Saison, San Francisco – the ultimate foodie spoil
When friends ask Greedy Girl about what she saw on her travels, the answer is – usually – the inside of a lot of restaurants. Given dining is our ‘theatre’ we had front row seats on our final foodie experience of this 2014 US tour, at Saison.
Saison has a wide ‘shopfront’ on Townsend Street in San Francisco’s South Beach area, but hosts only a few tables. There’s a delightful bar area and that’s where we were directed and welcomed with a very, very pleasant complimentary glass of Krug. With a start like that, our expectations were indeed, sky high. Shortly shown to our table, we were delighted to be sitting side-by-side on a banquette right in front of the open kitchen. Indeed, most of the tables overlook the kitchen where a bevy of chefs calmly go about their business to create wave after wave of stunning dishes.
Saison was ranked in 69th spot on this year’s San Pellegrino list – behind The French Laundry, Coi and Manresa – the only restaurants in San Francisco and vicinity to make the top 100. In Greedy Girl’s estimation, it was second only to Alinea in terms of innovation and enjoyment.
It’s headed up by Josh Skenes, who last year was named by Elite Traveler as one of the 15 most influential chefs of the next decade. ‘Chef Josh’ as the rest of the team refers to him, trained in New York City under Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and has travelled extensively in Asia, which shows in his food. The restaurant now has two Michelin stars.
Having eaten a power of food on this trip, we were in need of something special to excite the tastebuds. The team at Saison seemed to be aware of our gastronomic journey, making a comment about this blog on our arrival. The practice of restaurants googling their guests is alive and well. Greedy Girl prefers not to advertise that she’s blogging – making sure she doesn’t use flash when snapping photos and surreptitiously taking notes. It was just as well she documented the evening because there is no menu either before or after!
Saison offers two options – a basic tasting menu and what they call ‘discovery’ an extended menu. There is also the ability to match wines, but given we were aware fish was prevalent and not a fan of a lot of white wines, we opted instead for a bottle of champagne to accompany the early stages. After the Krug, we enjoyed a delightful Paul Dethune grand cru from Ambonnay – dry and not too crisp.
Mesmerised by the kitchen action, we watched a chef directly in front of us prepare our first dish. This was golden trout roe with a completely clear tomato consomme gel, served on corn pudding with a couple of tiny slices of okra. The roe popped in the mouth and combined brilliantly with the lusciousness of the other ingredients. A very fine beginning.
Golden trout roe, tomato consomme gel
Next up was a spare, elegant display. This was a selection of beignets – anchovy, parsley blossom, celtuce and artichoke. On the side was a dish of anchovy sauce with citrus and soy and an intense curry salt. Delicious.
Fish and vegetable beignets
We then moved to turbot. This was diamond turbot served with sea bean (a succulent), nori, shiso and chrysanthemum, with a little white soy on the side and Meyer lemon and salt. The fish was amazingly firm, almost chewy (not in a bad way) and the different textures here worked very well. It was incredibly light.
Diamond turbot with sea bean
Next up was salmon. A lot of the dishes at Saison make use of the wood fire (which also keeps the room quite toasty). This was wild king salmon smoked in the wood fire, served with an anise hyssop vinegar with a slice of preserved daikon underneath. The fish was like butter – the chopsticks provided to eat it with easily flaked it apart. Amazing.
Wood fire smoked wild king salmon
It was time for some abalone. This was Monterey abalone roasted over embers with a sauce made from its liver, capers and seaweed. It was the softest abalone we’ve ever eaten and that’s no mean feat, abalone being one of the easiest ingredients in the world to be chewy when cooked.
Monterey abalone
More from Monterey was next. This was Monterey squid stuffed with scallop mousse and galangal, yoghurt and Kaffir lime sauce. The little tentacles on top were slightly crunchy and a nice foil for the remainder of the dish. The sauce was very tangy – the combination of galangal and lime gave it almost a lemongrass flavour. Delish.
Monterey squid with scallop mousse
Around this time we were also introduced to the bread supply. A beautiful sight it was too. We watched these loaves being baked in the oven and they came to the table soft and piping hot. Greedy Girl loved the flecks of salt on the top.
House-baked bread
It was time for some leaves. Greedy Girl is ashamed to admit she didn’t catch the specific name of this dish. It was a combination of leaves, many of which had been dried in the oven, served with heirloom grains and a seaweed broth. Again, it was amazingly light and refreshing while being quite crispy. Gluttonous husband commented he’d love a bowl of the grains for breakfast.
Leaves with heirloom grains
We were ready for some meat and we put the champagne aside for some glasses of red. Greedy Girl had a Failla pinot noir from the Sonoma coast, while gluttonous husband had a glass of the wine director’s own Syrah he makes in the Napa Valley. While Greedy Girl enjoyed her glass, she definitely had a case of wine envy when she tried the smooth, round, complex and bold flavours that gluttonous husband was sipping. He commented the tannins took over towards the end of the glass but he was a very happy chappy.
Our first ‘meat’ dish was stunning. This was duck liver served with the ‘scent’ of white chocolate and what the chef termed the ‘breakfast of champions’ – sourdough baguette, milk curd and beer! There was also a hint of grapefruit and some coffee oil. Greedy Girl usually despises coffee flavour in anything other than a cup of coffee but this was amazing. Such complexity of flavours that just worked brilliantly together. Mmmm, Greedy Girl could have another right now …
Duck liver with ‘scent’ of white chocolate
Next up was beef. This was 28 day aged beef from the restaurant’s own farm with a square of soft bone marrow. It was served with a herb salad and buckwheat miso. Greedy Girl loved this; it was the triumph of presenting a beautiful ingredient in a simple way. She parceled out the marrow in tiny pieces, hoping to have a little of it with each mouthful of the beef. The buckwheat miso was also a wonderful accompaniment. She tried the herb salad but gave most of it to gluttonous husband who happily hoovered it up.
Aged beef with bone marrow
There was one more savoury dish.
Veggie time
An incredibly light beef broth
From left to right in the first picture above, this was burdock, carrot, cucumber, radish and rhubarb and it was served with a bowl of delightful beef broth made from the roasted bones. A lovely light way to finish.
But we weren’t quite done. Possibly the world’s most luxurious palate cleanser was presented next. Krug champagne sorbet. Enough said.
This is my idea of ice-cream
Dessert followed. This was a very pretty plate of rhubarb pannacotta with sorrel and it was presented with a glass of buckwheat tea.
Rhubarb pannacotta with sorrel
Buckwheat tea
The dessert was light, not overly sweet and the tea was delicious. As we hoovered up the plate, we were also presented with the petits fours. These were seriously big canele de Bordeaux and were superb. Crunchy on the outside and a lovely soft cakey texture inside. Yum.
Canele de Bordeaux
Saison was a wonderful experience; it’s a beautiful spot and perfect for a celebratory dinner or just a good old-fashioned spoil. The chef apparently is starting to do some small ‘chef’s table’ dinners – literally in his own home apparently – for a select number of diners. Greedy Girl wishes she and gluttonous husband were front and centre for those. Being so close to the kitchen, we avidly watched everything they were doing but couldn’t get too many hints.
Watching the chef cook in his own kitchen would be fascinating and instructive for anyone who loves to cook – one of the world’s ultimate foodie treats.
Saison
178 Townsend Street, San Francisco
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