Firefly Review

We had an acceptable meal of contemporary food at Firefly.  While nothing stood out, nothing was particularly bad either.

The meal began with a nutty, dry bread accompanied by a pretty decent spread made from navy beans.

For appetizers, we shared:

• "Yummy roasted brussels sprouts with reggiano parmesan and white truffle oil."  Tasty, blackened, salted, and oiled brussels sprouts.  I thought these were quite good, as did S, who said they were the best brussels sprouts he's had.  Oj said that, despite his dislike of truffle oil, these weren't overwhelmingly terrible (as he'd worried).  Ow says he still doesn't like brussels sprouts.

• "Shrimp and sea scallop potstickers with sesame soy dipping sauce." Good quality potstickers; there's not much else to say.

• "Chopped baby escarole salad with hazelnuts and balsamic pear vinaigrette."  Perfectly fine salad, though again unremarkable and entirely forgettable.

For entrees, we shared:

• "Honey blazed duck breast with grilled escarole-radicchio salad, baby turnips, farro and pomegranate salsa."  This was well received.  The slices of duck, nearly covered with pomegranate seeds, went fast.  We appreciated that the duck was prepared so that it wasn't fatty--most ducks in our opinion tends to be too fatty--and that it was cooked well.

• "Braised lamb shoulder with cauliflower and pine nut stuffed grape leaves, toasted orzo and feta-yogurt sauce."   Probably the favorite dish of the night (though the duck was a close second), we liked how the moist, tasty lamb easily fell apart.  The dolmas were weird and generally not pleasant.

• "Roasted organic jack-o-lantern pumpkin steak with black beans, chayote squash, slaw, chipotle 'aioli' and spiced pumpkin seeds."  Eh.  The worst dish of the night.  The pumpkin, shaped and blackened like a steak, despite tasting like pumpkin, just wasn't good.  Perhaps it lost its sweetness?  The black bean mix on the side was even worse--we barely touched it.

The dessert menu had around half a dozen items, most of which sounded quite weird.  None of them appealed much to us, though we decided we should try at least one.  We selected the "honey yogurt panna cotta with pomegranate syrup and olive-oil rosemary madeleine."  Two of us tried it and immediately thought, "hmmmm, it's just honey yogurt."  Indeed, it was thicker and more like pudding than our typical custardy image of panna cotta.  The madeleine was fine.  It was like a soft, crumbly, light cake.

Hidden in a residential neighborhood with easy parking, the restaurant has an entrance identified by a lit sculpture of a firefly.  Inside, it feels like a simple restaurant gone slightly upscale: for instance, there's fabric attached to the ceiling, a cheap way of adding texture to the ceiling and improving the feel of the room.

It's too bad we didn't get to try Firefly's famous fried chicken--it wasn't on the menu during our visit.

The total was $31/person including tax and tip but not including drinks. 

Original Announcement

Tonight we'll converge on Firefly, a contemporary-cuisine restaurant in Noe Valley.

http://www.fireflyrestaurant.com/

Comments from Other Attendees

It's too bad we didn't get to try Firefly's famous fried chicken--it wasn't on the menu during our visit. -mark

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