23438 Sun Mar 23 02:57:49 -0800 2003 3 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 89074 Four of us went to Plouf for a pre-ballet dinner. Our first seating at 5:30 gave us prompt and friendly service. We decided to order a bunch of appetizers to share between us and forgo the entrees. This idea turned out to be both time saving and delicious. We had their famous mussels, prepared provencal style, self-declared great French fries, potato wrapped scallops, crab spring rolls, tempura calamari and fennel, and one entree dish of sauteed shrimps with sweet potato puree. Almost everything were excellent. Only the potato wrapped scallops and the French fries were somewhat of a dissappointment. On their menu they said their French fries are famouse and excellent. They were surprisinly like fast food fries, same cut, same taste, not worth it. The scallops were too bland, and though the potato on the outside was very crisp and well fried, there was just nothing memorable about the taste. Big pot of mussels were fresh, garlicky, full of sauce to be mopped up with extra table bread. Inside the crab spring rolls were savory filling with crab, spices, and I think rice noodles, very good texture overall. We ordered three different desserts, and all three were just so so. We had banana ice cream in cream puffs (sorry can't spell that p word), hazelnut chocolate parfait and chocolate mousse on flourless chocolate cake. The banana ice cream were not "banana-y" enough. After a few mouthful you loose the flavor. The parfait, though intense in the hazelnut flavor, had this wierd consistence, almost foi gras like... The chocolate mousse was pretty good, but the chocolate cake was too chaulky. With one glass of red wine and three coffee on top of that the bill came to about $35 a person. This is a place we would definitly visit again. Sun Mar 23 02:57:49 -0800 2003 0 Wendy Lai 1 89113 I was at Pluof for a solo dinner last week. I don't know what you expect out of fries, but unless they are friend in duck or goose fat that's about as good as they get. I had the mussles with the coconut and cilantro - excellent. House wine was an embarassment for a French place with even modest class. Mon Mar 24 00:47:18 -0800 2003 89074 0 Greg 2 89134 When they advertise their fries to be exceptional, I expected fries that are more unusual than your fast food join fries. Some great fries I can think of are Zuni fries or Absinthe's fries, or even a good order of garlic fries from some popular breweries. Mon Mar 24 14:19:52 -0800 2003 89113 0 Wendy Lai 2 89372 Cafe Bastille, a few doors down has exceptional fries. I suspect they ARE fried in exotic fat. Thu Mar 27 10:44:53 -0800 2003 89113 0 Jackie Avery