Give Me Some Food

I stood in my kitchen at 6:45pm on a Wednesday pondering dinner. Many late nights at the theater had sucked the life out of me- but I thought the one night I was home this week, I might as well cook. Yet before me, in my sink, was a pile of dirty dishes balanced atop a scummy pot, teetering on a gross half-sheet pan. Cirque du Soleil had nothing on my sink. This act had been balancing for quite a few days. How many? Let’s just say I can’t remember how I created it and the standing water that I had once carelessly run over this culinary sculpture was now growing creatures. What kind of creatures? Well talking ones…

“Hey blondie, how about ‘dem White Sox…”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, and what about Harriet Miers taking her name out of the running for the Supreme Court?”

“How do you guys know so much about current events?”

“You leave the paper in the kitchen every morning. We need something to do- it’s not like you’re ever going to wash us.”

“Why you little-“

And the phone rang

“Hello?”

“Hey, what are we doing for dinner?”

“I don’t know…I don’t want to clean up the kitchen….it’s scaring me…let’s go out.”

“Alright- pick me up at 7:30.”

So this put me in a difficult position.  I was tired and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time or money out at dinner.  I wasn’t in the mood to savor every bite. I wanted more of a one-night-stand eating experience.  Do it, go home, watch SouthPark.  So where do we go in this situation? I heard an Urban Legend somewhere that a little place called Alamo Square served a tasty prix fix for $12.50. Much to my surprise, this was no Urban Legend! This menu is served from 5:30-6:30pm on Friday and Saturday and at all times Sunday-Thursday.

Luckily I’m not a picky eater because the menu said

Soup

Chef’s special fish entrée

Dessert

$12.50

It’s a little scary to trust a restaurant to produce these three items legally and have them still stay in business for $12.50. Well, we couldn’t refuse and we ordered up- I was a little disappointed that Felix and I would be eating the same thing- but who can argue with $12.50?

First the Soup

French-country might be a good description. The waiter said Tomato Soup, but it was much more than that. It full of onions, in a good way, and topped off with some buttery, crunch croutons. I was pretty impressed.

Next came our main courses. Blackened Sea bass with a white wine sauce. Yum. I started eating

Oops! I forgot to take a picture. Silly me. I’m still new at this (and a little embarrassed that my flashing camera is going off every 15 minutes in this restaurant)

Now, the blackened seabass was fine…for blackened seabass. I’m not a huge fan- but then again, it wasn’t my choice.  Yet the sauce was very creamy which complimented the light flavor of the fish.

And finally the dessert

The waiter plunked two bowls on the table and walked away. No introduction. Yum, I thought. Ice cream with caramel sauce! I love that! I took a bite. Whoa- Felix! DON’T EAT IT! THE ICE CREAM HAS GONE BAD!  IT'S WARM AND EGGY!!  Oh.... I get it…It’s meringue. That’s ok…I like meringue.  Actually it’s pretty good.  Yum!  Light and the caramel sauce isn’t too heavy.  What a wonderful dessert!

I think part of the problem with the yummy-ice-cream-whoa-it’s-meringue-incident occurred because it was so bloody dark.  When we came in, the specials were written on a blackboard with gray chalk.  As if.  Good chance for romance, bad chance of seeing what you are ordering…or eating.

A note about service: I’ve read several reviews on Alamo Square that rant about the service. We had no problem. Maybe that was because it was a Wednesday night?  Maybe they knew I was a blogger because I kept taking pictures of everything?  Either way, we were in-and-out in under an hour, I was very pleased with our service and our $36 bill.

Alamo Square

803 Fillmore St. (bet. Fulton and Grove)

415-440-2828