In Eat Here Now, we serve up the newest, the buzziest, or simply the rediscovered in SF food. If you can pick only one place to eat at this week — go here.
As soon as I take a bite of the oeufs mayonnaise, I know without a doubt that Bon Délire is the real deal. The eggs, which sit atop a bed of bay shrimp, are crowned with Tsar Nicoulai caviar. But it’s the mayonnaise itself — creamy and impossibly rich — that brings me back to a similarly perfect lunch I enjoyed in Paris this summer.
It may make a killer mayo, but at first glance, Bon Délire, a new restaurant on the Embarcadero, doesn’t play to American expectations of a French bistro. There are no red banquettes and shiny brass accents, just subtle nods like well-worn zinc bartops and elegant ribbed-glass partitions separating the dining room from the kitchen.
Owner Kais Bouzidi, who grew up in Paris and moved to San Francisco in his early 20s, has long wanted to add a French restaurant to his restaurant portfolio, which also includes Sens and Barcha. Perhaps because he’s actually French, he didn’t feel the need to create a stereotypical design of a Parisian bistro. Though there are sidewalk tables, which are good for recreating the pastime of people-watching.