Two Chefs and 12 Courses at Saison, San Francisco’s Most Expensive Restaurant

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Chef Josh Skenes' Sungold tomato stunner at Saison.

Chef Josh Skenes’ Sungold tomato stunner at Saison.

San Francisco’s Saison might just be the ultimate pop-up success story ever.

In 2009, it started humbly enough as a once-a-week pop-up in the rear part of the casual Stable Cafe in the Mission District. It featured the uncanny juxtaposition of Chef Josh Skenes’ high-concept food and Sommelier Mark Bright’s exceptional wines in proper Riedel stemware contrasted with jeans-clad servers attending to guests seated in slat-style garden-variety chairs at bare-bones wooden tables.

Fast forward to 2013, where it’s has not only been transported to a different part of town, but now holds the distinction of being the priciest restaurant in the city. Its tasting menu will set you back $248 per person. If you want wine pairings, that”ll be another $148 per person.

Perhaps you saw Bon Appetit magazine’s September edition, in which it named Saison as one of “America’s Best New Restaurants.” The insightful story broke out why the restaurant costs run so high: The custom build-out of the kitchen and dining room? $2.8 million. Food costs per week? $15,000. The four tanks that hold live seafood? Also $15,000. The meat aging room? $40,000. The wood-burning hearth? $50,000. That hand-made dinner plate you’re eating off of? $300. The Levi’s-designed cook’s uniforms? $500 each. And that cashmere throw provided if you get chilly? You guessed it — $500.

And the place seats only 32.

Sign

Skenes just before the start of service.

Skenes just before the start of service.

Chef Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern in New York City.

Chef Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern in New York City.

This week, Saison added even more luster — if that’s possible — by hosting five renowned chefs, each cooking alongside Skenes on a different night to create a 12-course tasting menu for a spendy $500 per person.

Tuesday, it was Chef Laurent Gras, formerly of L20 in Chicago and the Fifth Floor in San Francisco. Thursday, it was Chef Matthew Lightner of Atera in New York City. Tonight, it’ll be Chef Guenter Seeger, who owned Seeger’s in Atlanta. Saturday will wrap up with Chef John Shields, previously of Town House in Virgina.

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A Cake That Spans Two Seasons

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A little bit of both summer and autumn in one cake.

A little bit of both summer and autumn in one cake.

 

I am in deep denial.

That it’s October.

That somehow more than three-quarters of the year is now gone — whoosh — just like that.

Fortunately, though, I can turn to cake to make that transition from summer to autumn a little easier to swallow. Cake makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Especially one that combines the flavor of summer peaches with fall apples.

This simple cake is from “One Bowl Baking” (Running Press), of which I received a review copy. The new cookbook is by Yvonne Ruperti, a former recipe developer and writer for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. As the name implies, the book is filled with recipes for cakes, cookies, tarts, and biscuits that take only one bowl to whip up.

The original name of this particular cake is: “Super Moist Applesauce Quick Bread.” But I changed it to: “Super Moist Apple-Peach Sauce Cake” with the quick swap out of regular applesauce for Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce, of which I also recently received a sample.

A blend of organic apples, peaches and apple juice concentrate, it comes in a six-pack of individual 4-ounce cups for about $4.99. It’s naturally fat-free with no additional sugar added. One container (one serving) has 70 calories.

Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce.

Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce.

The flavor is a nice change of pace from just standard apple because of the tang and complexity that the peach adds. The consistency is runny, almost slurp-able, actually. In fact, you could almost drizzle a little on a plate with the cake for a ready-made coulis.

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The Food Gal in Conversation with Joyce Goldstein, Gott’s Roadside Opens in Palo Alto and More

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Chef Joyce Goldstein. (Photo courtesy of the IACP and Goldstein)

Chef Joyce Goldstein. (Photo courtesy of the IACP and Goldstein)

Join the Food Gal and Joyce Goldstein For a Berkeley Event

I couldn’t be more honored to have been asked to help host an upcoming event with legendary cookbook author and chef, Joyce Goldstein.

Join us for a conversation, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 17, at the Marsh Arts Center in Berkeley. It’s all part of Litquake, San Francisco’s Literary Festival.

I’ll be talking to Goldstein about her insightful new book, “Inside the California Food Revolution: Thirty Years that Changed Our Culinary Consciousness” (University of California Press).

InsideCaliforniaFoodRevolution

Sure, the food scene in the Bay Area is incomparable. But imagine a time when there wasn’t arugula available everywhere, where almost all fine-dining restaurants served only continental cuisine, and when farmers markets didn’t exist. That was California in the 1960s. Learn about the factors that went into transforming this region into a culinary mecca.

The event is free, but a $10 donation is suggested. Hope to see you all there!

Palo Alto Welcomes Gott’s Roadside

Lucky Palo Alto last week welcomed the fourth Gott’s Roadside in the Bay Area.

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The Perfect Sip For Fall — From Randall Grahm

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Randall Grahm's latest endeavor sparkles.

Randall Grahm’s latest endeavor sparkles.

 

Randall Grahm, the visionary behind Santa Cruz’s Bonny Doon Vineyard has always followed his own path.

When Chardonnay dominated, he fostered a thirst for lesser-known Rhone varietals.

When he opened his tasting room, it wasn’t in the faux Mediterranean style so en vogue, but a most quirky spot adorned with spaceships.

Now, leave it to him to think outside the box again by veering into the realm of hard-cider making.

His Bonny Doon ¿Querry?, which I had a chance to sample, is not your usual sparkling alcoholic apple cider.

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Gluten-Free Pizza and More Noshes at Pizza Antica Santana Row

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A gluten-free pizza at Pizza Antica at Santana Row.

A gluten-free pizza at Pizza Antica at Santana Row.

 

After hosting a cooking demo in August at Santana Row in San Jose with Chef Bradley Cenyowa of Pizza Antica, he had me intrigued.

Responding to customers’ needs, Pizza Antica — which has four locations — had begun to offer a gluten-free pizza crust.

It can quite challenging to get the texture just right in gluten-free bread and other baked goods. But Cenyowa is such a fan of the gluten-free crust at the restaurant that he eats it, himself, even though he does not suffer from celiac disease.

He invited me in as a guest of the restaurant to try it for, myself.

If you’re gluten-intolerant, the server will hand you a separate gluten-free menu to peruse — a nice touch. My husband and I — neither of us have issues with gluten — got both menus just to check them out.

The always busy restaurant.

The always busy restaurant.

We started off with the bacon, lettuce, tomato chopped salad ($10.25), which the kitchen thoughtfully split onto two plates for us. The salad is a tumble of textures in every fork-full. You get crunchy romaine, crisp bacon and fluffy bits of hard-cooked egg. There’s just enough Dijon dressing to coat everything, but not drown it.

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