Joshua Skenes (IG: @SAISONSF, SAISONSF.COM) has become famous for his use of fire. As chef-owner of Saison in San Francisco (three Michelin stars), he has classical training and loves his high-end Japanese Nenohi knives, but nothing captures his imagination quite like the open flame. The back of his business card sports three words, stark on ivory stock: PLAY WITH FIRE.
Josh had to embrace Cal Fussman’s philosophy (here) when he moved his restaurant Saison in the early days. There was a sewage flood that overtook the entire restaurant the day of their move, and all of his hand-written recipe books were destroyed. Josh had to look on the bright side:
“But, we were moving to a new space, so there was a positive spin. I thought, ‘Fuck it—we’re just going to start over.’ It’s the same thing that we started with [before opening the first time]. It’s all up here [in his head].” He reinvented Saison with no original notebooks but also no baggage. It became the first restaurant in San Francisco history to earn three Michelin stars (alongside Benu).
• What’s the best decision you’ve made with your new restaurant space?
“We were starting over, actually. I think the best decision I made was just to say, ‘Let’s really start over. Let’s just completely empty our cup here and really think about what is valuable to me now. What’s honest. What’s sincere about what we’re doing? Let’s do that.’ That’s still the driver of Saison now.”
• Most-gifted or recommended books?
Cocktail Techniques by Kazuo Uyeda
The Dao of Taijiquan by Tsung Hwa Jou