The Verdict
FLOUR + WATER is Thomas McNaughton's Mission Italian pasta restaurant on Harrison Street whose house-milled flour programme - the specific heritage grain flour whose daily milling communicates genuine knowledge of what the pasta tradition requires when the grain's specific character is applied rather than the commercial flour's consistent but characterless result - communicates the most seriously flour-engaged available San Francisco Italian pasta restaurant. The pasta programme whose specific fresh production communicates daily commitment to what the tradition requires; the seasonal California vegetable applications applied through the pasta format whose synthesis communicates the most productive available intersection of the Italian pasta tradition and the California seasonal ingredient culture; and the Mission neighbourhood setting whose creative community creates the most culturally sophisticated available daily pasta restaurant audience.
The Italian pasta menu at Flour + Water reflects McNaughton's specific commitment to the house-milled flour philosophy: the pasta programme whose specific grain varieties and daily fresh production communicate genuine knowledge of what the Italian pasta tradition requires at the level of a kitchen that treats the flour as the primary creative resource; the seasonal California ingredient applications whose compositions communicate genuine engagement with what the California ingredient environment provides; and the Mission neighbourhood character that communicates a pasta restaurant whose primary audience is the most culinarily sophisticated available San Francisco residential community.
On Harrison Street in the Mission for the Italian pasta restaurant whose house-milled flour programme communicates the most seriously grain-engaged available California Italian pasta experience - the pasta tradition applied with complete commitment to what the flour requires.
Why It Works for a First Date
Flour + Water's Mission pasta and the house-milled flour programme - the heritage grain commitment, the seasonal California ingredient applications, the Harrison Street neighbourhood energy - creates the first date that communicates genuine knowledge of where San Francisco's most seriously flour-committed available Italian pasta is practised.
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