My first Restaurant Week outing was lunch at Gerard's Place . . . a.k.a. Gerard Panguad Bistro (the business card I picked up at the door uses the first name, while the Web site uses the latter name) . . . at McPherson Square.  Reviews by my six companions were decidedly mixed.  I was personally underwhelmed and several of my colleagues felt the same way.  Between all of us, I think we tried everything on the Restaurant Week lunch menu.  I'll start with the good.

Everyone who tasted the braised short-ribs with "Bourguignon Garnish," mashed potato and red wine sauce loved them.  This seems to be the best bet of the entrée selections on the Restaurant Week menu.  Also, the salad of red and golden beets roasted in olive oil received a good review as a starter.  And several of the desserts were well-liked . . . particularly the "Terrine of Chocolate with Crushed Pistachio, Pistachio Sauce" and the "'Tarte Tatin' of Mango with Passion Fruit Sauce."

I ordered as my first course the "Terrine of Duck Bound with Foie Gras," which is served with a small mixed green salad.  It was decent, but I won't be telling anyone that they must visit Gerard's to experience it.  As a main course, I ordered the "'Tian' of Lamb, Fresh Flageolet, French Green Bean & Fava Beans," which underwhelmed me.  The lamb was likely a shoulder cut or something of the sort and it was likely slow-cooked and done well . . . it had the shredded texture of perfectly cooked pulled pork, which I love . . . when it's well seasoned.  The shredded lamb was layered in a ring mold with the three beans listed above and, though I don't now see it on the Web menu description of the dish, I'm pretty sure I recall seeing some carrots in there.  The problem with the dish was a complete absence of any interesting seasoning . . . no distinctive herb, spice or other flavoring.  The shredded lamb was good as far as the meat itself, but I expected more.  And I had the pretty-good "terrine of chocolate" mentioned above as my dessert.

Again, among all of us we tried just about everything on the menu . . . and the only thing that really stood out in a positive way were the braised short-ribs.  But a few other things are worth mentioning.  The seared diver scallops with citrus “Beurre Monté” appeared to have been cut in half laterally, so what from above appeared to be three scallops was in fact three half-scallops.  I'm not sure if this is a Restaurant Week cost-cutting tactic or if this is how scallops are always served at Gerard's, but my lunch companion across the table who ordered the dish commented that she'd much rather have one or two whole, thick scallops than the quarter-inch thick preparation she was served.  I didn't eat them, but I'm with her.  It was an odd presentation.

Also, I'm no interior designer, but I thought the interior of this place bordered on dreadful . . . particularly the greenish-bluish paint on the ceiling and the gray sheer coverings over parts of the green-blue ceiling.  I'm not sure if it was this ceiling coloring . . . or the lighting . . . or a combination of the two . . . or maybe I was just in a weird mood, but all of the food brought to our table had a gray cast to it.  There was no vibrancy of color on the table.  I sat there thinking how glad I was that I wasn't tasked with photographing the food and making it look good.  Now that I'm into this food photography thing, I'm doing a lot more eating with my eyes . . . and I wasn't impressed with Gerard's visual feast.

I'm curious to hear if any of you have been to Gerard's and had a stellar experience.  It definitely wasn't bad, I just wouldn't call it great.  I've read some very old rave reviews of the place on Chowhound, but the reviews are years old.  At any rate, I won't be rushing back.