Frances has been on my SF list of restaurants to try ever since it opened in December 2009. The dining room was casual and comfortable — I loved sitting on the comfy pillows while eating. 
We started the meal with a “market shot”, which consisted of whatever the chef could find at the local market that day mixed with some booze. I was most excited to try the bacon beignets, but found them a bit disappointing — if only they had more bacon in them. (I’m a bacon fanatic!) My favorite dishes were the grilled quail (it was such a light dish with the peaches and plums adding a bit of brightness), the B.L.T. (simple and delicious), and the eggplant and fennel tapenade (creamy and smoky).
Frances: 3870 17th Street, San Francisco, CA
Market Shot (“Whatever we find at the market gets juiced, spiced, and spiked”)
Smoked eggplant and fennel tapenade with nigella seed lavash crackers
‘B.L.T.’ – butter lettuce, heirloom tomato, brokaw avocado, crisp bacon, lemon aioli
Grilled Tolenas Farm Quail with sauteed stone fruit, white corn, purslane, chanterelles
Tarte Tatin – red Arkane and Mutsu apple, Calimyrna fig jam, cardamom milkshake