The under $10 salmon almost requires the addition of a side dish (like the perfectly cooked broccoli with cheddar cheese sauce round out the entree.

To completely facilitate the neighborhood "American bistro" reservations are accepted for only half the dining space. The other half is reserved for walk- in customers. That, above all else, is a sure sign that this restaurant is looking for daily, repeat business.
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Home review by Heather Bradley
SOMA Magazine
Comfort food, low prices, a chic outdoor patio and attentive service. Oh, and some of the best macaroni in cheese in San Francisco. Need I continue? Home is the newest incarnation of JohnFrank on the corner of Church and 14th, and since it opened the place is more popular than a Bette Davis film festival. The sleek banquettes and muted earth tones of JohnFrank have given way to a glammed up cafeteria decor, and regulars and visitors are packing themselves in. The menu offers a luxe version of soothing American favorites: a spinach salad with buttermilk dressing came with what seemed like a pound of pistachios and crispy bits of bacon, the ceviche was light and refreshing, the pan-seared mussels were savory in a light romanesco sauce. Entrees, such as mahi-mahi or Niman Ranch steak (for $12.50!), are executed with a practiced exuberance by chef Lance Dean Velasques. Eat inside or outside in "The Back Yard" a heated outdoor patio replete with house music, flattering lighting scheme, and enough cigarette smoke to make you think you're eating in Italy, even with a turine of Mac & Cheese in front of you.
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San Francisco Magazine's Guide to Bay Area Dining
San Francisco Magazine
It's out with the new and in with the old at the former JohnFrank, where the slick black-and-gray interior became perhaps too literal a reflection of the city's collective mood. Today, this Castro landmark boasts a cheery white-and-red motif and a collection of flea market finds that would send Martha Stewart into an envious rage. The menu has had a makeover, too. Chef Lance Dean Velasquez has retired his gnocchi and saffron-scented seafood stew in favor of fare straight from Betty Crocker's kitchen. Shrimp drenched in a gloppy remoulade may remind you of those times when Mom got a little wild after an afternoon of leafing through back issues of Gourmet, and the pot roast can be dry, but it doesn't really matter. Just like Mom, Home has its heart in the right place. And there's no way you'll get up from the table feeling grumpy after you've had one of pastry chef Claire Legas's fresh-baked cookies. Once the plates are cleared, head to the Backyard-Home's patio bar-for some after-dinner fun. -- Jan Newberry
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Postcard from Tom
Washington Post - May 5, 2002
Dish for dish, no American city is more interesting than food-obsessed San Francisco. Here are three restaurants to put on your to-do list.... What happens when you take a to chef and put him on a budget? In the case of Lance Dean Velasquez, diners get treated to stylish takes on such American ideals as braised pot roast (teased with horseradish cream) and a few Italian dishes (think potato gnocchi with ham). In a nod to Home's theme, there's the Back Yard, an enclosed patio dressed up with a bar and fireplace-just the spot to ease into a $5 martini. Dinner entrees $7.95-$12.95. -- Tom Sietsema
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San Francisco Downtown's 8th Annual Restaurant Guide
San Francisco Downtown - September 2002
Nothing beats the comforts of home - except those at Home. Delicately colored walls and wrap-around windows create a soothing atmosphere, while diners indulge in "American/ Italian comfort food" from a simplified menu with prices that don't elevate anyone's blood pressure. Try to score a table on the heated outdoor patio; complete with fireplace. Comforting and comfortable, Home is a new SF favorite.
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We're eating at Home
Reinvented spot succeeds on new formula
San Francisco Examiner
Major restaurants rarely succeed in reinventing themselves. Once business drops off beyond a sustainable level, they have a tough time bouncing back. Quite the opposite has happened in the remarkable transformation of JohnFrank into Home.

Owner John Hurley acted decisively when he saw that his sophisticated, upscale JohnFrank was losing ground after the dotcom crash and then the 9/11 disaster. First he hired a new chef, the talented Lance Dean Velasquez, but even his inspired cooking couldn't restore business. So Hurley closed JohnFrank on Dec. 31, 2001, and reopened 11 days later as Home, again with Velasquez as chef - and now partner. The restaurant has been wildly successful ever since. Hurley slashed food prices in half. He did away with the white tablecloths and made the sleek, low-ceilinged dining room feel more casual.

To compensate for the loss of revenue from lowered prices, he built an enclosed, heated patio called the Backyard on a section of the restaurant's precious private parking lot.

This tented patio with its own little bar, counters and tables has become the hottest spot in town. People in Upper Market and the Castro love it. Though the roaring restaurant feels like a party anyway when you walk in, the VIP party seems to be in the tent in the back.

Frankly, this restaurant deserves to be busy because I've rarely eaten so well for so little. Certainly inspirational credit should go to Tony Gulisano's Chow across Market Street, a restaurant that created the genre of upscale ingredients in downscale dining; the two Chows in town are always packed. Velasquez does his own version at comparably low prices.

Some of the Home dishes used to cost considerably more when they appeared on the JohnFrank menu. I'm thinking specifically of Lance Dean's braised brisket pot roast with spring onion-potato puree and horseradish cream ($11.95). It happens to be one of the best plates of food in all of San Francisco, period.

He uses Niman beef, cooking it ever so slowly until the meat becomes meltingly tender while intensifying in flavor. The rich gravy runs into the buttery potatoes, making each mouthful even moister and more velvety. It's worth battling the crowds at Home to order just this one dish.

But there are many others. A bowl of soupy, aromatic chileverde made with free-range Niman pork ($10.95) is another treat. Scented with cumin, cilantro and green chiles, this meaty pork stew becomes almost addictive piled into warm tortillas with a lubrication of guacamole. One dripping tortilla leads to another.

For $12.95, a tasty lesser cut of Niman beef is worth the chew. I like the way the red-wine butter dissolves on, top of the grilled steak, mingles with the meat juices as you cut into it and drips onto skinny French fries.

Another pleasure of eating at Home is the side dish. No domestic god or goddess could put out a more heavenly, ramekin of crisp tender broccoli enrobed in delicious sharp cheddar cheese sauce ($4.25) or a similarly sauced gratin of macaroni with a crunchy topping of rye bread crumbs ($4.75). Though both are scrumptious, you only want to order one unless you really adore silky cheddar cheese sauce.

For starters there's a grownup iceberg lettuce salad with tangy crumbled Point Reyes blue cheese, apple and spiced pecans ($6.95); or a piquant asparagus salad smartly dressed in chunky red pepper and caper vinaigrette ($6.95). Warm dinner sandwiches are distributed all over the menu - a Sloppy Joe with creamy slaw and fries ($8.95) is the Monday special; an oyster po' boy ($10.95), a New Orleans-style fried oyster sandwich, on Thursday nights; or the always-available pulled pork sandwich with sweet barbecue sauce and fries ($7.95).

Desserts, made by talented pastry chef Claire Legas, play on the homey, American theme. A classic root beer float in a tall glass comes with crisp ginger cookies ($5). What could go better after a pulled pork sandwich or a Sloppy Joe? I'm partial to her warm, custardy banana bread pudding with toasty edges and bourbon sauce ($5). It's the kind of dessert you'd expect to pay a lot more for-just like the Lance Dean pot roast.

As for drinks, Home has a $5 cocktail list, glasses of wine at $6, most beers at $3.50 and a number of wines by bottle in the low $20s. You can spend more if you want, but low-cost options are plentiful.

The point is that Hurley and Velasquez have made the new incarnation of their restaurant as wholesome, comfortable and easy going as dinner at home. Well, the restaurant is noisier - a lot noisier - but at your own home you don't have as many mouthwatering choices, or perky, efficient waiters bringing you your heart's desire.

If the new economy means that we'll have more restaurants like Home- recession can't be all bad. -- Patricia Unterman
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