The Mustard Seed (Mt Pleasant)

I've heard raves about The Mustard Seed since I moved here two and half years ago. When I shared with friends that I had never been, I generally heard some variation of "YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE MUSTARD SEED??!" Similar to the reaction I have every time Maggie tells me she's never seen the Lord of the Rings movies.

With visions of big portions, fresh ingredients, and fair prices dancing in our heads, we struck out over the Ravenel for an evening at the original Mt. Pleasant location (in the last few years two additional Mustard Seeds have germinated - one on James Island, and another in Summerville).

Fresh, well-seasoned foccacia, warm lighting, comfortable but practical tables and settings - an auspicious start. The menu arrived and, in retrospect, at this point I should have started to worry. Here are three items off the menu, in the order they appear:

- Chicken Enchiladas
- Pad Thai
- Turkey Meatloaf

Really. Normally a baffling grab-bag menu like this would be an immediate red flag (Seriously, re-read those three dishes. I can't get over it!), but TMS's reputation is such that I reacted with only the faintest flicker of neurons, absent-mindedly admiring the chef for his range.

After a middling corn chowder (easily dismissed as well), Maggie's pad-thai arrived along with my (safe-choice!) shrimp & scallop risotto. The pad thai had some kind of odd and overwhelming clam-sauce-meets-lemongrass flavor that knocked out any chance of balance in the dish. The shrimp were overcooked and the bulk of the dish came home in a doggy bag, to linger, uneaten, in the fridge for a few days.

The risotto was better, but not transporting. Sort of upper-middle-class. The scallops were cooked beautifully, to just-past translucent with a nice caramelization. The risotto itself though, was quite bland. To make Risotto you have to stand over a pot, stirring and adding ingredients constantly, for at least an hour. The entire time you're tasting and adding more stock, salt, mushrooms, wine, pepper, herbs, cheese, whatever. The constant attention and slow cook time means it's nearly impossible to make a bland risotto. I have no idea why there was no more flavor than some basic chicken stock. It was fine, but wouldn't have required a great deal more work to make it great.

I think there is something akin to momentum with regard to TMS. Check out this review for an example. How on earth does an undercooked dish and a baffled and rude waitress garner four stars? In fairness there are a huge number of resoundingly positive reviews, but I think in some cases the restaurant's reputation precedes it.

The disparity between what I've heard about The Mustard Seed and what I experienced there is so great that I can't help but think we may have caught it on an off night (I'm falling for its reputation too!). Maybe we'll go back soon and give it another shot. Or maybe not.