At Gilda’s Salon in San Francisco’s Proper Hotel, artistry on the plates has taken on a whole new meaning.

That’s because the special dinner series held in this swank room every other Friday night was inspired by actual artwork on display at the nearby Asian Art Museum.

Executive Chef Jason Fox and his team created this provocative 10-course menu after a fun fact-finding trip to the museum to study its exhibits.

This particular menu will be available at least through the end of July, at which time it is expected to change. It is $150 per person with an optional $60 pairing with Napa’s Ashes & Diamonds wines.

I had a chance to experience it last week, when I was invited in as a guest.

Designer to the stars Kelly Wearstler is responsible for the maximalist style of the hotel, where a bevy of colors, artwork, and eye-popping patterns somehow come together in harmony.

Gilda’s Salon, a private dining room off the lobby, is no exception. The entire room is awash in a custom leaf-patterned wallpaper and 1960s bubble-light chandeliers. There is one long table with 10 seats for this communal dinner that has one seating per night.

A six-page menu is provided that includes not only brief info on each dish but photos of the corresponding artwork that influenced it.

Dinner begins with the sparkling Ashes & Diamonds Cremant No. 1, with a lovely hazelnut note, that’s served not in the customary flutes but in old-fashioned coupes.

Out comes a tiered tray of four bites, each representing a different season in honor of “Landscape of the 4 Seasons” by Shikibu Terutada’s painted screens depicting the subtle transitions from one season to the next. They included: a hollowed out lemon cup holding lemon panna cotta topped with the tiniest croutons and zingy tomato gelee (summer); teeny taco creations made with favas and curds (spring); a squid okonomiyaki with a boost of bonito (fall); and scallop tartare (shrimp for me, owing to my allergy) atop a squid-ink rosette. It was like sitting down to the chicest tea party ever.

Woodblock prints of fish by Utagawa Hiroshige played into the second course of raw fish: sea bream with a curl of asparagus and fish roe; seared albacore dotted with bonito mayo and ponzu gel; avocado with a creamy fish salad atop a crunchy crouton; and my favorite of halibut rolled up in nori with cherry that was reminiscent of a sweeter ume.

Next came a dramatic looking dish with a vortex of color just like the artwork “The Melt” by Sherin Sherpa. Fox says the piece reminded him of spin art. Yuba, house-made from soy milk by Hodo Foods, blanketed the plate like a kerchief strewn with sauces colored by cilantro, beet, and fermented chile. Underneath was the surprise of Indian-inspired potato and chickpeas in a coconut milk curry with plenty of earthy turmeric.

And so it continued, with pork two ways — sausage and succulent belly — in a spicy coconut milk sauce in honor of a Southeast Asian tapestry depicting a demon prince. A delicate chili cracker added crunch, and mini balls of cucumbers a quenching freshness.

A Chinese porcelain vase circa 1736 covered in painted blooms came to life in a gorgeous dish of foraged flowers, radish leaves, fennel, garlic and onion that covered a peppery nasturtium sorbet. A clear, chilled spiced pea broth was poured over at the table. The real surprise was the unexpected dabs of wasabi at the bottom that played into the green, grassy, and anise notes of the dish but added a sudden burst of sharp heat that dissipated quickly.

A 1400’s Japanese scroll depicting a young herder grasping the horns of an ox was rendered in the form of braised oxtail wrapped in golden, crisp pastry with a strawberry kosho dipping sauce. Imagine a luxe version of an egg roll with Chinese plum sauce, and you get the drift.

The last savory course was a splendid rosy, juicy squab with nori and black garlic that paid tribute to an 1850 Korean woodblock print with two birds standing atop a swirl of bold inky hues. Little medallions of seared sticky rice and pickled daikon completed the dish.

A sculpture at the museum of delicate Bodhi tree leaves affixed in a graceful curve with paper and starch glue were the inspiration for the palate cleanser — thin, sugary crackers topped with jasmine tea-coconut sorbet and Australian finger lime that were clean, bright, and refreshing.

The dessert of light, fluffy strawberry semifreddo perched atop an airy black sesame cake and garnished with white chocolate branches and edible petals mirrored the museum’s Chinese porcelain plate circa 1723 rimmed in celadon green and painted with branches of flowers.

Lastly, hard green candies flavored with matcha and gilded with edible gold arrived, paying homage to the museum’s collection of jade jewelry.

Look for Fox and his team to continue the dinner series with future ones that potentially tie in with SFMOMA, the Legion of Honor, and even the San Francisco Ballet.

Read More About The Inspiration For These Dinners: My Story In the Nob Hill Gazette