In Situ

I first heard about In Situ while I having my last meal at my favorite restaurant in London: Kitchen Table. We were telling the chef that we were moving to San Francisco the following month, and he started telling us a funny story about how he was on Instagram and saw a photo for one of his hot dogs from his casual dining restaurant, Bubbledogs, where they do hot dogs and Champagne. However, he saw that the photo of the hot dog was not actually from his restaurant (even though it was in fact, his hot dog), and he brought it up to his wife. She told him that they had agreed to do this collaboration with Corey Lee (of Benu fame) where he was recreating one of their hot dogs in his restaurant. It turns out, that it was the whole concept of the restaurant. As it’s a restaurant in the SF MOMA, they take dishes from all over the world and “display” them in the museum dining room. It’s a fantastic idea, and after hearing this story, I knew it needed to go on the list of places to eat at when we moved. However, the right opportunity never arose…that is of course until my parents told me they were coming to visit AND it was on their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I told my mother about the restaurant, and she thought it would be a fantastic place to celebrate, so I made a booking, and after a day in Napa wine tasting, we headed to the museum to have dinner.

The decorations are sparse, almost cafeteria-style. I suppose it’s there to add to the fact that you are indeed eating at a museum restaurant, even if it’s unlike those you’ve eaten at before. Along the back wall there are a lot of images that, frankly, we thought they obtained from a kindergarten class at a nearby school when they asked them to paint food. That would have been quite an interesting art installation to be honest, but instead the art was done by a forty-seven year old artist. A shame. The table had four ceramic water glasses in the center.

We perused the menu to decide what to order. They offer quite a few wines by the glass (although I think practically all of them are California wines), so we had a selection of things to try during the meal, including a locally-made sake. We ordered a large selection of dishes to share, although we were questioned by the server when we only ordered one lobster; apparently it’s a popular dish, and, as she mentioned, people seem to love lobster. Interestingly, while the menu screams “fine dining”, they have taken the California, laid-back approach to dining, so it’s definitely a casual setting, but with expensive, high-quality food.

They gave us our cutlery, which it turns out was set down on a plate all for itself. I suppose it makes clean up easier, and it was a whimsical way for it to be done. They also brought out a transparency (what is this, 1995?) with the words “First taste” written on it, on which they placed our first dish of a cuttlefish cappuccino. It was a very tasty dish, with cuttlefish and potato served in a dish to look like a cappuccino. It was a great start, and made me feel good about the rest of the dishes to come. It was a bit strange that no other transparencies made an appearance during our meal, as I kept waiting for more. Next we the red ravioli which was a beetroot ravioli filled with smoked haddock and an egg yolk. The dish was also served on half a plate, which I found a bit on the hipster side of things, but I suppose if it was only going to be served on one side of the plate, it doesn’t matter that the other side wasn’t there. The dish itself was really good, but I was expecting more of a smoked haddock flavor, which I didn’t think was very present. Next we had Dadinhos de Tapioca, or tapioca fritters. These were light and crispy, and the chile sauce served with it was pretty spectacular. There were five in a serving, and I almost felt like we needed another three plates so all four of us could have more! It was definitely one of the best dishes of the evening.

Up next were the butter chicken wings. Which turned out weren’t really “wings” in the traditional sense as all the meat had been removed from the bones, and they made cubes of meat with the butter sauce. All in all it was a pretty solid dish, but I do prefer my curry a bit more powerful. Then we had the Tomato velvet and shrimp. It was a pretty good dish, with a strong tomato flavor. My partner thought the shrimp was a bit metallic tasting though, and since he isn’t a huge tomato fan, didn’t have much of the sauce. I didn’t notice it as much with the sauce, but perhaps the sauce was covering it up? It was a nice dish, but it did seem to be lacking something in the wow department. Next up were the “spicy” courses: the wasabi lobster and the cebiche. The lobster looked fantastically green on the plate, and while 1/4 of the lobster definitely was a great bite of seafood, I can definitely see why people would get more of it, as it’s probably one of the best dishes they had. Finally the cibiche was wonderfully acidic and had some great raw seafood, but it was lacking a bit in the spice department, and wasn’t as good as some others I’ve had in the past. Neither of the dishes were what I would call “spicy” to be honest, but I do have quite a high level of spice tolerance primarily due to my chile eating days in New Mexico.

Up next, we had the Jokbal Ssam, which were some lettuce wraps with pig’s trotter. It was a fun, hands-on dish, but again, the flavors were a bit subtle, and I would have preferred more of a punch from the sambal it was served with and a bit more seasoning in the meat itself. Next was the glazed chicken thigh. It was done Japanese-style with an onsen egg on top. However, when you cut into it, the egg kind of disappeared into the mountain of lettuce, and the thigh itself wasn’t really that exciting. It was nice, but I feel like it could have been executed better. It was a dish tailor made for the restaurant by the chef in Japan, as they don’t actually put it on the menu at the original restaurant, so it was just kind of an odd thing to be there considering the concept. Finally, for our last savory course, we had Lamb Shank Manti, which turned out to be some sort of tortellini type dish with braised lamb shank inside. It was served with a sumac sauce, tomato and smoked yogurt. This was a dish that split the table, as I and my mother loved it, but my dad and my partner weren’t that keen on it.

For dessert, we had the Jasper Hill Farm Cheesecake and the Eton Mess. I was really excited about both of these desserts, as we had the cheesecake from its parent restaurant Tickets in Barcelona, and while I wasn’t a massive fan of the savory dishes from Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social in London, the desserts were spectacular, so I expected great things from the Eton Mess. The cheesecake was presented identically to the one in Spain, but the flavor and texture were slightly different. Which at first was disappointing, but when we talked with the server, she explained that a lot of the recipes had to be adapted to work in California where the produce is different, so they had to get a different type of cheese to use, and in realizing that, I recognized it for being a great dessert, even if it was different and perhaps slightly less good than the original. I do love the presentation though, as it looks like a cheese wheel and crackers, something that is usually savory, but the sweet twist really makes for a fun dessert. Finally the Eton Mess was a great, light dessert, filled with amazing California strawberry flavor with the sorbet. Not a traditional Eton Mess, but one with all the flavors you would want, but with a lighter feel.

For me (and hopefully my parents), In Situ was a delight. While not all the courses blew me away, it is such a fun and interesting idea to be able to go to a restaurant where you can try dishes from places around the world, as I can only imagine the cost of going to all of these places in person (the cost at the restaurant was definitely cheaper than that, but with the price point, it’s not a place to come to that often). I have been personally lucky enough to have been to two of the restaurants on the menu, and I think that they did a great job in showcasing them at the museum. I think my dad may have been hoping for the hot dog from Bubbledogs, but it was not on the menu when we went. I was also a bit disappointed that Massimo Bottura’s “Oops I dropped the lemon tart” is no longer on the menu (as his food is spectacular, and I’ve been obsessed with trying that dessert since I saw it on Masterchef in the UK), but the meal, service and atmosphere were quite enjoyable, and if the menu does change often enough, it’s incentive to come back as there will be new things on the menu to try, especially if that tart ever goes back on the menu!

Food: ★★★★☆
Service: ★★★★☆
Atmosphere: ★★★★★
Value: ★★★☆☆
Overall: ★★★★☆

In Situ
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103