An Amazing Meal at Atelier Crenn
I turned 40 this year and, in celebration of this, my wife wanted to do something special for me. I’d been watching a bit of Chef’s Table on Netflix and one of the places on the show was right over in SF, so she figured why not get us a dinner there?
The place, of course, is Atelier Crenn, a two Michelin Star (update: three star now!) restaurant which does a lot of ocean-inspired fare.
As this was our first time at a fancy restaurant, we didn’t know what to expect. However, the staff was EXTREMELY attentive; they got us situated, made us comfortable, and took care of everything. I mean, they even switched out our napkins if either of us went to the restroom (and we did a couple times each because we were there for hours).
It felt like we had two people dedicated to just our table, and we probably did as there were only maybe 10 tables in the whole place; it felt quite exclusive.
But the food. There were 7 courses of dinner and 8 courses of dessert, so already a great proportion. The food was fantastic; all of it was so flavorful and rich. Despite that, the portions were manageable and tuned for “you’re gonna eat a ton of little dishes” so we felt satisfied but not stuffed at the end.
Much of it was seafood or seafood-based; we even got to try geoduck which I had heard of and intellectually knew was a thing that could be eaten, but never thought I’d try.
Two of my favorites were the “adult cereal” (pictured above), which was savory with a kind of texture of oatmeal; I have no idea everything which was in it aside from “some form of seafood and grain” but I would love to start all my days with this.
The other I really loved was wagyu beef with shaved white truffles (above). The truffles were an expensive add-on but they did not skimp; they completely hid the beef! Man, it was just so tender and tasty!
The desserts were the show pieces, IMO. They tasted so good, but the presentation was top-notch.
At one point, it was almost “how do I even eat this?” Or, also, “what is even edible here?”
I mean, whose hand is that? Was that custom-made for this dish, or are there just… hand plates somewhere that I don’t know about?
This one was pretty cool; it was tobacco-leaf-scented fog along with the rest of the dessert which was vanilla (if I remember correctly). Besides being visually impressive, it smelled heavenly; the tobacco was such a good accenting scent for the food, which was a surprise.
By the end of the night, we were super happy with the experience and, as I mentioned, weren’t hungry or stuffed. I don’t think I could do a meal like this every night (certainly can’t afford it!) but I’m super grateful that my wife treated me to this. If it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I’m okay with it!