Californios (** – San Francisco)

This is from last month September when I visited Californios in San Francisco. It was a great meal. Every dish was great. I did this a little before heading over to Copenhagen and Berlin where I tried Kadeau in Copenhagen and Coda in Berlin. Out of these three, Californios was definitely my favorite. It was a good thing I didn’t really eat lunch before coming here because it was a lot of food for me, too.

1. Chilapita – black masa tart, jalapeno & smoked sturgeon mousse, and golden reserve caviar
2. Tostada – Bolita azul masa tosada with blue fin tuna tonnato, with chile pasilla mixe oil
3. Flauta – Xocuyul rosado masa filled with kauai shrimp, chile negro, chile guajillo, and sesame seed. served with shiso guacamole
4. Ceviche – kombu cured hawaiian kanpachi in a heirloom tomato aguachile with serrano oil, and spring leaves
5. Sopa De Papas – braised and fried potatoes with medjool dates, potato soup, and cold smoked kaluga caviar
6. Hielo – knoll farms lemon verbena sorbet with blackberry
7. Bacalao Negro – hickory white masa tortilla with mezcal battered black cod, catalina plum salsas, little gem lettuce, and nasturtium crema
8. Alfonsino – hickory gold masa tortilla with golden alfonsino, nectarine salsa, fermented goosberry & aji amarillo salsa and opal basil
9. Venado – Conico marado masa tortilla with durham ranch venison with a morel, king trumpet and porcini mole from morchella wild foods, grilled chanterelle mushrooms, and coriander
10. Codoniz – recado negro marinated & smoked brent wolfe farm quail, served with smoked plantain, padron peppers & grilled spring onions, and finished with a smoked pineapple and pickled ramp jus
11. Asado – imperial reserve american wagyu with grilled summer squash, sun gold tomatoes, summer herbs and a pasilla mixe and meyer lemon beef jus
12. Frutas – canary melon juice with cucumber and lime
13. Luneta de chocolatl – cocoa nib yogurt crema, fig leaf ice cream, and fig leaf oil, with kashiwase white peaches compressed in whey, and honey coated grains
14. Marquesitas – crispy crepe filled with queso de bola cream, topped with chocolate hazelnut butter and fresh queso de bola
15. Raspberry Paleta in lime spun sugar, dusted with red serrano and raspberry tajin
16. Chocolate bonbons – peanut butter ganache and banana; salted caramel; chocolate dipped nixtamalized fig candied in a piloncillo syrup

They also gave out a bottle of their vanilla extract to guests at the end of the meal.

This looks really good, thanks for sharing

I went last year, and none of these were on the menu a year ago. my wife and I recognize the plates though, such a great time

Easily my favorite restaurant in SF, and the Bay Area as a whole for that matter. Californios is consistently delicious. I’ve been lucky enough to go four times since 2017 and each visit has been incredible in terms of food taste. It’s the only restaurant in the area that I feel compelled to go back to again and again. Glad you liked it!

I’m happy they killed off the very consuming tuna and tomato water with fruit course