Well I guess when you arrive into the group of “elite restaurants” in San Francisco, you do not need to have a sign on your door stating where you are located. One should just know where you are! That is what we discovered when trying to find State Bird Provisions. I constantly peruse lists of top favorites wherever I am traveling to, so I don’t miss out on any spectacular culinary experiences. This time, it required staying up till midnight, (not always an easy task for me these days) and booking a reservation 60 days in advance. Upon arrival, the hostess noted that they also save seats at their chef’s counter and some of the tables for walk-ins. There were even some folks who arrived that day at 3:30 PM for just that purpose! (they don’t open till 5:30) I was thankful to have had our reservation.
One wonders if restaurants can ever live up to hype and expectation that is created from all of the press they are given. I find that it can easily go either way for me and it’s about a 50/50 gamble. This time, it was a winner in almost every category!
Hannah was our server and she was terrific! She helped us navigate through the process there to help steer us in the right direction. They offer a unique dining experience by serving an assortment of dim sum style dishes along with choices from their menu. There were about 20 dim sum items available and we saw about half of them come by our table. Fortunately, they come quickly before you get a chance to order off the menu, which saved us from ordering a major excess of food. Don’t misunderstand though, we certainly did not leave there hungry!
I really enjoyed the small portion eating as it gave us an opportunity to try a zillion different things! Also, by sharing dishes, if you liked some less than others, you were only committed to a bite or two of your “not favorite thing”. If you loved it, you could easily ask for more!
I was hard pressed to find anything I didn’t like and surprisingly enough, the items I liked the most were not what I expected. For instance, the Rabbit-Provolone Croquettes with Tomato Agridulce was one of my favorite items. I have always been afraid to order rabbit in the past assuming it would be too gamey and awful. But to my surprise, I loved it! I expected that their signature dish, the CA State Bird with Provisions, would be my favorite as I love quail and who could do it better than a restaurant with it’s very name? However, it was not my favorite item at all. They served it battered and fried and I found it a bit dry and unexceptional although I have to admit the sauce was great. However, the Red Trout with Toasted Hazelnut-Mandarine-Garum Vinaigrette was incredible and probably my favorite dish of the night!
Here are the rest of the pics of our starters and dim sum items which were all quite tasty:
For our dessert lineup we selected the Ice Cream Sandwiches pictured previously, the Blue Bottle Coffee Ganache with szechuan pepper marshmallow, pecan crumble & raspberries and their Signature Item – the “world peace” Peanut Muscovado Milk. My favorite was the Ice Cream Sandwiches!
To top off the evening, Hannah graciously gave me restaurant recommendations for our upcoming trip to Portland, OR. I thoroughly enjoyed this dining adventure and have added it to my fav’s list of SF restaurants!