Phu once again keeps us on the cutting edge of culinary innovation. We dined at Saison last month, a little gem tucked away behind a skanky bar in the mission. Doesn't sound inviting. . . don't be fooled! You walk through a gravel driveway past the aforementioned bar and step into a small but charming kitchen. You are literally in the kitchen. You walk through and enter into the dining room. The whole room is probably 16 x 16 feet with maybe 9 small tables lining the room and one gigantic table occupying the center. This was our table!
Dining this month were the Phan's, Carter's, Lehmann, Jason, Tim and Laura. It's been a month and we're actually off to our May Dine About in a little while, so I'll do my best here. . . overall, we had a top rate experience and would definitely recommend this place to those who appreciate culinary adventure & excellence.
1. Food - 94
outstanding - one of our best. Very creative, unique and fresh ingredients paired beautifully. Really original and expensive ingredients (e.g., wild caviar en gelee, asparagus roasted with bonito & sea urchin, etc.) A few standouts: the caviar, the farm egg with smoked butter and golden trout roe, the asparagus were perfectly cooked, the scallops with green peas were divine, and the point reyes inverness and sun toasted walnuts would make a cheese plate for dinner lover out of anyone! The biggest hit, though, was the lamb. To give you a sense for how good it was. . . Winnie said that while she really can't stand lamb and has "never liked any lamb I've tried, but this lamb I wouldn't give it up. It wasn't gamey at all." 9-courses that kept us guessing and salivating all night!
They paired each course with a different, complementary wine. The wine was very good, and the pourings were very generous.
2. Atmosphere - 85
This is a tiny place, did I mention it's stuck behind a bar in the mission? I love that you walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room and can casually say hi to all the staff., Very intimate. However, as charming as all this was, there was a big problem in my opinion. The table was just too big. Yes, we originally reserved a space for 10 and we ended up with 8, but the table was just too wide, making conversation extremely difficult.
3. Service - 89
There were more waitstaff than diners. They swooped in like a coordinated orchestra serving each of the 9 courses. Phu and Winnie both thought it would have been nice for someone to greet us when we sat down and explain how things worked. Phu said, "with the large wait staff, I didn’t like the fact that there didn’t seem to be someone in charge of our table." There was a lot of confusion over how the wine would work and no one seemed ready to explain to us how the evening would flow. Apparently, though, Phu argued that we should have known by their website how it worked, and that people go there knowing what to expect. (in other words, you foolish novices! Do your homework.) One other addition to the ratings debate, Lehmann specifically felt like the service rating could go higher than my original rating of 87 - she felt like we had a great experience!
4. value - mixed reviews on this one. This place isn't cheap. But, then again, we got 9 courses including some very expensive, extravagant ingredients. A lot of the cost was in the wine, as usual, but as previously mentioned the pourings were very generous. I would have preferred to pair down on the extravagance and make it a little more reasonable. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. We got an amazing array of cuisine that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else except maybe from the likes of French Laundry (and pay beaux coup $$$$).
We're off to Baker and Banker in a few hours. But, I must mention that attendence has been down in recent months. We're expecting just 4 of us tonight. We hope to keep attendence strong in coming months so that we can carry on this tradition! Mark your calendars now for the first Saturday in June. Let's make it a grand coming back for all of you long time readers, been a long time since diners!
Dining this month were the Phan's, Carter's, Lehmann, Jason, Tim and Laura. It's been a month and we're actually off to our May Dine About in a little while, so I'll do my best here. . . overall, we had a top rate experience and would definitely recommend this place to those who appreciate culinary adventure & excellence.
1. Food - 94
outstanding - one of our best. Very creative, unique and fresh ingredients paired beautifully. Really original and expensive ingredients (e.g., wild caviar en gelee, asparagus roasted with bonito & sea urchin, etc.) A few standouts: the caviar, the farm egg with smoked butter and golden trout roe, the asparagus were perfectly cooked, the scallops with green peas were divine, and the point reyes inverness and sun toasted walnuts would make a cheese plate for dinner lover out of anyone! The biggest hit, though, was the lamb. To give you a sense for how good it was. . . Winnie said that while she really can't stand lamb and has "never liked any lamb I've tried, but this lamb I wouldn't give it up. It wasn't gamey at all." 9-courses that kept us guessing and salivating all night!
They paired each course with a different, complementary wine. The wine was very good, and the pourings were very generous.
2. Atmosphere - 85
This is a tiny place, did I mention it's stuck behind a bar in the mission? I love that you walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room and can casually say hi to all the staff., Very intimate. However, as charming as all this was, there was a big problem in my opinion. The table was just too big. Yes, we originally reserved a space for 10 and we ended up with 8, but the table was just too wide, making conversation extremely difficult.
3. Service - 89
There were more waitstaff than diners. They swooped in like a coordinated orchestra serving each of the 9 courses. Phu and Winnie both thought it would have been nice for someone to greet us when we sat down and explain how things worked. Phu said, "with the large wait staff, I didn’t like the fact that there didn’t seem to be someone in charge of our table." There was a lot of confusion over how the wine would work and no one seemed ready to explain to us how the evening would flow. Apparently, though, Phu argued that we should have known by their website how it worked, and that people go there knowing what to expect. (in other words, you foolish novices! Do your homework.) One other addition to the ratings debate, Lehmann specifically felt like the service rating could go higher than my original rating of 87 - she felt like we had a great experience!
4. value - mixed reviews on this one. This place isn't cheap. But, then again, we got 9 courses including some very expensive, extravagant ingredients. A lot of the cost was in the wine, as usual, but as previously mentioned the pourings were very generous. I would have preferred to pair down on the extravagance and make it a little more reasonable. But, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. We got an amazing array of cuisine that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else except maybe from the likes of French Laundry (and pay beaux coup $$$$).
We're off to Baker and Banker in a few hours. But, I must mention that attendence has been down in recent months. We're expecting just 4 of us tonight. We hope to keep attendence strong in coming months so that we can carry on this tradition! Mark your calendars now for the first Saturday in June. Let's make it a grand coming back for all of you long time readers, been a long time since diners!
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