MICHELIN Guide’s Point Of View

Set within an imposing warehouse, this iconic kitchen’s footprint overlaps the dining room, where the cooks themselves can often be seen serving diners. While savoring each course, you may have a full view of the impressive team tending the fiery hearth that is the very soul of Saison’s culinary philosophy. Over at the bar, a salon fills with couples dining at cocktail tables. The menu by executive chef Laurent Gras demonstrates a range of skill and tastes. Begin with a ceviche of fairly firm and meaty jackfish enhanced by yuzu and glistening with finger lime, or use your hands to pick up a delicate mound of plump sea urchin on crunchy toast—a house signature. Then, translucent, moist and bite-sized king salmon matched with smooth celeriac purée will leave you yearning for more—quite like the enticingly sauced filet of meltingly tender venison, and in true California style, charred avocado. Desserts too flaunt an intense devotion to local ingredients and seasonal flavors as seen in the refreshing pear sorbet set afloat in house-made apple kombucha.