{"id":463504,"date":"2026-09-14T16:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463504\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:52:11","slug":"anomalys-chef-is-back-with-a-new-10-course-tasting-menu-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463504\/","title":{"rendered":"Anomaly\u2019s Chef Is Back With a New 10-Course Tasting Menu Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, June 20, the<\/a> restaurant known as Anomaly<\/a> closed. Chef Mike Lanham took to Instagram to explain the closure<\/a>, citing health reasons as a contributing factor. But what happened behind the scenes was diagnosed as burnout. For 18 months, Lanham says, he pushed past his limits; he refused to accept it and \u201chit the wall six or seven times\u201d during that time period, \u201cand just kept getting back up and ignoring it.\u201d What he eventually couldn\u2019t ignore was his body fighting back: Lanham began experiencing some bouts of short-term memory loss, and he also developed mobility issues with some of the fingers on his left hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cStraight up, I hit a wall, and my brain quit on me,\u201d Lanham says.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Lot 79 striploin painted in its own smoked fat with 14-hour celery root and a black garlic emulsion. Annette Chu<\/p>\n

After the restaurant closure, Lanham rested for five weeks, the first true break he\u2019d had since he was 16 years old, he guesses. \u201cI\u2019ve had a spinal compression fracture; I\u2019ve broken all kinds of bones,\u201d Lanham says. \u201cI\u2019ve been through some things before, but it\u2019s never been neurological or to that level of exhaustion. The best way I can describe it is, I had Epstein-Barr virus once, and the level of exhaustion was three times that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, despite all of that, Lanham is stepping back into the world of cooking. As of Saturday, September 17, he\u2019s welcoming diners back to the space at 2600 Sutter Street, this time as the new restaurant Athanor<\/a>. He\u2019s doing things on his own terms this time and is looking to create a more sustainable restaurant where he\u2019s not the sole point of failure, he says. It\u2019s also a return to his love of restaurants and cooking. \u201cI love cooking more today than I did yesterday,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Athanor shares some DNA with Anomaly. It\u2019s still Lanham running the show; the restaurant maintains a 10-course tasting menu, and it will still serve the fan-favorite egg dish (\u201cAn Egg \u2026 sort of,\u201d as it was called in its pop-up days). But Lanham says Athanor\u2019s menu is otherwise a \u201cvast departure\u201d from Anomaly. The name Athanor refers to the stove used in alchemy, he explains, meant to be \u201can allegory for my career and the trajectory this restaurant group has taken so far.\u201d It\u2019s also a reference to Lanham\u2019s new cooking direction, a purposeful transformation of ingredients that \u201chopefully comes out the other side far, far, far greater than the sum of the parts that went in,\u201d he says. Lanham says this time, he wants his restaurant to be slower, and more intentional.<\/p>\n

Expect bites that blur the line between pastry and savory techniques, such as a fermented green tomato meringue that requires a 30-day process just for the base. A savory potato ice cream with hot black truffle cheese, for instance, and a prosciutto panna cotta. It\u2019s also solving for personal food qualms that Lanham has. For instance, while he enjoys quail for its flavor, he\u2019s always been bothered by the tiny bones of the bird, so for one dish, he\u2019s turning the quail legs into sausage for use as a shumai-like filling, and using the remaining quail as the wrapper. Another idea around broken vinaigrettes led to a salad bite, composed of ramp aioli and a vinegar granita served on an endive leaf.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a><\/p>\n

Carrot tarts with smoked soy and goat milk, fermented green tomato meringue, and black truffle and fontina cheese popsicles with beet. Annette Chu<\/p>\n

The team is also getting heavy into fermentation, he says, where he\u2019s learned that certain vegetables taste \u201cfar better fermented\u201d than in their fresh forms. \u201cI never want to serve another vegetable again that looks like itself on a plate,\u201d Lanham says. \u201cIf I have put a roasted carrot on a plate, I have failed you \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter what I\u2019ve done to that. It needs to be different, it needs to be special. You know what a carrot is, but I need you to experience a carrot in a way that you haven\u2019t before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The restaurant\u2019s new direction comes with interior upgrades: new art pieces, new lamps and a chandelier \u2014 a different look from when Anomaly. \u201cThe aspiration is to be able to do something that\u2019s unique to me, that feels meaningful, that guests derive joy from, and to be able to do it without falling over,\u201d Lanham says. \u201cIf I could do that, that would be something cool to hang my hat on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Tarragon panna cotta with a fennel tuile and basil with compressed apple. Annette Chu<\/p>\n

When asked why he returned to restaurants after this bout of extreme burnout, Lanham turns philosophical, reflecting on his love of cooking and restaurants. \u201cI\u2019m not 22 anymore, and so, at the end of my life, I would like to leave the place better than I found it,\u201d Lanham says. \u201cAnd so this is a way where I can do something that is competitive and gives me a feeling of meaning, but also makes other people happy and maybe changes how people operate a little as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Athanor<\/a> (2600 Sutter Street, San Francisco) debuts on Friday, September 17; open Tuesday through Saturday, for two seatings per night and $175 per person. Reservations are available through the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n