Saison

While I was in San Francisco a couple of weekends ago for work, I had the extreme pleasure of dining at Saison. Saison is the joint venture of executive chef Joshua Skenes and wine director Mark Bright, whom The Tasting Panel Magazine recognized at our 2009 New Leader Awards that were held at the SLS hotel. After meeting Mark in Los Angeles, he insisted that whenever we were next in San Francisco, we had to come dine at his restaurant.

Before dining at any new restaurant, I try to preview the menu online just so the indecisive chick in me has a small idea of what I want to order. However, it had been a busy week at work and I never had a chance to even think about dinner at Saison. So it was a rainy Friday evening and I found myself in a cab on my way to Saison not knowing that a decadent 8 course tasting menu was waiting for me at the other end.

Finding the restaurant itself proved to be a bit of a challenge as Saison is tucked away at the back of a courtyard. There is a sign that says "Saison" but it is not lit up and one can walk/drive by it a 1000 times and not notice it at all. To enter the restaurant, you walk in via the kitchen, and yes, you feel like you are going the wrong way. Personally, I like that the main entrance is through the kitchen as you get to see a bit of the behind the scenes action. In addition, walking through the kitchen lends itself to the restaurant's casual we're-all-friends-here vibe.

The main dining room at Saison has 6 maybe 7 tables with one communal table in the middle, complete with wooden benches. The decorations and mood of Saison read rustic, simple and down to earth (minus the wall art with 1000 nails sticking out of it). According to Mark, the space used to be an art gallery. It felt intimate without being over the top romantic, casual without feeling like you wasted your time getting dressed up and hip without feeling overdone... I liked it.

The first dish on this decadent tasting menu was little leeks, wild caviar and meyer lemon paired with bubbly from Château de Lavernette Crémant de Bourgogne, non-vintage.The caviar was perfect and simply melted in my mouth. Additionally, the hint of salt from the caviar only worked to highlight the natural sweetness of the leeks and I appreciated the play on sweet and salty. The only thing that bothered me about this dish was that it was hard to look cool as you chased the last little balls of caviar around the dish trying to get them onto the spoon and into your mouth.

Up next was the farm egg with smoked butter and golden trout roe, served with a side of asparagus topped with what I assumed to be smoked butter. This dish was definitely a creative one. Digging into the egg, there were textural surprises with the crispy salty roe and the gooey fresh egg. I will say that while very tasty, my egg was a little underdone and I did not like the transparent-ness of some portions of my egg. This was a real pity because the egg truly was very fresh. A little more cooking time would have knocked this dish out of the ball park.

Our third course was roots (carrots, daikon, radish) stewed with bonite, caramelized shoots, leaves and flowers. I don't know if I even noticed the flowers that were suppose to be on this dish. I was so excited at the thought of a root soup (I have been craving one for ages and ages) that I didn't take the time to visually enjoy my dish before devouring it. With clean and simple flavors, the roots were perfectly cooked with the right amount of mush and bite. It amazed me that this dish could be so delicate and comforting at the same time. If I were a less classier person, I think I would have brought the bowl up to my face to slurp up the last remnants of bonito broth. But I didn't... This course was paired with the Domaine Séguinot Bordet Chablis, Burgundy, France 2007.

For our next course, we were served pertrale sole roasted bone in with vadouvan spices and artichoke citronne. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite dish of the evening for many reasons. First, my fish was a little undercooked on the inside and second, the dish smelled better than it tasted- never a good thing. I did appreciate the lemony artichoke and spinach leaves but they did little to salvage the under-seasoned sole. In my opinion, all this dish needed (besides a little more time in the oven) was just a touch of salt to wake it up. The fish was paired with the Kientzler Riesling Reserve Particular Alsace, France 2003.

Up next, a crimson beet aigre-doux, hibiscus and bone marrow paired with 2007 Becker Estate Pinot Noir, Pfalz, Germany. I was nervous when I saw this on the menu as I was afraid the natural nuance of the beet would get overpowered by the fatty richness of the bone marrow but I was proven wrong. The sweetness of the beet played harmoniously with the soft, salty, butteriness of the bone marrow and the flavors just melded beautifully. Ahhh.

For our meat course, we were served a sonoma lamb, whole roasted with warm spices natural jus as well as a 2005 Château Lyonnat Lussac St Emilion Bordeaux, France. This lamb... ohhh... ahhh...mmmm...no words. Literally there are no words. This is one of the best lamb dishes I've had in a long while. With just the right amount of seasoning, the Dura Masala (cinnamon, cumin and all that kind of good stuff) did not overwhelm the natural lamb flavors but only worked to enhance them. Sweet figs, yogurt sauce, watercress and arugula completed this perfect piece of meat and left me speechless.

The week before dining at Saison, I had a spice crusted rack of lamb with butternut squash, cippollini onions and michigan dried cherries at Waterbar in SF during a Portugal wine dinner. At that time I thoroughly enjoyed my rack of lamb, but after tasting the lamb dish at Saison, it was like I was once blind but now I see. I think what I love best here was the subtly of the dish. The chef could have gone heavy handed and drowned the lamb in a complicated sauce, but instead he let the meat speak for itself by serving the lamb in its own natural jus.The only way this dish could have improved is if it came with a side of second helping.

Our cheese course was a point reyes inverness with sun-toasted walnuts served with a slice of walnut bread from Acme. Not quite as spectacular as the walnut bread from Campanile/La Brea Bakery, it was a little too soft for my liking and lacked the nutty oomph that I was craving. The mild sweetness of the sun-toasted walnuts was lovely and helped cut the tartness of this very rich and indulgent cheese.

Our pre-dessert course was a satsuma ice cream mandarin granite to which I say "ehhh". I know this dish was meant to be a palate cleanser but I wish there had been more flavor to this mandarin granita.

And for dessert, a chocolat-walnut crumble, salted caramel ice cream from Ciao Bella. After a dinner of restrained flavors, I was hoping for a more intense dessert but was sadly let down by this dish. While the dessert did a wonderful job of balancing the salty and sweet, the creamy and crunchy; I was not blown away. But then again, I am the girl who has not met a chocolate cake she deems too rich so I guess that's just me. I don't like subtlety when it comes to my sweets.

As if the 8 courses were not enough, we were served a little end-of-the-meal treat of lavender and sea salt shortbread cookies. I am not usually a huge fan of shortbread cookies but neither am I usually a fan of turning down food that is placed in front of me. What can I say, I have a fat kid inside of me! Eating them upside down (salt side directly on my tongue) allowed the sea salt to be the first thing to hit my palate and brought out the savory lavender in the cookies.

Subtle and uncomplicated, the menu at Saison clearly pays homage to the seasonal farm fresh ingredients. The flavors in each dish were concise and refined and I definitely appreciated the impeccable presentation. To me, Saison is kind of a huge contradiction on so many levels: it's a sophisticated restaurant tucked into what looks like a back alley of a abandoned warehouse, it has a members only feel to it yet the rustic interiors are comfortable and unstuffy, the food there is seemingly simple, but in actuality requires an astonishing amount of technique to execute. Its basically fine dining in farm form.

Details:
Saison
2124 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415-828-7990

Apologies from the author:
1. I apologize for the lack of/dismal descriptions of the wine pairings. Food I KNOW but wine I am just starting to learn. I know what wine I like but ask me to tell you why and what I taste.. that's a whole other ball game. (Which, I guess is ironic considering where I work.)

2. I also apologize for the lack of focus/too much white light/lousy framing on some of the pictures. I blame
a. the lighting in the restaurant
b. my little dinky camera
c. my greedy stomach that somehow managed to overpower my perfectionist self and made me give up on taking the perfect picture just so I could devour everything that was set in front of me, stat.