House Party

Hanging out at the Front Porch, a flavorful new Caribbean joint, feels like home—only better.

Never mind that there isn’t much of a view from the Front Porch’s namesake veranda, located on a nondescript stretch of 29th Street at the intersection of Noe Valley, Bernal Heights and the Mission District. It doesn’t matter much to the chatty black-and-denim-clad customers who snag the porch’s mismatched rocking chairs to share jugs of Bandit wine and buckets of fried chicken.

SF diners are clearly craving home-style food, but served with better ambiance and more interesting people than they’d find in their own flats. The Front Porch is the latest in a recent spate of homespun-cool restaurants (think Farmer Brown, Jay Foster’s chic soul-food spot). “We wanted to create a comfortable place to eat great food, rather than to be the next dining concept,” says co-owner Kevin Cline, previously a general manager at Bix. “I was picturing an old Cuban social club.”

Cline and his partner, former Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack manager Josey White, pulled off that look when they redid the space, formerly a true dive bar called Dominic’s Club. With the only natural light coming from the front doorway, at night the dining room—which has low, pressed-tin ceilings, emerald-green walls, worn booths and a mirrored mahogany bar complete with antique cash register—feels one part speakeasy and one part East Village. It’s a new look for SF, where restaurants pride themselves on soaring windows, high ceilings and open doors.

The food mirrors the space: Executive chef and Barbados native Sarah Kirnon, the founding chef of Emmy’s, is cooking from her grandmother’s Caribbean recipes. Kirnon’s creations could be mistaken for Southern cuisine, but she’s quick to make distinctions. “Most of the slaves who came to the South came through the Caribbean,” Kirnon says. “We use different spices, such as thyme, hot pepper and cinnamon.”

Complimentary cornbread—baked in the shape of corn ears—is served with whipped butter spiked with jalapeño, while a ceviche appetizer gets a punch from pickled habanero juice. Even though fried chicken seems ubiquitous these days, Kirnon’s russet-hued version is special: She marinates it in lime and salt for a day, then rubs the meat with scallions, thyme, oregano, marjoram and garlic before coating it in cornmeal and breadcrumbs and frying it. Another dish sure to be a signature is the crab grits with corn—creamy, rich and something you won’t want to share.

Kirnon’s island-inspired flavors are hitting home. Cline says, “This housed a neighborhood comfort-food restaurant in the ’30s and ’40s, and we’re carrying on that tradition.”

The Front Porch 65A 29th St., 415-695-7800

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