Great report and pics. Thanks for the update. We had 2 good friends go after the transition and they weren’t as impressed (still enjoyed it a lot, but not as good as when Chef Skenes was there and at full Michelin 3 Stars), so given that we held off on wanting to return.
And yes, as @PorkyBelly mentioned they had phenomenal freshly baked Bread & Butter from Bella the Cow (their own cow). It was a major highlight. Here’s my writeup w/ pics. And you could get more of that amazing Bread and Butter if you wanted.
Thinking about it @PorkyBelly it wouldn’t even surprise me if Chef Skenes took Bella with him, LOL. It was probably part of Skenes Ranch, and when he split, he took the goodness with him.
I’m about to go for the second time, so I looked up my Yelp review from August 2012, at the old location. I counted 28 courses. Went on to Terroir (R.I.P.) to finish the night.
I tried the chef’s counter last night. It’s at the far end of the kitchen from the dining room, two cold stations are right in front, great view of the charcoal grill station and a couple of others. I should have counted the cooks, if you added up kitchen and wait staff the ratio is roughly 1:1 to diners.
Not that the flavors were very Japanese but it reminded me a lot of eating omakase at a great sushi bar. Most of the dishes were one or two bites, 90% seafood and vegetables. I think the only carbs were some mixed whole grains in one dish and a couple of little pain au lait rolls.
Really creative use of fresh herbs, e.g. fava leaf in the grilled peas. One technique I hadn’t seen before: searing things with a hot coal (“coal-kissed”). One new-to-me ingredient, “bone vinegar,” a jelly made from boiling fish bones in vinegar. The gargouillou had some of the best anchovy sauce I’ve ever had, they said it was not house-made and not Red Boat but otherwise it’s a secret. (Farmed) bluefin spinal fluid, also new to me.
There’s a series of photos on flickr taken a few days ago that is almost identical to what they served me:
Wine pairing was almost one per course, mostly excellent matches, never had an empty glass. A couple of the best matches were a sake and a dark British wheat beer. Great service. Very warm and friendly staff.
$498 seemed maybe a little steep but not at all unreasonable given the food costs and labor. I want to go back when they have langoustine and aged birds.
ah you missed 2.0; there were some real fireworks from 2013-2017ish in particular. many, many chefs and diners regard that as a special time. i just spoke with one great chef in Tokyo about this time, and Saison 2.0 is the restaruant that comes up the most when others learn I’m from California. what you had at 1.0 looks great, though, and 2.0 was largely an edit of that by some measure. i haven’t been to “4.0” so to speak (chef Rich’s), but i’m curious to see how it is. they’ve been through a lot of change over the years and the menu size has certainly fluctuated.
at one point, the menu got fairly small and going for a bang bang was not inappropriate.
at what i believe was its heyday, i remember some variation of:
welcome soda
custard
smoked caviar with gelee
sashimi with bone vinegar
urchin toast
abalone rice
brassicas
“swarnadwipa” cod or king crab
liver/foie with dark bread and dunkel
“fire in the sky” beet with bone marrow and pickled rose
aged birds with “steak sauce” or wild game with hot sauce
souffle
canelé
Essencia
those were the days of wild deliciousness and creativity. and when Michael Judge was captain, i’d wager it was one of the best dining fine dining rooms in North America.
Uni toast was one of the top bits of the night. $48 supplement each so $16 per bite. I could have eaten 20 of them but that would have been even more expensive than the prix-fixe.
Antelope was knd of bland, reminded me of beef tenderloin. The antelope pastrami in the radicchio was great. The tiny bite of heart seemed like it would make a good tartare. I love black truffles but not raw.
The most expensive meal I’ve ever had if you don’t adjust for inflation, and one of the top five even if you do. The staff to diner ratio was close to 1:1, so on that score, given prices in San Francisco these days, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. On the other hand, for the same money I could have gone to San Ho Won, Burdell, Mijoté, and The Morris.
Thinking back on the meal, only three dishes were really memorable (passion fruit jelly, uni toast, and pork neck). Overall it seemed like a very conservative take on the narrow Michelin two- / three-star contemporary style. Nevertheless I’ll probably go back to try the bar, which I think had open seats all night.
the skin used to be ultra thin and shatteringly crisp back when the dish was with anise hyssop vinegar. the trout also used to be a very rare-cooked rectangle so you’d get a really nice contrast with the skin’s fine and uniformly crisp texture and burst of trout roe hidden underneath. earlier iterations still had it in hoja santa leaf and kaffir lime. i loved the textural impression of the ultra crisp skin vs gentle sourness of anise hyssop vinegar.
the skin is now served on top but it still looks different than how previous iterations did. apparently the sauce is currently pineapple, bone sauce, konbu, and fermented chili.
Thanks for the update. We had 2 good friends go after the transition and they weren’t as impressed (still enjoyed it a lot, but not as good as when Chef Skenes was there and at full Michelin 3 Stars), so given that we held off on wanting to return.
