Change is hard, especially when a beloved restaurant, Gozu, morphs into something entirely new: The Wild, starting September 2024.
Whether brown butter chawanmushi (savory Japanese custard) layered in fat-washed wagyu dashi or wagyu fat-laced salted chocolate chip cookies, chef Marc Zimmerman and entrepreneur Benjamin Jorgensen always wowed me at intimate-yet-lofty, chefs-counter-only Gozu since opening November 2019. Why it never got a Michelin star baffles me, as it’s better than many Michelin-starred restaurants. Add in Gozu’s rare Japanese whisky selection, killer sakes and wines from Jordan Abraham, and you had a full package next level restaurant.
Thankfully, what made Gozu great remains at the new Wild: a passionate team of servers and staff, including chef de cuisine Peggy Tan and pastry chef Mark Lieuw, who Zimmerman has been working with for years. Also, those charcoal walls, large binchotan grill and live fire cooking, giving the spare few diners front row views of the cooking from the counter-only “table.”
Then there’s a stellar iPad drink list expanded to include “deep cuts” spirits, with a growing brandy collection alongside the whiskies, herbal liqueurs, sake and more. But it’s all now more accessible — and affordable, though this adds up quickly. While Gozu was tasting menu only, The Wild has a $130 tasting menu, but also an a la carte menu to dine as you wish, whether for a couple bites and drinks or multiple courses.
Playing prominent in their yakitori, vinyl and cocktail-centric Yokai restaurant nearby, Japanese ethos also still infiltrates The Wild. How could it not, with chef Zimmerman’s extensive travels, study and passion for the ingredients and technique of Japan? But the focus of The Wild is on West Coast, wild-foraged ingredients from sea to land, and on nature, down to three pieces of forage-related art by Elkpen, who includes ingredients like black sesame seeds, eucalyptus leaves and saffron in their murals here.
Hearthfire centers the room visually and aromatically. Portions are delicate, fine-dining-small, yet ultimately satisfying and inspired. In fact, the vision of Zimmerman, Tan and Lieuw’s cooking shines even more broadly now since seafood and veggies play as prominent as wagyu parts did before.
The menu kicks off with a Thoreau quote: “The ocean is a wilderness reaching round the globe, wilder than a Belgian jungle and fuller of monsters, washing the very wharves of our cities and the gardens of our sea-side residences. Serpents, bears, hyenas, tigers rapidly vanish as civilization advances but the most populous and civilized city cannot scare a shark from its wharves.”
My girlhood poetic heart delights to the romantic tone this sets in the minimalist space. Sipping everything from Chartreuse to sake as I geek out on drink with Abraham and caring, knowledgeable server Abigail, confirms what I loved most about Gozu is not gone.
How about the food?
“Wow” moments are many. From the “Chilled” section, the obvious standout is that unreal caviar sundae. You heard right. Sour-tart crème fraîche ice cream is proper with a scoop of local The Caviar Co. kaluga-hybrid Sacramento Delta caviar. I’ve had sweet Brentwood corn with caviar before in ice cream form. It remains a happy pairing. The surprise comes in preserved white asparagus, which adds a vegetal silkiness and slight crunch to the creamy, briny melange. Wow, indeed.
Even ubiquitous crudo holds its surprises. A Hawaiian yellowfin tuna is cured in spruce oil, dotted with bonito ponzu sauce, unusually paired with Codigo 1530 Tequila, which enhances the vegetal, earthy notes in the raw fish. But the eye-opener is spruce with the silky fish, moving this beyond “just another crudo” to a Hawaii-meets-alpine vibe one never saw coming… and craves more of immediately. Piney forest meets ocean waves! This “sleeper” dish exemplifies the chefs’ smart nuanced thinking — and palates.
The last of the season’s glorious heirloom tomatoes are honored as skinned Sungold cherry tomatoes with bits of brokaw avocado, sea buckthorn, geranium, pine nuts and coastal succulents. An accent of oyster leaves imparts of-the-sea brininess. The other standout is “Sea Urchin Noodles”: ramen noodles topped with local uni (sea urchin) teeming in white foam poured tableside, hiding umami-sweet black garlic and celtuce. Decadent comfort.
Seven-day-aged, ember roasted venison (deer) is beautifully medium-rare with earthy-umami-vegetal-tart contrast from bitter chocolate, wild fennel, sour cherry and wild mushrooms. Just the kind of combo I love with game meat. My “first love” inclination towards seafood is satisfied here with poached, smoked Pacific black cod, as silky as a good black cod always is, but amped up with koji-cultured seaweed butter and eucalyptus, rolled in seaweed, topped with marinated salmon roe and wild watercress, sitting atop a little mound of barrel-aged quinoa. Crispy salmon skin brings crunchy contrast.
Lieuw’s desserts keep it nicely sweet-savory, like porcini mushroom canelé drizzled in candy cap mushroom caramel with birch ice cream. But my favorite is cooling Concord grape sorbet encasing grape leaf yogurt in a mint meringue for a light, soft ending to a meal both delicate and vibrantly alive with flavor.
We’ve moved beyond Gozu’s meat focus to celebrate many elements from our incomparable West Coast. Call it “fine dining light,” but Zimmerman and team have evolved with the times, bringing their unique vision to more people with their order-as-much-or-as-little-as-you-wish approach. Michelin is crazy if they don’t give this talented team a Michelin star. Thankfully, greatness doesn’t need such validation as The Wild is already great.
// 201 Spear Street #120, www.thewildsf.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
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