This week’s dinner was at State Bird Provisions. We first ate here in August 2021 and was one of the first places we ate coming off of the pandemic. Back then we sat outside in their parklet since there wasn’t any indoor seating and I remember having to show my proof of vaccination to them even when dining outdoors.

State Bird Provisions is also run by the same owners/group(?) as The Progress next door and The Anchovy Bar, just around the corner. Both State Bird Provisions and The Progress are 1-Michelin starred restaurants. We dined at The Progress again just a few months ago in December. Before the pandemic, I can remember how busy State Bird Provisions always was with a line outside (I don’t believe they even took reservations back then). So we were looking forward to eating indoors and at the chef’s counter.

We arrived just a few minutes after our 5:30 reservation time which is when they open. There was a line to check-in and get seated and it appeared as though they basically seated the entire restaurant.

Sitting at the counter meant we had a birdseye view of the kitchen and counterspace was tighter than if we had been seated at a table. Andrea esp. had a good view since she was seated right next to where all the food came out so she was able to see so much of it prepped and served. A little surprisingly, there was zero direct interaction or even acknowledgment from the kitchen staff at all, not even to serve any of our dishes directly. Service was otherwise spread out across multiple staff which was both good and bad. On one hand, it meant many others were serving dishes, esp. the numerous “dim sum” style dishes served as servers walked around with a tray full of the same dish and you only had to choose if you wanted that one in particular or not. On the negative side, timing was often uneven. With the “dim sum” dishes, they came at a rushed pace (as is usually the case at actual dim sum), but also our “server” was also running around so timing was sometimes a bit awkward (e.g. didn’t get a drink order in, much less served until even a couple dishes were already served.

The dim sum dishes is not something we had experienced at our previous dining experience here or at The Progress, so it was a it of a surprise. It did mean we could get some food very rapidly. We also didn’t know what the offerings were so we front loaded some of the initial offerings including some oysters (I prefer them simple and clean though, just like Margot in The Menu), duck mousse, greens, tofu and mushroom, and later some beef tongue (nice seasoning, but it could have been any meat and I was particularly interested because I’ve had very fond memories of eating the beef tongue my mom prepared).

We ordered three dishes. First, the scallop ceviche came out. The marinade (what is the right term for the liquid that comes with ceviche?) was very tasty with the lilikoi and chile and served with sweet potato chips.

Then came the split order of the two types of pancakes – sourdough-sauerkraut pecorino ricotta and the whole grain fiscalini chedder pancake delicata squash chile maple. I preferred the pecorino ricotta one because it was savory.

Then came the CA State Bird (i.e. quail) with provisions. The quail was breaded and fired and very nicely prepared, but honestly, I find the diminutive size of quail to be more effort than it’s worth.

By this point, we were quite full, but we had to try a dessert, so we went with chevre cheesecake with rhubarb and crumble. it was a very modest sized dessert, which was great for us. The goat-iness of the cheese came through which I really enjoyed since it was more interesting and flavorful.

We had wines by the glass which were fairly typical SF pricey (about $20 per glass), but were interesting and all decent.

Despite the lulls in service, the meal was quite brisk taking only about 90 minutes. Prices were moderate by SF standards. We enjoyed the meal, but it is a much more harried experience than next door at The Progress. if we had known about the dim sum, we might have spent a bit more time just having more of those just for the variety of it and also slowed down our ordering. Overall, it was a solid meal, but not what I’d think of as Michelin star experience. For me, Marlena was a better experience and for a more causal experience, I’d say Kin Khao is a more interesting flavorful one.