The Other Critics

Roth Calls Roxy’s Café ‘Overreaching’

Gimenez's Mexican carbonara.
Gimenez’s Mexican carbonara. Photo: Anna Latina/SF Weekly

One of the last year’s buzzier Mission chefs, Manny Torres Gimenez, recently jumped ship from the pop-up he launched at Mr. Pollo (due to a landlord dispute) and took up residence down the street at Roxy’s Cafe (2847 Mission Street). Anna Roth is the first to file a formal review of the place, and she’s only half impressed. She says the inexpensive ten-course prix fixe “reminded me of both the good and bad of the tasting menu form,” and she surmises that Gimenez is “an ambitious young chef just warming up his instrument.” She’s especially impressed with his Latin-inflected, handmade pastas, like the light Andean gnocchi made with yucca “that dissolved in your mouth like cotton candy,” and a Mexican twist on carbonara with chorizo and plantain noodles. But she’s less impressed by several of the smaller first courses, and notes that at $75, which may be a steal for so many dishes, she still “want[s] to be impressed with every course.” [SF Weekly]

Roth Calls Roxy’s Café ‘Overreaching’