Okay, maybe that's a bit too harsh...but our visit to the hot new offspring resto of Merci was not what we had hoped. It's just a block from our apartment, down Boulevard Beaumarchais. And many of the wait staff are Italian, which is great for us as Cheryl is fluent in Italian, and my Italian far outshines my French. It's a very hip room and vibe - big bar with lots of cocktail shaking going on. That part is fun. Great light fixtures - industrial chic, and an open kitchen so you can see the chefs make the pizzas and slice the jambon. But the food, for the most part, was disappointing. The menu itself is limited to antipasti, salads, and pizza, as well as a huge variety of alcoholic beverages, including a Venetian spritz, one of my favorites. Still, we'd hoped for a broader Italian menu, food-wise. And it would have been nice if the music had not made conversation absolutely impossible.
We tried two salads and a pizza, and the only standout was one of the salads, an insalata del polpo. It featured tender cubes of octopus and potatoes over a bed of arugula, all nicely seasoned. The second salad was farro with shrimp and cherry tomatoes. The farro tasted glue-y and the shrimp were overcooked --- a very disappointing plate. The pizza, which had olives, mushrooms, and jambon was good --- but not a standout compared to Cotogna's or Zero Zero's in San Francisco. Nice texture to the crust and the jambon/proscuitto was tasty. Cheryl wished we had just gotten the simpler margherita.
Would we go back? Absolutely for a cocktail - it's a different and fun kind of bar environment for this district. But we'd only go back for the food if we were craving a decent pizza.
No comments:
Post a Comment