So... it's come to this: a brew pub menu featuring roast duck, fish flown in from the Gulf of Mexico and only sausages and a burger to salute the roots of the genre. Faultline Brewing Company is the latest in a line that began only - what? 15 years ago? - with Buffalo Bill Owens' Hayward brew pub. Owens sold homemade beer and, only incidentally, pub food. Almost immediately the genre began to mutate, emphasizing the food nearly as much as, then just as much and, finally more than beer. Faultline is in the old rusty Scupper building, oddly shaped, high-ceilinged and free-standing. It's owners are Steven C. Geiszler, a San Francisco architect, and Mark A. Perry, a long time restaurateur Abandoned Warehouse Veneer Geiszler has segregated the bar with posts and beams, hung corrugated metal as both exterior sheeting and interior wall coverings and created screens from metal grids; from a distance, they look like the windows of an abandoned warehouse. He's retained the spaciousness of the original, a three-level restaurant whose rear windows look out onto a patio and pond. Seating is "Something like 300, including the patio," according to chef Michael Wilson. Wilson's background includes the Finisterra resort in Cabo San Lucas, a couple of California Cafes and Los Gatos Brewing Company as Sous Chef under Jim Stump. Here he's exploding the brew-pub genre altogether, with classic, eclectic California menu and nary a pizza in sight. It's very good, and much fancier than I would have anticipated. An appetizer of tempura ahi rolls ($7.95) is a big, thick California roll, sliced on the bias, filled with tuna, avocado and rice, wrapped in nori and quickly fried, so that it comes to the table with a crisp skin and the insides just faintly warm. Wilson plates it with slivers of red and green peppers, black sesame seeds and a scattering of orange tobikko roe. It's beautiful, delicious and surprising. Won Tons Make a Tasty Appetizer A second appetizer, recently removed from the menu to the specials list, was less gaudy but equally tasty: warm, crisp won tons ($4.95) stuffed with delicately smoked trout, shiitake mushrooms and green onions, served on a scattering of purple cabbage. A soy-ginger dipping sauce accompanied both appetizers. We split a dish of fresh mozzarella and tomatoes ($6.95 plus a buck for the split.) I wish I knew where to find tomatoes this sweet so early in the year. Wilson supported them with olive oil and just a hint of balsamic vinegar, and a garnish of fresh sweet basil. We also split a really good Provincial pasta ($9.95) - rotelli with spring vegetables, more tomatoes, garlic and a light broth of tomato and basil - and could have stopped right there. The portions are ample. My entree was beef short ribs ($13.95), which Wilson roasts quickly at high heat, then braises slowly in one of the Faultline beers. The ribs, tender and richly flavored, are anointed with a sweet barbecue sauce using Chinese five-spice, and served atop horseradish mashed potatoes and sautéed Swiss chard. Flavorful Roasted Snapper
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