When fine dining restaurant Sons & Daughters earned its second Michelin star in 2024, 12 years after its first star, the win affirmed the restaurant’s new direction and the talent at the helm. The current menu embraces New Nordic techniques and food under
chef Harrison Cheney, who joined the Sons & Daughters team in 2022 and became executive chef in 2023 (and handily won the Michelin Young Chef Award in 2023). Under his guidance, dishes highlight local products merged with Nordic fermentation techniques such as halibut served with fermented root vegetables, dill vinegar, and currant wood oil. It’s a menu that takes the New Nordic ways and applies them to a produce-rich region for something that feels different in the Bay Area.
It’s a much different scene now than when Sons & Daughters first opened in 2010. Launching in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood under chefs Teague Moriarty and Matt McNamara, that duo embraced New American gastronomy for a decade (although McNamara left in 2017). Along with the shift in menu, the Sons & Daughters team moved into a new space at 18th and Florida streets (the former Osito location), and they invited me in to see how they’ve evolved in their newer, larger space in the Mission.
The vibe
While some of the bones of the Osito space remain — the dual staging tables in the kitchen, the wood-paneled walls and ceiling, the concrete flooring — certain touches denote that a new team is in control. The previous bar area to the left of the entrance is completely transformed. The space is smaller now and serves as a welcome area for diners to have their first few bites and for the team to introduce themselves to guests and talk about wine or nonalcoholic pairings. After three small dishes, parties were whisked into the dining room, table by table, giving the guests individual opportunities to get a close look at the kitchen.
There, you’ll see a wall of vinegars on a high shelf along the north wall, a Big Green Egg smoker grill, an enviable line of copper pans, and the team hard at work. Sage green Norr11 dining chairs accompany heavyset gray tables, with simple floral arrangements set in a wooden vase. It’s a chic setting for dinner, but one that’s actually comfortable enough to withstand a multi-hour marathon meal. The open kitchen makes the space feel like every table is a chef’s table.
What to order
- The dinner at Sons & Daughters ($315 per person, plus tax and 20 percent tip) is a parade of bites that go deep into the team’s relationships with farms and fishermen, and heavy into New Nordic fermentation, aging, and preservation techniques. Dishes are composed of both in-season and out-of-season produce, all used to create flavors in harmony with each other as well as a zero-waste kitchen. One example of this is raw coonstrip shrimp swimming in a cream sauce made with the roasted heads and shells of the shrimp, and topped with a sauce made with summer flowers. The sweet shrimp contrasted with the umami of the sauce.
- The supplemental dish of brunost ice cream with Golden Osetra caviar is a stunner, and not just for the obvious luxe factor of caviar (though it doesn’t hurt). I had never encountered, or heard of, brunost before, and learned it’s a Norwegian brown cheese made by cooking whey down into a caramelized sugar. It’s typically served over toasted rye or waffles once it’s set into cheese block form, but in ice cream, the caramelized whey is set against the intensely salty caviar. A walnut oil (made from last winter’s walnuts, as the menu states) rounds out the flavors for something wholly different than I’ve ever tried at another fine dining restaurant.
- The duck course was one of the best bites, made with a Duclair duck from Oz Family Farm. The cooked breast is presented tableside, nestled into a dramatic, Midsommar-esque wreath of purple flowers, before it’s taken away and sliced up. The skin is beautifully crisped with tender meat beneath, accompanied by a cream made from the duck fat. Off to the side, a nasturtium leaf plated to look like it was just plucked off the plant, complete with dewdrops, hides a bite of the duck leg with preserved Périgord truffle. The most surprising element was a melange of berries and other fruits in its own bowl; this dish incorporated both ripe and unripe fruit, an acidic-sweet bite that cleanses the palate.
- A simple-seeming tomato water drink at the start of the dinner is a smart sustainability play by the kitchen, as it puts overripe tomatoes to use. Grilled lavender oil takes this sip a step further. Lavender can give off an almost soap-like taste, but here it adds a nice subtle fragrance as you lift the cup to sip it, and rounds out the sweeter notes of tomato.
The drinks
Sons & Daughters offers both a wine and a nonalcoholic pairing with dinner for $185 and $145 respectively, but there are also wines by the glass, bottle, and half-bottle. For the luxury yacht set, the restaurant can do a reserve wine pairing for $385. If diners prefer to go simpler, there are beers, ciders, and a selection of nonalcoholic drinks by the glass, with a few made in-house by the team.
Insider tip
Sons & Daughters is proud of its partnerships with makers and artists, and that’s especially noticeable in the plateware used at the table. Fans of ceramic dishes will likely have much to admire during the parade of courses, and Cheney’s own mother contributes some ceramics to the restaurant. Even a pair of tweezers left at the table during the bread course are emblazoned with the restaurant’s name and its two-Michelin-starred status, and these details are almost like refined Easter eggs waiting to be uncovered.
The takeaway
Cheney is clear-eyed and vocal about his team aiming for a third Michelin star, and, at least by my experience, they’re really going for it. This is a high-technique dinner that boldly displays the team’s relationships with their network of farmers, butchers, fishmongers, and more for its stacked menu. This is about as close as Bay Area locals can get to Michelin-starred New Nordic — at least without a plane ticket.
