Benu

Benu is one of the most important fine dining restaurants in the United States, holding three Michelin stars and consistently ranked among the world’s best. Located in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, the restaurant is led by Chef Corey Lee — a Korean-American chef who spent more than a decade at The French Laundry as Head Chef before opening Benu in 2010 — and presents a cuisine that is entirely unique: a profoundly personal synthesis of East Asian culinary traditions and world-class French fine dining technique, filtered through the lens of Lee’s Korean-American identity and his exceptional technical mastery. The tasting menu is one of the most ambitious and creative in American fine dining, presenting dishes that range from the playfully referential — a fake shark’s fin soup that critiques the practice while honoring the flavor tradition — to the sublime: a chawanmushi of extraordinary delicacy, a thousand-year-old quail egg of striking visual and flavor impact, and a succession of courses that demonstrate Lee’s ability to synthesize Asian and Western flavors at the highest possible level. The minimalist dining room creates a focused atmosphere suited to the precision of the cooking. Service is impeccable, warm, and deeply knowledgeable. The wine and sake program is outstanding. Benu is a genuinely irreplaceable American restaurant.