2024: San Francisco - Atelier Crenn

A couple friends asked me where I planned on eating when I was in San Francisco, and my response was “Oh nowhere. I might try to go to NOPA. But I’m there filming a bunch of things including clients who have restaurants so I actually anticipate eating at their places.”
But on the plane ride over, on a whim I thought I’d check out if Atelier Crenn or Saison had an early opening - so many of these top restaurants are impossibly booked. By miracle or strange confluence, I saw they had a table for two at 5:15, so I resolved that if they would give it to a single diner, I would take it. So, in the Uber on the way to the hotel, I called, and I got a spot!
The only other time I dined at Atelier Crenn was in 2016. I went with my mother and two aunts - completely convinced by an article I had read about her as well as the first episode of Chef’s Table. At the time Atelier Crenn had two Michelin stars and a few years later, Chef Dominique Crenn acquired her coveted and rare third star - the first woman in the United States with this accolade. The time we went, she wasn’t in that evening, and tonight as I was trying to videotape the nice notes handed to me, someone stood next to me said, hello and I realized it was Dominique herself. Mon Dieu! And I was futzing with my phone. I immediately dropped my phone, got to my feet and shook her hand. We had a lovely exchange, and since I forgot to stop recording, I was able to capture the audio and left it in this video.
When she came by again later, I confessed that I kept the mignardises she gave us last time in my fridge for two years before eating it. “I love that!” She responded warmly. In the intervening years, she has changed a few things. She redesigned the restaurant twice. Most recently, she was consultant for the Ralph Fiennes film The Menu, and apparently had the designer redo her establishment. More importantly, the entire menu has become pescatarian. She herself had a cancer scare and changed the way she eats. Also, this Spring she married longtime partner Maria Bello.
It seems fated that I get myself a seat. I was thrilled to be there.