Masa's

648 Bush St. (between Powell & Stockton)
(415) 989-7154

French in Union Square area

When you first enter this restaurant, the decor is nice and warm, but something's a little off. The chairs are printed and the fresh roses add to the feminine touch, but the black drapes and the red modern lanterns don't quite fit in... it's like the room is having an identity crisis. Regardless, the chairs were really comfy =)

Food: they welcomed us with a warm mini cheese grougiere (cheese puff) accompanied with a cherry squash soup with brown butter - the first sip is all butter. Talk about heart attack waiting to happen. They have an interesting variety of breads - sourdough, olive, and raisin (the olive was good if you like salty foods). They also gave us another amuse bouche, which was a shrimp mousse (custard-like goodness).

You have the option of the 3-, 4-, 6- or 9-course menu, and we all opted for the 4-course. First course, we shared the crab louis (nothing special), hamachi sashimi, and the veal sweetbreads (glands... they had really good flavor, though some bites were a bit too reminiscent of liver, which i hate). Second course, we had sea bass (good, but lacked really strong flavor), celery ravioli (good, strong flavor), and the scallops. The scallops were by far the best dish in the entire meal - they were seared perfectly, and accompanied with a buttery risotto pancake (incredibly unhealthy but soo goooood). Frenchies really like their butter.

For main course, we had the beef short ribs, stuffed quail with truffles, and the lamb. The lamb was good but could have been more moist, and the short ribs were... gooey. It was weird. The quail was good, but difficult to eat because of all the small bones (maybe I just need to take a class on how to cut it up). For dessert, we had the lemon chiffon (flavorless and very disappointing), the "cracker jax" which was a popcorn and chocolate cake (good), the "coffee bar" which was a sponge cake with dollops of coffee-esque creams and foams (I only liked one of the foams), and the huckleberry blinis. The blinis (like mini pancakes) were divine, I must say. Light, fluffy, but bite-sized and contained. Mmmmmmm

Overall, this dining experience was enjoyable (good food and good company are always good. hehe), but I don't think I will ever come back. It just wasn't worth the money ($105/person). La Folie was a LOT better, and $20 cheaper. If you want classy French food, you should go there instead.