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Saison

San Francisco

Fine dining open-hearth pioneer’s new era

Saison 2.0: From humble Mission District pop-up to world-renowned restaurant under founding chef Joshua Skenes, Saison was an early pioneer of upscale open-hearth cooking and elements like sauces made with bones and livers of animals. Since opening in 2009, it has continued to accumulate accolades and has been ranked as high as No.27 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2016 list. Now, Saison has entered a new era under executive chef Richard Lee, who has been evolving this monumental restaurant with heart and warmth as it pushes steadily towards two decades in service.

Chef CV: Lee's impressive resume includes five years as sous chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York, where he developed a deep respect for seasonality and produce. Swiftly working his way up the ranks at Saison from executive sous chef to chef de cuisine and finally executive chef, under Lee, Saison reclaimed a spot on The World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2023, the only Bay Area restaurant on the list that year.

On the menu: Chef Lee is a San Francisco native and first-generation Chinese-American who showcases Northern California's superb ingredients, farmers, ranchers and fishermen. He weaves in his heritage and a vivid east-meets-west, international ethos on ever-evolving, seasonal menus that heavily employ open-cooking in front of diners. Playfulness is also a strong value, exemplified in bites like duck liver pistachio stroopwafels.

Wine masters: Saison co-founder, winemaker and sommelier Mark Bright has long been a trailblazer in Burgundy wines, while a team of sommeliers and beverage and service director Molly Greene serve from a massive wine collection, select spirits and cocktails. They dive deep into old and new world wine as well as wines from their own Saison Winery, helmed by Bright. And, yes, they still have one of the most impressive Burgundy wine collections in the nation.

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