The Mercury :D

In addition to my L2E club at work, I also have a Quarterly Dining group. We basically get together once a quarter for some good food! :)

The Mercury
11909 Preston Rd.
Dallas, TX 75230
(972) 960-7774
http://www.mcrowd.com/mercury/index.asp
Price: $$$-$$$$

This time we went to The Mercury (or The Mercury Grill) on Preston and Forest. I’ve been wanting to go for the past 2 years now, just somehow never made it there. This was a good opportunity to finally check it out.

I knew this place was upscale, but it was MUCH nicer than I had imagined. From the outside it doesn’t look that big, but it has 3 different rooms once you walk in.

While waiting for everyone to get there, they served us warm bread with butter and pate spreads. The bread was nice and warm. Crispy on the outside, soft and pillowy on the inside. I’ve never actually had pate before, and I liked it. It had a slight ‘liver-y’ after taste, but if you combine the pate and butter together on the bread, it was very good. The waiter continued to replenish the bread until we were ready to order.

(Note: I didn’t include most of the prices because I forgot to write them down. :/ I’m going to write about the dishes I tasted, then post the rest of the food pictures after.)

I knew I wanted dessert(s) so I decided to only get an appetizer, as my entree. Plus it was quite pricey so I didn’t want to spend TOO much money.

We started off with salads and appetizers. I didn’t order one, but I got to sample some of my friends’. :P First was the Crisped Foie Gras: with foie gras flan and wild mushroom ragout (which they ordered the wine pairing as well). Foie Gras is basically fattened duck or goose liver, and in most places it’s considered a delicacy. I’ve had liver before but I don’t think they were considered ‘foie gras’. This was delicious! The top layer is the crisped foie gras, then a layer of the mushrooms, all over the flan. The flan was soft and creamy, and was well paired with the crispy outside of the foie gras. There were all sorts of different textures in this dish and they all worked together wonderfully.


Next were the entrees. I ordered an appetizer as my main course...the Forty-Eight Hour Braised Short Rib (medium rare): with potato puree. $17~

The presentation was very nice and the flavor was awesome. The meat was the right tenderness. It had just the right amount of fat to keep the meat juicy. The sauce and the potato puree were delicious with the meat. I ate it ALL! Haha.

One of my friends ordered the Black Cod: with blonde miso, asparagus and pickled ginger. You can never go wrong with miso cod…it’s a wonderful combination. The cod was soft and buttery and not too sweet (which some places make it too sweet). It was delicious!

On to the DESSERTS!!! All the desserts were $8~. The one thing I’ve heard about The Mercury was their chocolate soufflés. Every time someone tells me about this place, this dessert comes up. As a chocoholic and dessert addict, I HAD to try it out. We ordered 3 chocolate soufflés! They certainly did not disappoint. The soufflés were chocolaty and fluffy. Upon serving, the waiter pokes a hole in the middle of the soufflé and pours chocolate syrup onto the dessert. Mmmmmmm!!!! Then he leaves the rest of the chocolate sauce for us to replenish as we please. :P

One friend ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake. This was my 2nd choice for dessert, so I got to try it anyways. W00t! The plate was decorated beautifully. The cake was very good. The outside was slightly crispy and the “lava” oozed out as you cut open the cake. Although I would still have to say that the lava cake at Rise No1 was just slightly better!

Another friend ordered the Chocolate Formagigoria (I know I’m not spelling that right…). It’s basically a flourless chocolate cake. Also beautifully decorated, the cake was super rich and chocolaty. YUM!

Now for the rest of the food pics:

2 salads: Marinated Pear and Gorgonzola Salad (with candied pecans and arugula) and Heirloom Tomato Salad (with blue cheese). They split the portions for us (that’s why it looks so little in the pictures).

Pan Roasted Halibut: with summer bean braise, sundried tomato pesto and pancetta chip. I tried a bite of the fish. It was slightly overcooked so was a little tough. This was probably the only disappointment of the night.

Domestic Lamb Shank: with garden vegetables, muffaletta tapenade and pomme frites. I’m not a lamb fan, but it was very tender. The “pomme frites” or fries, came in a cute little container and were very good.
These were the specials (so they weren’t listed on the menu):

Filet of Sole: with hearts of palm… $58~ (this was listed as ‘market price’ and my friend forgot to ask for the price… We were all shocked when the bill came…) Beef Dynamite: with “Dynamite” sauce with shrimp and crab. I got a bite and the beef was very flavorful and tender. It was definitely a GREAT meal with great friends!! Still a little expensive for my taste so I won’t be dining like this ALL the time. Haha. And be sure to always ask if the price isn’t listed…otherwise you would end up ordering a $58 piece of fish!! I would definitely recommend it for special occasions or a romantic date.

P.S. The service was really great here. From the moment I walked in with the hostess to the waiter for our table. Halfway through the meal, he actually brought a chilled martini glass to transfer my friend’s cocktail so that it would stay cold! First time I’ve ever seen that in a restaurant! He earned himself some bonus points there! ^.~

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~