California Official Visitor's Guide 2018 - 37

IN SITU
SAN FRANCISCO
The San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art is home to one of
the world's largest collections
of contemporary art. Fittingly,
Corey Lee, the chef behind
the city's three-Michelin-star
Benu, created a dining experience that showcases works
from the culinary equivalents
of Warhol and Rothko. In
Situ celebrates chef as artist
with a "collection" of recipes
contributed by nearly 100
culinary luminaries. Lee
faithfully re-creates around
15 dishes for the à la carte
menus. Diners might have
the opportunity to taste
Nordic genius René Redzepi's
wood sorrel and sheep's milk
yogurt or Bangkok chef David
Thompson's guinea fowl larp
Chiang Mai.
insitu.sfmoma.org
In Situ

In Situ

Taco María

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ERIC WOLFINGER (2), SHUTTERSTOCK, ANNE WATSON

Taco María's Jardineros tacos
feature shiitake mushroom
chorizo, crispy potato, and
queso fundido served with
handmade tortillas.

TACO MARÍA
C O STA M E SA
Haute Mexican food sounds like an oxymoron, but chef
Carlos Salgado is changing perceptions with his four-course
menu at Taco María. At first glance, the restaurant looks
like a taco bar tucked into an upscale mall. And though the
restaurant was born of Salgado's popular taco truck of the
same name, you won't find his next-level tacos on the nightly
menu (he does serve them at lunch). Dinner is an homage to Salgado's family heritage. He takes the flavors of his
mother's and grandmothers' kitchens and reinvents them
with techniques he gleaned working in Michelin-star restaurants. The eight-seat chef's counter offers the best views of
the kitchen, where a team of chefs tend to a wood-burning
grill. Artful dishes, most of them vegetarian, might include
a delicately balanced aguachile starring a large Hokkaido
scallop, cucumber, and avocado in a mixture of jalapeño and
citrus. You won't find a margarita on the drinks menu, but you
can have sommelier Wendy Robb suggest wine pairings.
tacomaria.com/prix-fixe

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of California Official Visitor's Guide 2018