Kelly's Mission Rock
817 China Basin/Illinois
415-626-5355
On a clear day you can see forever...and ever, and ever, but there's little to see here beside the usually mostly empty dry dock that holds hoisted ships the length of one football field long suspended while iron workers strengthen ravaged seams with new welds. There aren't any bad seats in this 'post modern' industrial aerie loft with clean and simple lines accented with great looking hardwood decking, crafted metal railings and sturdy furniture and fixtures that provoke calm and acceptance of the power and pull of all things nautical. Unlike the claustrophobia one expects from shipboard scale, Kelly's almost squanders space in the generous configurations given to each table with legroom and stretching space enough for the jolly green giant to do calisthenics.
The menu is deceptively short and simple, but upon closer perusal it offers a narrow range of a much wider palette of taste experiences than most joints with two and three page menus. Idaho trout has appeared on each menu in several preparations, and that has almost prompted me to order it, but strong childhood memories of all the work catching, cleaning and cooking the damned things while camping make it hard for me to consider paying good money for something that was so much work when I was a kid. I point this out because the menu's really small, and to consistently have fish be dominated by something most people don't associate with the bounty of the sea amuses me in the same way oriental chefs defiantly and proudly offer western guests 'junk fish' with head on and entrails intact, which should be an insult to western tastes. When you realize that you're paying for waste products and have to do the work yourself to get to the meat of the matter, it is somewhat insulting.
I digress again.
Kelly's does some common sandwiches and the burger well, making them novas compared to most contemporary restaurants that genuinely dislike serving such pedestrian fare. The roasted turkey breast with gruyere French toasted with choice of a really good salad or excellent fries at 7.50 shows the simple but well thought out and executed ideas this kitchen does on autopilot. The burger, fresh Maine crab BLT and the fried oyster Po' Boy with bacon and remoulade are also outstanding with the burger at 7.95 and the crab BLT at 10.50, among the best sandwich offerings in the City. Soups have been thick, creamy and robust using fine fresh ingredients and always at 5.00 for a large bowl. Salads lean to the creative and have been equally distinguished with an stellar Ciogga beet, blood orange, blue cheese and toasted pine nut with baby greens in a red wine vinaigrette at 6.25 and one of baby greens with prosciutto, pears, parmesan in a sour cherry vinaigrette at 5.50. They offer wonderful antipasti of baby artichokes, spring onions, asparagus, red peppers, Genoa salami and Manchego cheese at 7.75. It's a splash from this part of the menu to the entrees which in addition to the trout above include some excellent pastas like a recent pappardelle with mussels, clams, prosciutto, herb pesto, walnuts and parmesan at only 11.00, an excellent choice and value. Meats are well represented with a solid Flatiron Steak with great mashers and mushrooms in a seductive red wine sauce at 17.00 and a superb double cut maple cured pork chop with those same terrific mashed potatoes and some tasty chard and a port reduction at 26.00, a very good swordfish steak with triangles of baked polenta, wilted pea sprouts and red pepper coulis at 19.00 each represent the kitchens honesty and integrity in dealing with the 'main ingredient'. Desserts are now brought to the diners consciousness by the smart and attentive servers working here, and even if you're full and feel unable to get another forkful of anything into your mouth, risk sharing a dessert with your companions to taste the intensity and creativity that this place invests in the after meal time of savoring and reflecting on the meal just had, over a fine after dinner drink, very good coffee and the seductive views Kelly's offers of the working waterfront. The desserts are really ambitious and hit the bullseye almost every time, with coconut creme caramel with pineapple, bruleed key lime tartlet with berry sauce, the warm sour cherry and apple crisp with mascarpone ice cream proving excellent sweet/tart choices to share and bring to an end a meal of taste explosions and delightful surprises.
The Mission Rock Resort, now Kelly's, is open for lunch every day from 11:30 to 3:00, brunch weekends pretty much all day, and dinner from 5:00 'til at least 10:00 every day. Jim Kelly is basically a publican with a taste for good food who really discovered Nancy Oakes now so famous for Boulevard, but originally the toque behind the great bar food at Pat O'Sheas Mad Hatter and the small and unique Avenue within O'Sheas before Pat Kuleto kidnapped her. I highly recommend Kelly's Mission Rock and advise that reservations are a must any time of the day or night, but parking is abundant and free.
by Stu Smith
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