This week’s dinner was at Kiln. The chef and many of the staff had previously worked at Sons & Daughters at which we dined back in March 2019. No doubt the staff made a copy of their customer database since they greeted us in reference to our previous dining there (and I didn’t tell them anything).

Restaurant space is very open with a bit of an industrial feel. Tables are well spaced out and intentionally seated so that all of the diners face towards the other tables. Tables were spotlit which made viewing the technique that went into each dish more apparent.

We really liked the format of the meal which in our case was the extended menu which was a bit over 20 courses, which of course sounds like a lot, but in reality most courses where just a bite. Each course was very meticulously crafted and most dishes had multiple layers of flavors from the sauces and the seasonings.

The very first bite, the potato chip with a cheese “Minuet” and malt vinegar packed great flavors. There were so many dishes that were so layered with flavor. Aside from the first bite, the dungeness crab with caviar and, horseradish (mild, but added an additional component to the flavor) was a favorite and then was immediately followed by the even more falvorful blue lobster from portugal with tomato miso. We also enjoyed the smoked venison with currant, cabbage, and morel mushrooms and I’m sure I’m missing others.

But with 20+ courses, there were so many amazing flavors. Probably our least favorite was the shima aji course…it’s tough because if you are going to do a raw fish course, it’s going to be tough to compare to all of the great sushi we have here in SF.

We did also opt for the caviar course which was Petrossian kaluga with a chicken fat emulsion. This was a very unique presentation for caviar. The emulsion was delicious, but it did somewhat mask the flavor of the caviar.

The two desserts looked very similar and “basic”, but were both quite flavorful in their own way. The chamomile sorvet with rhubarb was delicious and subtly refined with it’s flavoring, but the second dessert with the goat’s butter ice cream, birch syrup, carmelized goat’s milk was even more flavorful.

Wine pairings were excellent…almost all very unique, tasty choices and very well paired with the dishes. Pours were just the perfect amount (modest, but with 20+ courses, just right…some place just pour too much wine). Service was very attentive. Each server had answers to any questions we had about the food or wine. For every course, one of the chef’s came out to deliver the food which was nice.

I looked back at our picture from when we ate at Sons & Daughters and it’s very clear to see the progression that the chef has made to improve his technique, presentation, and flavors. This was certainly one of our top dining experiences this year. The Michelin guide recently listed this restaurant along with several others in the bay area (including ones we’ve dined at recently such as Anomaly, Friends Only, Aphotic, etc.) and is supposed to announce if any receive stars or bib gourmand ratings. I would’t be surprised at all if Kiln was awarded a star (I said I was on a no-Michelin star diet, but I didn’t say anything about pre-star, lol) and we’d certainly dine here agin.