Kir Breton

Much has been written about the renaissance in Bay Area dining, a mere two years after David Chang emasculated the city with “figs.” Brilliant in its caricature, the scathing sound-bite nailed the problem with dining in the area. More Italian than French, rustic romanticism over technique, the region never embraced molecular gastronomy¹, with only a few rare flirts (Winterland anyone?)² But technique is sneaking in through the back door.

And that’s what makes Atelier Crenn surprising – it is unabashedly molecular but weaves in a more natural narrative. It is an enchanting vision that feels right at home here, in the new San Francisco.³

Brioche

Dominque Crenn plays chef and artist, not scientist, for her public persona; her menu is not dinner laboratory, fits and starts, it is tasting menu. Experiments are left in the kitchen. Dinner is the successes.⁴ An organic quality resonates with each plate, balancing the technical elements with what some might call a feminine touch. There is coherency throughout, an album instead of a patchwork of singles and filler. It is enjoyable molecular as opposed to the often painful vanity molecular.

Intense, concentrated flavors streak in and out of the menu; textures play with the release of flavor, while never falling into artifice; and temperature contrasts are used very effectively, recalling the days of yesteryear’s Ludo Lefebvre’s Bastide. Liquid nitrogen is a recurring technique but never in an extreme or jarring fashion. One might argue the meats have a same-ness, all sous vide on this visit. Plating is en vogue landscape, sprawling from end to end, claiming air rights too, but it is a useful device for picking through Crenn’s deconstructions. She is not afraid to use many ingredients, but never does it veer toward the showmanship of showcasing 20 ingredients on a plate for the sake of featuring twenty-one.

This was one meal in late November. TomoStyle was in town, and after raving about Crenn’s Test Kitchen dinner in LA, Atelier Crenn seemed like the obvious choice.⁵ The pictures comprise a variety of dishes from the table, including some vegetarian offerings. The waiter convinced me to stick with the normal menu but a vegetable menu is automatic for the next visit.⁶

Pear custard, pumpkin seed & foie gras pearls

Trout skin, caviar

Fried yuba, daikon

From the first bite, Crenn defied expectation by serving liquid nitrogen pearls of spiced pumpkin seed and foie gras. All too often, such pearls would be too abrasive, freezing and icy; but the cool pearls slowly melted in the mouth and blended into the sweeter pear custard, seasoning it and adding lusciousness. The variables here were dialed in and one could appreciate that initial texture contrast, and range as the pearls melted, with the custard. It sounds simple, and even obvious, but it is often a disappointing technique.

A barely warmed oyster, poached in sake and beurre blanc, was served on a bed of tapioca and sake cubes. Here, the shifting texture between oyster flesh and tapioca gave the dish its textural focus. But why gelee the sake in cubes? Cool, they let out a small bright burst with each bite, re-invigorating the flavors with each chew. It was delicious. The attention to detail was most impressive⁷ – proportion, temperature, and sensation were thought through carefully – a repeating theme throughout the meal.

Oyster, sake, tapioca

Jardin

Buckwheat soba gnocci, umeboshi, green onion

With the first warm course, a salty ginger broth and a tart, salty dollop of ume were tempered by light, but comforting, buckwheat soba gnocci. Abrupt at first, the dish provided counterpoint to the creeping sweetness of the previous dishes – a re-set. And, again, it was the details – the charred scallion, adding bitterness to mix of spicy, salty, and sour; the fragrance and tang of the umeboshi pulling the elements together; and fried scallion roots with their complementary soft crunch.

Ocean and Land was perhaps my favorite dish of the night, and it once again showed the technical attention to detail, while still allowing for randomness and variation. The smokiness from the sturgeon pearls lingered as they melted, and built over the duration of the dish. Mustard seeds and fried capers gave the dish crunch. Red onion gelee was sweet with a cool bright touch. Horseradish puree kicked every few bites. Maybe the wagyu was unnecessary since its fat wasn’t warmed, rendered, and tender; but its relatively light flavor allowed the other elements to tug and pull the dish into different exciting directions.

Ocean & land – wagyu beef, smoked sturgeon pearls, red onion gelee

Potato “Mémoire d’enfance”t

Carrot, aloe gel, thyme, mint

The explicit palate cleanser is under-utilized in long tasting menus – jolt the palate, shake it up, and re-focus for the flavors to come. Concentrated in taste (one is reminded of Sean Brock’s Carrot essay on Ideas in Food), the mint burst through the sweetness and intensity of many, many carrots. The soothing coolness of the aloe gel took over the aftertaste. Not a literal pop, but quite a surprise.

Suggestive of edible sculpture, the foie gras log is a visually arresting example of Crenn’s Poetic Culinaria. A cold foie dish rarely disappoints, although some are clearly better than others,⁸ but how often is it best of show? The foie is poached in milk and then flash-frozen, presumably in liquid nitrogen, shaved thinly and it is then allowed to melt again, forming the bark. Each bite is light and airy, more suggestive than substance, but it is (quickly) cumulative, and its heaviness does build by the end. Vanilla dabs perfume the foie, a natural complement to this lighter version, while apple and balsamic add needed acidity. But it was the cocoa nibs that completed the dish – a nice crunchy bitterness and suggestions of a fatty chocolate milk.

Foie gras log, apple, vanilla, cocoa nib, balsamic

Walk in the forest

Here there is a nod to Quique DaCosta’s experiential Living Forest – one of my all-time favorite dishes. Crenn has tapped into DaCosta’s ability to create experience – his forest is not a representation, it arguably is a forest – and Crenn flirts with the concept here too. The trumpet, maitake, and chanterelles were pickled or cooked, so each bite had a different foundational texture, with some bites vinegar charged, and all of their earthiness enhanced by the pumpernickel soil. The meringue was too sweet by itself but its pine flavor further invoked the concept, and blended nicely when mixed. But it was that bitterness of the charred meringue that kept it all together, walking a path through this forest.

Silky trout, sous-vide, showed that Crenn succeeds with more straight-forward, embellishing enough to keep her food interesting. The smoked buckwheat cous cous lent just the right note of texture, pickled red onions foiled the richness of the fish, and the mussel lemon foam brightened with brine and tang. Simple at first glance but no less accomplished than previous dishes.

Trou Normand

Steelhead trout ‘basquaise’, lemon, bottarga

Guinea hen ‘thailandaise’, coconut, cilantro, basil, ginger, chanterelles, bok choy

Goat belly & loin & leg, salsify ‘pasta’, grapefruit, yogurt

Cheese

Allspice infusion

And then there were desserts. Rarely does dessert blend into the meal, continuing themes and styles, often opting to veer directly off to the standard canon of dessert instead. Pastry has resisted the shifting styles of savory. But Juan Contrera’s dessert carried the meal in a seamless fashion with the same proficiency and attention to texture and temperature. He is one to watch.

The pear dessert is a stunning representation of, and transportation to, Fall – a fallen pear on a bed of early snow. It is poetic, beautiful, and harmonious with the larger tasting menu. The snow yogurt, a technique loved by too many chefs without regard for abrasive temperature and texture, melts instantly into just-creamy enough while the pear sorbet, shaped as a pear, provides a nice bright balance of acidity. Sage granita rounds out the background flavors. Alternating cool bites of the pear and snow with sips of the hot allspice infusion created a vitality on the palate. This was one of my favorite desserts of 2011.

Pear, sage, yogurt

Mignardises

Upon receiving the bonsai tree of treats, we asked why this last gesture so often disappoints? Parisian temples will shamelessly haul out conspicuous amounts of chocolates and treats but rarely are they as good as the better chocolatiers in town, sometimes just steps away. And yet here was a large collection where every piece had merit – pate de fruit, caramels, nougats, marshmallows, madeleines, and more. Mentioned before, quite a few times, attention to details, from beginning to the very end.

TomoStyle described this dinner as a “fairytale” – and it indeed had embellishes and touches that do not seem real – there is something special here. The experience has similarities to Quique DaCosta, the last meal that enchanted me. The execution and attention to details were very strong. When reading other reviews, most are gobsmacked by the creativity of the food. But it is inventiveness where Crenn can make the largest strides – to create styling and dishes that are completely of her own vision.

Atelier Crenn is one of the best restaurants in the country, firmly in two Michelin star territory (despite being awarded only one.)

- chuck

1 – Or “modernist cuisine”, which surprisingly has not been trademarked. Quite a few people say “molecular gastronomy” doesn’t mean anything; and yet does it mean less than modernist cuisine? I think molecular gastronomy perfectly conveys the high-point of El Bulli-era cooking – the juxtaposition of two words, and worlds, seemingly at odds – science with the senses, while still firmly placing it in a haute cuisine context, where the methods have now trickled down to casual eateries. It captures the time and it’s an easy short-hand for discussion. Modernist cuisine denotes nothing, and perhaps that’s what its adherents appreciate; it is a rolling wave, encapsulating any group of trends since Escoffier or before, and to the desert chic of the last tribe on a dead planet, a thousand years from now.

2 – Which has always surprised me. Here in the land of tomorrow meets today, the food culture has a particular strong conservative bent. Entire industries are being ripped apart by deflationary economics, technology is unequivocal faith, and, yet, dining is still dominated by a very conservative view on food and restaurants. It’s an interesting schism between work and play.

3 – This is not to suggest Atelier Crenn is the only one; anyone that has eaten at noma, or read the cookbook, knows the cuisine owes as much to the countryside as it does to Ferran Adria.

4 – How many people truly enjoy entire meals at WD-50 or Moto? Both are doing important work but there are just as many misses as hits. Cutting edge work lends itself to this sort result (a meal at El Bulli was not 40 courses of bliss) but, as a paying diner, it’s sometimes nice when the chef edits themselves. Just as there is currently too much emphasis on “in the moment” cooking with naturalism and micro-seasonality, the molecular crowd places too much emphasis on rapid iteration and failing fast, mantras of the technology field, at the customer’s expense.

5 – I was not wild about Crenn’s food at Luce, where she earned one Michelin star. I should have known better than to assume her own food would be the same as that of corporate sponsorship, from a hotel.

6 – I feel obliged to support chefs offering creative vegetable menus but there is something telling that I still find it hard to automatically choose it. The contradictions of the human mind.

7 – Veal Cheeks and Michael Bauer both complained that execution was not as high as it could be. Both reviews are over 6 months old and, based on my two recent meals, Crenn may have really stepped it up. Execution was flawless, as mentioned before. Flavors were pin-point; textures were thought out; and temperature contrasts were often masterful.

8 – Until the other night, The French Laundry’s torchon was my gold standard for its creaminess. But Justin Cogley, at L’Auberge Carmel, served a roulade of foie fras poached in almond milk – and it was creamier and tastier yet – without the supplement!

A simple tweet, or was it a taunt, set us down the path – “Aged fish. Concentrated textural magic.“¹ Suddenly, there were memories of Sawada in Tokyo pulling out a deep-red slice of tuna, its intense iron taste, and my first (knowing) experience with (purposely) aged fish – a seemingly Bizarro-world that overturned the notion that the best fish is served “fresh.” It does not have to be. Personal preference in these murky waters will probably vary considerably.

“For me this is about finding the deepest point in a flavor” – Joshua Skenes

Dry-aging product intensifies taste by reducing moisture.² It can also help to tenderize the meat – to a point. After longer periods, the meat tends to get waxier in texture³ as the the tenderizing effects of the enzymes and fungus can not overcome the lack of moisture. Some dry-aging fleshes out the taste, adding complexity, and drawing more flavor from the meat. Different animals require different times – but there are surprisingly few studies on this topic, and most literature is on beef. At what point does the taste shift from terroir to transformative? Is an extended dry-aged (and/or fermented) protein still the protein, metaphysically speaking?⁴ Again, personal preference will vary considerably in these winds.

This was not a normal Saison meal⁵ – the pictures below come from two different meals at the kitchen counter, the latest last Thursday. There were many dishes not pictured over both meals. Similar meals can be arranged at the kitchen counter but they must be scheduled and planned in advance – and they quickly approach French Laundry pricing (but are far more enjoyable, in my opinion.) If it is your first time, and lighting isn’t a concern, ask to sit at the hearth bar – an enchanting look at the deliberate work being done on the hearth – the heart and soul of Saison.

The sensationalism of the aging fish drew me in but it was the subtle Kindai Bluefin that showed the diligence of Saison best. Simple at first sight, various pieces of tuna (very fatty, medium fatty, & loin) are scraped with a scallop shell for the texture, mixed with its roasted sinew from the hearth. It is topped with white soy and roasted (crushed) tuna bones, from the hearth; and a vinaigrette made from said bones, yuzu, seaweeds, and dried bonito. This was special. An accompanying glass held the tuna’s spinal fluid. The gelatinous marrow was clean and mellow – with just a hint of salinity and tuna – a very special treat. (See a picture from the bone here.) The best of Saison’s style is embodied in this dish – one that could be at home in a three-star Tokyo restaurant.

Each of the 7-day aged fish were line-caught from Japan, killed by ike jime, and then dry-aged for seven days. Skenes is serious about his seafood. The texture of each was the obvious give-away – waxy from the moisture loss – followed by a briny burst. Intensity. The three skin chips, each a different fish, punctuated the dish with crispy bites of umami. Were they better aged than fresh? Neither better nor worse – but different – they could be used in a menu to very interesting effect.

80-day smoked tuna belly was a remarkable two bites. The belly had been aged and smoked periodically, to preserve flavor and texture. The cuboids had a pliable give, still sufficiently moist, despite their age (fat!) – look at the bottoms. Smoky fat instantly coated the mouth and a delicious burst of concentrated tuna belly flavor sprang out. This took the lushness of toro and amped it up several notches – although rich, two bites were not enough!

Every menu at Saison features the Brassicas dish – the signature, in my opinion, of the restaurant and a great example of the complexity that can be achieved by vegetable-forward dishes. A full description can be found in the Perfect Meal 2010 post. Hopefully grains are the next vegetable.⁶

Vegetables are respected and given their proper due throughout the meal. Corn pudding, okra, favas, basil-tomato aspic, zucchini is one or two edits away from being something special itself. At first bite, the corn pudding was a touch too sweet. And suddenly, a surprising sweet and sour effect kicked in, changing from one to the other with each bite. A largish piece of avocado seemed misplaced. And then there were the textures – this is why inventive vegetable dishes have so much to offer.

Four Story Hill Farm 120-day beef
Raw or seared, minimalist or composed, it can be so difficult to judge someone’s preferences. The beef was sliced very thin, heated by hearth coals for an instant, and hidden beneath a bitter crisped leaf, herbs, and a vinaigrette made from roasted bones. It was the best ingredient of the first night but the dish was too busy – Skenes agreed, admitting he over-thought it at the last minute.

Fruity, nutty, and complex, brightened by the vinaigrette, its fat carried a nice mouthfeel and remarkable sweetness. It was similar in sweetness to Manglitsa pig⁷, presumably a function of the age. Two bites of magic.

And then were was a parade of pigeons – 21-day, 43-day, 50-day, and 73-day – across both meals. All were Paine Farm, smothered (to keep the blood inside for more taste), and hung with their viscera intact just short of a week. After that, the insides are removed to prevent them from spoiling the bird. At that point, the bird can be dry-aged or its cavity can be salted for a fermentation/curing effect. The results over three birds were dramatically different.

The 21-day Paine pigeon had chocolate undertones throughout, with nice crispy skin from the hearth and some delicious melting fat. There were some small pockets of funk near the edges – traces of what was to come. Still tender and juicy, it should appeal to most fans of pigeon. Its cavity was not salted before aging.

50-day Paine pigeon was the consolation prize after the 43-day did not pass Skenes’s quality control. Tasting of Epoisses, it has a tremendous umami qualities where you just kept licking the inside of your mouth after each bite. There were also some nice cherry fruit notes. Waxy, without much moisture, the texture and tastes will certainly not please everyone. The fat was still sweet but it was teetering. It was a highlight for me, unlike anything I have tasted. The cavity had not been salted; the enzymatic activity responsible for the funkiness.

A few weeks later, The Ulterior Epicure and TomoStyle went to Saison and had an older pigeon – I missed out that week for I knew I would be back shortly. (Hopefully they publish reviews sometime soon!) A 78-day Paine pigeon tasted intensely of pigeon, with much less funk than the 50-day. There was a complexity not found in the 21-day, with plenty of chocolate, some fruit, and minerality; and this might appeal to a larger audience than the 50-day. This bird was fermented (cured) instead of pure dry-age, as its cavity had been salted once the internals were removed.

Closing the first meal, a 68 day Sonoma lamb was overkill at this point in the meal – lamb amplified. After a night of strong meats, the story of this dish might have been the tomatillo. Roasted simply on the hearth, its slight lemony tang provided respite from the intense fat. Every (savory) dish at Saison touches the hearth and, sometimes, the enjoyment of a dish can be stripped down to just one impeccably sourced ingredient.

Nuvola di percora is one of those rare finds on tasting menus – a composed cheese course that not only works, but succeeds with decadent pleasure. Sweet and salty, light brioche and gooey cheese, it is well-balanced, interesting, and very delicious. Preserved lemon too has a mastery of temperature, texture, and flavors – four different levels of sweet and sour bites. It has been served with most of my seven meals and there is no reason to stop – great stuff.

Skenes has a vision – of fire and nature. It flirts and borrows from the Nordic and Flanders with its foraged and primitive elements but he coalesces the food around the hearth and its infinite variation. It does not champion the rustic, or romantic, as much as it does purity and minimalism. For this, it is more Japanese in its outlook and offers something unique.

The big taste of aged meat will be an interesting direction for Skenes’ subtle work. The meats fit into the framework of what he is trying to achieve – nature’s deepest flavors – and it will be interesting to see how they continue to find their way into the menu. Few restaurants Stateside are exploring this territory.⁸ With the fire, letting age act as another element in the cuisine seems like a natural complement to the Saison menu.

The Michelin Man roars into town tomorrow – he should bring two Pilot Michelin Sport PS2′s for Saison. (And, yes, they did.)

- chuck

1 – Funnily enough, I mentioned dry-aged fish in my last review of Saison. Unknown to me, Skenes was already under-way with experiments.

2 – There is a dearth of scientific research with regards to dry-aging different types of meat. This 13-page report is an easy and informative read if you’re interested in the subject: Dry-aging Beef PDF by Beef Research Org

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook has a great blog post on hanging pheasants.

Here’s a great talk by David Chang (of Momofuku) on Food Microbiology, a topic that covers dry-aging. At 21:58, he discusses dry-aging beef and lack of any real information available:

David Chang from Symposium on Vimeo.

3 – Every individual animal is different with seasons and feed almost certainly playing large roles. The diet is probably very important, as some farmers can control the make-up of their animals through daily changes of diet. I have had grass-fed, grain-finished Angus cows from a local butcher where an 8-week aged ribeye had a minerality that was very intense. With the next batch, 10-weeks, the texture of the meat was on its way to resembling a ham, but without the intensity of the 8-week. Variations in initial product quality probably contributed to the vastly different outcomes.

4 – Modern day meat preferences are pretty limited. When someone tastes a heritage breed chicken, a common complaint is that it’s “too strong”; similar to people who try grass-fed beef and complain of its wonderful “gaminess.” So there could be cultural resistance to aged proteins beyond the norm. Antoine Carême advised holding beef joints at room temperature “be taken as far as possible.” Those French called it mortification. Different times, different preferences – I obviously love the exploration into what could be.

And is it really different than the many forms of longer fermentation found in other cultures? There, in many cases, the base product is transformed radically into something pungent and, sometimes, delicious.

5 – A few reviews of more typical meals can be found at:
- A Life Worth Eating
- Endo Edibles
- Shooting the Kitchen
- Kevin Eats

6 – Dan Hunter served a grain-based dish at the (relatively) recent Royal Mail / Manresa dinner – puffed rice, egg, legumes, rye, & yeast. It was the table’s favorite with everyone complimenting “the textures.” If vegetables can now be centerpieces, why can’t grains?

7 – Manglitsa fat will get much sweeter when frozen – has anyone noticed this? Do the ice crystals break the fat molecules and cause more sweetness? Any scientists reading this? I’ve also noticed a similar effect when I freeze a 9-week dry-aged steak – after de-thawing, its fat is much much sweeter. Is it possibly enzymatic despite being frozen?

8 – Outside of Roberta’s in Brooklyn, during the special nightly menu, there are few restaurants tackling this dimension of meat. If you know of other places in the US, please leave a comment, I would be very interested to hear about them.

Maps of the food past or frameworks for what might be; the signature dish helps position a chef’s cuisine. Its steady presence says “this is who we are” and helps tether experiments that might cross normal boundaries and expectations. Consider Adria’s olives¹, Kinch’s Into the Garden, or Redzepi’s Beef Tartar – each encapsulates the chef, and the entire meal to be, on one plate. Yes, those peas appeared, and they demonstrated yet again that Fox still thinks best in terms of shades of green – a triumph of ideas and techniques over the scarcity of luxurious products.

“I think I prefer cooking without meat. I think it’s just the way my brain has been trained over the last few years. I can see the vegetable dishes so clearly, but with proteins, it’s siphoning the creative process for me. It feels like cheating or a crutch. I’m liking the dishes without the proteins.”

- Jeremy Fox in an Inside Scoop SF interview

Smith was the latest Fox pop-up at Saison, his home away from home where he’s hosted a few events over the past year. He was also joined by Kim Alter (a Manresa/Ubuntu alumni) and former Top Chef contestant Eli Kirshtein. Fox, of course, was the chef at Ubuntu where he arguably created one of the country’s most influential and innovative restaurants – food that even the guys in Belgium and Denmark were paying attention to.² He cooked a series of brilliant vegetable meals that were chronicled in this string of blog posts – a star that burned bright. Smith, a reference to everyman and craft, changed daily over its three-day run and this was the first of three meals (see Winter Jade’s later meal here.)

Radish Pods with parmesan shavings

Radish pods and parmesan were a great re-introduction to the world of Fox – it had been too long. Radishes have come to symbolize “garden restaurant” ³ but this was Fox re-thinking the convention. The daikon pod is just as spicy and flavorful as the full radish, with a touch more fragrance, and it was paired with parmesan for its saltiness. It reinforced a theme with the new vegetable cuisine developing – unused pieces of plant often carry as much flavor as the typical part – but offer variability. These pods could be incorporated into dishes in a natural form that is light but impactful, where the normal root may not work.

The peas & white chocolate followed – a masterpiece and automatic entrant into my personal Hall of Fame. The sweetness and textural pop are enhanced by white chocolate and macadamia while still balancing everything in the bowl. The pea broth, cool, contemplative, and so subtle in flavor, carries the dish with each bite. The white chocolate melts as you chew, adding a creamy sweetness to the broth. With each bite into macadamia, a burst of salt escapes; and, near the end, the chocolate mint flourishes – inspired.

Peas, White Chocolate, Macadamia, Chocolate Mint, Pea Broth

Ocean, Creatures, & Weeds

Vegetables, Roasted & Raw, Juices, & Succulents

Fox’s plating style has always taken inspiration from nature – greens strung across the plate like vines or roots propped up in surreal manicured gardenscapes. The bounty of the land, with its range of shapes and colors, made for plating as exciting, and wild, as the food. The platings at Smith were more intentional than in the past – a garden manicured. This was most evident in Oceans, Creatures, & Weeds and Vegetables, Roasted & Raw, Juices, & Succulents. (And, yes, both were very good; particularly the variety of the Vegetables dish where the succulents were so much more than leaves on the plate.)

Salmon & Corned Heart, Wasabi Root, Deli Flavors

Morels & Poultry, Offal Soffrito, Lovage

Layers of Carrot, Nasturtium, Apricot, Curry

Layers of Carrot, like Fox’s other carrot dishes, ran the gamut of possibilities – roasted, dehydrated, grilled, raw, thick, thin, and pureed. Each cut and technique revealed a new dimension of the versatile vegetable. “That dish is revelatory”, proclaimed the women sitting next to me when it arrived. And I can understand that. The apricot was a touch too sweet but its slight tartness married so well with the carrots. The curry, barely there, rounded out the flavor and gave the dish a nice warm depth.

Before seed to stalk, Fox was head to tail, cooking the final meat courses at Manresa as well as the short-lived salumi program. “He’s hard to please” was his usual response when reading those old Manresa reviews, where even then I complained about big red meat knock out punches. Despite morcilla being among my favorite sausages, I fully expected the same reaction when I saw it printed on the menu. “You what?!?!” was Fox’s shocked response when I said I loved the dish! The pictures are not convincing but it was a nice finish to the savory portion of the meal.

DocSconz had type-casted me as “the vegetable guy” on a recent trip to Germany for Chef-Sache 2011.⁴ And, true to my role, I could go an entire tasting menu sans meat without issue.⁵ There is plenty of material to cover but one issue is the complete lack of imagination when it comes to meat dishes ⁶ – place it on a bed of vegetables cooked in butter. If that is the final course meat strategy, I would prefer to opt out – unless the meat is truly special. ⁷

The morcilla was thoughtful because the usual monotony of the meat was balanced by cereal grains (barley, wheatberry, and farro) and fennels (bronze and orion) inside of the sauage, the grains it sat on, and the puffed rice that added much-needed texture and toasty notes. There was variety in the dish that was incorporated, instead of separate meat and accompaniment. The portion could be decreased, presentation could be improved, but I’m convinced, or hopeful, that the power of the grain will be the new vegetable.⁸ Of course, with each passing day, Smith probably got more refined – and the version Winter Jade ate, with squid, looks even better.

Morcilla, Cereal, Bings, Anise

Desserts were more Saison than Smith, made by Matt Tinder (now working at Coi.) The preserved lemon dish is stunning – textures and tastes of lemon – just assertive enough. Fraise Blanche with white strawberries, not the trendy green ones, had a nice expected aroma with a medley of tastes and textures. And you’re not allowed to leave the Saison premises without popcorn ice cream.

Preserved Lemon 1.7

Fraise Blanche

Popcorn Ice Cream

At Ubuntu, Jeremy Fox reached a pinnacle that he won’t be able to conjure at a pop-up. The introduction of meat also makes direct comparisons more difficult; but it was clear his mind is still, fortunately, programmed for the vegetable. His best vegetable dishes are not just organic vegetables from a local garden thrown on a plate; instead, they attempt to re-imagine and re-interpret form and possibilities. Using seed to stalk as a philosophy, it is but a peek into one future of fine dining.⁹

- chuck

1 – Those olives are now ubiquitous, and even annoying, but they clearly speak to the essence of El Bulli-era Adria – a playful surreal take on expectations. Eating the olives out of context just doesn’t work.

2 – Yes, this is true.

3 – My first exposure was Manresa but they seem to be everywhere these days. They are a great palate cleanser.

4 – You will read much more on this if you haven’t been following me on Twitter; or Ulterior Epicure, A Life Worth Eating, DocSconz, Gastros on Tour, High End Food, Very Good Food, Cook Cooning, & Fulgurances

5 – My favorite meal at Coi in San Francisco, in a review that was lost long ago, ended simply with an egg. The previous dish had been a small piece of abalone – there was no other meat on that menu. This was probably too extreme for most as it appears a final meat course is the norm again.

6 – What is a creative meat dish? John Shields’s “Beef Cheek – Cow’s milk infused with roasted hay & farro… Pastoral” or Manresa’s “Suckling kid goat, curds and whey” would get my votes for those I would want to try again tomorrow. At La Vie in Germany, Chef Thomas Bühner prepared an amazing venison dish where he cooked venison sous-vide in intense pure venison stock – venison-squared? (Yes, you will read about this in the near-future but you can see a video of the meal by Fulgurances here.)

7 – Did you read the tale of Roberta’s dry-aged meat extravaganza in January? Did you catch my tweets two weeks ago about 7-day dry-aged fish, 23-day vs 50-day pigeon, 120-day beef, and 60-day lamb at Saison? Yes, that post will come soon too. Or, perhaps, you’ve heard tales of the Secret Beef place in Los Angeles?

8 – Will grains be the next frontier in fine dining? Sean Brock has done an admirable job saving, and serving, near-lost heirloom varieties and practices; such as benne seeds and samp grits – see TomoStyle’s review of our crazy meal. Josh Skenes’s Brassicas owes its excellence to the grains. And a recent puffed rice dish served with a farm egg was my favorite, if not the entire table’s favorite, at the recent Royal Mail / Manresa collaboration dinner (see a picture of the same dish on A Spoiled Cochon’s blog post on Royal Mail here.) There is much unexplored territory.

9 – We’re not there yet. Michel Bras walked into a field, Passard planted a garden, and noma has captured the imagination of chefs worldwide. Japan and China? Their secrets surely have much to offer. And the dining public still has to buy into it all. If we get there, and he so chooses, Jeremy Fox will be a major influence.

- chuck

Its authenticity is questioned – you would never find this in Japan. ² But it is only appropriate that a restaurant here – in the land of fast-forward-mash-everything-together-and-let’s-see-what-sticks – would not be completely traditional. Perhaps the cuts are more rustic, and detractors might argue they are hacks, but they are not careless – there is intention and purpose with regard to taste and mouth feel. Questioning, or championing, authenticity is a slippery endeavor and increasingly difficult in our pasticcio world. We live in a mash-up, getting remixed daily, where the best brand of authentic, the most precious of all, is trueness to oneself.³ This is the line Sawa walks – a promise to serve the freshest fish of the highest quality – his way.⁴ It is not for everyone. No menu.

A Scottish lobster, very much alive, is sliced and eaten moments later, still staring at you from the plate, antennas in motion. The sweetness, and salinity, of its flesh can never be known by cooking it. Scallops are shucked live from their shells and quiver between your chopsticks, if you take a moment to look. Biting into the hamachi unleashes a strong taste of the ocean found in only the best fish. The drizzles are more balanced and nuanced than in the past, a continuing evolution of the Sawa experience. Soy sauce is house-made and wasabi is freshly grated – spicy but nutty. This meal was shared a few weeks ago with a few out-of-town friends. We were the only guests for the night – idiosyncratic restaurant or personal chef? It is as grand as ever. No prices.

Sawa is eye-opening for the unsuspecting. Magical, unlikely, impossible, incongruous – it makes the mind race to re-consider previous reference points . The meal above could have been my 50th or 100th meal here – it’s hard to say – and this piece could be easily read as a continuing entry in an unfinished twelve-year love letter.⁵ And I will continue walking through those forbidding doors to feasts from promised waters.

- chuck

1 – It is a prototype for William Gibson’s sprawl - a 20-mile stretch of road where cities blend into each other in complete anonymous fashion.

2 – I’m not so sure about that, although my travels are limited. I had sushi in Kyoto – the slabs of fish were very large, punctuated by very strong vinegar – I have seen it referred to as rustic. Others say the lack of balance is not Japanese; but there are restaurants in Tokyo that serve 10 courses of wagyu beef. Ultimately, I don’t care if it’s authentic Japanese or not – it is tasty.

3 – Todd Kliman’s “The Problem with Authenticity” was my favorite article in Lucky Peach – well worth the read.

4 – Even among my travels to Japan, Sawa still ranks surprisingly high in terms of fish quality. You might find more composed dishes at Masa (NYC) or Urasawa (LA) but their fish is no better.

5 – It’s a large number I don’t want to think about but there is no equal in the Bay Area. All of the elements exist – on the sea, close to Japan, a well-moneyed international demographic, and yet, there is nothing. Visitors always ask “what’s the best place for sushi?” and my answer is always the same “Go to New York, LA, or, preferably, Tokyo.”

Obsessed with the nature of flavor, a series of dialectics run through each meal, exploring assumptions and traditions of the modern tasting menu. At first glance, the food exhibits the tweezer-precision that some might dismiss as precious or pretentious. The intensity of foraged ingredients (versus farmed) allows Skenes to compare and contrast within a dish with, sometimes, just a palette of flowers and leaves. Vegetables and proteins are slowly, very slowly, cooked in an outdoor hearth (ask to sit at the bar) in a constant drive to coerce maximum flavor – raw vs cooked – and the infinite range in-between. And then there are the roles of meat vs vegetable, where the sequence and arc of Continental menus are questioned, if not challenged. Vegetables are featured prominently throughout, in starring roles, even late in the menu. Can an eight course menu end on a light chicken dish? Does it need to end with meat, or protein, at all?²

The cooking and plating is exact and accomplished but Saison’s character resonates from the hearth – methodical and patient. Over smoldering embers, a cook unflappably works with a pile of brassicas leaves, moving them in and out of the perimeter of the heat, coaxing the right flavor and texture, over a half hour period. Roots are buried in the embers, skin crackling, until the interiors are intensely flavored with their own juices. It is the ultimate cuisine of the carrot, where humble weeds are not just featured, but revered, and transformed into a signature dish, worthy of three Michelin stars. “For me this is about finding the deepest point in a flavor,” Skenes says. “You see it in foraging, you see it in spit roasting … Fire and foraging: the purest forms of flavour.”

Over the course of four meals and one year, Saison has grown from a Michelin one-star restaurant that lacked a strong identity (aside from its cult status as an ambitious pop-up) to a clear, and deserved, two-star vision. The ingredients and cooking were always strong but the initial ideas meandered and missed a cohesive force. The introduction of the hearth focused the food – gave it a conceptual backbone from which to explore – and help distinguish the cooking with, ironically, a very primitive technique. ³ Winning the Food & Wine Best New Chef 2011 is a great case of the magazines getting it right. The pictures below are from two meals, the dish names mine, when remembered. There were more dishes than pictured. With Quince, Saison is my favorite place to eat in San Francisco.

Skenes has always had a reputation for great composed seafood dishes, even during his beginning days at Chez TJ in Mountain View. Restraint first, the differing cuts of sashimi relied as much on bitter greens and flowers as it did on cures and drops of acid for flavor. Bright, but not demanding, the tomato and chrysanthemum consomme perked the mucinous raw prawn body and tail; while providing a foil for the fried head. The awareness of textures, from paper thin to gelatinous to crisp, is a constant under-current in most dishes.

In my Perfect Meal 2010 post, the brassicas was one of the strongest entries. Remixed slightly here, there is not much more to add: The brassicas (below) are cooked in the open hearth, slowly & separately, constantly shifted around to get a variety of textures, and curl, across the leaf. A warm boullion of bonito broth is enhanced by the ever-so-sweet toasted grains, adding to the depth of the broth. The dish is as simple as simple can be, on the surface, but its complexity lie in the varying textures and the interplay between leaf char and broth – bitter, toasty, creamy (quail egg), umami, and sweet. It is a masterpiece – one of my favorite vegetable dishes anywhere.⁴

Environment is also a theme at Saison, not of the noma “time and place” narrative, but of exploring ingredients that may, or should, go together. The Monterey abalone (above), charred on the hearth, was served with the sea lettuce it grew alongside. The broth was a briny and slightly herbaceous, made from the lettuce. The innocuous crisped sea lettuce leaf, perched against the meat, brought the dish together and framed it in the context of the meal. Its slight bitterness and vegetal essence, attuned by the flame, stood up to the meatiness of the abalone. It also referenced the earlier brassicas dish, a nod from meat to vegetable.

The most beautiful plate one night (below) was a wild duck, twice-cooked foie gras, cured cherry blossoms, and cherry gelee. It sat atop cherry wood, itself heated shortly to release its fragrance. And it was a stellar dish. Perfumed throughout, the cherry foiled the duck’s aged gaminess – bolstered by its crackling skin and oozing fat. Each bite released a decided floral note that permeated but never cloyed.

Skenes also has an interest in the arts of aging meat, including those served at the restaurant. He served a pigeon, a smothered Four Story Hill bird, but admitted it was not aged as long as he would prefer. Smothering keeps the blood inside the bird, adding to its richness as it ages. Dark, rich with iron and chocolate-like undertones, it was very good, better than most, but failed to reach the (impossible?) highs of Carlo Mirarchi’s Roberta’s – it lacked the full funk. Outside of Roberta’s, and a few choice dishes in various meals, dry-aging as an art seems to be largely unexplored in American fine-dining restaurants. Yes, many restaurants serve it, but few have tried to understand and exploit it. Squab, duck, beef, game, and even fish⁵ – there are many opportunities. And to think Carlo Mircachi and Joshua Skenes hit it off at the Food & Wine party – the prospects of cross-pollination.

Saison is a restaurant whose big idea is the small details, where execution and ingredient quality is first-rate. Its focus on hearth cooking, in a fine dining context, give it an identity, and opportunity, all its own. Imagine the possibilities, if Skenes continues down this path, when he pushes against the boundaries, like Victor Arguinzoniz with his grills, and begins fashioning his own cooking instruments. That is a tale unwritten, as of yet, but one worth dreaming about.

- chuck

1 – Termed, as far as I know, by Mr Veal Cheeks on his very well-written blog.

2 – Skenes and I share similar opinions on the unnecessary protein-heavy final courses of most tasting menus. My second meal finished with a beautiful small portion of heritage chicken. When will tasting menus be freed of their determinate paths? John Shields of Town House did not ditch the proteins but he crafted an alternate narrative – my review will come soon. Craig of Wolvesmouth and I discussed this – you should see a fun blog post soon.

3 – It might be easy to dismiss Saison as yet another Scandanavian clone, with its emphasis on the foraged and primitive, but a more apt analogy might be Etxebarri in Spain – the magical grilling man. A simple technique, on the surface, taken to an art. It may be too early to call Joshua Skenes the Victor Arguinzoniz of San Francisco but it won’t be unreasonable if the food continues on its current trajectory.

4 – A three-star dish that rivals Kinch’s Into the Vegetable Garden and Jeremy Fox’s Peas/White Chocolate/Macadamia – truly inspired territory. Thank you Michel Bras for your never-ending influence.

5 – You never saw my Sawada pictures from Tokyo? It was a Sunday afternoon, Tsukiji was closed, and Sawada-san pulled out a piece of aged tuna from his locker. Its taste was more irony than regular tuna, analogous to the difference between 28-day and 60-day beef. Aging tuna is also discussed in this Gastroville post – an amazing piece of writing.

Manresa, and Kinch, play central shadow characters in the grand food narratives of today’s media. Kinch was one of the first fine dining chefs to eschew luxury ingredients for a cuisine of the vegetable, partnering with Love Apple Farm for the restaurant’s exclusive bio-dynamic garden. He has talked of “time and place” in many interviews, and what that means for a Northern Californian restaurant, long before the current Noma rage of wild and foraged. He has trained with some of the world’s greatest chefs in Kyoto, Japan ¹ – the next frontier in international dining. In each story, he could be a feature, but seemingly prefers to let his tasting menus tell his narrative; below, a tale of the early spring garden.

This was a birthday meal in late March – obviously I am known – the full menu is listed at the end. ²

Garden beignets, vinegar powder

Butter

With restaurants taking great strides to produce everything in-house, wise or not, butter, and bread, all too often remains an elusive frontier. Despite obstacles like terroir, seasonality, and state laws on raw and unpasteurized milk; too many butters simply underwhelm. Well-cultured butters are my preference – and this butter is the truth – especially when it has been sitting out for thirty to forty-five minutes, literally melting in your mouth. Only Bordier tempts me more.

Raw milk panna cotta with abalone

A dish that arguably shows Kinch taking the ideas of Japanse cooking and tailoring them to his cuisine. From my Perfect Meal 2010 post: Seductive and profound – my dish of the year – transmutation, alchemy, magic. The abalone, with all is meatiness, was tempered by the cool raw milk pudding, presumably milked from the same cow as the extraordinary best-in-the-country butter. The slight salinity of the dish, possibly from the abalone, possibly sea water mixed into the panna cotta, held it all together while faintly referencing salted butter. There were also inflections of sweetness and tanginess. Fifteen minutes of bliss.

Kinch’s food has taken more and more direction from Japan and this dish felt like a statement – his interpretation of Japanese cuisine with his own brand of clarity. Wild rice vinaigrette and chrysanthemum jelly immediately focused the dish – its nutty acid cutting, without the heft one expected from the wild rice taste. It was an unexpected bite that carried into the textures of the dish’s base – a perfect bed of al dente sushi rice, each kernel seperate & distinct. The chicken jelly rounded the flavors, a slight umami, while the vinaigrette continued to form the backbone until completion. The vote has already been cast – this is the dish of the year.

Spot prawns and its head juices, bitter herbs

The Manresa Monterey Bay spot prawn, in all its guises, is always a special part of the meal. Beautifully, but simply, dressed with bitter herbs, this was a new incarnation for me. The Zen simplicity of Kinch’s cuisine is on full display – a prawn, warmed around its edges, viscid in the middle, peppered with herbs – and it makes for revelations. How is this not art? The bitter herbs, mere Noma-derivation in less-skilled hands, perked each bite – darted around the gelatinous prawn – adding counterpoint, vibrancy, and even structure. It is entirely representative of Kinch’s ideals.

Until now, different courses flirted with the ingredients of the season, one or two featured, repeated once or twice, adding mystery and suspense to the flow of the menu. But Into the Vegetable Garden is a point of pause in a Manresa meal – a centerpiece – much of the garden’s bounty, 20+ ingredients, picked that day, presented in various forms, cuts, textures, & techniques. It is allegory for the garden, a key to the now.

Abalone and seaweed persillade, buckwheat

Steelhead trout, sweet onion and marrow broth with chervil

Roast porcini, smoked lentil with wild onion

Suckling kid goat, curds and whey

Cake-, custard-, and chocolate-based desserts don’t fit into the arc of the Manresa tasting menu. The meal has progressed to this point pivoting around a micro-season – how could dessert not continue that trajectory? Outside of fruit, how does one incorporate garden elements into the context of “dessert”, while still referencing its sweetness?

Tart, tangy, crisp, soothing and cool, with trace bitter hints, this first dessert course walked a fine line between the familiar and the unexpected, deftly balancing the individual components. This was very accomplished and I find myself drawn increasingly to desserts of this style – light and refreshing.

Egg; Vanilla mascarpone with almond milk ice

Exotic citrus with honey and spice, herbs

Hazelnut, coffee and brown butter mille feuille

As mentioned earlier, this was one of many many meals at Manresa – and it was possibly my best. Admittedly, I have a tendency to say that every year but there is no question Kinch gets better and better. In his best dishes, he is practicing alchemy – transmuting his garden into profound expressions on food. It takes a tasting menu to tell the entire story, to see the shifting compositions and ingredients, to experience the food at its most potent. With each picture and memory, it calls me back.

- chuck

1 – Culiminating in a Japense seminar and a meal that will become mythological over the years.

2 – The full menu:
Petit fours “red pepper-black olive”
Chicken chiccharones, buttermilk
Garden beignets, vinegar powder
Spiced sunflower and broccoli royale
Raw milk panna cotta with abalone
Shellfish with wild rice, a chrysanthemum and chicken jelly
Spot prawns and its head juices, bitter herbs
Asparagus and amberjack, caviar and egg yolk vinaigrette
Crispy mussels and creamed salsify, cucumber with dill
Into the vegetable garden…
Abalone and seaweed persillade, buckwheat
Steelhead trout, sweet onion and marrow broth with chervil
Roast porcini, smoked lentil with wild onion
Suckling kid goat, curds and whey
Aloe vera gelee with celery and apple, yogurt sorbet
Egg; Vanilla mascarpone with almond milk ice
Exotic citrus with honey and spice, herbs
Hazelnut, coffee and brown butter mille feuille
Petit fours “strawberry-chocolate”

Differentiation – a recent brilliant meal at L’Arpege (Paris) was only marred by the excessive, and unnecessary, proteins at the end. It reinforced my belief¹ that a tasting menu of creatively-prepared vegetables could rise to the heights of the best meals.² For six or seven courses, the vegetable-based menu fulfilled every desire for texture and flavor – a full dynamic range of both was on awesome display by Passard’s kitchen. Fox was one of the few pursuing this possibility, pushing the concept further than most, with his “seed to stalk” philosophy.

Plum will be the next, but not necessarily only, outlet for Fox’s vision. A garden is rumored to be in the works; and meat will be on the menu. This was a practice dinner, 4 courses for $45, presumably to begin testing concepts and sorting out production ideas – and this is not a real review. Lighting was surprisingly challenging – an SLR is in this blog’s immediate future – the kid gloves are coming off.

Many of my Ubuntu meals ran over 10 courses so it would be impossible to compare this dinner with the arcs of those five + hour meals. There were some familiar ingredients from the old days – chips and beets – and there was something new at the end – shellfish. Sketches and ideas. It will be interesting to see how meat finds its way into the menu – accent, counterpoint, or feature – and how he continues to explore techniques like ember cooking.

- chuck

1 – A belief largely influenced by Fox, David Kinch (Manresa), & Alain Passard (L’Arpege)

2 – Yes, right up there with my two favorite Tokyo sushi spots – Sawada and Sushiso Masa

noma crew by foodsnob (one of their best customers)

Last night, Sean Brock won the James Beard best chef for the Southeast. He, too, is more than deserving and congratulations are in order. My meal at McCrady’s, two years ago, was impressive and insightful, a chef maturing and finding his own style. Here was a guy who had been infatuated with El Bulli molecular techniques but applied a Southern sensibility to them. And then he totally went off the map by creating his own bio-dynamic garden, and raising pigs. It’s like El Bulli, Blue Hill, and Manresa rolled into one – sprinkled with some Southern goodness. Sean will become a great name in American cooking.

And then David Kinch won best Pacific chef.

Readers of this blog know the importance I place on his restaurant, Manresa. There is no need to re-hash all of that – read the archives. When Tastybitz ¹ came to town, we decided to share a meal at our mutual favorite – Manresa. So it was and here it is. If there was any question as to why David Kinch deserved his award…

An elemental oyster – a perfect beginning

Geoduck clam in seawater, green apple – followed by another

Pacific mackerel, grilled with yuzu

Mandarin and jasmine tea jelly – one of my all-time Manresa dishes – it really epitomizes the style of dish I love – simple, light, and full of so much subtle complexity. The sweet and floral jasmine played alongside and “cooled” the acid notes of the mandarin. I was served some variation of this on my first Manresa meal (who knows how long ago now) and it remains one of my favorites.

Foie gras and cumin seed caramel – and then this monster comes out – the balance of sweet, fat, and slight pepper was sublime. The texture was impossibly perfect – silky while just slowly dissolving in the mouth – so easy to get lost in the sensation.

Wild sea bream, delicate jus of tuna and walnut

Chanterelles and scallop shards in bonito butter, toasted seeds

King crab and spring peas in olive oil, fumet – Another dish that defied lightness

Into the vegetable garden

Spot prawns on the plancha, vin jaune with truffles – When Monterey spot prawns are in season, rest assured they will appear on this menu. And it will always be a highlight, particularly if one is lucky enough to get the roe. The vadouvan version is my favorite but the vin jaune’s acidity and crispness provided an excellent foil to the fatty, just slighty warmed prawn. The truffles, surprisingly pungent despite it being March in America, were bonus points.

Vegetables and toasted buckwheat, smoked lentils with an abalone bouillon

Halibut with chervil cream, kohlrabi in onion and marrow tears – This sauce, used in a few variations of dishes, is decadent

Braised abalone and morels, a roasted chicken “dashi” – yes, please

Omelet a l’ancienne, roasted asparagus with parmesan “vacche rosse” – Wow

Foie gras spiced with buddha’s hand citron, seaweed croustillant

Spring lamb with turnips, green garlic – A very nice piece of lamb; the others at the table declaring it among the best they ever had

and then dessert…

Deanie Hickox, formerly of Ubuntu fame, has taken over the dessert reigns and blended them seamlessly into the Manresa menu. Her desserts have always began as a bridge – de-emphasizing and deferring sweetness until the very end.

Exotic citrus with honey & tapioca – The best dessert I’ve had in a long time – it just hit every pleasure point while complementing the meal and remaining light. Texture and acidity – while just retaining enough sweetness. It provided a complement to the earlier jasmine tea citrus dish – there are many inside references in these meals. More, please.

White chocolate custard with beet and rhubarb, orange fizz geranium – More experimental, trying to find its way, but the flavors complemented each other quite well; and that custard, despite being white chocolate, was quite delicious

Apple confit with vanilla, parsnip and walnut – not really my style of dessert but still quite good

If there is another meal in America this good, please post a convincing link because I don’t believe it. (Actually, there *is* another meal this good in America – the Manresa meal I ate three weeks later!) Those that have not been have a glaring lacuna on their culinary resume.

And if you have not been, you will want to stay tuned…

- chuck

1 – one of my favorite bloggers but he has fallen in love with Twitter – oh well

picking our own carrots – we had to work too

This was a late October (2009) meal, immediately after the currently-being-blogged Tokyo trip.³ The food is obviously more bombastic when compared to the monkish stylings of Japanese cuisine but the meal provided counterpoint (and différance) to such an adventure. My expectations were as high as always despite the 2-3 week dead (produce) period we found ourselves in. What’s a meal without some sort of challenge? (The challenge now is remembering enough to give you an accurate description of the meal!)

“SUMMER bids adieu”, the final of the trilogy
SHISO, black HONEY, two STRAWBERRIES, mulled TOMATO cider

The shiso and tomato cider pulled back and forth in this refreshing starter. The addition of black honey continued a trend Fox began earlier last year – introducing sweetness early, and consistently, in the meal – as it and the last strawberries of the season rounded out the flavor profiles.

BRASSICAS a la catalan
PIQUILLO tears, pine nut pudding, MINT, thompson raisin

This dish combines a few elements and trends from my favorite Ubuntu meals: vegetables served in their own light & refined consommes, a more daring use of sweetness, and a variation of the incredible broccoli/pine nut dish I shared with Julot many moons ago. The flavors were light but multi-dimensional – sweet, a hint of spice, mint (used by Fox to consistently elevate dishes to the next level – peas anyone?) Essences…. The type of dish that makes one pause.

CELTUCE parcel
kettle corn, black FIG, parmesan

ale-battered GRAPE LEAF pickles, fresh GHERKIN
GHERKIN ROOT “mayo”, rye crumb, GARDEN picallili

“forono” BEETS with vanilla, LAVENDAR, and almond
local pears, ‘red cross’ BUTTER LETTUCE, shaft blue truffles

The sweetness got heavy-handed and cloying on this dish – the only real miss of the night.

our first MASHUA, roasted and raw
salad of its leaves and flowers, three CARROTS, fuyu PERSIMMON

brioche and mushroom “creme brulee”, burnt with love
CALCOT with maple and BAY LAUREL buds, greenhouse LEEK

The sweetness continued with the intensely caramelized calcot but it brilliantly provided taste & textural contrast to the luscious and fatty leek custard. This dish, certainly a top 10 from last year, more than exemplifies the endless possibilities Fox can map out for later exploration. To taste those intensely sweet calcots, followed by the tremendous mouthfeel of that custard….

crunchy RADISH, crispy potato
APPLE pickle, WATERCRESS, horseradish fondue

a wedge of ‘gem’ avocado
green TOMATO jam doughnut, baby MACHE, spiced citrus

The wild avocado was presented table-side (I guess the camera ate my picture), invoking the most curious of reactions from the other tables. This was not done out of pretension but out of sheer amazement – this avocado dwarfed any notion of your typical market variety. And both its taste and fattiness were also extremes.

CROSNES roasted with nori
miso “bagna cauda”, smoked BORAGE, buddha’s hand

risotto of toasted mature SUNFLOWER seeds
goat’s milk whey and ricotta, young PURSLANE

This is a strong dish that literally encapsulates the philosophies behind the restaurant – seed to stalk. It also succeeds, for me, where many vegetable “risotto” dishes fail because its texture was that of risotto, as opposed to chopped up veggies in a slightly creamy sauce. The intense nuttiness of what could have been sunflower seed monotony was cut by the whey’s tanginess. The purslane rounded out the trio, salty and slightly sour. Heavy enough to finish a meal but light enough to still claim victory.

pumpernickel ice cream
onion FENNEL candied in st george absinthe

What will Jeremy Fox do next? When you look at all the restaurants in the world, there are only a handful in each country/region that are truly visionary, operating at a boundary that others will only discover years later. There are many great restaurants in every country but there are few legacies. It has been my thesis, over eight extraordinary meals in 2009, that Fox has discovered an important space in fine dining that could be influential for many years to come. He just happened to be doing it in an informal restaurant that half serves as a yoga studio.

I would like to see him refine the cuisine more, pare it down to essentials (my Japanese bias coming in), and continue to work with vegetables “off the beaten path.” He has demonstrated in the past that when working within these constraints, he can produce food that is not only inventive but of Michelin 3-star quality:

‘forono’ BEETS and BEETBERRY
red quinoa, charred STRAWBERRY, hazelnut

carta da musica

2X Shucked PEAS and GOLD SHOOTS in consomme of the shells – white chocolate, CHOCOLATE MINT, macadamia

I have not returned to Ubuntu but a return is imminent now that Northern California is hitting its vegetable stride. The new (young) chef has Aaron London has been with Ubuntu since its inception, after stints at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and L’Astrance. KevinEats recently ate there (caught a Z8 in the wild!) and the menu looks similar but clearly different – an easing into a new direction.

Onto the next chapter…

- chuck

1 – I prefer chefs in the kitchen instead of on TV

2 – Although, dreadfully out of context – you’ve never seen The Wire?

3 – I am terribly behind on posts – there will be more Tokyo posts – in due time. Sawada, Koju, & Ryugin.

Summer was coming to an end and this meal gave it an honorable send off. Every dish was a winner – composed and balanced – and the meal really hit the perfect note for me. There was a restraint and subtlety, despite what appears to be a large number of ingredients, in both individual courses and the arc of the entire menu. One could argue that Fox’s focus on just cooking vegetables is allowing him to focus and hone his creativity. The food, like Noma (Copenhagen), has the surprise of the new without (solely) relying on molecular tricks – as Fox uses his “seed to stalk” aesthetic with vegetables many have not heard of in preparations no one has thought of.

San Francisco can have its endless clones of each other – house-made salumi / organic salad / sustainable protein (none of those adjectives a guarantee for quality) – Ubuntu, in Napa, is exciting to me.

The full menu is listed below with pictures. Items in CAPS are from Ubuntu’s own garden. Chef Fox knew I was eating. I was happy.

“summer hints at autums”
SHISO ice, TOMATO, fall THINNINGS, ‘mutau’ APPLE

Ubuntu, almost by definition, is about seasonality and place. After spending the day racing around Napa, working on a top secret project, during a 101-degree day, a series of refreshing starters helped us ease into the meal. The shiso ice was the obvious cooler but its mintiness further helped stimulate and refresh the taste buds, more so than a basil ice might have, despite the mind thinking tomato/green/basil. The tomato water was sufficiently acidic with just enough apple to give it a touch of tartness too.

RADISH and RATTAIL
creme fraiche with nori, HONG VIT, black salt

Crisp Hong Vit radishes, eat the whole thing, just as you would at the other great restaurants. The nori creme fraiche was quite tasty, giving it an (expected) umami quality. (The trainspotters might note an interesting link to and/or cross-pollination of ideas shared by Fox and James Syabout (Commis) as the latter had a carrot / seaweed dish around the same time.) It is hard to get the perfect proportion of the black, slightly smoky, salt on the radish, but when you do…

‘moon and stars’ melon
preserved rind, ‘mexican sour’ GHERKIN, whipped coconut

The sweetness of this dish was daring at this point in the meal but this instantly claimed a spot atop my Ubuntu favorites. If Ubuntu had the obsession with quotes and irony of the nearby The French Laundry, it may have been called “Fruit de Mer.” The sweet and sour interplay, both near the extremes, pushed and pulled inside the mouth, oscillating between each. The textural interplay between the rind, gherkin, and whipped coconut (and leaves) had a satisfying give. It was remarkably sweet, potentially turning off some diners, but I appreciated the fact that an overly sweet dish does not have to be relegated to the dessert section; it fell in place nicely, the tanginess of the gherkin still providing a refreshing respite from the (hot) day.

a simple ‘black zebra’ TOMATO
BASILS, goat ricotta, LION’S RUN “saba”

This dish was popular, every table seemingly ordering it, and I had hoped we would receive it on the tasting menu – we did but it was my least favorite of the night (that is, of course, relative.) The saba gave the tomato an umami quality as it had soaked into the skinless red tomato; but it seemed a touch heavy after the much lighter previous dishes.

CELTUCE with pine nut and soy milk
‘kadota’ FIG pulp, VERBENA, tiny TURNIPS

‘gem’ avocado and ‘purple haze’ CARROTS
crispy OCA, ‘poha’ BERRY, pickled ‘eisley wax’ CHILI

A distant (taller) cousin of guacamole, the textural components of this dish (mushy avocado, crisp poha berry leaves and oca, crunchy carrots) provided an interesting composition when chewing. The gooseberry and pickled chili gave it a tart kick, replacing the traditional role of lime.

‘forono’ BEETS and BEETBERRY
red quinoa, charred STRAWBERRY, hazelnut

I thought the original six-to-seven interpretations of beet dishes from the Spring were Tanguy-inspired, but there is some Miro in the shapes and color. Nonetheless, the original beet dishes were great examples of exploring an ingredient’s different components (root, leaf, etc) and its personality with different preparations. If that dish was exploratory, this version might be the resulting masterpiece, ranking on par with the masterful pea dish. There are many variables complementing each other in this dish, texturally and tastefully. The beetberries gave it a wonderful tang and provided the right counterpoint to the (beet) quinoa and hazelnut (dirt.) This was a 3-star conception executed at a 3-star level – exciting stuff!

young COURGETTES
pickled ‘delfino’ CORIANDER, vadouvan

A further example of exploring an ingredient with a few preparations – zucchini with vadouvan – and nearly masterful – the Manresa years really show through on this – restraint. This was a progressive contrast from the richness of the beets – strong flavors but light ingredients and small portions – and showed that a menu can weave instead of following a linear path towards heaviness and submission.

CAPSICUM and po delta black rice broth
summer SUCCULENTS, our sevillano olive

Ulterior Epicure has posted a formula for tasting menus that would be funny, if it were not so tragically true. Readers of this blog probably know of my distaste for the “big punch” at the end – the large slab of protein – much preferring a “soft landing.” It could be a function of the ingredients (although Ubuntu has forced me to submit in the past) but this dish provided a sufficiently savory, but soft, end to the meal. The roasted pepper jus/black rice broth was beautiful – refined.

SUNFLOWER ‘barley’ and hearts
arbuckle grits, ‘polka’ CORN, green TOMATO jam

BASIL parfait, silverado strawberries roasted gently, VERBANA meringue, lime granite

Often, “dessert time” at restaurants is almost a binary opposite of the savory portion of the menu, with nary a reference to the meal. Desserts at Ubuntu continue the trajectory of the meal, despite clearly being sweet. The basil parfait and lime granite helped refresh the palate, while potentially referencing the initial dish, and continuing the story. The flavors were crisp and bright.

cornbread pain perdu with BLACKBERRIES
frog hollow peaches, HONEY ice cream, kettle corn

Texture (kettle corn), taste (honey), and temperature (peaches) – this is accomplished. In particular, Deannie Fox’s ice creams are always a (wonderful) surprise.

This review gushes a bit too much but this meal was one of my favorites of the year, eclipsing my previous Ubuntu meals in the Spring. (As I write this review, I have just finished another Ubuntu meal – it may have been even better – how about brioche and mushroom creme brulee? The review may take awhile to publish, considering there are a few Japan posts to come.)

- chuck

1 – Note that this reviewed meal is absolutely two-star quality but the Michelin man has to start somewhere. I do feel their SF ratings are pretty accurate on the 2- and 3-star levels – Michael Mina never deserved two stars; Meadwood is a daring choice that I agree with; and San Francisco proper’s “fancy” restaurants (La Folie, Gary Danko, Fleur de Lys, & Dining Room) are nothing more than 1-star restaurants in fancy digs.