February 02, 2010

Starbelly – Did Not Tickle My Belly

I really wanted to like Starbelly…unassuming location in the Castro, casual and cool atmosphere, pleasant service, fresh and local ingredients…but the food was mediocre. The highpoint of my dinner was dessert – the salted caramel pot de crème.

Grilled little gems salad with market oranges, raw milk feta & toasted almonds – the lettuce had a nice smokiness from the grill, however, it was overdressed and soggy. This salad had potential because all the flavors were there, but they were muddled because the ingredients weren’t proportioned correctly.

Market mushroom pizza with gruyere, thyme & roasted onions – they murdered this pizza with too many red onions. The overwhelming, sweet red onion flavor completely masked the taste of the gruyere cheese and delicate mushrooms. What a tragedy.
Pan roasted black mussels with Mexican chorizo, market chilies & cilantro – the chorizo added a meaty richness to the mussels, but it was difficult to enjoy because the mussels were so puny. If a restaurant does not have decent size mussels, they should not serve them. Period.
Grilled Sonoma lamb chops, cheddar grits & braised greens, fresh quince chutney – finally, a well-executed dish. The lamb chops were juicy, well-seasoned, and nicely complemented by the quince chutney. The grits weren’t bad, but they weren’t memorable either.
Salted caramel pot de crème, rosemary cornmeal cookies – this pot de crème had me swooning it was so good. The rich, creamy caramel had just enough salt to curb the sweetness on the finish and make it incredibly enticing for another spoonful. This rivals Town Hall’s butterscotch and chocolate pot de crème.
For the most part, the food at Starbelly is unoriginal and needs refining. What good are fresh and local ingredients when you don’t balance them correctly? If it weren’t for that ridiculously delicious pot de crème, I would only give Starbelly 2.0 bites.

BITE METER: Starbelly – 2.5 bites (out of 5)

2 comments:

  1. Great Blog! Hey check out the new SF top 100 rest list -- they dropped martini house from the list!

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  2. What a shame. I love Martini House...and they make THE BEST HAMBURGER.

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