Starting this week, ~SAISON~ is launching their wine bar concept, Dcantr. Every Tuesday through Saturday evening (from 6pm-11pm), you’ll be able to swing by Stable Café (the café in the front of the building—Saison is in the back) for a selection of wines and more casual à la carte dishes. (Plus some choice music on the system.) The majority of the simple New American dishes will be cooked on the hearth or in the wood-burning oven, but there will be some cold dishes as well (priced $8-$28). Dishes include chicken liver mousseline, quince butter, and toast; sea urchin toast with smoked seaweed butter; and fried sand dabs, ember-roasted Orion fennel, and wild fennel citronette. You can view the complete menu here. No reservations.
Wine director Mark Bright has chosen about five reds and whites each by the glass ($8-$14), with some Henriot poured as well ($18), beers, and some stickies. The list will expand in coming weeks. An interactive and interesting thing Bright is doing is allowing guests to mix their own pinot blend from one producer but three different AVAs (Carneros, Russian River, and Sonoma Coast)—look for the “blending bar” option on the wine list.
And Grub Street released the news that Saison has hired a new pastry chef, Matt Tinder, who was formerly at Meadowood.
Marcia Gagliardi is a freelance food writer in San Francisco. She writes a weekly column, Foodie 411 for the SFCVB on their “Taste” site; a monthly gossip column, “The Tablehopper” for The Northside; and regular features for Edible San Francisco. Her first book came out in March 2010: The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco: Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion.
