Dinner at Saison
Saison, San Francisco
Tasted Saturday, July 21, 2012 by Paul S with 488 views
Introduction
E and I eagerly made our way into the rather un-touristy Mission district in San Francisco for the last fine-dining dinner of our three weeks in the US at the much lauded Saison. We had booked ourselves a choice perch in the kitchen for the Chef's Table and were not quite sure what to expect when we walked through the quirky old stable doors at 6.30pm. The next four hours unfolded spectacularly, with course after exciting course of culinary perfection from chef Joshua Skenes and his team - fresh, inventive, exciting, and just plain delicious food, matched by warm service and, most of all, impeccably paired with a series of interesting wines by the very talented Mark Bright, sommelier and co-owner of the restaurant. We even had a sake and a German ale thrown in at some point or another of the dinner. By the end of the night, we had made such good friends with Mark that he invited us to stay for a drink, which became another and another and another - it was almost 4am by the time we stumbled back to our hotel room!
I will list out the after-dinner wines we had with Mark Bright on a separate write-up. This will just focus on the pairing wines we had (sans sake and beer). For the record, the menu was as follows (in brief, because the food was really far more complex and spectacular than their descriptions, with layers of ingredients for each):
rhubarb soda, coriander
grilled peas & parmesan
reserve caviar, sea urchin
live scallop, miewa kumquat citronette
tuna spice
aged bluefin tuna hams
skip jack, seared in a flame
sylvia's beef, aged 48 days
wild nettles, pacific king salmon, anise hyssop
egg, oyster, smoked allium
vegetable crudite, fermented anchovy
tokyo turnips & sea urchin cured in it's own sea water
brassicas
abalone and its liver, foie gras and corn
dungeoness crab, its consomme
layers of foie gras, milk, bread, beer
pasternack's rabbit, the whole thing, ala royale
bone marrow & beets
30 day mendocino lamb, slowly roasted over embers
gabietou cheese, honey and almond
preserved citrus 6.08
strawberry
popcorn ice-cream
NV Champagne Collet Champagne Brut 90 Points
France, Champagne
Nice little Champagne with a good dose of Pinot Meunier in it. The nose was a little tight, but quite interesting in its shades of smoke and bacon with some toasted apples and the Pinot Meunier whiff of white flowers behind. The palate was bright and young, with a nice freshness and lacy mousse floating about its clean flavours of lemons and limes underscored by flinty minerality and some spice at the finish. Very linear and defined, still a bit simple in its youth, but this had a decent amount of substance, great balance and a nice kick of length at the rear. A very decent entry level NV indeed, and simply a great pairing with caviar.
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2010 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett 89 Points
Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
I thought this showed as a decently good, rather than great wine on the day. The nose was quite shut tight - it took quite a bit of swirling and time to get some suggestions of white peach to waft out amidst the little smoky notes and indistinct sugary white fruited accents that were there from the start. The palate was rather better I thought. Still very primary of course, still dominated by grape sugars, but at least one got a clearer expression of white peach underscored by some smoky mineral in the background. There was almost Spatlese weight and flesh here, especially as the wine moved into a long, grippy finish, where little grassy notes and a nice line of flinty mineral ran through sweeter, fleshier white fruit flavours. While there was a good-ish amount of acidity here, it was not as bright as some 2010 Mosels I have had recently, and indeed seemed to lack the cut of the very best bottles. All in all, a nice enough wine, but not one I would crow about. It did well with food, and it should improve with time, but not really one for me at the moment.
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2010 Weingut Willi Bründlmayer Riesling Terrassen Kamptal 91 Points
Austria, Niederösterreich, Kamptal
I liked this. It started out with a very expressive nose, with notes of grapefruit and gooseberry, apples and peach, all riding on a bed of chalk and beeswax aromas. A typically Austrian bouquet I thought. Much the same on the palate - very Austrian - rich and fatty, with nutty accents on the attack that brought to mind almonds, maybe pistachios, but also blessed with a fresh acidity kept it lean and defined in spite of its creaminess. On the midpalate, there were nice round flavours of ripe lemons and green apples, before a long finish set in with a curl of and smoky minerality and a lick of spice. A good wine. While a surprisingly good with beef tartare, it really found its niche with some smoked blue-fin tuna, where both the wine, with its little smoky notes, and the beautifully done fish sang in perfect harmony.
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2010 Gilbert Picq & ses Fils Chablis 89 Points
France, Burgundy, Chablis
This was very impressive for a USD 20 regional Chablis. It had a classic nose - seashells, green apples, lime and chalk. The palate was very fleshy for a straight Chablis, with a good, round depth to its green apples and sweet lemon flavours, and yet it was also really fresh and nicely minerally - especially at the finish, where little saline notes flecked the fleshy fruit. Simple, but really juicily delicious. A beautiful pairing with egg and oyster too. This is a great value wine for everyday drinking with food.
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2009 Pascal Jolivet Pouilly-Fumé 89 Points
France, Loire Valley, Upper Loire, Pouilly-Fumé
From a 375ml, this was a very decent Pouilly-Fumé. It had a rather sweet nose, perhaps symptomatic of the vintage, with really ripe aromas of melons and sweet pears, along with more characteristic notes of white flowers, grass, a touch of flinty mineral and a clear ring of cat's pee. Not too shabby. In keeping with the nose, the palate was also rather sweet and ripe, with flavours of sweet lemons and gooseberries, maybe even stone fruit, all fleshy with the weight of the vintage. It finished with some spice and bittersweet mineral and a twist of green grassy notes. There was quite a bit of depth, but it was maybe missing just a touch of freshness and lift at the finish given its weight. This was served with a wonderfully prepared salad of unusual vegetables, and was perhaps the only pairing that was not pitch perfect on the day. While it may normally have worked with a Pouilly-Fumé, this wine somehow did not have enough acidity to go well with some vegetables, espeicially those with a little herbal bitterness, which made the wine seemed quite flabby.
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2011 Paul Pernot et ses Fils Bourgogne-Aligoté 90 Points
France, Burgundy, Bourgogne-Aligoté
I enjoyed this one. It had that interesting, just slightly funky nose that Aligoté often show, with a pong very reminisecnt of Epoisse that blew off with a bit of time to show light scents of chalk and seashell, lime zest and mint, and just a little twang of green grass. Intriguing stuff - may not be for everyone though. The palate was very fresh. It was not the most defined or precise, but there was nevertheless a lovely brightness to its citrus flavours of lemons, limes and green apples backed by a typical nutty, chalky undertone. The wine seemed to fill up more at the long finish, with a creamier mouthful of fleshy white fruit with a nice waft of spice. A lot of little complex things going on for such a young wine. This was also a simply amazing pairing with a sea-urchin dish. Good stuff, especially for its price point.
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