Tuesday night at Two, Hawthorne lane

A couple friends at work and i made plan to try out different restaurants monthly. March is my month to pick a restaurant and i picked Two on Hawthorne Lane. i dined here a few times in the past, back when the restaurant was Hawthorne, named after the short little street that it was on. Recently, it's been remodeled with a new name, new chefs and of course, new menu.
i love the exterior space with the giant iron gate leading up to the private parking court yard with overgrown bourgainvillia. it was too early in the year for the bourgainvillia to bloom but comes summer time, it'd be really pretty. the interior now has been walled with varigated color wood, dimly lit with antler chandeliers and hanging pendants with shades. there's a seperate section in the back for private party i guessed.
the bathroom has the art nouveau wallpaper with rectanglular tile wall, hex tile floor and marble counter. i have to admit i prefer the old layout with the exposed kitchen. there's quite a bit going on with the decor which gave me mix feelings. it was not crowded on this tuesday night and the crowd was much more mixed and casual than the old Hawthorne.
on with the food, i had the royal hound cocktail which has vodka, grape fruit juice and champagne. my friends had a riesling and a champagne to start. the royal hound was good, very light in taste but not so light afterward. then came the bread plate which includes flat bread crackers and savory mini scones. i didn't try the scones but was told that they were a bit on the dry side. i like the crackers and i had that with my first course - beef carpaccio with mustard aioli and spinach salad. that was excellent!
for the main dish, i had the seared scallop with trumpet mushrooms, parsnip and arugula. the scallops were a hair over seared as i personally prefer mine still translucent on the inside. it was good and i washed that down with a glass of chenin blanc from the Loire valley. my 2 friends shared a pizza that looked like it was topped with procciutto, squash and pesto. that pizza looked really good but i did not have room to try. along with the pizza, they shared 2 sides, the mac and cheese and the french fries. the mac and cheese got 2 thumbs up and i like the fries with salt and pepper.
for deserts (no we weren't done yet), two of us shared the mini ice cream sandwiches with 3 flavors - oatmeal cookies with vanilla cinnamon ice cream, chocolate cookies with espresso ice cream and butterscotch cookies with peanut butter ice cream. our favorite was the espresso ice cream. my other friend has the vanilla semifreddo with tangerine granita. i had a bite of the granita, it was so light, refreshing and fragrant, delish! it was a very good dinner and a nostalgic one for me.

http://www.two-sf.com/