Though Michael Bauer has been kind enough to Saison over the past couple of years since its launch as a weekend pop-up in back of the Stable Café, he’s never sounded fully on board with the place, until just now. Despite its two Michelin stars and a Best New Chef honor for Joshua Skenes from Food & Wine, the last Chronicle review gave the restaurant an enthusiastic but still not stellar three stars — incidentally the same rating shared by places like Mamacita and Zero Zero, but we won’t get into the incongruity of the star ratings again. Granted, that was back in August of 2010, and a few things have changed since then.
Today finds Mr. Bauer writing that he had “one of the best meals of the year” at Saison, in a blog post about recent favorite dishes. Unfortunately, he says the lighting didn’t lend itself well to iPhone photography, and “the pictures didn’t even come up to my low standards.” So we’ll have to wait for a possible update review in the coming weeks before learning what he liked best. But in any event, we’re glad he’s coming around. We’ve long touted this place as possibly the most exciting and San Francisco-specific restaurant in town, and it’s about time it gets some more Chronicle love.
Dinner at Masa’s, Saison and a lot of places in between [Between Meals/Scoop]
Earlier: Actually Pretty Awesome: Crudités at Saison
Our Year In Seven Stellar Meals
Saison Reduces Seating, Adds Ticket-Based Chef’s Counter
