Food review: Mussels poulette

Restaurant: Plouf (San Francisco)
Food description: Steamed Prince Edward Island mussels in a shallot, bacon, and white wine cream sauce
Food rating: 6 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Plouf is one of the better joints on Belden Lane because they know how to do one thing well: mussels. Plouf's mussels come straight from Prince Edward Island, which are cultured (farmed) rather than wild. Because they never touch the ocean bottom, the mussels end up sweeter, more tender, plumper, and sand-free. Yum! So now that you've got the low-down on P.E.I., let's get into the sauce. Since Plouf serves mussels galore, you can choose from a selection of seven sauces, from traditional to mariniere, to even gratinee. I wanted to try something different and chose the "poulette" sauce, which I unfortunately would not choose again. The mild flavor of the mussels was no match for the heavy smokiness of the bacon and the intense sweetness of the shallots. Not to mention the heaviness of the cream. I prefer a sauce that's much more subtle because I actually wanted to taste the mussels, ya know? That's not to say the sauce wouldn't be great on a pasta or something else, just not with this dish. It was a shame too, since the portions were very generous and the sauce just got too sickening for me to finish it. So there you have it: great mussels + not-so-great sauce = a 6.0. Better luck next time!

Food review: Filet mignon beef carpaccio

Restaurant: Plouf (San Francisco)
Food description: Thin slices of rare filet mignon with black truffle vinaigrette, topped with baby arugula, shaved parmesan, and fried shallots
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Since Plouf's claim to fame is their mussels, I was skeptical about whether their other menu items would deliver. Luckily the beef carpaccio turned out to be a wise choice and had me longing for more. Texture-wise, it's tough to go wrong with filet mignon, as it barely required any chewing at all. It sorta just fell apart on its own as I barely nudged it with my fork. To help bring out the flavor of a typically flavor-lacking cut, a small stockpile of parmesan and fried shallots were there for the rescue. In my book, you can never have enough cheese, so the puny shavings of parmesan left something to be desired. The shallots, on the other hand, though small, were quite potent--not a biting potent--more like a mellow concentrated flavor. They also provided the "crunch" factor, which wouldn't have been as satisfying without it. The arugula was nutty as usual, but was slightly on its way out and didn't quite work together for me. It worked as a little side salad I guess. I love how the carpaccio wasn't drowning in olive oil, it was tastefully drizzled on top. One downside is that the beef was cut so razor thin that it didn't end up being very much food in the end, and certainly didn't last very long! But I guess that's a good thing, given the enormous pot of mussels that followed!

Food review: Soft scrambled eggs

Restaurant: Le Petit Robert (San Francisco)
Food description: Soft scrambled eggs with mushroom ragout and country bread
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

This is a really exceptional egg dish if you are craving something a little bit different but not too drastically different for breakfast. Le Petit Robert is a charming French restaurant so they do their eggs in the French style which is a little bit runny. I happen to adore eggs this way as I feel it enhances their creaminess and richness. This is a very luxurious morning breakfast. The menu says this is only two eggs but as you can see from the picture there is quite a lot of egg there. They top it with a mushroom ragout and the mushrooms are cooked very well here, they maintain their meatiness and create a sauce that is really earthy and flavorful. Everything is served on top of a slice of really good bread. Le Petit Robert maintains a bakery next door to the restaurant so all the bread is fresh baked and you can tell in this dish. The crusty bread beneath the egg and mushroom really make this dish for me, it absorbs up all the delicious mushroom gravy and cuts the richness of the egg a bit. A few restrained shavings of parmesan cheese on top round out the dish and really make it quite decadent.

Food review: Grilled ahi tuna salad

Restaurant: South Park Cafe (San Francisco)
Food description: Grilled peppered ahi tuna atop a salad of mixed greens, canellini beans, fennel, and basil
Food rating: 6.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

When it comes to lunch in South Park, I'm partial to the Butler and the Chef , but today I needed a change, and South Park Cafe is second on my list. It was warm outside, so I thought, hmm, do I really want something greasy and heavy and be asleep in an hour? The ahi tuna was the perfect solution, being the right balance between sustenance and healthiness. For me, the salad was all about the tuna. If they didn't get that part right, I wasn't going to enjoy it. I'd say they mostly pulled it off flavor-wise, but the tuna was overcooked to point of being dry, but not rubbery. Since I'm a huge sushi head, the rarer, the better. However, the tuna seemed like it wasn't a high enough grade to be served ultra rare. At the bargain price of $10, I wasn't expecting it to be either. Nevertheless, the tuna still tasted pretty good, but only if you like black pepper (I sure do). It was spiii-ceeee, and I'd say maybe even a little over-peppery for the average person. There was actually some green pesto sauce on top of the tuna, but it got seriously lost in all that pepper. There were plenty of greens in the salad to cut the pepperiness, and to me, that's really the only purpose for having them there at all (like I said, I'm not the pillar of health). I'm also just not a huge fan of eating canellini beans or fennel in this fashion. So basically, I'm rating the tuna--which was good, but could be great if it was cooked less and eased up on the pepper factor. Despite its flaws, I think it's an excellent choice for lunch for the price, and I'd have no qualms about trying it again.

Food review: Baked fromage d'Affinois

Restaurant: Foreign Cinema (San Francisco)
Food description: Baked fromage d'Affinois (French cheese), green olive tapenade, warm roasted potatoes, cornichons, and croutons
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I hadn't heard of this particular type of cheese before, but I remembered reading in the Chronicle that this was one of Foreign Cinema's specialties, so I couldn't resist. It's usually not a great idea to have 1/4 lb of cheese as your brunch appetizer, but in this case, it ended up being the highlight of the meal and was worth the extra pounds. Who needs chefs when you can just pick out an amazing piece of cheese, toss it in the oven and voila! Brunch is served! The cheese was unique in that it had an aged flavor, but retained a soft and buttery texture. The flavor was mild, creamy, and extremely rich, in between a double- and triple-cream cheese, and had the right salt content. Due to a controversial method used to create this cheese, the rind was also softer and milder than brie, and blended better with the melted cheese inside. As rich and adequately salty as it was, I would've preferred a pairing of fruit to cleanse the palate over the salty olive tapenade and starchy potatoes. Much to my dismay, there were definitely not enough croutons to go around, only four, for that huge wedge of cheese. I tried to request more, but the server was nowhere in sight, so I was forced to eat it with the potatoes--otherwise the cheese would have gotten cold (we were sitting outside). So although I didn't get to totally enjoy the cheese in all its cheesy glory, it was really outstanding and will make it really tough for me to go back to what I once thought was good brie.

Food review: Chicken crepe

Restaurant: The Butler and the Chef Bistro (San Francisco)
Food description: Buckwheat crêpe with chicken and emmenthal cheese in a dijon white wine sauce, side of baby spinach salad
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

No, I haven't gone anorexic on y'all--been braving a rough week of bronchitis and pink eye--and god, I could use some good food right about now. But first, lemme catch up a bit... So I'll start by mentioning that the menu didn't really do this chicken crepe much justice. They didn't even give it a fancy little French name, like the La Parisienne crêpe right above it. Though it may have sounded drab, it tasted the complete opposite and I'm soooo glad I stumbled upon this hidden gem. I kinda gave up on crepes after everyone and their mom started offering them and the quality was just whatever. I pretty much forgot about how good crepes can be, until this crepe thankfully reminded me. You'd think there's not that much you can with just chicken, cheese, mustard, and a crepe, but seriously, they did a terrific job and has caused me to reevaluate my current postion on crepes overall. I'll start with the crepe itself: it was made from buckwheat and was a lot less sweet than Americanized crepes. I'm not a big fan of the sweet-and-salty mixing up, so I liked that it was hardly sweet. The buckwheat was very strong and flavorful and added a robustness to the overall dish that was a nice change from the usual bleached flour crepe. The crepe was razor thin but still strong enough that it didn't fall apart under the weight of the chicken. It was also slightly toasted, which added a nice crunchy texture, yet was still pliable. The chicken, which I was half expecting to be generic and dry, was smothered in melted cheese and had the perfect amount of dijon to add zing without overpowering the dish (but you have to like dijon to enjoy this dish). The ratio of ingredients was perfectly balanced and blended together to form a very sophisticated tasting crepe. The cheese was a great selection and was light, so you didn't feel all weighed down after eating it. The spinach salad was a nice break between bites, but there was sooo much of it. Plus I tend to avoid the salads here, after being served one with a dead housefly in it on a previous visit (and not even receiving a discount!). But salads aside, this crepe was a winner and I'm using it as my benchmark for what constitutes a good crepe.

Food review: Seafood and ravioli salad

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.

Food review: Pot de crème

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Scharffen Berger chocolate pot de crème with crème Chantilly
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'll describe this dish in two words or less: positively addictive. I've been fantasizing about having this dish over and over again, and with Absinthe just a block away, I'll be lucky if I dont' end up in rehab or Jenny Craig. Even if you hate chocolate (though I can't imagine such a person), you won't after trying this pot de crème. It's made from Scharffen Berger chocolate--for those of you who aren't familiar with the name--it's the granddaddy of American dark chocolate and was the key ingredient to this dish's success. The consistency of the pot de crème was thick and smooth, less thick than a chocolate mousse cake, but thick enough so that if you stuck your spoon all the way in and lifted, the entire dish would be picked up. The high density of the chocolate made each spoonful extremely rich and decadent and was almost too much, even for 2 people (of course we ate it all though). The Scharffen Berger chocolate used in this dish was the real deal, not your everyday wannabe Ghirardelli chocolate. It was bittersweet and probably at least 70% cacao (translation: high quality, very dark, more bitter than sweet), with a deep roasted flavor similar to coffee, and would thus accompany coffee perfectly.

Though I thought the crème Chantilly and shaved dark chocolate topping gave it a nice presentation, I sort of dug around those elements with my spoon, so as not to taint the perfection of the chocolate beneath. I tasted the shaved chocolate alone, and it wasn't the same chocolate flavor used in the pot de crème itself, and not nearly as good. The crème Chantilly was good by itself, but I didn't want anything messing with the pureness of the rich dark chocolate. I'm sensitive to desserts that are overwhelmingly sweet, and this dish delivered exactly what I look for in good dessert: high quality ingredients that can stand on their own without relying on sugar to make them good. I won't dock points for this, but the presentation was slightly lacking. If you'll notice in the picture, the dish was served on a piece of triangular paper. Perplexed, I unfolded the paper and realized it was a piece of an old menu folded in half. Did they run out of doilies or something? Nevertheless, after taking one bite, they could serve it on a Post-It note for all I care. It was some of the best dessert I've had in a while. Indulge yourself!

Food review: French toast

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Pain de mie with orange-ricotta filling, poached pineapple, whipped cream, and maple syrup
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'm an idiot for not going to Absinthe for brunch sooner. It's a block away from my place so I figured "I can go there anytime!" A completely ridiculous excuse, now that I realize I've been missing out some amazing food. I ordered the french toast because I figured a French restaurant would know how to make real french toast. I figured right, because it was exquisite. The dish had the effect of transporting me to a Parisian cafe while I exclaimed "Oh la la!" after every bite. Every slice was a slice of heaven. The bread was awesome and cut thick to hold the rich cheesecake-like filling. It was cooked to perfection, to a lovely golden brown and had a thin crust all around the outside, while remaining light and airy on the inside. Though the french toast could hold its own without the filling, the sweet ricotta with a touch of orange zest added some flair and extra creaminess which was a bonus. The syrup was very sweet and concentrated, so I liked having it served on the side so I could control the intensity. In terms of flavor, well, I didn't know french toast could be this good until now. It had just the right ratio of cinnamon, sugar, egg, vanilla, orange, ricotta, and bread, and if you wanted to splurge, you could add a dollop of crème Chantilly to the mix (vanilla whipped cream).

The french toast was near perfect, so why not give it a 10? To put it simply, the pineapple. It just didn't work for me at all. It was heavily dowsed in syrup, making it too sweet to eat alone. When I tried pairing it with the french toast to tone it down, the pineapple clashed with the orange zest. I wouldn't know the difference if I never had this pineapple again. So to sum things up, french toast: amazing, pineapple: not so amazing. I'll let you be the judge, but seriously, for only $9.75, you're never going to find french toast of this quality anywhere in SF.

Food review: Absinthe corned beef

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Corned beef hash served with two poached eggs atop grilled toast
Food rating: 8.5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

Well, we really should have gone to Absinthe for brunch sooner, our meal was fantastic. I got the corned beef hash and it was the least tasty of our dishes (French Toast, and Pot o' Chocolate), and by least tasty I mean "still damn tasty!" The toast was great - toasted golden brown with a slight char on the edges. It was also very lightly buttered and it wasn't your run of the mill white bread, I think it was a french bread derivative. The eggs were poached perfectly with no runny whites while preserving the yummy liquid yolk so as to sop into the bread and hash. The corned beef was really the only part of the dish that I wish had been better. Don't get me wrong it was pretty good, extremely tender (broke apart at a touch) and well mixed with the potatos and herbs, but I had to say it lacked full flavor. It just didn't quite get there and was canceled by the herb flavors in the hash. If the corned beef had had more flavor I would have given this an 9. Overall we had a fantastic experience at Absinthe and are looking forward to going back. On a side note, it was actually less expensive than I thought it would be, we spent barely more than we might have at Home or something similar and the service was impeccable.