Food review blog from San Francisco.

Restaurant: Foreign Cinema (San Francisco)
Food description: French ham & gruyère sandwich crowned with an egg and gratinéed, served with a garden salad
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I had heard a lot about Foreign Cinema but had yet to visit. On this semi-warm afternoon we got to sit outside under the heat lamps which was lovely, and I did like the decor/atmosphere and service (although the food took pretty long). But, that is not why we are here, so on to the FOOD! This "monsieur" decided on the croque "madame". I was warned that certain French food tended to be rich rich rich, but I decided to go for this artery clogger anyway. I wasn't disappointed but I wasn't overwhelmed either. The dish overall was tasty, but yes indeed, the richness came back to haunt me. Buttery, eggy, cheesy goodness ended up being buttery, eggy, cheesy "I can't quite finish this, it's too rich"-ness. On the good side, the gruyere cheese was very tasty. The bad side was that about halfway through I couldn't handle much more of it. The egg was cooked just fine, no runniness and no hard yolk. The toast was perfectly toasted on the bottom and yummy but too soggy at the top where drenched in the cheese and egg (I guess that's how it had to be - I don't see being able to remain crispy/toasted through that). The ham was quite yummy but got lost in the richness of all the rest of the ingredients. The garden salad had frisee which for me is BLAH, so I won't count that in my rating. They gave you little pickles and radishes on the side--which I realized was for cutting the richness and allowing your palate a break--did the trick nicely. I would try this again on a day that I am prepared for the richness to follow.