restaurant review: state bird provisions

Mini fried quail with cheese.

(San Francisco, CA).  For over a year my Bay Area friends have been raving about State Bird Provisions, which was awarded one michelin star and won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2013.  They all raved that the food was consistently amazing and the place was
definitely worth the hype.  While I don't necessarily buy into the michelin grading system - which has a very french and western european bias and has not yet fully embraced the amazing flavors and food cultures of the east - it did seem to further validate that this was a restaurant worth visiting.... if you were lucky enough to score a reservation or patient enough to wait in line for hours.

My husband and I had received a gift certificate for State Bird Provisions as a wedding gift.  When we managed to get a reservation on opentable, we booked our flights and hotel around the reservation. But less than a day after booking, opentable cancelled our reservation due to a systems error.  This was extremely disappointing since we had already made our travel plans so I reached out to the restaurant directly and they were absolutely lovely about trying to accommodate us.  While we couldn't keep our original reservation time, they confirmed us for an earlier dinner time.  Yay for State Bird!



I always check out a restaurant's menu before I go, and although they state that their menu changes frequently, the mix of options seemed interesting and driven by seasonal ingredients.  I get very tired of restaurants all doing the exact same things with interchangeable menus.  We later found out that they always have a few core items that are staples on the menu, but that the "dim sum cart" offerings change daily based on what is available at the markets.  We actually ran into one of the owners (Stuart Brioza) at the farmer's market that morning and I'm pretty sure that's where he got the plums that were served with the pork belly later that night.

When we arrived for our 5:30 pm reservation, there was already a line about 30 deep in front for

omg!  look at the line!

walk-ins.  We were seated on time and the service throughout the night was helpful, friendly and prompt.  The food was all very innovative and interesting - and fortunately, they didn't taste like "experiments" - meaning the dishes were actually tasty!  I've been to restaurants that were all about experimentation and they seemed to prioritize concept over taste, which never made any sense to me.

We probably over-ordered but we managed to eat about 10 dishes between my husband and myself, plus a bottle of wine.  In total, we had:

• guinea hen dumplings in broth - savory little mouthfuls

  

  Duck Mousse Liver.

• duck mousse liver with almond cakes - the balance between the cakes and the liver was perfect
• pastrami with corn fritters - interesting flavors - my husband loved this, but I'm not a huge pastrami fan
• ribs cooked in its own juices - a bit smoky and very tender; I wished it was a tad sweeter
• potato chips with a salmon and avocado dip - this was one of our favorites of the night - super addictive
• sesame pancake with anchovies, radishes and creme fraiche - great texture on the pancakes and the creme fraiche was able to counterbalance the fishiness of the anchovies
• garlic roll with burrata - really good textures but I wish the roll had more flavor
• fried guinea hen - very tasty and juicy, like a mini fried chicken
• pork belly with plums - delicious but at this point I think we were getting quite full and couldn't fully enjoy the

  

  Pork belly.

  awesomeness that is pork belly



Ribs.

• ice cream sandwich - I think it was blue bottle coffee ice cream with some sort of delicious dense wafer cookie and nuts - really good!

Cart o' goodies.

I was about to burst when the meal was over. I'm certain that my fullness contributed to my klutsy breaking of a wine glass - sorry State Bird!

Ice cream!

All in all, we really enjoyed our experience and the food at State Bird Provisions.  The food, service and innovation were all good.  I would return to see what interesting new flavors they want to showcase in the future.  While I wouldn't consider it one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco yet since there wasn't any dish that really left me craving for more - it is definitely a great addition to the SF food scene and has great potential.  I would recommend going as a group of at least 4 people to be able to sample everything without feeling overstuffed.

In total for dinner with the bottle of wine plus tax and tip, we spent about $180 for 2 people.