April, 2009

Rating : 7 out of 10

Tariff : Dinner for 2

• 2 entrees
• 1 salad
• 2 glasses wine
• 1 dessert
• tip
• $93

Location and Atmosphere

Over the years Hamilton Cafe changed from a little coffee shop in 'downtown' Hamilton to a Mediterranean restaurant. It offers light breakfast, lunch and dinners, plus weekend brunches. Because of it's humble beginnings it is a bit awkwardly laid out.  Diners can enter from either side, the main entrance being in a hallway by the bathrooms and the kitchen.  There is only room for about 10 tables but in good weather there is an outside deck.  You can see the kitchen over the bar and over the glass cases of the former cafe/deli. It's crowded, which is a good sign, but it's noisy, which is bad if you were hoping for quiet dinner conversation. The evening we dined there most recently it was positively rowdy with a large party of all ages celebrating a birthday with singing and occasional loud whoops.

Food

The menu is Mediterranean/European and we found that the owner Zoran Matulic is Croatian. There are appetizers like lamb skewers, calamari, and baccalla; specialties such as mousaka, souvlaki; crepes and middle eastern pastries like baklava. We started with a small crusty loaf of bread--it had good texture but was served cold and with butter (no olive oil). Next we shared a chopped salad with balsamic vinaigrette. It consisted of romaine, eggs, walnuts, feta, and red onion--the strong flavors make a hearty salad. We ordered a dry red wine from the Carneros appellation of Napa called Adastra. It was strong and dry and a bit too tannic for my taste.  My entree was capelini with prawns; it featured four giant, firm prawns, but the pasta was a little overcooked and was positively drowned in sauce. The sauce itself was good, containing small chunks of tomato, but there was just too much of it. My dining companion had one of the specials that night--oxtail, which was a large piece of meat covered with sauce, chunks of tomato and peas.  The meat was tender, but not as flavorful as some of the rich oxtail dishes we have tried. It was served with mashed potatoes and green beans that were cooked crisp-tender and sprinkled with nuts and tomatoes.  For dessert we shared the apple crisp ala mode.  It was a large serving of sweet, cinnamon flavored apples with a very crunchy topping and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Service

Our waiter was professional and helpful.  He gave me his opinion of several dishes.  He cleared our table and even crumbed it between dinner and dessert.

Hamilton Cafe
502 South Palm Drive
Hamilton Field,
Novato, CA 
(415) 382-0155