Two visits, many more discoveries at mid-renaissance (?!) Restaurant 1833.

Restaurant 1833 (643-1833) would seem a little young and fun to be undergoing something so dramatic and historic as a renaissance. 

But here it is, doing exactly that. 

That's what a little leadership flux—ambitious GMs and exec chefs and ex-partners leaving for various reasons—can do.

More specifically, that's what decorated and dedicated new executive chef like Jason Franey can do.

They just got an enthusiastic endorsement from the good Michael Bauer of San Francisco Chronicle, who called 1833 the best restaurant in the city. 

That came on the heels of a pair of my own visits.

Here are some notes from those spontaneous and relatively short-lived affairs (accompanying pictures which appear above right):

• Franey professes the power of building a layered foundation of flavor—for his heirloom carrots he cooks them in whey and finishes them with pecan ash and a mole of his own making—and then amplifying it with acid (think citrus and wine) and salt or other spices (he's loving all he's learning about chilies from his Oaxacan cooks). It delivers across the menu, from the complex Buffalo-style sweetbreads to my personal favorite, the guajillo-chile-crusted baby back pork ribs, which are a lot like Vietnamese-French-fusion-pastry-wrapped cigars. 

• We needed something sexy to photograph. Franey decided on octopus ($14). I was a tiny sad since so many chefs are doing it. Until I saw it. Striking. When I tasted it, I just felt dumb. Wood-fired, layered with exotic pursley greens plus a Basque-style ratatouille and laced with a red pepper reduction to blog home about. Ordering it the next visit was an easy decision.

• The primary feedback I had for Franey opening night was on his artichoke dip ($8), which was still under construction, but is now something to fight the rest of the table over. "His technical skill is seen on every plate, including perfectly house-fried potato chips with avocado dip," writes Bauer. I dig the smashed Yukon Gold potatoes with steelhead roe too.

• The fire-roasted sunchokes ($11) with Brussels sprouts and togarashi (Japanese chili) had my vegetarian group on swoon mode visit two. 

• For further evidence of his particular approach see tasting notes from the debut of his menu, and era, with "A sneak peek at the new Restaurant 1833 experience as the landmark reopens to the public tonight."

• Do not overlook the importance of a wine mind like Bernabe de Luna directing pairings, much of the experience and more. He took a couple of Franey complexities and deepened them intuitively, like the mole negro Franey serves with heirloom carrots cooked in whey and finished with pecan ash (really). His Dom Perignon Rosé pairing was equally unconventional and excellent.

• As interesting as Franey's latest coriander duck pastramis and corn chowders can be, dare I say the things GM Kyle Beauregard is crafting take palates to similar places. Of late he's devised 1) a Gibson martini ($18) chilled with dry ice theatrics on the martini cart and potato-barley-wheat Silver Tree small-batch vodka in the glass; 2) the very onions that made the martini sing; and 3) in response to nagging inquiries for Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey, which he refuses to serve, his own version done with the sous vide temperature cooker, with layered cinnamon, star anise, dry arbol chilies, vanilla bean simple syrup and aged whiskey. He also turned us onto a hop-flavored whiskey distilled from Racer 5 IPA. Discovery wonderland. 

• All this enchantment and I didn't try any desserts from one of the area's top handful of pastry masters, Ben Spungin. Bauer has me covered there, writing of the raspberry custard, blond chocolate mousse and three other sundries (the guy is a professional eater), "the only disappointment was the weak coffee."

• Amen.