On my last day in San Francisco I decided to have a big lunch at SCALA's BISTRO (www.scalasbistro.com), a spot of much renown in the famous Sit Francis Drake Hotel just off Union Square. It was a big disappointment in almost every bite.
I did enjoy my two glasses of wine. First a CLINE ROSE MOURVERDRE and then a Feudi di San Grigori FALANGHINA from Sannio, and while they went well with my two courses, the food itself needed much work. As soon as my server said the special panini of the day was SOFT SHELL CRAB, I jumped. The two large triangles of bread each hald a 1/2 crab and were laden with tomato, marinated red pepper, watercress and aioli, making the crab virtually undetectable; and when it was tasted, it was mushy. This came with a huge pile of their superb FRENCH FRIES, but as soon as I saw the plate I asked my server why she did not mention this as I had ordered the appetizer of MOULES/FRITES in Cracked Black Pepper Aioli for second! She went, "oops" and offered to bring a salad with the mussels, which seemed fine for me.
The mussels were smallish and unexciting, and the sauce was a wine/garlic generic type that I did not even want to wipe up with bread. Where was the black pepper aioli?
The salad of beautiful greens and cucumber was way overdressed and soggy. I barely managed to finish half of it.
Sadly this gorgeous bistro with its faux silver ceilings and wooden accents is running on the fumes of its past fame. Perhaps now that Kimpton has taken over the hotel they can get the management to improve the dining quality as the staff and locale are great.
ALAN now back in DC!
