Andrea was working in the office, so we often look for an opportunity to eat out. We ended up picking Kiln since I’ve been interested in revisiting ever since we first (and last) ate here almost 2 years ago. Because we were doing this impromptu, Kiln didn’t have reservations open for the current day, so I texted them/Julianna and she checked with the chefs to make sure they could accommodate another table. Fortunately, they could and she sent me the Tock reservation which I promptly accepted and paid.

For beverages, we went with pairings – Andrea had the reserve pairing and I went with the standard pairing (there is also a NA pairing as well). We were the only table doing a pairing and since we were going with 2 pairings (and some of the reserve pairings had two wines served side by side).

As it turned out there were only 4 tables seated including us. We were the second to be seated, but we ended up being last for service to start which was a bit irksome (#firstworldproblems) Then again, we were last minute additions to the evening, so I was thankful that they did accommodate us.

First course was the beef tendon which I remember reading about Chef Wesley and his background eating at Vietnamese restaurants that inspired this. This was also made with roasted onion. It certainly is like a small piece of art. Andrea said it tasted like the best Funyun she ever had, haha.

Second course was the Perigord Truffle. This was a couple wafers sandwiching a lamb heart, truffle, malt vinegar, and Andante Dairy Minuet (goat and cow milk) cheese filling.

Next came the Shima Aji which was arranged in a rosette with some radish wedges, young (I assume) spruce needles, and served with a preserved gooseberry sauce.

The we were served the Seaweed Tart. Atop the tart was dungeness crab which was topped by Oscietra caviar.

Fifth course was the Hokkaido Scallop. This was a beautifully colored dishe with the teardrop peas in the sauce and whole peas on top of the scallop along with some desiccated rose hips.

After that came the Imperial Kaluga Caviar which was a supplement. Kaluga caviar is our favorite caviar so we had high hopes for this dish. This was a very different presentation for the caviar. It was served on top of an emulsion of hen fat and an onion vinegar. This was our least favorite dish by far, mainly due to the acidity of the vinegar. It was like eating a cold onion vinegar caviar soup. We didn’t think it highlighted the caviar at all unlike more typical presentations with some kind of starch and/or a creamy component. So definitely pass on this version of the caviar supplement, esp. for $90 or so each. On the plus side, the Krug champagne supplemental pairing was delicious with a nice yeasty nose, but at $50 just for a glass of that, it better be.

Next up was the Razor Clams. The razor clams were interestingly presented climbing up the side of the bowl with very thin slivers of almond and elderflowers. The sauce was made with a puree of white asparagus.

Next dish was Monterey Bay Abalone & Their Livers. This was made with Vin Jaune and fig leaf.

Ninth course was the Sausalito Halibut. This was topped with morel mushroom.

Next up was the Modesto Squab. This was served as 3 pieces, the leg, the breast, and the heart braised with anise and date vinegar with a bit of Brentwood corn foam on top of the jus.

Then we were served the Venison Saucisson d’Alsace which which were served on a tray/weave of sticks.

Twelfth and thirteenth courses were served concurrently. One was the Dark Rye & Buckwheat Country Loaf and the other was the Sunchoke. The bread was delicious with a nice crunchy crust and a bit of chew. You have to have good bread here in SF! This Sunchoke was a “spoon” of sunchoke, porcini and fermented mushroom puree.

The next two dishes were also called Aged Dairy Cow and were of course beef based. One was a cut of beef with a marrow sauce and preserved black currants. The other was a grilled beet made into a tart with the beef slices and ramp topped with some reindeer moss and sprigs of young woodruff.

The next two dishes were also served together. One was the Broth of Smoked Pork Trotters with Koji Oil and the other was the Andante Dairy ‘Nocturne’. the Nocturne is a cow’s milk cheese made into a gougere with malted barley and buckwheat honey topped with some summer Perigord truffle. Yes, that all tasted as good as it sounds.

For our eighteenth dish, we started into our first dessert, Raw Milk. This was an ice cream with meadowsweet with a rhubarb sauce.

Second dessert was the Roasted Yeast. This was also an ice cream with pedro ximenez, coffee, and raisin.

Last was the mignardise which included Hazelnut with white chocolate topped with elderflower, Salted Butter Toffee with walnut and chanterelle mushroom (fantastic), 70% Chocolate with black Mission fig and pig’s blood (?!), and Pâte de Fruit gummy made with Lillet Blanc.

I didn’t go into each of the wines, but the reserve was significantly better and more interesting (and for the price, $350 vs. $165 it should be). There seemed to be a bigger gap between these pairings than most reserve and standard pairings we’ve tried. Also, some of the reserve pairings were two side by side pairings (e.g. two different vintages or two different examples of same varietal, etc.) and some with decent age on them (e.g. 1975 Borgogno Barolo, 1983 Chateau Beychevelle, etc.), so definitely the better pairing and I’d argue the better value.

Overall we liked the food even better than Sons & Daughters (the chef and GM are both owners and were previously at S&D before it’s current incarnation). It seemed a bit just a bit more refined and fit our flavor profile a bit better (with the caviar course being the big miss for us). Service was albeit a bit less interactive (e.g. we had way more interaction from Chef Harrison at S&D) with the exception of Julianna who was very engaging from the reservation onward every time we interacted with her, as well as the somm (granted there were only 4 tables and we were the only ones doing the pairings).

https://www.kilnsf.com