East Thirty-Six

I was meeting up with my cousin for some vacation planning to San Francisco, and we decided to also grab dinner since we both love food (side note: San Francisco was amazing and my son was a doll for most of it, but I will not be blogging about my restaurant experiences here). Somehow we both ended up talking about bone marrow so we chose East Thirty-Six!

Restaurant: East Thirty-Six
Location: Downtown Core
Meal: Dinner
Day: Saturday
Son's Age: 21 weeks

I must admit that my previous experiences here were before I was pregnant and usually included copious amounts of wine, so I was a bit skeptical about taking my baby here. The service had always been impeccable, though, and between that and our 5:00 meal time, I hoped things would go smoothly.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
As predicted, our early bird seating meant that the restaurant was empty upon arrival, so we were able to sit anywhere. The server helped us pick out a spot where we could park the stroller.

Oh, in case you're wondering, that's me shoving a pacifier in my son's mouth. This photo is completely indicative of how cooperative he was for the rest of the night. Thank God the restaurant was empty. In terms of getting inside, we did have to get the stroller over a step. The washroom, as expected, did not have a change table, and there are also a couple steps to get there, so it's not stroller friendly either.

I consider this washroom to be unaccommodating for changing babies, but my husband claims he was able to change our son's diaper on the counter space. I suppose it's doable but I don't know that I'd attempt it as that seems very narrow. I'd say perhaps the men's washroom is different, but I showed him this photo and he said the sink is the same.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I've always found that East Thirty-Six has great service and this time was no exception. The staff was very friendly and patient and helped us pick out our table. We had lots of questions about the menu, as the concept is based on shareable plates, and our server was happy to make suggestions. They also offered to alter menu items to accommodate my allergy to tree nuts, and when one of the dishes was brought out with nuts on it, the server was quick to notice let us know that they would be remaking it. Even though my son seemed quite fussy that night, no one appeared to be bothered, which made me feel much more comfortable.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I love the idea of shareable plates because it means I can try a larger variety of things. We started with the buffalo mozzarella.

I love cheese, and this was well done, served with tomatoes and micro greens. I found the ratio of cheese to the other ingredients to be very satisfactory - the cheese was still the focus of the dish but it didn't feel like I was just eating a big hunk of cheese. Next was the albacore tuna.

This was such an interesting combination of flavours. The tuna was served in coconut broth with tofu and bok choy, and somehow, it worked. I admit that it wasn't my favourite dish but it was still quite noteworthy. After this was the reason we chose to come here in the first place: bone marrow with chicken liver parfait and toast.

I know I've used the word "love" a lot in this post, but I love the bone marrow here. I love bone marrow in general, but I found we were able to scoop out a lot of marrow without having to scrape at the bone too much. The marrow is so rich and buttery, and it's complemented by the chicken liver which is much lighter. The last dish was the aforementioned delayed dish.

It was cauliflower with capers, lemon, brown butter, and parsley. It's typically also served with hazelnuts but these needed to be removed due to my allergy. The cauliflower is delicious and a great way to squeeze some vegetables into our meal.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bringing a baby into this establishment is a bit tricky, but if you time it right, the service and the food will make your visit worthwhile.