MENU: Myron's - UNEDITED.

Here's a confession: Power Plant is like my second home. I was one of its first customers in 1998, along with the rest of the 2002 batch of Ateneo Law. We crashed the warming of the Starbucks on Rockwell Drive, browsed through the books of Bibliarch both for literature updates and to catch a glimpse of Jaime Daez (food for thought and eye candy!) , rejoiced at the opening of Mc Do and Jollibee (finally, fastfood!) and cut afternoon class to watch the latest movies. Back in the day there was just Grassi's (outside the mall), Cucina Victoria and Pazzo. If you wanted reasonably priced food, you could go to ... um ... nowhere, really. It just wasn't an option. Your only other choice was to ask your driver to "stop making potpot the car" and "make pabili in McDo." That or pressure your rich Atenean classmates to treat you.

This was when Erap was still President. When the country took to the streets in a formidable display of adamance against corruption, the management of Rockwell had its own awakening and started zoning for real human beings, i.e., for those of us who actually eat and pay with our own money. Bench, Kamiseta, Ba Yo opened on the apparel floor and prices were adjusted by the restaurants that opened on the food floor.

Last year, a steak house with that classy Rockwell atmosphere but with reasonably priced steaks opened on the Concourse Level (what we call the sosi food court). The name of the place is Myron's and it is by far one of the best food additions to the Plant, especially because Power Plant is quite the Friday-night-movie mall. For the longest time, when asked where to eat at the Plant, especially if you're on a date ... there was just Mati, Mati, and Mati. The restaurants at the food level just don't quite spell romantic. (If your kind of romance needs a setting, that is.)

Enter Myron's. I had always snubbed this restaurant because quite frankly it looks a little intimidating, a little too highbrow. The name alone looks like it must be announced, like there should be a "Sir" before it (pronounced " Suh..." like you're from Walton-on-Thames). But lately, they've developed a more welcoming atmosphere. The menus now have pictures (those always help!) that will convince you to sit down and at least try out the spread. And once you're seated, you realize that Myron's is not so intimidating after all.

First of all, they play Michael Buble and Rod Stewart. When these guys are crooning standards to you, your heart will inevitably melt, wherever you are. A drop of love via Rod is always a good method in stealing the customer's heart. Secondly, the menu has this huge picture of foie gras on steak staring you in the face the way Al Pacino does that look with his eyes. It has you possessed. And you find yourself ordering not the Paolo (5 oz US Certified Angus Rib Eye of Beef) nor the Louie (8 oz.) but the Myron's (14 oz) complete with the foie gras. It's the pictures, it's those eyes. Same goes with the wagyu burger, whose description on the menu reads, "The Ultimate Third-of-A-Pound Wagyu Burger."

Fortunately for Myron's, the pictures deliver (Pacino can't fail.) The steak is juicy and tender as it should be. But then again, it's Angus rib eye, how can you fail? You may chance upon a steak that has a tad excess of fat, but the owners are particular and the waiters now well-trained so just give them a heads up and they will come back with your specifications. The burger is also a winner. But at P320, it should be. It's huge, juicy, packed. I even liked it better than the one at Kublai's Rock ( see SIM archives on inquirer.net).



On my other visits I was able to resist the Pacino eyes and had the fish. The salmon is presented simply wrapped in cabbage but made tasty with what I discover on the menu is "vermouth beurre blanc" (I've learned it's a classic butter sauce with wine or dry vermouth).I am told that it is a hit among those on a diet. I prefer, though, the lapu lapu that I tried on another occasion, which is presented with "a mild green curry sauce". I liked its play on the sauce.

But Myron's is not just a great steak house. The desserts are a pleasant surprise as well. I later learned that the pastry chef of this restaurant is Monique Papa-Eugenio. I had the pleasure of a conversation with Monique over a year ago at the Salcedo Market and learned then that she had trained (and become friends with, ahem!) the Jacques Torres. I think Torres would be proud but I think Monique's works here are not just off shoots from her training from him but of her own laudable creativity as well. The chocolate mousse is presented not like your ordinary chocolate mousse but in a cocktail glass and with candied orange peel, a nice bitter touch. Her chocolate volcano cake is dark and rich and the mantecado ice cream on top of it gives it extra phases of delight. My favorite though is the Old Fashioned Bread Pudding with Dark Caramel Ice Cream. The pudding alone is exquisite, with a creamy, chewy texture that allows your spoon to glide down it; and when the hot caramel sauce is poured on top of the not-so-sweet caramel ice cream atop the pudding, wow ... you'll find yourself in heaven.



Moral of the story? Don't be intimidated by high brow names. Their steaks range only between P495 to P1650; the fish swim around the range of P500 and desserts around P150. And it's useless to ignore the pictures. Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in.