Food review blog from San Francisco.

Restaurant: Luella (San Francisco)
Food description: Chocolate shortcake with strawberries, creme anglaise, and balsamic red wine sauce
Food rating: 6 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

As a general rule I am not a fan of strawberry shortcake but I was intrigued by the balsamic red wine sauce and my other companions wanted to order this, so I said what the hey, let's do it. The reason I don't really like strawberry shortcake is I think the shortcake part is really hard to do well without making it dry and sadly this one lived up (or should I say down) to my expectations. The shortcake was quite dry and I think the fact that it was a chocolate shortcake exacerbated the problem as the raw cocoa powder taste made the shortcake seem even drier. The strawberries were really delicious, especially with the balsamic red wine sauce. I am a huge fan of really good balsamic vinegar on strawberries with a dash of freshly ground pepper (try it, you will love it) and this sauce added that certain depth of flavor that balsamic vinegar can really bring out in strawberries. The creme anglaise was a light and delicious counterpoint to the strawberries and red wine sauce. If only the shortcake had been a little more moist then this dessert would have been sublime.