On the Road Again; Wells Visits Saison in San Francisco
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 11:44AM 
[jim wilson for the times]On Apritl 9th, Pete Wells filed a review on two restaurants in Houston: Oxheart and Underbelly, marking the start of a new series for the Times called "Critic on the Road." Today, Wells visits San Francisco, where chef Joshua Skenes and sommelier Mark Bright serve a $298 tasting menu at their restaurant Saison.
Wells ate at the San Francisco restaurant twice, with a year between visits. "During my earlier meal," he writes, "I would have given anything to speed things up." On the food, the critic noted, "A few dishes had a rough, unfinished quality, and some felt repetitive, but others were like nothing I’d seen before." On the service the first time around, Wells "was less thrilled by the attitude of the servers," and writes, "I know nobody asked if I was having a good time, because there were two long stretches when I wanted the whole thing to stop."
One year and a venue change seemed to be the breath of fresh air Skenes and co. needed to hit their stride. Wells found the staff "kinder and less cocky" the second time around, with Bright's wine pairings and desserts from pastry chef Shawn Gawle sharing an elegance that mimics the price tag.
"Saison brings together some of the best and the worst things about tasting menus, but now, I believe, the good has the upper hand. Facing down more than 15 courses, I wasn’t bored once," Wells writes, "and several times I was on the edge of my seat."
In a separate piece written for Diner's Journal, Wells sheds some light on what to expect with the new "Critic on the Road" column. "I think it’s time for the restaurant critic of The Times to cast a wider net," he writes. "The Times has been a national paper for years now, and its Web site is seen all around the world." There are no stars in place for the COTR template, "at least for now" Wells writes. "I don’t intend to skip out on New York City every three weeks," he adds, and explains, "This critic will be on the road regularly, but not that regularly." [NYTimes] [DJ]