See Us Eat: Underwhelmed at Chapeau, San Francisco, CA

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Underwhelmed at Chapeau, San Francisco, CA

We kept hearing about how great Chapeau! was, and it had been on our list for a while, so we finally decided to go all the way out to the Richmond to try it. We were decidedly underwhelmed. The service was very slow, if pleasant. The decor was horrendous, although that's probably the thing that matters least to us. And the food was just so boringly average. It was solid for sure, but not amazing, not interesting. And it was a pretty good deal. But we just don't understand what all the fuss is about. If we want good bistro food, we can simply go to Fringale right down the street from our place and have better, closer meal.

Amuse Bouche of Curried Cauliflower Soup (gratuit)
This was actually the most inspired dish we had all night. The soup was very smooth and the cauliflower really stood up to the curry.

Alexis' Prix-Fixe Meal was $45, and is shown in the following 4 pictures:

Duck Confit Salad
The bitter frisee offset the richness of the duck confit and the seared foie gras on top was a nice touch as well.

Seared Scallop with Butternut Squash Risotto and Lobster Sauce
This dish was well done and the lobster sauce worked well with the risotto and the scallop.

Cassoulet
This was a hearty and flavorful version of this French country classic that suffered only from the fact that there were way too many breadcrumbs on top.