Northern exposure
Sons & Daughters (Mission)
BARS & RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: Fifteen years, one major chef turnover, and multiple awards later, Sons & Daughters recently left its longtime digs on Nob Hill, reopening in the well-appointed, barely lived-in Mission District space that briefly housed Osito. The move has given guests a little more room to spread out, and has given chef Harrison Cheney a reason to expand his impressive, hyper-seasonal menu.
The Vibe: Keeping the beautiful wood paneling from Osito and giving it a hearty sanding (and a blonder Nordic finish), the new dining room feels like a more appropriate stage for Cheney’s envelope-pushing, often theatrical food. All seats now feature views of the showplace kitchen — now fully induction-based, with Osito’s wood hearth removed. Several courses, like a supplemental course of lactic-fermented potatoes with white Alba truffles, currently in season, involve tableside preparations.
The Food: No other chef in San Francisco is trying to marry the austere, local, and seasonal ethos of New Nordic cuisine with California’s more freewheeling, often Mediterranean-leaning food like Cheney is. Evenings at Sons & Daughters now begin in the salon up front, where (before Osito) Bar Agricole and Liliana once served cocktails. Eight guests at a time partake in a tandem course that begins with a cup of broth, optional wine, and a selection of delicate but flavorful snacks — including a dish of roasted and juiced parsnips, and a tartine on Swedish knäckebröd (rye crispbread) with smoked whitefish roe and pumpkin.
What follows, once guests are ushered into the 14-seat dining room in back, is a 14-course menu, plus supplements and wildly unique mignardises, featuring dishes like Half Moon Bay black cod with golden Osetra caviar and fermented white asparagus, and Wolfe Ranch quail with first-of-season Perigord truffle and salted currants. When it’s in season, every menu features Cheney’s signature Gilfeather rutabaga, cooked in pasta-like strips in its own fermentation juices, served with a creamy sauce of smoked and aged pork fat. A mid-fall menu concluded with an applewood-smoked duck dish, followed by Millbrook venison with huckleberries, caramelized cream, beet juice, and lovage.
The Drink: Beverage director David Kolvek offers a wine pairing with nine unique pours, beginning with his current favorite, a Grenache blanc and gris blend from Popeluchum, the San Benito County vineyard of California winemaking legend Randall Graham (of Bonny Doon fame). The creamy, hazelnutty notes of the wine complement the opening snack courses, before diners dive into the other selections, which include a 2022 Michel Juillot Burgundy and a 30-year-old Oloroso sherry that gets paired with the rutabaga course. A reserve wine pairing includes some smaller production and unique pours, like a 2017 Poderi Colla Nebbiolo from Barolo, and there’s an extensive and appropriately spendy bottle list available as well. The restaurant also offers one of the most inventive alcohol-free beverage pairings in the city, using seasonal produce and ingredients like buttermilk whey and tea.
The Verdict: Buzz has been growing regarding the ambitious artistry at Sons & Daughters since Cheney took the helm three years ago. Now that his canvas has grown a little bigger, the experience has grown a few notches grander. –Jay Barmann
→ Sons & Daughters (Mission) • 2875 18th St • Tue-Thu 6-830p, Fri-Sat 5-830p - Reserve.