Saison Smokehouse

If you are a Michelin stared restaurant, what do you do in the days of COVID, particularly when there was *no* indoor nor outdoor dining allowed?  Well, most closed, and hoped they could ride it out.  But the owners of Michelin-starred Angler and Michelin two-star Saison had other plans.

The pivoted.  In a major way.  And introduced a whole new restaurant concept, Saison Smokehouse, operating out of the Angler kitchen.  They offered takeout only when it was the only option, and immediately opened some patio seating once they were able, right along the Embarcadero.  They also added a larder, selling their condiments, different styles of bbq sauce, pork cracklings, bone broth, and more.  The only item from either the Angler or Saison menu that stayed on?  The embered caramel frosty.

To say the concept has been a hit is an understatement.  People have been *raving* about this as legit BBQ.  Nearly every menu item is met with accolades - the best brisket, the best biscuits, the best pastrami, etc.  Even if I wasn't really craving BBQ, I was drawn in by a few side items.  I would gladly order again, or return for patio dining.  I'm very curious what will happen as dining opens back up ... will they keep the concept?  It is so very different from what either Saison or Angler had before ...

Setting

During the shelter-in-place and restaurant closure in San Francisco, Saison Smokehouse set up shop in a prominent location: inside Angler, the sister establishment of Saison, right on the Embarcadero, just 10 minutes from my house.  I took advantage of the location randomly one evening, when the weather wasn't awful, and I wanted to grab a snack.  

Some Dining!

My visit was the first week that outdoor dining was allowed in San Francisco, and Saison Smokehouse took advantage, with a few tables out on the sidewalk.

I got takeout however, and it was ready quickly through Caviar.

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• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]

Food

The concept is BBQ.  Casual, approachable, BBQ.  With, um, some seriously talented chefs backing it.

Menu.

The menu stars two large, customizable set meals, designed to feed multiple people (the "Red Meal" for $75 and the "Gold Meal" for $140), with your choice of proteins, your choice of sides, and of course, their biscuits, slaw, pickles, and the frostys.  

There are additional sides, sandwiches (think: smoked pork belly cubano!), and the larder items, available as well.  Sides are kicked up a notch or two though, the collards have ham hocks, the mac and cheese is made with local cheeses from wine country and orecchiette pasta, the slaw has wild fennel vinegar as the base, the barbecue beans come from Rancho Gordo, etc.

Takeout Snack: Biscuits & Pickles. $8.

Yeah, yeah, I went to a BBQ joint, and ... didn't get the BBQ.  For one, I'm not really a BBQ girl normally, although I certainly would be happy to try this, but really, the portions of the BBQ are huge, and I was alone, so, I opted to just get a snack.

I almost got a few other sides, trying their beans, or the mac and cheese, but decided to keep it simple, get my biscuits and pickles (cravings!) and go home to eat more dinner.

Everything was packaged nicely.

Grandma's Buttermilk Biscuits and Honey Butter. Half order. $6.

The biscuits were served hot, which delighted me.  I wasn't sure if takeout would be room temp / cold in general, for you to bring home and reheat or not.  The moment I felt the bag and felt the warmth, I was quite pleased.  The honey butter was actually not packaged in with the biscuits, so it wouldn't melt.  Good call on their part.

A half order of biscuits is 2 biscuits, served with a half container only of honey butter.  $6.  Price seemed reasonable, $3 per biscuit for a Michelin star biscuit?  A full order of 4 is $11.  This amount of honey butter however was not sufficient (more on that soon).

Grandma's Buttermilk Biscuits: THE LAYERS!

I will admit, the biscuits sure did look pretty amazing.  I mean, look at those layers!   Crisp perfectly golden exterior.

Grandma's Buttermilk Biscuits: DENSE!

But they weren't actually layered and flaky within.  I was really quite surprised at the texture.  They were moist, but very very dense.  And very, very heavy.  Loaded, loaded, loaded with butter I'm sure.

I think for this style biscuit, it was a very good biscuit.  Flawless, in the baking, no question.  But I was wanting / expecting either something more flaky and layered, or more crumbly.  This kind of biscuit isn't quite what I was going for.

I also wanted to taste more of the buttermilk?  I love a tangy biscuit, and this really didn't have much tang at all.

So I was kinda saddened by the biscuit.  I could tell it had good pedigree, but it just wasn't really the style for me.  Luckily, the best part was still to come, and made it enjoyable, nonetheless.

Honey Butter.

Yeah, the honey butter.  Of course honey butter is good, but this *really* good.  3 Michelin star honey butter!  Heh.

As fluffy as it gets, and the sweetness level was just nailed.  I adored it, really.  I literally used this entire tub on a single biscuit, but luckily I devoured it nearby, so I could return and ask for more.  Yes, yes, I did.  Gulp.  Don't judge.  I loved this stuff.

Country Pickle. $2.

I also have been really craving pickles, so I wanted to see what they did for pickles.  The menu listed them sold whole, but it actually was 3 spears - I guess that does make a whole pickle together.  

They were fine pickles.  Good crunch. Nice acid level.  But nothing particularly notable.  Good if you want some acid and crunch with your food, sure.