Remember that 1980s television show Fantasy Island, where a man dressed in white made visitors’ every wish come true? Saison is the culinary equivalent — a customized and luxurious hunter-gather fantasy dining experience in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.
Chef Richard Lee and his team source the best produce from anglers, ranchers and organic farmers, and then regale diners with dishes that showcase each ingredient to its advantage. It’s an elemental dining experience where your meal is cooked over an open flame and you eat with your hands. Yet there are exquisite details — like the housemade sakura salt or the delicate dishware with kintsugi-style veins — that tell a story.
The cuisine is matched only by sommelier-partner Mark Bright’s beverage program that showcases some of the world’s best wines and rare spirits, including a bottle of Chartreuse from the 1800s.
Saison is a place where you’ll find yourself wishing that time could slow down so you can savor every moment.
Our Inspector's Highlights
- Prepare to be pampered by a whole
team of polished and engaging service professionals. Rather than having one
person catering to your needs throughout the evening, you’ll find that service
is a team sport at Saison.
- There’s no set menu. Before your reservation,
you’ll correspond or speak with a member of the restaurant’s service team so it
can craft a dining experience that satisfies your personal tastes and
preferences.
- The produce here is exceedingly
fresh, as much of it comes from the restaurant’s two-acre farm in western Marin
County, just outside San Francisco. On a recent visit, the bounty included
mizuna and red leaf lettuces, purple mustard, orange calendula blooms and milk
from Saison’s brown-and-white cow named Vibrance.
- While Saison’s level of cuisine
and service place it in the top echelon of dining establishments in the world,
it’s far from formal or stuffy. Exposed brick walls, piles of firewood in the
entry and an open kitchen that hums with activity keep things feeling cozy — and
don’t be surprised to find yourself singing along to Michael Jackson, Madonna,
Don Henley or Hall and Oates on the playlist.
- Seafood lovers will be in heaven: Saison has tanks stocked with live abalone and lobster, and sublimely fresh shellfish will be a part of your dinner if you desire. The chefs work with fishermen along the California coastline to source the best sweet sea urchin and brown box crabs, an unusual delicacy.
Things to Know
- The brightly lit open kitchen
resembles a stage, and if you really enjoy seeing the chefs in action, then
request one of the handful of kitchen tables that flank the hearth and the
custom Molteni range.
- Get ready to play with your food — at least a course or two is served sans utensils. You may find yourself choosing ingredients to build your own lettuce wrap or gingerly eating a buttery morsel of bread crowned with sea urchin by hand.
The Food
- Cooking on an open flame is central to Saison. Our
dinner began with the flavors of smoky roasted pineapple in a lobster lettuce
wrap and ended with smoked cream and fire-smoked caramel studded with cacao
nibs.
- Nothing goes to waste here; the chefs find a way to use
every part of an ingredient. In one course, we enjoyed roasted pronghorn
antelope loin that arrived at the table on a sizzling brazier, followed by a
white soup tureen that opened to reveal a gleaming grilled antelope bone and
aromatic bone broth seasoned with a tiny sage leaf.
- While Saison has been described as American-French, the menu constantly evolves — these days the dishes feature many Asian touches, such as the cherry blossom salt that is served with the lettuce wraps.
The Drinks
- Say yes when you’re asked if you’d
like to start the evening with champagne — it’s often Krug’s Grande Cuvée served
in custom Zalto stemware. Then comes a nosegay of herbs, including anise
hyssop, marigold and mint steeped in a vintage teacup to cleanse your palate.
- While restaurant partner and wine
director Mark Bright is devoted to the wines of Burgundy, he believes in
pouring the best possible beverage to accompany each course. That might mean a
seductive Margaux, like the Château Malescot St. Exupery, or Enter Sake
Shuhari, a rare junmai daiginjo from Kyoto that tastes like drinking a
floral-scented cloud.
- Besides its extensive list of top-flight
spirits that are widely available, Saison has a knack for acquiring vintage bottles from distilleries and
breweries that are no longer in existence. Japanese whisky aficionados will
want to inquire about The Joker by Hanyu or Rising Sun single malts, and rum
connoisseurs will want to try the 1915 Rhum Clement from Martinique — it tastes
like bananas Foster in a glass.
- The purveyors of the cocktail program source ingredients
with the same rigor as the kitchen. While the menu changes often, an example of
the well-crafted offerings is the exotic Smoked Heart, which employs Cardamaro,
a wine-based cardoon amaro that is infused with charred artichokes.
Amenities
Dinner
Reservations required 
Valet parking
Getting There
178 Townsend Street, San Francisco, California 94107
TEL415-828-7990
TEL415-828-7990
NeighborhoodSoMa
