What to do after we’ve eaten at every Michelin star restaurant in SF…I’d been receiving emails from Ritual since last September and their concept was intriguing, but for awhile we still had plenty of restaurants to try. Ritual brings in some of the top chefs from all over the world to a private venue in the Bay Area for a bespoke experience. This experience featured Alex Atala from D.O.M., his two Michelin star restaurant in Brazil and formerly number 4 in the 50 best list. He features unique native Brazilian ingredients in a fine dining presentation. He was featured in the Netflix series Chef’s Table in season 2, episode 2.

A lot of what we really enjoyed about this experience was dining with other folks who were as passionate/crazy about food as we were. We had so many great conversations with so many others. Many had attended multiple of these experiences with Ritual and many who had dined at so many of the top restaurants in the world.

Some of the dishes included Brazilian ants, honey, tapioca, palm hearts, and more. Using unique local ingredients from Brazil is part of what made Chef Alex Atala famous and it was special to have him here to share his vision with us. Wine was plentiful, decently paired, and enjoyable. I could go into details on each dish, but that would miss the point of the actual experience with all of the other foodies and their worldly experience and conversation. Service from Luis, the organizer, and all of the staff was attentive, but not intrusive. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was the best food we’ve ever had, but it was very unique and the experience was one of the best dining “experiences” we’ve had. we can’t wait to do another.