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San Francisco Focus
Restaurants
By Sharon Silva

Tracking the Downtown Lunch Bunch

TOMMY TOY’S MADE THE TRANSITION FROM exotic alternative to downtown standby in record time. Opened in 1985, it now fills a slot similar to John’s, although in a style that’s been updated to meet altered expectations.

It has the look of adventure, in a menu that investment banker Kimun Lee describes as "novelle westernized Chinese." But the essential experience is conservative in the formal sense of the term. Like the old-time grills, it bespeaks corporate respectability, albeit to a more cosmopolitan corporate cast.

"I bring clients from Europe and Japan to Tommy’s," says Lee, who has spent much of his adult life assessing the lunchtime possibilities of financial centers the world over. "The food suits their palates and the upscale ambience suits their restrained natures."

The food is superbly presented, with entrees arranged decorously on individual plates strictly European style-- forks and knives, no chopsticks -- and surrounded by such elaborate garnishes as tomato roses and feathery scallion brushes. Chinese roast duck with plum wine sauce arrived on a bed of crisp snow peas and black fungus. Much as I hate to admit it, I haven’t encountered a better version lately in Chinatown.

Lee has a rule of thumb: "Bring important clients here, let them settle in and think about business -- but you do the culinary homework. Learn what works on the menu and insist on doing the ordering."

One way to begin the study is to test the daily specials -- full lunches for $11.95, including a glass of white wine -- which, by the end of the week, will provide a fairly comprehensive knowledge of highlights.

Tommy Toy’s, 655 Montgomery, SF (415) 397-4888. Lunch, Mon-Fri, Dinner daily. Major cards.

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