Atelier Crenn – Three Michelin Take Out

I’ve been to a decent amount of Michelin Restaurants, I’ve been to two-three star Michelin restaurants, and I promise under normal circumstances, there is a ZERO percent chance that any of them thought they would ever be doing take out. Yet here we are.

Atelier Crenn, headed up by superwoman star Chef Domenique Crenn, is a three Michelin star powerhouse in the Marina. Crenn notoriously had a two star rating for many years before finally pushing over the edge to finally achieve the final star. She also owns Bar Crenn, a 1 Michelin Star restaurant, next to Atelier Crenn, and Petit Crenn in Hayes Valley

In case you have never been to a very high end restaurant, a good amount of them use a reservation system called Tock. With Tock, you make you reservation 1-2 months in advance, but there is a catch, you pay the whole tasting fee upfront. So for Atelier Crenn, for two (under normal circumstances), you are paying $345/pp over a month before you are even having dinner. So before you walk into the door, you are about $700 down the drain.

You ever looked at a wine list from a 3 Michelin Restaurant? Well it’s an experience, to an untrained eye, it can easily be quite daunting. I have never been to Atelier Crenn, but at The French Laundry, the wine list come on an iPad because it’s so long and thorough because have top wines from all around the world. What is the most expensive bottle you were thinking in your head? I looked for you don’t worry, that belongs to the 1992 first vintage magnum of Napa Valley’s famous Screaming Eagle, for an eye watering price of $50,000. So, your eyes are watering now, and you can’t find a bottle for under $100, now you are up to at least $800, and there is always the possibility of menu supplements! Moral of the story is that these occasions are stupidly expensive, use them wisely, but have the appreciation to do that.

But today is different.

Instead of $345/pp for a 14 course menu, it’s $38/pp for a three course take out menu. Still using Tock I might add. So $76 before you get there, but there are now to go wine options. To answer your question, obviously we got a bottle of bubbles to go. So +$25, still not bad. Then add on tax and gratuity, and the total comes out to $130 total for two people with a bottle of wine. So, that would be like going out to a normal SF restaurant on a date, getting a bottle of wine and a normal amount of food. Just this is take out, and from a 3 Michelin, so it’s definitely not cheap by any means but hey, could be wayyyyy worse.

Well, let dive in…

Course 1 – Bleu Belle Farm Soup

Topped with croutons and an amazing whipped cream, this was a great start to the meal. The reheat instructions were to simply microwave until simmering and serve. It was a complex soup, if that makes any sense, certainly nothing that I could easily put together and nothing less than what you would expect from a high end restaurant.

Course 2 – Vegetable Parmentier served with Celery Root Remoulade and Sliced Brioche

Re-heated in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 F, remoulade not pictured, but was on top. I don’t know exactly what I was eating, but it was really nice. There were some surprise beets on the bottom that were fresh and an amazing touch. The brioche was a little dry, but flavorful and if you went back and dipped it in the soup, was just right. The parmentier was surprisingly filling, we were both completely stuff by the end, then had to stuff our faces even more with chocolate cake.

Course 3 – Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake by Juan Contreras was a hit. Rich, flavorful, and an intense ending to our meal. There were little bits of something that added a nice texture as well. We were just so full by this time, it was tough to put down.

Overall

Overall, the quality was clearly high. It’s the type of take out meal that you just don’t get anywhere else and really showed how a high end restaurant can pivot and serve more standard dishes to the masses, yet still produced unique dishes. I think it is worth calling out that this meal was also vegetarian, which has been a focus for Crenn when she took at meat off her menus last October. I greatly enjoyed it and would easily try it again for only $38, they have been changing their menu every week. If you have been wanting to try Crenn food but haven’t been able to spend the $345/pp or go to her other restaurants, this is a great chance to try some amazing food, at a relatively inexpensive price. Plus, this whole three Michelin take out is not going to last, so definitely take advantage while you can.