Food review blog from San Francisco.

Restaurant: The Butler and the Chef Bistro (San Francisco)
Food description: Baby spinach salad with oil and vinegar, topped with seared shrimp and scallops, cheese ravioli, plum tomatoes, string beans, and parsley
Food rating: 7.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I came to the Butler and the Chef in the mood for one of their delicious quiches, and was disappointed, but not surprised when I learned they were 86'd (sold out). I scanned the menu frantically, looking for a quiche substitute, and finally settled on their "Dish of the Day" special, a seafood salad with ravioli, string beans, baby spinach, shrimp, and scallops. It was quite a departure from the dish I was planning on having, so forgive me for being extra critical about it. It was a little healthier than I was planning, and wasn't very filling at all, but still very fresh and tasty. The dressing was very light, just a touch of oil and vinegar, and tossed with the ravioli, tomatoes, string beans, and baby spinach. The seafood was placed on top afterwards so the dressing wouldn't obscure the flavor. The entire salad was then chilled, so there wouldn't be hot seafood mixing with the cold salad. I was grateful for those added details because I'm very fussy about salads especially the hot and cold factor. There was one standout ingredient in this salad, and that would be the scallops. They were seared in butter on both sides to a golden brown while keeping the center rare. If raw seafood doesn't freak you out, you'll love scallops prepared this way. The smooth texture just melts in your mouth and has a more toned down bitterness factor than cooked scallops, revealing more of their real flavor (for amazing raw scallops, check out Sebo). Other than the scallops, the rest of the salad was decent but nothing special. The green beans were crisp, the tomatoes were ripe, and the ravioli and shrimp were ok, but they all lacked flavor and were pretty boring. I guess this is to be expected from a salad, so I'll stop complaining. If I order this again, I'm trading in the shrimp for more scallops.