Kiln

Kiln opened in May 2023 at 149 Fell Street in Hayes Valley, in a converted garage whose thirty-foot ceilings frame a Sonoma olive tree planted at the centre of the dining room. It is co-owned by chef John Wesley and general manager Julianna Yang, who met while working at the Michelin-starred Sons & Daughters; Wesley also cooked at Commis in Oakland and at Aska and Eleven Madison Park in New York. The tasting menu runs roughly eighteen to twenty courses and leans Nordic, organised around preservation technique — curing, drying and fermentation — rather than luxury product, in dishes such as puffed beef tendon and grilled wild mackerel with dried shellfish sauce. The Michelin Guide California awarded Kiln a star in August 2024 and named Wesley its Young Chef Award winner the same year; a second star followed in 2025, placing Kiln among a very small group of two-starred restaurants in the state.

What earns Kiln a place here is structural. The spirit-free pairing is one of three pairings sold at the table, priced at $135 and listed alongside the wine and reserve pairings rather than offered as a consolation to guests who decline wine. Beverage director Vincent Balao, formerly of the three-Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn, builds it from house-made kombucha, seasonal shrubs and amazake alongside Seedlip, Lyre's and Proxies dealcoholized wine, so most of what reaches the glass is made in the building rather than poured from a bottle. Named pours include the Why Yuzu Sour — yuzu, genmaicha green tea, Seedlip Garden 108, Oro Blanco grapefruit, kombu syrup and an amazake foam — plus Verde Side and Smoke & Mirrors. Balao told The San Francisco Standard in May 2023 that the point was hospitality rather than novelty: "Just because you're not drinking doesn't mean you should have only water, soda or ginger ale." Reviewing the restaurant for 7x7 in January 2025, Shoshi Parks described Kiln's non-alcoholic cocktails as "well-balanced mixological beauties," noting they are made with the same preservation techniques that drive the kitchen and pairing them to Scandinavian-leaning courses. Reservations open well in advance and the room seats few enough that the spirit-free pairing should be requested when booking.