Ben is reviewing Mercury SF

Mercury SF

http://www.mercurysf.com/


Grace and I made reservations for Dinner on Saturday night at Mercury SF after we caught the matinee showing of Wicked.

Mercury SF is located by the 101/Costco on Bryant near downtown San Francisco in a fairly industrial/commercial zone of the city. The restaurant is quaint with a modern decor. The restaurant is connected to a very, very small bar/party zone where a bunch of people were getting drunk and staring at me.

I have to say I walked into Mercury SF with some pre-conceived notions regarding some of their offerings. Grace emailed me a copy of their menu and I was surprised to see some traditional and delicious Filipino food offerings such Sisig and Beef Steak mixed up to become more modern and cosmopolitan for consumption by the food loving San Francisco population.

However I must say that I left a bit underwhelmed. I understand that when designing a menu to cater to diverse groups of people, a chef must lose some of the charm and authenticity of their dishes. For example, the sisig at Mercury SF is not made from lechon, the fried/roasted fatty belly of pork. The sisig is made from a roast piece of pork that is very low in fat content, probably the loin. I know this may appeal to a more health conscious person, but a health conscious person is not the audience for a proper sisig. Proper sisig causes instant gout, it raises your blood pressure and induces fits of rage. That is why we all love it. Sisig will never been a popular dish that the masses drive 30 minutes away for (like Carne Asada Fries) I don't understand how Mercury SF thought they could make Sisig Nachos succesful. I hope that they look at their menu and try to make it more humble and I bet it would hit many more people where it counts, in their tummy.

The biggest complaint I had, and probably my parents and your parents would have, is the portion size. I know I am a fat lard, but I also know that for a $15 order of BISTEK (beef steak) I better get more than a single tiny cheap peace of chuck steak sliced into pieces and drizzled with soy sauce and some raw onions. THAT IS NOT BEEF STEAK. Beef steak is supposed to stain your teeth with soy sauce and cause you to smell like onions for 3 days. The onions are also supposed to melt in your mouth as you suck the fat off the beef. The beef was cooked like a regular steak and the soy sauce was added after.... This is all wrong. For 2 long delicious days the beef should sit in a pool of soy sauce, onions, calamansi juice, garlic and other secret seasonings (MS FUCKING G) Try selling this beef steak dish to an auntie or uncle, and you will probably be bitch slapped across the table and into some common sense.

The Honey Walnut Shrimp was delicious! All five pieces of shrimp were delicious. Each shrimp cost $2 if you think about it. I thought about it, and then I got mad and I wasn't hungry so I guess their mind games and hunger manipulation worked. I would recommend the shrimp if they kept the price and tripled the amount. Then again, I don't know how much they had to pay for each shrimp and I guess they have to make a profit somewhere since they give you so much beef in the "BISTEK"

The saving GRACE of the night (get it?) was the Crab Curry Fried Rice. It was mild and delicious, it had enough curry flavor to be yummy but not enough to make your taste buds numb. The crab and scallions added some great texture and flavor to a wondeful dish, I would recommend this dish to anyone.

I think Grace was checking the waitress out. I didn't really notice as I was too worried that my stomach would kick my ass for eating here.

I give it a "try it if you are bored, maybe if you feel like you want Filipino food but don't know how to cook it and are too lazy to drive to Daly City (SF), Covina (LA) or National City (SD)"

You could also call it Poleng Lounge part II, Junior.