Give Me Some Food

I had picked up Felix at the airport Friday evening and we had just walked in the door:

"What do you want to do for dinner?"

"I don't know, I'll check and see if Opentable has anything interesting to offer."

It did. And I almost had a heart-attack because of it.

I have been trying to get reservations at Myth for a few months now and I was starting to think that the reason the restaurant was given its name was because the possibility of booking a table was pretty much...you guessed it, a myth. But now, staring at me from the computer screen was a page that said we could have Myth reservations at 8pm.

That was in 10 minutes.

"Felix, we have to leave now!"

"Ok, just let me put my stuff down and-"

"NOW!"

"ok."

I reserved that 8pm table and we managed to walk in the door at around 8:10 (thank God for valet parking.). The hostess was checking her watch and two couples anxiously waiting for a no-show frowned as we entered the door.  I loved the interior- the brick and wood gave it a Boston-loft kind of ambiance. I also liked the fact that there seemed to be a really diverse range of ages. Sometimes when you go to a foodie hot-spot, it's either all people under 30, or over 70. Myth had a great mix.

We were lead to a lovers' table (my term for table where you get to sit kitty corner to your date rather than across) that faced out into the restaurant, so our people and food watching angle was prime. The only negative part of the meal was about to commence: we were given menus and promptly left alone for around 15 minutes. But once our order was taken by a very eccentric waiter (he was either European or gay...or both) the meal proceeded without a hitch.

We both ordered the pear and blue cheese salad to start:

I like how they used a melon-baller on the pears (which were right in season and perfect) and the creamy vinaigrette was just right to stand up to the blue cheese, but still showcased the punget quality of the cheese. The pomegranate seeds were a nice touch as well and made it feel like a fall salad.

For my main course, I ordered the Roasted Black Cod with Maitakes, Couscous and Bacon Jus:

I had no idea that bacon jus and fish would live such a symbiotic relationship in this dish. The flaky light cod was wonderful dipped in the heavy meaty jus.

Felix got the Braised Short ribs:

This dish was very well prepared. I find a lot of times with short ribs, there is an abundance of fat in the jus or sauce or whatever it's served with. Here, basically all of that fat was removed to create a very light broth.  I found the meat the same way: the fat was trimmed very well so that just the tender ribs were left.

For dessert we split a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Bananas, Macadamian Nuts and Caramel Sauce:

This was actually the least impressive dish of the night (and I always love dessert!).  I thought the cake and vanilla ice cream, I know this sounds weird, didn't complement each other. The cake was was too strong and heavy for the ice cream. After taking a bite of the cake, the ice cream didn't taste like anything! The saving grace of the dish were the bananas and the caramel sauce. They added a lot more depth to the plainer flavors.

So if you think all the hype is just a...you know, go try Myth for yourself. The food is good to great (though not as amazing as I thought it would be after the reviews I read) and you'll feel a little like a superstar for the night.

Myth
470 Pacific Ave.
San Francisco
415-677-8986