SFist Eats: Midi

Published April 23, 2009 at 12:09 a.m.

Chef Michelle Mah’s brasserie-style menu and a freakin’ off-the-mother-flippin’ hook pot de crème is a nice fat cushion as well...

Beginning with the end, our host, server, and a really cool guy named "Aaron" chose the pot de crème for us. And we admit to initially feeling a little ho-hum inside because, seriously, how many menus in this damn world have pot de crème? Most of them. However, this little trifle was topped with a thick, ridiculously delicious layer of salted caramel. It was all we could do to keep our finger from scraping the areas of the ramekin where our spoon couldn’t reach.

Now, to continue to move backwards, we’d like to take you to our entrée: braised spring lamb swimming in a light broth alongside baby artichokes, toybox carrots, pearl onions, and fingerling potatoes. While not an incredibly bold set of flavors, satisfaction is found in the dish’s simple heartiness, a characteristic that very much reflects Mah’s brasserie-styled menu.

For our starter, we tried the warm seafood and fried baby artichoke salad, which also wins because of its understated flavors. The preserved Meyer lemon vinaigrette and fried, paper-thin slices of artichokes maintain the salad’s overall delicacy, but give it the proper injection of greasy goodness (albeit, sans grease).

The Hawaiian kampachi crudo with avocado salsa verde and micro cilantro is considered one of the restaurant’s signature starters, and it is done well, though next time we think we’d dig into the country chicken terrine, topped with a dollop of whole-grain mustard, caperberries, and spread onto toasted baguette.

Folks who remember the old Perry’s spot will be impressed by the reorg of the second-level/main dining space. Instead of keeping to Perry’s mezzanine seating, the entire dining room is now filled with tables, probably doubling the original capacity.

Other cool things include the “Midi quartet,” which for $19, the lunch crowd can order a sampling of four small courses such as panko fried Granny Smith apples with goat cheese fondue, asparagus soup with Meyer lemon and crème fraiche, and a roasted half Cornish game hen with mashed potatoes and morel mushrooms, and dessert.

A stellar bar menu (especially the nibbles) are what we’re guessing will nab a generous happy hour crowd, with our fave being the lavender French 75. Imagine that little concoction accompanied by chickpea fries, popcorn with white truffle and seas salt, or honey and harissa-toasted pistachios. Lucky for us, the bar menu is available beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Midi

185 Sutter Street (at Kearny), San Francisco, CA 94104...Reservations are available at www.midisanfrancisco.com, OpenTable.com, or by phone at 415-835-6400.

Midi is open Monday through Saturday...Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Dinner 5:30 to 9 p.m. Mon-Wed; served until 9:30 p.m. Thurs-Sat...Bar Menu 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mon-Wed, and until 12 a.m. (Thurs-Sat).

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