{"id":449327,"date":"2026-08-31T23:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/449327\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:38:08","slug":"spicy-sour-and-salty-flavors-punch-up-the-thai-dishes-of-san-franciscos-saam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/449327\/","title":{"rendered":"Spicy, Sour, and Salty Flavors Punch Up the Thai Dishes of San Francisco\u2019s Saam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saam<\/a> is the first-ever U.S.-based restaurant<\/a> from acclaimed chef Thitid \u201cTon\u201d Tassanakajohn, known for his Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurants Le Du<\/a> and Nusara<\/a>. This is a much more casual endeavor than those two restaurants, offering a glimpse into Tassanakajohn\u2019s style of food<\/a> at an approachable price (and without the international flight). Saam means \u201cthree\u201d in Thai; it refers to the restaurant partnership between Tassanakajohn, Tee Atthapon, and Ty Choosuwon, and the three elements of Thai cooking: spicy, sour, and salty. Check your expectations at the door: This isn\u2019t the place for pad Thai or tom yum. Instead, open yourself to some new dishes and bites that pack a punch (in a good way).<\/p>\n

The Saam dining room is relaxing, pairing cream and terra cotta colors with warm woods. Terra cotta-colored fish scale tiles announce the curved bar area, with a selection of wine bottles and glasses taking up space on the lighted back bar area. Built-in shelves around the restaurant display examples of pottery and jarred produce, a fun place to rest your eyes during dinner. The tables were either made of wood or came topped with square tiles in various shades of terra cotta, with comfortable rounded chairs in patterned fabric or rattan.<\/p>\n

For now, the drinks menu is kept to just wine by the bottle and glass, plus a small selection of beers. The wines come from many corners of the globe, from the Sonoma Coast and Suisun Valley to France, Italy, and South Africa. There are just a handful of beers, with three hailing from Thailand \u2014 Singha, 7 Bangkok Craft Brewing Co., and Pheebok Beer \u2014 with additional options from Almanac Beer Co. and a nonalcoholic option from Hitachino. On that note, the beverage menu also offers three nonalcoholic wines, plus a pandan spritz, Thai iced tea, a lemongrass drink, and sodas. The plan is to roll out a true cocktail program eventually, but for now the menu includes three \u201ccocktails\u201d made with wines, such as the Saam Royale, made with raspberry wine, sparkling wine, and fresh herbs.<\/p>\n

Saam offers sato, an ancient Thai sticky rice wine that can be tough to find at restaurants in the States. At the time of my visit, the server said they were waiting on their next shipment from Thailand, so it\u2019s best to ask if it\u2019s in stock if you\u2019re looking to try some at your meal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saam is the first-ever U.S.-based restaurant from acclaimed chef Thitid \u201cTon\u201d Tassanakajohn, known for his Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[28829,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-449327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-dining-reports","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}