Looking for Prospective Places to Dine?

Last night I went into the depths of SOMA, which I do not do often enough, and had dinner at Prospect. Prospect serves new American cuisine with a modern twist. They have a large bar area, make amazing cocktails and feature an extensive wine list if you are looking to imbibe in a liquid meal (although they'll also serve you smaller dishes). Or if you're a bit more peckish, you can sit at the communal table, which still has the more lively bar atmosphere. I really liked the interior of Prospect. It achieved being contemporary without being too formal or stiff, with harsh whites, angular lines and uncomfortable seating. The interior was more of a creamy white, which complimented the different wood tones features. There were a lot of unique lighting fixtures and the place have an overall sense of warmth.

Since I work in Sausalito, I'm never able to make it to city happy hours. If you do work in the area, check out their happy hour from 4-6p. Their specialty cocktail list boasted an array of eccentric concoctions. I had the Pompelmo Frizzante, which consisted of vodka, sparkling wine, lemon, grapefruit and vanilla. This "summer in a glass" as I call it would be so refreshing on a hot day. They have a few more upscale beers and a fairly lengthy wine by the glass list. If you're planning to get a bottle, be warned that the decent ones tend to be fairly pricey. However, they are one of those establishments that allow to bring in your own wine and just pay a corkage fee. 

For the food, we started off with a couple small plates. We tried the asparagus, which had a little too much butter/oil/sauce on it for my taste (why distract away from this beautiful vegetable), but featured an amazing crispy squash blossom stuffed with ricotta and summer truffle. Sadly, there's only one on each plate. We had the shrimp with calamari atop black quinoa, which was decent but not a staple on their menu. The last thing we tried was the ravioli, which was amazing, so I wish that was a menu staple. For my entree, I was torn. People had great things to say about the seared sea scallops, with fingerlings, broccoli rabe and charred onion potato puree. When the dishes came, the scallops did look tasty, but I'm glad I went with my gut feeling when it came to ordering (and later caused a food gut from eating too much). I ordered the New York steak, which sat on a bed of sauteed spinach with baby artichokes and sunchokes. There were also tiny sunchoke chips sprinkled on top to get that needed crispy element on the plate.There was also horseradish aioli and a beef jus that soaked into everything (which is a good thing). It was so delicious. My only complaint is that one of my sliced steak pieces was entirely a piece of fat. Otherwise, one of the better steak dishes I've had in this city. The dessert list looked too good to pass up so I ordered the banana parfait. I mean, how often do you see that on a menu instead of something like bananas foster? The creamy vanilla pudding was topped with caramel, roasted bananas (which tasted like they were caramelized) and nib crumbs. It was so good that even though I was already stuffed my this point, I cleaned my bowl (although I did have some help). 

All in all, a good place to eat and drink. I like the ambiance and the specialty cocktails a lot. The starters left a little to be desired but the entrees were superb. And the desserts were delightful. Just be prepared to spend a fair chunk of change there.