Fine dining report
Quince, Saison, Birdsong, Patagonia Provisions, Truckee, sales hiring, FOUND LDN, best late night dining, MORE
RESTAURANTS • Fine Dining Report
Take three
FOUND’s fine dining correspondent Lee Pitofsky dines at The French Laundry as often as he checks his email. Here, now, his latest San Francisco report:
OUI CHEF: Lunch at Quince remains one for the ages, an experience hard to find outside of Europe. The new space is stunning, spectacular natural light jolting the room with energy. At $195 per, the Friday-Saturday-only lunch menu is four courses, in addition to a flurry of canapés to begin the meal, with supplemental options like caviar service and truffle pastas. On a recent visit, chef Michael Tusk’s pasta mastery was on display in handmade tortelli stuffed with smoked sturgeon mousse and potato under a top hat of caviar. The final savory of dry-aged Duclair duck roasted in the hearth was one of the best preparations I’ve had in months. An amaro trolley with vintage bottles fittingly rounds out the meal.
→ Quince (Jackson Square) • 470 Pacific Ave • Lunch Fri-Sat 1130a-1p, Dinner Tues-Sat 5-8p • Reserve.
HEART OF THE STORY: With Eleven Madison Park alum Rich Lee at the helm, Saison delivers one of the more singular dining experiences in the country. A recent visit was my strongest to date. Nearly everything on the menu ($338 per) is kissed by the fire at some point. Cooked ever so gently over the embers, Mt. Lassen trout served alongside its own roe and chrysanthemum greens was finished tableside with a sauce made from its smoked bones. Dry-aged antelope loin and heart is served with grilled radicchio, a sauce made from Madeira, and pastrami spices. The side of laminated black truffle brioche could open its own bakery. Saison’s beverage program is no less impressive than the food, rivaling any you’ll find in America.
→ Saison (SoMa) • 178 Townsend St • Tue-Sat 5-930p • Reserve.
RICE & EGGS: Chef Chris Bleidorn focuses on deploying ingredients in whole form, utilizing every single part of local vegetables and animals at Birdsong. The dining room has table seating, but the best seats in the house are at the chef’s counter, with a front-row view of the team’s live-fire cooking. A recent visit began with a “rice and pine stew”: locally grown koshihikari rice, pine mushrooms, fermented pinecone, and pine butter — a distillation of the restaurant’s original vision. The caviar service is among the best in the country: first, housemade pink hopi cornbread is presented and served tableside, right out of the piping hot skillet. Then it’s drizzled with whipped walnut cream and melted walnut butter before it’s finished with a dollop of local Tsar Nicoulai Reserve Caviar. Birdsong currently offers two menus, the Discovery Menu and the Journey menu, at $265 and $325 per, respectively. –Lee Pitofsky
→ Birdsong (SoMa) • 1085 Mission St • Tue-Sat 5-9p • Reserve.
RESTAURANT LINKS: David Jacobson launches Cheezy’s Artisan Pizza in Saluhall • Che Fico team opening Via Aurelia in Mission Rock this summer • Pac Heights’ Troya expands to Tiburon • How to save a dive bar without ruining it.
WORK • Help Wanted
Sales pitch
Big month here at FOUND HQ: We just passed 10,000 subscribers in SF and are on track to hit 100,000 subscribers across the FOUND network later this month (more on this situation as it develops). One of the ways we’re marking the occasion is by adding to our sales team. Here’s what we’re looking for:
Creative sellers who know how to connect brands with valuable audiences
A passion for building the next generation of lifestyle media
Category expertise in SF (and/or NYC) real estate a plus
Category expertise in national (& global) luxury, spirits, financial services a plus
Experience selling newsletter sponsorships a plus
Open to full-time and part-time candidates
We have experience building and scaling sales operations and are excited to be doing it again with FOUND, which is now delivering recommendations and intel on dining, real estate, shopping, travel, culture & leisure, and work across six markets — NY, LA, SF, Miami, London & Paris. Interested? Drop us a line at sales@itsfoundsf.com.
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Organic growth
JEN BERLINER • head of brand and innovation • Patagonia Provisions
Neighborhood you live in: Outer Richmond
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Most Wednesdays start at our light-filled office along the Sausalito waterfront. Depending on the fog, the windows are usually open, with a breeze coming in off the Bay. It’s a mix of calm and momentum, with a few of my colleagues’ dogs happily zooming around, too. I’m always drinking matcha — Wild Orchard has an incredible Regenerative Organic Certified version — and doing my best to focus on my top priorities for the week.
What’s on the agenda for today?
On the product innovation front, we’re talking about scaling up a new line of sardines and beans tinned by our partner (a family-run fishery in Galicia, Spain) and on a call with Edacious to review nutrient-density test results for our smoked wild-caught salmon. As part of the brand marketing side of my role, I’m also reviewing packaging for our new non-alcoholic brew.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
If my husband and I can sneak away on a Friday evening, we’ll likely be at The Anchovy Bar (a long-time fave… stay tuned for an upcoming collab we’re working on with them) or Pearl 6101 (for the roasted cauliflower with black tahini). If it’s the whole family, we’re picking up pizza down the street at The Laundromat and swinging by Slake for something fun to drink on the way home. On Sunday, if we aren’t back at The Laundromat for bagels, then we’re at Iggy’s Place for latkes and eggs — the owners are lovely, and I appreciate how they prioritize organic and local in a way that can be rare for casual spots.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I have three- and five-year-old boys, so our weekend leisure often takes the form of pre-K soccer games, Hook Fish picnics at Ocean Beach, and chasing them on scooters around the Outer Richmond. We live very close to the Legion of Honor, so I love to pop in there for an hour when I have time. There’s a Matisse exhibit right now I hope to visit soon.
Any weekend getaways?
We love spending time in Truckee — especially in summer, though my boys are learning to ski this winter, which has been very cute. Great Gold is five minutes from our house. The pizza there is amazing, and their homemade gluten-free pasta is sneaky good, too. New Moon Natural Foods is another favorite stop.
What was your last great vacation?
I spent a week in Copenhagen last year, and since I’d previously done most of the larger attractions, it felt like I was really able to get to know the city. Some of my favorite meals were at Admiralgade 26, Kødbyens Fiskebar, Sixteen Twelve for brunch, and, of course, Noma. I also loved drinking matcha lattes and people-watching at the Louise Roe Gallery café and taking the train up the coast to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
WORK LINKS: Napa’s weed biz flips to wine • Rivian spins off micromobility business • Microsoft turns 50 • Making millions on Fiverr • Is the era of prescriptive office design over?
GETAWAYS • London
Happily married
This post originally appeared in FOUND LDN. Looking for a little more from across the pond? Subscribe to FOUND London, with new issues dropping each Wednesday.
The Skinny: Almost a decade after their first AngloThai pop-up in 2015, John and Desiree Chantarasak finally opened their long-delayed, hotly anticipated restaurant at the end of 2024. As the name suggests, the restaurant melds Thai fine dining with British ingredients, all sustainably and responsibly sourced. It feels like the Thai cousin of Kol, Santiago Lastra’s Mexican-British tasting menu hit (both are backed by MJMK, the genius restaurant group also behind Nuno Mendes’ Lisboeta). If you like those establishments, you’ll likely love AngloThai.
The Vibe: Off bustling Seymour Place, sweetly fragrant smells emit from the open kitchen. Thai details dot the elegant wood interiors, which are reminiscent of Thai favourites Nahm and BoLan: the furniture was built in Chiang Mai from indigenous wood, there’s artwork and textiles from all over Thailand, and brass cast lighting reflects an ancient Thai craft tradition.
The Food: Expect punchy Thai flavours and plenty of spice in elegant presentations. While it launched with an à la carte offer, AngloThai has now settled into a single tasting menu of 11 courses at dinner or eight at lunch. It showcases John Chantarasak’s Thai-British heritage with highlights like beef cheek with Makrut lime curry and brioche, and wok-fired aubergine with holy basil and soy-cured egg yolk.
The Drink: Sommelier Desiree Chantarasak has curated a selection of refreshing cocktails and a wine list emphasising cooler climates, particularly Austria, to match the bold flavours of the food.
The Verdict: Years in the making but well worth the wait, AngloThai feels like a new classic. –Laura Price
→ AngloThai (Marylebone) • 22-24 Seymour Pl • Wed-Sat 12-230p, 530-10p, Tues 12-230p • Book.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Air taxi startup Archer launches at SFO • Best deal for Epic Pass 25-26 expires Sunday, Icon Pass next Thurs • First look at revamp plans for Ka La'i Waikiki Beach LXR resort • Fairmont Tokyo taking reservations for 07/01 opening.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Hand on the Pump
Cypress Hill • 25 Years Live tour • The Fillmore (Fillmore) • Fri @ 8p • GA, $86 per
Alyssa Edwards • Crowned tour • Palace of Fine Arts (Marina) • Sat @ 8p • orch, row R, $57 per
Golden State Warriors vs. LA Clippers • Chase Center (Thrive City) • Sun @ 1230p • section 102, $743 per
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: A pitch for Sutro Heights Park • Stern Grove debuts new concert ticketing system • ‘Major theater operators’ circle 1000 Van Ness • Downtown First Thursdays adds performance stage • Kindle launches text version of ‘previously on.’
ASK FOUND
First, a quick primer on how this works: You send us the pressing questions of the day (on dining, services, living in the Bay Area). We all put our heads together (us, FOUND, + you, FOUND subscribers, who are also FOUND) in search of truth and beauty.
Today, one FOUND subscriber PROMPT for which we seek your input:
Which Bay Area wine bar has the best food menu?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundsf.com.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Dining, late night
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of the Bay Area’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com. For the full archives, click here.
Wasabi Bistro (Castro), sushi, gyoza, deep-fried mushrooms until at least 11p, walk-ins only