TLDR – easily should be 2 Michelin star; top 3 in the SF Bay Area for me; incredible jump in quality since my last visit a year ago
Food – the menu is protein driven, with about 20 small bites. If you like lots of variety and small courses full of intense flavors run to Kiln. Out of 20 courses, nothing was bad, and thought only about 3 of them were just ok. The chefs at Kiln are cooking proteins to absolute perfection. They are using flavor well. Their use of sauces, accompaniments, foams, and oils are spectacular and bring out a ton of flavor. This is one of the rare places I will want to revisit and spend up on more often. My one wish is that they would be able to accommodate my wife’s gluten and dairy restrictions, but I appreciate how difficult this would be with the sheer number of dishes and sauces used by the team. This menu may have set an unfortunately high bar locally.
Local Comparisons – given its single star, I couldn’t help but compare Kiln to nearby restaurants with more recognition. Kiln is without a doubt top three for me in the area (alongside Saison and Cyrus). Some places do service/ambiance a bit better, e.g., French Laundry, Saison, Cyrus. But when it comes to the food, Kiln definitely tops the following 2 and 3 stars from my perspective: Quince, Benu, Califonios, Lazy Bear, Acquerello, and Commis. I’d say it’s close to Birdsong and Aubergine, but beats them out. Of course this is all personal!
Service / Atmosphere – the service team levelled up considerably from my last visit. Given how rapidly dishes come out, it’s impressive that the team managed to have the right balance and contact. The first visit I had here there were a couple of occasions of abruptness (by necessity of the fast changing dishes), but this was gone in my service last night. The team was well balanced and were always attentive without being overbearing. The music and ambiance is nice and you feel like you’re at your own table. Still don’t love the chairs, but maybe that’s more my poor posture!
Recap – I will be visiting sooner than my last visit a year out… probably a 3x a year kind of place. I’m not doing myself any favors keeping the secret safe and expect bookings will be more difficult to come by.
Individual Dish Ratings
Beef Tendon – 7.5/10 (seems to be their signature start)
Poached Oyster – 9.25/10 (not a huge oyster fan, but really enjoyed this, very well balanced and composed)
Abalone – 10/10 (layers of flavor, textures, just amazing)
Alaskan Halibut – 10/10 (perfectly cooked, sauce was perfect)
Squab – 8/10 (super nice crispy skin, but after having Symth’s squab in Chicago, it couldn’t compete)
Venison Sausage – 9.5/10 (nicely seasoned small bite)
Sunchoke, Porcini, Bread Course – 9.75/10 (the sunchoke and porcini spoon was so good, butter was great and the culturing made it taste like a mild cheese, bread I personally prefer slightly less crust)
Aged Dairy Cow, and Tartare Tartlet – 10/10 (one of the best beef dishes in recent memory, the main steak was cooked perfectly and the tartare tart was so good
Dairy Nocturne and Broth – 9.5/10 (great creamy end to the meal mirroring the cheese in the first tart)
Raw Milk and Rhubarb – 9.75/10 (nice back to back milk progression with a good bitter and light rhubarb to refresh the palette)
Toasted Chestnut – 10/10 (it’s hard to see how many layers were in this dessert, but there was a lot of depth like all of these dishes, great ending to the meal)
Mignardises – 9.5/10 (carmel was the winner, the white chocolate marshmallow my second favorite)
badtimeticket
I saw the first few pictures and it made me think I needed to go again. I went maybe in the first few months and I thought there was a lot of potential. I remember it felt unfocused but had some of my favorite bites there. Seeing your review solidifies that I should go again.
3 Comments
Kiln * (San Francisco, CA March 8, 20205)
TLDR – easily should be 2 Michelin star; top 3 in the SF Bay Area for me; incredible jump in quality since my last visit a year ago
Food – the menu is protein driven, with about 20 small bites. If you like lots of variety and small courses full of intense flavors run to Kiln. Out of 20 courses, nothing was bad, and thought only about 3 of them were just ok. The chefs at Kiln are cooking proteins to absolute perfection. They are using flavor well. Their use of sauces, accompaniments, foams, and oils are spectacular and bring out a ton of flavor. This is one of the rare places I will want to revisit and spend up on more often. My one wish is that they would be able to accommodate my wife’s gluten and dairy restrictions, but I appreciate how difficult this would be with the sheer number of dishes and sauces used by the team. This menu may have set an unfortunately high bar locally.
Local Comparisons – given its single star, I couldn’t help but compare Kiln to nearby restaurants with more recognition. Kiln is without a doubt top three for me in the area (alongside Saison and Cyrus). Some places do service/ambiance a bit better, e.g., French Laundry, Saison, Cyrus. But when it comes to the food, Kiln definitely tops the following 2 and 3 stars from my perspective: Quince, Benu, Califonios, Lazy Bear, Acquerello, and Commis. I’d say it’s close to Birdsong and Aubergine, but beats them out. Of course this is all personal!
Service / Atmosphere – the service team levelled up considerably from my last visit. Given how rapidly dishes come out, it’s impressive that the team managed to have the right balance and contact. The first visit I had here there were a couple of occasions of abruptness (by necessity of the fast changing dishes), but this was gone in my service last night. The team was well balanced and were always attentive without being overbearing. The music and ambiance is nice and you feel like you’re at your own table. Still don’t love the chairs, but maybe that’s more my poor posture!
Recap – I will be visiting sooner than my last visit a year out… probably a 3x a year kind of place. I’m not doing myself any favors keeping the secret safe and expect bookings will be more difficult to come by.
Individual Dish Ratings
Beef Tendon – 7.5/10 (seems to be their signature start)
Truffle Dairy Minuet – 9.5/10 (concentrated truffle flavor bursting, very nice)
Shima Aji – 7/10 (was fine, but not great)
Dungeness Crab Tart – 9.75/10 (very very good, good variety of flavors with fresh crab shining)
Hokkaido Scallop – 10/10 (amazing, outstanding dish)
Poached Oyster – 9.25/10 (not a huge oyster fan, but really enjoyed this, very well balanced and composed)
Abalone – 10/10 (layers of flavor, textures, just amazing)
Alaskan Halibut – 10/10 (perfectly cooked, sauce was perfect)
Squab – 8/10 (super nice crispy skin, but after having Symth’s squab in Chicago, it couldn’t compete)
Venison Sausage – 9.5/10 (nicely seasoned small bite)
Sunchoke, Porcini, Bread Course – 9.75/10 (the sunchoke and porcini spoon was so good, butter was great and the culturing made it taste like a mild cheese, bread I personally prefer slightly less crust)
Aged Dairy Cow, and Tartare Tartlet – 10/10 (one of the best beef dishes in recent memory, the main steak was cooked perfectly and the tartare tart was so good
Dairy Nocturne and Broth – 9.5/10 (great creamy end to the meal mirroring the cheese in the first tart)
Raw Milk and Rhubarb – 9.75/10 (nice back to back milk progression with a good bitter and light rhubarb to refresh the palette)
Toasted Chestnut – 10/10 (it’s hard to see how many layers were in this dessert, but there was a lot of depth like all of these dishes, great ending to the meal)
Mignardises – 9.5/10 (carmel was the winner, the white chocolate marshmallow my second favorite)
I saw the first few pictures and it made me think I needed to go again. I went maybe in the first few months and I thought there was a lot of potential. I remember it felt unfocused but had some of my favorite bites there. Seeing your review solidifies that I should go again.
Looks great, will need to check it out.