Since Rich Table opened in July 2012, I knew it was “primed for greatness,” as I headlined my initial SF Bay Guardian review back in my Bay Guardian critic days. Rich Table (RT) went on to place on many best-of lists (including my own), earn a Michelin star for years (ridiculously — and I think errantly — dropped in 2021, hopefully rectified this year), James Beard nominations and a wonderful cookbook. This summer, they just turned 10 years old. Another huge feat in the restaurant world, especially when remains packed every night.
More importantly, husband and wife chef duo, Evan and Sarah Rich have maintained and stayed strong — so strong, that out of a few thousand restaurants I’ve dined at in the Bay Area over the past 20 years (and over 12,000 restaurant worldwide), Rich Table remains one of my all-time favorites for a decade. No easy feat given the volume and quality of places I get to each year. Certainly the space is tiny, intimate, even bustling, but the team — helmed by consummate GM Jonny Gilbert for years — offers service as chill and fun as it is savvy and educated, while the parklet added in pandemic allows for breathing room and lower volumes.
Not unlike the great State Bird Provisions, a Michelin star of similar casual perfection, which opened just before in 2011, Rich Table’s chef de cuisine, Gizela Ho, is killing it, like chef Gaby Maeda is at State Bird. She’s ushering in a new delicious decade for what I consider one of our SF staples, a prime example of one of the (many) things we do best: neighborhood restaurants relaxed enough for any night, but serving world class food and drink, up there with our fine dining bests.
Chef Ho hails from Guam, growing up in remote island life (which brings to mind Prubechu, the best modern Guamanian restaurant I’ve been to anywhere, nearby in SF’s Mission district). She dreamed of seeing the world and came to UC Davis, then the CIA (Culinary Institute) in Napa Valley. Graduating in 2013, she moved to San Francisco and started cooking at Rich Table, with a stint at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Hong Kong, before returning to SF and RT. Working closely with the Riches, Gizlea has been weaned on and maintains RT’s unique flavor profiles, now exhibiting her own flair in some exciting new dishes that feel right in line with RT’s playful ethos, as she worked her way up over the last 5 years from sous chef to exec sous chef to chef de cuisine.
From those initial days of the Riches’ mind-blowing sardine chips, to just-as-legendary dishes like their porcini doughnuts, to Sarah’s impeccable desserts (she was named Food & Wine’s “Best New Pastry Chefs of 2014” in the nation, for one), they’ve “brought it” with aforementioned playfulness, crafting dishes that surprise, push boundaries but ultimately comfort. Deliciousness is never far and was there from that first visit in 2012 with buttery popcorn soup bold with yuzu kosho or in divine duck lasagne, layered with braised duck, béchamel and tart Santa Rosa plums, a dish I have never forgotten since.
With the luxury of two recent visits (a rarity when traveling half of every month and nonstop hitting up every new opening, chef or bar change when home), I returned both August and October to dig further into the latest. Over both meals, I am reminded of why this is one of my all-times (as if I needed reminding).
Late summer hit with Mexican NorCal goodness in an esquites tostada, inspired by the classic Mexican corn dish, laden with cotija cheese, cilantro and our divine local nectarines. A fall evolution of the tostada was a refried butternut and delicata squash tostada, rich with bacon fat and pomegranate for tart-sweet contrast.
RT does sashimi and crudo right, like this fall’s albacore zuke don, raw and silky in frisee, avocado crema, with nori (seaweed) sheets to wrap and dip it passionfruit ponzu sauce, recalling Peruvian Nikkei (historic Japanese-Peruvian cuisine). Veggies and fruit equally delight, whether smashed cucumbers kicked up with pickled mushrooms and nectarines in sesame garlic yogurt and chili oil, or “feel like a kid again” watermelon wedges topped with chamoy cheddar popped sorghum, exuding popcorn-meets-sour/sweet/salty candy vibes. Five-spice duck confit lumpia is hand-held comfort dipped in gooseberry mae ploy (Thai pickled chili sauce).
All of this is worth coming for alone. But I haven’t even gotten started on the pastas. From that OG lasagna where meaty duck and sweet-tart plums met creamy bechamel and Italy-perfect pasta, Rich Table had my heart. Chef Ho won it all over again with “dan dan” bucatini this summer. Perfect al dente noodles recalled both Sichuan dan dan noodles and Italian bucatini in Calabrian chile peanut crunch. This Italian-Chinese mashup was already glorious, but the addition of perfect NorCal candy-stripe figs sent it into the stratosphere.
Back again this fall meant two more pastas: SF-meets-Italy comfort of caramelle pasta (named so because of its caramel candy-wrap shape) in burrata cheese, oregano and roasted Early Girl vodka sauce. Black sesame “vongole” doesn’t actually contain clams but is inspired by that classic pasta dish with al dente linguine swimming winningly in black sesame sauce laced with allium oil. Wow.
Once again, you could come for the pastas alone. But entrees from the tight menu (usually no more than 4 dishes per section, ever seasonal and evolving) are always worth digging into. 21 day dry-aged ribeye “au poivre” (pepper steak) is beautifully peppery and medium-rare. Normally, I’d skip over steak (unless at a steakhouse) for more interesting options, but they had me with a side of togarashi yorkshire pudding.
My husband Dan (“The Renaissance Man”) and I could not stop raving about the vegetarian entree, its Eastern European spirit taking me back to glorious Bar Tartine days and Nick Balla’s unique voice on a plate with his unique Hungarian-meets-Japanese NorCal cuisine I miss dearly (he’s currently back in SF at the new, reborn Bar Agricole). A stuffed cabbage, roulade-style (recalls Polish gołąbki), but is blissfully packed with sticky rice, dried cherries, dill and, wait for it… boiled peanuts. Genius. The whole thing is dotted with pomegranate seeds, a borscht beet sauce and sauerkraut. Sticky, fermented, sweet, herbaceous, unctuous: it hit many sides of the coin, a blessedly unique, damn gratifying dish. More along these lines, please.
Now I’m a broken record: but I’d come back for this dish alone. A splurge-worthy snack that also exemplifies RT’s spirit? Tsar Nicoulai Estate Caviar alongside a mound of ranch cream, scooped up with tornado potato chips, cut hasselback-style, sliced but joined at the bottom. With a glass of grower Champagne Lallier R.018, it’s a dreamy snack.
Which leads me to drink: part of RT’s “whole package” goodness the best restaurants embody is its thoughtful craft beers, wines and cocktails, which also play along with the seasons. After years with Larry Piaskowy helming the bar, and a brief bar manager stint in between, they are transitioning with a new bar manager who hails from my beloved New Orleans, bringing chicory coffee and other Nola influences as his drinks start to roll out.
Over both recent visits, two cocktails stood out, with all playfully sporting musical names they did a bangin’ job coming up with like Cougar Melon-Camp (with cantaloupe, naturally), Juicy, I’m Home or Midnight Rye’der (rye whiskey, natch). Tastewise, I was most drawn to Ripe Here, Ripe Now, a tomato-infused gin and Calvados, martini-esque sipper given herbaceous sweet notes from Pineau des Charentes (a French fortified wine) and Bresca Dorada Mirto Verde, a Sardinian Italian liqueur of myrtle berries and leaves, imparting herbaceous, piney notes that happily played with tomato and apple.
Holler at Chamoy was my ultimate cocktail: name and taste, vibrant with watermelon rind-infused tequila, mezcal, pasilla peppers, spiced Xila Licor de Agave Liqueur and the vinegar lift of a house cucumber shrub. I wish this one could stay on, even though it’s clearly a summer drink.
The wine side, helmed by wine director Kevin Born, is likewise a series of delights. A couple highlights recently included my friend, Ted Glennon’s Vocal Vineyards 19 white wine and a 2021 The Hermit Ram Salty White Amphora Sauvignon Blanc/Müller-Thurgau from New Zealand, lean with salinity, lemon, herbs and light floral notes. On the red side, a balanced 2020 Whitcraft Winery ‘La Lie Fine’ Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara and 2019 Irene Rodnick Farm Syrah grown in the Gabilan Mountains near Monterey.
Rich Table is, indeed, the “whole package,” a place we as San Franciscans are lucky to have in our backyard, with the ridiculous blessing of having many restaurants this superb within our tiny 7 by 7 miles. But RT is one of a short list of restaurants I recommend constantly when I get the constant question from industry colleagues and friends on where to dine.
// 199 Gough Street, www.richtablesf.com
