Hopping new cocktail bar and "Japanese-based international tapas" on Goat Hill

When I moved to Potrero Hill in 1981, there were still goats on Goat Hill-in the yard of Goat Hill Pizza. That yard and the goats are long gone, though Goat Hill's sourdough-crust pizzas remain my favorite. Aperto, the small neighborhood Italian restaurant, also seemingly has been kitty-corner across 18th and Connecticut streets forever, though there are new restaurants on the other diagonal, and two more new restaurants within half a block of the intersection.

The not very good Thai restaurant Lingba is gone at 1469 18th St., replaced by a yuppie cocktail lounge adjacent to Connecticut Street and a sushi bar/dining room a few steps up to the east. The cuisine is billed as "Japanese-based international tapas," rather than as a Japanese restaurant or sushi bar. I guess sushi is a Japanese equivalent to "tapas," but that Spanish word suggests more international fusion than seems justified by the menu. And/or it suggests something of an identity crisis.

The featured appetizers beyond sushi are "skewers" of scallops or beef (each $5 for two). The menu does not indicate that these are breaded with panko crumbs and deep fried. They are on skewers, but the breading was so soggy that it had fallen off the bottom scallops on each of the two skewers. I'd guess that the oil was not hot enough, though I had not been expecting any.

My partner ordered seafood tempura. We knew that would be deep-fried in batter. I liked the light taste of the thin batter, but my partner was displeased that it was not at all crisp. It was not soggy, but, again, I think the oil was not hot enough. The tempura was inferior to that at many San Francisco Japanese restaurants.

I ordered a sashimi Cobb salad ($10.50) which had not much sashimi and even less salad. It was missing main ingredients of Cobb salad (bacon, hard-boiled egg pieces and avocado-the last was surprising since many other dishes I saw emerge from the kitchen had pieces of avocado).

The notion that appetizers should be served before entrees does not seem to hold sway at Rocketfish. Our two appetizers came after my entrée, and I saw similar haphazard order at other tables. Since we were seated on the path from the kitchen, I was well-placed to see everything as it passed. This position also made it easy to get the check, not that that is generally a problem in Japanese restaurants.

The sushi chefs looked Japanese and the sushi looked like sushi. (I did not see who was in the kitchen; the restaurant was opened by former Blowfish chef Kenichi Kawashima.) The plates and bowls and décor did not resonate for me with any particular place, which I take as part of the same effort to downplay Japaneseness as the appropriation of the descriptor "tapas."

The waiter was friendly and attentive, the kitchen rather slow. The relatively young (yuppie) crowd (see photos) seemed more pleased with the place than we were. I think that San Francisco restaurant-goers are fairly sophisticated about Japanese food and I don't think the food served at Rocketfish matches that at the more traditional Japanese restaurant a block closer to the bay (Umi at 1328 18th St.) or to Japantown ones.

1469 18th St (between Missouri St & Connecticut St)
(415) 282-9666
www.rocketfishlounge.com
tables may be booked on opentable.com