Early Bird Special: Mercury Lounge

Jen Siska

The honey-walnut prawns at Mercury Lounge.

An early taste of SF Weekly's Wednesday food review. 

A bridge-and-tunnel bar in SOMA is probably the last place you'd expect to taste well-made food, but that's just what SF Weekly food critic found this week at Mercury Lounge (1582 Folsom at 12th St.). Brody worked her way through a merienda of Filipino-tinged Asian dishes from a chef who spent time in the kitchens of Betelnut and Poleng Lounge. Go before the clubbers in their aviator sunnies and pleated minis show up (or, if you slip in for Sunday brunch, after) and it's possible to dine in relative peace. Find out which dishes had Brody popping later today at SFWeekly.com. Meantime, score a sample clip after the jump.

We couldn't stop eating the sizzling plate of grilled pork sisig ($14), chewy, char-kissed chunks of pig tossed with chopped green chiles and red onions, and the bistek ($15), similarly chewy and satisfying thin-sliced steak with plenty of caramelized onions in a soy calamansi sauce (calamansi is an Asian citrus, especially popular in the Philippines). Both dishes reflect the Filipino heritage of chef Dominic Ainza, veteran of the pan-Asian kitchens of Betelnut and Poleng Lounge.