Food review: Baby spinach salad

Restaurant: Patxi's (San Francisco)
Food description: Tender baby spinach with bacon, tomatoes, red onions, and croutons, with tomato-basil vinaigrette
Food rating: 5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I was just getting over being sick, so in a rare moment of health, decided that a non-caesar salad would make a good accompaniment to the Crisco-laden deep dish pizza I was about to have. Normally I'd say screw the salad, so I wasn't very familiar with their salad offerings and just picked one that sounded good. The salad achieved exactly was intended for--a vitamin supplement--but nothing more. Based on the picture, it looks like it should've been pretty good, but if you look closely, you'll notice that all the toppings are only on the top (thus the name toppings, yeah yeah). But underneath that thin layer of toppings was a good 3 inches of 100% pure spinach--no dressing, no croutons, not even a single bacon bit! I can't help but ask, why the laziness? It'd be next to impossible to try to toss the salad on the plate, so I didn't bother. I just dealt with the fact that the beginning of the salad was drenched in everything, and the rest of it tasted like a tree. And since the salad was gigantic, the ratio ended up being more tree than toppings. As for the toppings, the croutons were bland, the dressing was too sweet, tomatoes were decent, and the bacon bits tasted fake like Bac-Os. Because of this salad, I'm making a conscious effort to get sick less frequently--that way, I never have to eat it again.

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.