Food review blog from San Francisco.

Restaurant: Coco500 (San Francisco)
Food description: Butter leaf salad with tiger prawns, jicama, kumquats, avocado, pickled jalapeno pepper, and citrus vinaigrette
Food rating: 5.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

To make a long story short, I could make this salad at home for 5 bucks. I accidentally ordered this salad because the menu description sucked. It read "prawns, butter leaf, jicama, kumquats, avocado, pickled jalapenos" and when I asked the waiter how the prawns were prepared, he said "sauteed". So I was assuming I'd be getting a hot sauteed prawn dish, not a salad. @#$&!!! If you still don't believe me that the descriptions stunk, there's another highly descriptive dish on the menu called "soup, " no description, just "soup, $6" (gotta love it). Anyway, I made the best out it (translation: I picked out all the prawns and avocado and left the rest) but then remembered how much it cost ($14!!) and went into sticker shock. Honestly people, there was nothing that stood out about this salad whatsoever. The prawns were cooked correctly and were tender and tasted fresh, not frozen. Other than that, they were basically no different than every other shrimp I've had. They weren't marinated aside from a little salt, and they seemed more steamed than sauteed. The salad would've been a million times better if the prawns were sauteed to a golden brown in some butter. The vinaigrette was boring and did nothing for the salad and the butter leaf was fresh, but were entire leaves that had to be cut up. I really dislike salads that force me to do extra work before I can eat it. That's what the chef is for. The avocados were ripe but didn't have much flavor, and I'm not sure if they really expected me to eat that giant jalapeno pepper or what. I don't like kumquats because they're usually too sour, as were these, but I liked the citrus that it brought to the table. I'd describe the overall flavor as light, fresh, citrus-y, and bland. It's something I'd be happy eating if I made it myself at home, but would never pay $14 for. At least throw in some scallops or lobster for god sakes! Unless you like mediocre food and blowing away money, do yourself a favor and don't order this salad. Do order the tombo tuna salad instead.