A Delicious Ride at San Francisco’s RN74
Named for the highway that runs through Burgundy’s fabled Cote d’Or wine region, RN74 still offers up a smooth culinary ride worth taking.
The splashy $4.5 million San Francisco restaurant housed on the ground floor of a gleaming condominium tower, is the brainchild of Rajat Parr, wine director for the Michael Mina Group, of which this restaurant belongs.
Now three years old, the restaurant continues to hum along with Executive Chef Jason Berthold at the helm. Berthold, who was sous chef at the French Laundry in Yountville, helped open Per Se in New York, and makes his own wine under the Courier label, is a perfect match for this wine-centric restaurant, accented by antique metal lanterns, lots of warm wood and even piped-in French dialogue in the restrooms. There’s also a custom-made flip board like the ones you see at train stations that post arrival/departure times. Only this one lists wines with only one bottle remaining in stock at the restaurant. If someone buys it, the board flips to erase the wine selection.
Recently, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant. The food had even more finesse than when I last visited shortly after it first opened.
If you want to start the meal off on a luxurious note, do order the Fort Bragg sea urchin ($19). It arrives dramatically in its spiky shell. Dig down into the creamy pool inside to find potato mousseline, crab, butternut squash, preserved citrus and vadouvan, a Francophile version of an Indian curry blend. It’s gorgeous to behold, with a sweet, briny and over-the-top richness. It’s also as seductive as it gets.
