Got Married!
Ryan and I finally got married on Thursday June 2, 2011! We went to the San Francisco City Hall for the marriage license registration and ceremony, then stayed at the Fairmont.
That night Ryan took me to the most amazing dinner at Saison :)
Saison opened in what used to be a stable, which the restaurant owners decorated nicely. The entrance opened to an outdoor patio with open hearth, and the interior of the restaurant had a loft design. It was cozy and modern at the same time.
Our fixed menu of the night consisted of 6 courses with 3 complimentary ones scattered throughout. Each course had its own wine pairing, and the food was phenomenal.
We started off with some olive bread served with seaweed butter. The olive and salt from the butter paired nicely, and the seaweed added a mix of texture. The seaweed also added an earthy marine flavor that was surprising and appealing.
Next came a trio of canapes: oyster with wintermelon, parsnip puree with slow-cooked egg and salmon roe, and pickled radish, potato and other veggies with olive oil and flowers. The canapes were served with a non-vintage Alsace with hints of stones, minerals, and just-ripened fruit, with a tiny bit of nectar thrown in.
We tried some French bread after the canapes, which was wonderful and fluffy. It also paired well with the earthy-marine flavor of the seaweed butter.
After that we had the Wild Spot prawn. The course contained a lightly fried shrimp head served with the cold tail ceviche style with lemon consomme and mallow, rose, geranium, chervil and chive blossoms. The blossoms and lemon consomme added a soft tangy flavor to the cold tail; the fried shrimp head with the cold tail formed two complementary dishes in one.
Next came the brassicas. We started with poached and dehydrated greens on top of roasted grains and bonito consomme with slow-cooked egg yolk. I’d never had roasted grains before and I found them pleasantly crunchy with savory earth flavors. The bonito consomme added an ocean flavor while the poached and dehydrated veggies added a nice texture and mouthfeel.
After the brassicas came our first of three complimentary dishes of the evening: roasted purple asparagus with caviar, Nasturtium, creme fraiche, and egg yolk. The course was set so you eat the asparagus from the stem to the tip, and the flavor journey throughout was amazing — different flavors along the length paired with flowers and caviar was genius.
Then came the crustaceans. We started with Dungeness crab served with shrimp, Nasturtium leaf and an infused sauce. The sauce was rich and was more a wholesome soup than sauce. The Nasturtium leaf added a bit of bite and paired well with the seafood.
Our next course was also complimentary: sea urchin with abalone, silky tofu, truffle, and dehydrated seaweed. The flavors were reminiscent of Asian style cooking and was a nice change from the previous dishes. The seafood and seaweed added an umami flavor which I love, and the Saison-blended pinot developed well, hearkening back to the sea urchin.
The pinot served as a nice segue into the Pasternack’s rabbit. The front legs were roasted while the hind legs were rolled with foie gras. The liver was served with spices, providing a nice crunch and burst of flavor, and the kidney was savory. The greens and spring onion added some roundness to an otherwise meaty dish, and the rabbit broth brought it all together. I’m now a rabbit fan!
As the dinner wound down, our waitress presented us with some Nuvola di Pecora, a cheese dish. The sheep’s milk cheese was whipped to a custard consistency and piped into a bee’s nest. The was a small dollop of honeycomb on top, and some almond panada on the bottom with chamomile petals. The bee’s nest was fluffy with a nice thin crust and the cheese oozed tantalizingly. The fat from the cheese was tempered with the honeycomb, and the almonds added their own crunch.
Next, and to our pleasant surprise, came three sweet courses! I felt like a kid again, and was unbelievably gleeful. Our first sweet course was fresh raspberries with a raspberry and lemon custard. The raspberries were perfectly sweet, and the custard captured their essence well. To my surprise the custard wasn’t too sweet, as is often the case, and the custard had a nice thick consistency that was reminiscent of the whipped cheese. It was the perfect raspberry course!
Next was a milk chocolate dish with rice sorbet and toasted sesame. It had a nice blend of sugar and starch, and the sesame brought an Asian flair.
The next course was undoubtedly my favorite sweet course of the evening: popcorn ice cream! I literally laughed out loud when I tasted it — ice cream and popcorn all in one! Served with a sparkling Vouvray, I couldn’t be happier.
Dinner at Saison couldn’t have been more wonderful, and was the perfect way to spend our first evening together as a married couple. Their themes of blending textures using consomme, egg yolk and roasted food was a feast for my senses. It was a perfect evening with Ryan, and it will hopefully be the start of many more to come!
