For my 32nd birthday we went to kiln, a fine dining spot in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of SF. There isn’t as much online that I can find written about kiln compared to other tasting menu restaurants in SF and I want to contribute this quick note to just document our absolutely incredible meal. I’m fortunate to have been able to eat at some really amazing restaurants around the Bay Area but I think kiln might be the best meal I’ve had…arguably better than my 30th birthday at The French Laundry¹.

I don’t really have anything more profound than that to say about it, just overall the team at kiln are amazing and we felt so welcomed and cared for throughout our entire meal there. We were there for a little over three hours and the whole thing felt a little bit like a work of art that we got to participate in.

The other note I have is that the space itself is stunning - it felt like an old warehouse that had been repurposed into an intimate yet comfortable dining space. All the parties there were positioned next to one another at each table, rather than seated across from one another. This allowed the chefs to come and present each course to us from across the table, rather than having to approach from the side. It felt so much more intimate and performance-like than other restaurants I’ve been to.

the menu

This section is just going to be a long list of pictures from the meal with a brief description of each one.

The first snack, a puffed beef tendon. Sort of like a pork rind but much better. I wish I could eat a bag of them.

The second snack, a little cracker sandwich with truffles, cheese, and lamb heart. Unexpectedly a great combo.

The first seafood course, some delicious shima aji (a type of mackerel). This was more subdued than a lot of the other courses. It clearly showed that the kitchen knows what they’re doing, and it let the quality of the fish shine through.

The second seafood bite, and probably Becca’s favorite bite of the night, a seaweed tart with dungeness crab and a horseradish cream. Amazing! I would happily pay for a bucket of the horseradish sauce.

Next up, probably the best scallop I’ve ever had coated in a delicious velvety sauce of peas other yummy things. Hard to describe, but one of my favorites of the night

Not pictured was a caviar course where we basically just got a surprisingly large bowl of caviar with a delicious chicken fat broth and onion vinegar. The tartness of the vinegar really contrasted nicely with the richness of the caviar.

Then we had two more great seafood courses. A razor clam with white asparagus that was good and then a simply amazing abalone dish in a rich creamy sauce with a condiment made out of abalone livers. I’m not sure how someone can take an abalone and turn it into something this delicious, but the team succeeded in a huge way. It was amazing. It’s hard to see in this photo, but there were very generous pieces of abalone in the cream sauce and the condiment was at the bottom of the dish.

The final seafood course was a piece of halibut topped with a stuffed morel mushroom. The photo doesn’t do it justice. It was some of the best fish I’ve ever had.

Next up, our meat courses began. Starting with squab, which unexpectedly was probably my favorite bite of the night. The skin was perfectly crispy, the sauce was vibrant and perfect with the richness of the meat, and the squab heart was surprisingly delicious. Perfection.

Next up we had some venison charcuterie as a little snack between the substantial meat courses. It was apparently cured with rums and warming spices and those notes came through beautifully. If the team at kiln ever wanted to moonlight in the charcuterie business they’d make a killing

Then we had a series of courses from the same aged, retired dairy cow. It was honestly nice to be told a bit about the life of the animal that constituted part of our meal. It’s good that the restaurant practices ethical sourcing of their meats and I think from a sustainability standpoint it’s probably good to utilize a cow that’s had a long happy life on a dairy farm. The courses were:

• a rich custard (for lack of a better term) made from sunchokes and parts of the dairy cow’s bone marrow and I think liver. It was meaty and comforting
• a dark rye and buckwheat loaf with raw butter, I believe from the same farm that the dairy cow was from. Easily among the best bread I’ve ever had
• a slice of ribeye steak from the dairy cow
• a tart with some beef tartare from the same cow along with beets and ramps

By this point in the meal, I was honestly struggling a bit from the richness of the food and the amazing wine pairings. Thankfully there was just one more savory course: a cheese “beignet” with a pork broth to sip on.

Then came the desserts. These were great but honestly not as amazing as the savory courses. That said, they were harmonious with the meal, as we had some raw milk sorbet from that same dairy farm (those cows have been busy!) along with a roasted yeast cake with a rich coffee sauce. As someone who doesn’t always love chocolate, it was honestly refreshing to have a dessert menu that didn’t revolve around chocolatey dishes. These were all relatively light bites that complemented the savory portion of the meal very well. We were then presented with some truffles, which they very mercifully packed for us to go as we were so beyond stuffed by that point. To finish, we sipped on some lemon verbena tea which calmed our stomachs a bit.

Overall, there isn’t much more to say. This is definitely now my favorite fine dining spot in SF and IMO it deserves a second Michelin star at the very least.