Silk's
San Francisco, California

The road to Silk’s is spiced with history. Climbing the grand staircase towards a Chinese Imperial City, we near the hand-carved Chinese lacquered screen and see Mandarins attired head to foot in silk. Balinese and Indonesian silk batiks grace the entryway. A bitter-sweet Chinese embroidery panel is made of tiny knots, called the "blind man’s stitch." Work like this has been outlawed in China for over 100 years as only children could manage it and they were usually blinded by the effort.

The Silk’s road slips by an empress-sized bouquet of birds-of-paradise, orchids and hanging heliconia and then passes through the carved cherry wood wine cellar into an intimate and refined restaurant spiked with the mystery and silks of the Orient. Chandeliers of honey-colored, hand-painted silk throw warm shadows on the sunburst moldings of the ceiling. Silk draperies, the color of molten copper, blaze against periwinkle velvet banquettes. Silk-skirted tables are surrounded by comfortable leather arm chairs. Cheryl Rowley, Silk’s interior designer says, "The elegant feel of the room is meant to inspire the senses." It does—even before the inspirations of Chris Floyd, Silk’s personable and talented Chef de Cuisine, begin to flow from the kitchen.

A delicate plate of seared albacore tuna with a ponzu and a plum sauce appears to amuse us as we scan the menu, and attempt to refrain from devouring all the baked-in garlic bread.

The appetizers are so appealing, we try nearly all of them. The Lobster and Heirloom Tomato Salad is intense with the sharp summer flavors of perfectly-ripe heirloom tomatoes and rose-colored tomato sorbet. Pale pink and lavender Easter egg radishes sit with flame-colored lobster claws among the tiny new greens. The Parfait of American Caviar and Salmon, a tartar of salmons, fresh and house-smoked, with American sturgeon caviar sits on a hot potato-scallion cake with a Meyer lemon and Chantilly cream dressing. The Summer Vegetable Gâteau’s sharp Osaka purple mustard greens are an exquisite contrast to the earthy flavor of the shaved truffles and the sweetness of the black mission figs.

For dinner, I devour the Red Snapper "alla Diabla." The snapper, quickly seared to keep the interior moist, sits on a tide pool of Dungeness crab, baby oysters and homemade pasta and is splashed by a wave of roasted-tomato bouillon. The sweet seafood melds with the smoky-sharp flavor of the tomato bouillon evoking a summer’s night by the shore. The tender Lemon Verbena Steamed Halibut is enhanced by a halibut nage, tiny pearl pasta and bright green sautéed spinach.

Silk’s desserts, be they rich or light, are indeed grand finales. It’s my companion’s birthday and she orders Silk’s Three Sorbets. They arrive on a large plate decorated with chocolate birthday wishes—festive, not hackneyed. Passion fruit is the star of the sorbets, all intensely-flavored, icy bites of the tropics. A warm chocolate cake oozing with molten chocolate is cooled by silken ice cream more than eases my wee craving.

Silver Jasmine, a white tea and the least processed of all teas, provides a soft digestive. All the teas are particularly fine and especially blended for Silk’s.

Sipping contentedly, we wonder about the two sumptuous silk brocade robes displayed on the walls that are cut into strips and pieced back together. We learn that these are the centuries-old robes of Buddhist monks who ripped them up in a show of poverty! I believe I’d consider ripping up a silk robe myself, if it would get be back to Silk’s.