Although we were only in San Francisco for a weekend, I wanted to squeeze in a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Unfortunately, most of them were too expensive. After a methodical survey, I found two one-Michelin star restaurants in the city of San Francisco that were somewhat reasonable- Range and bushi-tei. Both restaurants looked good, but Bushi-tei got better reviews and seemed to have a more interesting menu.
It’s a Japanese-French fusion restaurant located in Japantown. Unlike Orris, that other Japanese-French fusion favorite of mine, however, bushi-tei is decorated with wood from a 16th century Japanese building. As you can guess, the design is more high-concept, and the prices are correspondingly so.
We were seated by an older woman in a kimono, which is actually sort of unusual given that this was a sophisticated city restaurant and not, hopefully, a tourist trap. The clientele was sleek, sophisticated, and in their 30s and 40s. I was very glad I had worn my Dian von Furstenberg wrap dress. While not quite as label conscious as LA, the diners were definitely a cut above the vegan people last night.
I wanted to order a glass of sake, but the first one I ordered was out. Given the foods we were ordering, a white wine or sake would have been fine, but I though a Pinot Gris would hold up better to the heavier plates than sake. Well, that, and I can tell the difference between good and better wines more easily than I can for sake. In any case, GameBoy got some white wine, and I ended up with some Pinot Gris. It worked well for me.
We nibbled the amuse bouche, a piece of cocktail toast with green flying fish caviar on top, and perused the menu. Having filled up on cheese and fries late in the afternoon, we decided to order four different appetizers to split. The first appetizer was smoked sockeye salmon. It consisted of about 5 slices of salmon, sliced sashimi-thin, and topped with delicate paper-thin slices of radish and a few soy sauce-marinated ikura. It was a bit awkward to pick up the fish with our stylish wood branch chopsticks, but deliciously rich and flavorful.
Next was the ahi tuna tartare. The tuna was made of big-eye tuna, which was chopped and mixed in with other stuff, then piled high on top of an avocado base. It was garnished with the typical wonton chip, but a very good version compared to every other place in California that does this dish. The thing that set this apart was the generous helping of tobiko flying fish caviar on top. It was a nice dark red, and had a satisfying crunch we both liked. Still, I think it’s hard to taste the quality of the tuna this way, and I would have preferred to try other dishes. Very yummy, though, and something to keep in mind when making my own variant of ahi poke.
Our third dish was the miso-marinated Kobe beef. This was sliced sashimi-thin, and topped with sprouts, slices of apple and melted cheese. The Camembert was nicely smoky and flavorful on its own, and complimented the beef and toppings nicely. It’ve had Kobe beef once before, but this was much better prepared and even GameBoy, who generally avoids fat, ate every morsel. We also noted that the General Manager, who was dining next to us, ordered this. He ordered this as an appetizer, and his date ordered it as her entrée. Incredibly yummy, and definitely a must-eat.
Finally, we had the foie gras. This was seared and served in a dish with a pumpkin crème. As you might have notice from my review of Orris, I love foie gras, but this version was particularly good. It was seared nicely and contrasted well with the sweetness of the pumpkin crème. My only complaint was that it was somewhat of a small portion for the price. I need to learn how to sear my own, since otherwise I’m going to spend all my money on this indulgence until it gets banned in a few years.
During this dish, the owner came over to talk with us, which was quite nice and interesting. He was a short, well-groomed Japanese gentleman who spoke knowledgeably about his chef, restaurant manager, and the food. Though I suppose it’s very common for owners to go over and talk with customers, I felt especially flattered since I’m relatively younger than his target demographic. GameBoy seemed especially happy when the owner asked if he was in the hospitality business. Since his father actually is in that industry, it was fun for GameBoy to be asked this, apparently. The owner talked with us for some time, and returned later, which was very nice of him.
For dessert we split the apple dumpling, which the owner described as a signature dish of the chef. It was a good version of an apple tart, and had cute presentation. GameBoy stopped eating when we ran out of ice cream, but it was not overly sweet like many desserts, and I finished it on its own.
Surprisingly, the bill, while pricey, was not as high as for Millenium, despite the top-quality dishes we had ordered. To us, this reaffirmed our initial feeling that Millenium was not a good value for the money. In contrast, bushi-tei, though pricey, was well worth the expense, considering the quality of ingredients together with the sophisticated preparation and presentation of the food. The timing, in particular was of note, since each dish came out at just the right time, without making us feel rushed, or like we were waiting forever. I’ll definitely be back, but I might have to supplement this fine dining with food afterwards- the portions, like many similar restaurants are a bit on the small side. However, it made up for this with its beautiful décor. The wood added charm and character to an otherwise somewhat sterile design, the place settings were nicely done, and the fancy automated Japanese toilet was a fun quirky touch. Well worth a trip if you’re in town.
Date of Visit: 3/31/07
bushi-tei
