{"id":501077,"date":"2026-10-19T14:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/501077\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:36:13","slug":"sfs-biggest-thai-debut-of-the-year-is-also-its-biggest-letdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/501077\/","title":{"rendered":"SF\u2019s biggest Thai debut of the year is also its biggest letdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eat Here Now<\/a> is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around \u2013 the ones we think are worth visiting, and the ones we suggest you skip. We dine once, serve forth our thoughts, and let you take it from there.<\/p>\n

The poor tomato was drawn and quartered.<\/p>\n

I was 30 minutes into a meal at Saam (opens in new tab)<\/a>, which opened three months ago in SoMa, when the tuna za jin landed on the table: four chunks of yellow tomato concealed under pieces of fish and accompanied by crispy shallots and a deep-green coriander sauce. At first glance, it was the very embodiment of the season \u2014 the cusp of autumn \u2014 and Cal-Thai fusion. But the presentation of the tomato, which came from Fresno\u2019s organic Balakian Farms, made it feel more like a medical specimen than a late-summer delicacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bigger problem was that it wasn\u2019t quite ripe, which distracted from the pleasingly slow-burning heat imparted by the shallots and sauce. My stupefied dinner date compared it to something you\u2019d get at a grocery store.<\/p>\n

As the first U.S. project from executive chef Thitid \u201cTon\u201d Tassanakajohn, Saam is one of San Francisco\u2019s most high-profile debuts of the year. Two of Tassanakajohn\u2019s three Bangkok restaurants \u2014 Le Du and Nusara \u2014 hold Michelin stars, yet Saam feels less like a grand entrance than a walk through the mud. Anyone looking for a Southeast Asian culinary adventure with varying heat levels and inventive flavors is likely to come away wanting, maybe an indication that smashing success in a distant city is no guarantee the vision will translate here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FourTuna za jin.<\/p>\n

A garlicky, deep-black bowl of muek nam dam, or squid atop squid-ink glass noodles, fared better than the tuna, its peppery sheaf of crown daisy leaves crackling to life with a squirt of lime. But not so the khao soi haeng seafood, a dry-noodle version of the Thai curry dish typically served as a soup. Although widely understood to be a Northern-style dish, Tassanakajohn says it originated in Burma, where it\u2019s considerably more austere. \u201cI make it with much less coconut milk, and a lot more toasted spice,\u201d he says. Despite all the mussels coated in shrimp paste, it was mellow even with a liberal use of chile oil.<\/p>\n

Equally disappointing was the gaeng khack yawa, an underseasoned Javanese beef curry that was beautifully presented but whose backbone of Beeman Ranch bavette steak was overcooked. The highlight was the roti, as flaky and buttery as any pastry from a Paris boulangerie and a reflection of the strength of Thailand\u2019s Indian community. \u201cIt\u2019s the only bread we have in Thailand,\u201d Tassanakajohn says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaam,\u201d the number three in Thai, refers in this case to the trio of heavyweights behind the restaurant: Tassanakajohn; general manager Tee Atthapon, who\u2019s also the chef-owner of the Lower Haight\u2019s Song Wat and Daly City\u2019s Kan Kiin; and chef de cuisine Ty Choosowan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dinner is a master class in the power and range of coriander (which we call cilantro), from roots to tips. It\u2019s \u201cour key ingredient,\u201d Tassanakajohn says, and one of the main reasons he opened here and not in L.A. or New York. \u201cYou usually cannot find coriander root anywhere in the U.S.\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re very happy to work with the farmers who can provide us this, because it\u2019s quite essential.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoTee, who goes by Attapon Inkhong, left, and Thitid Tassanakajohn, who goes by Chef Ton.\"AMuek nam dam.<\/p>\n

Same goes for makrut lime. As he\u2019s played with the menu since Saam\u2019s July opening, Tassanakajohn has grown enamored of Northern California\u2019s stone fruit and persimmons too. But while he professes to be tweaking the menu based on feedback \u2014 \u201cSome people say we need some more rice dishes, curry dishes, and so on\u201d \u2014 it feels as though the chef is restraining himself; notably, nothing on the menu can be found at any of his Bangkok restaurants.<\/p>\n

Still, the debut comes at a fortuitous moment. A spate of high-profile openings has vaulted Thailand back to center stage, including the Mission\u2019s Sawaan Thai Kitchen<\/a>, the Castro\u2019s Ka Kai<\/a>, and West Portal\u2019s Tur<\/a>, all of which specialize in underrepresented regions or offer hard-to-find dishes. It\u2019s not as if you need a docent to go beyond pad kee mao these days.<\/p>\n

Of this bumper crop, Saam has the most thoughtful wine list; a glass of orange Gew\u00fcrztraminer blend from the Central Coast is the sprightliest, most versatile pairing. But this prestige restaurant is also the most expensive of the bunch \u2014 by a mile. At this point in America\u2019s journey of ever-higher prices<\/a>, it\u2019s becoming harder to suss out value<\/a>. (Is that $8 slice of pizza worth it? How about this $25 glass<\/a> of wine?) Regardless, I\u2019m confident that $39 for squid noodles and $68 for a bowl of beef curry is pushing the limits. Indeed, two diners, ordering one drink, one appetizer, and one entree each, may find themselves dropping almost $300, which is a lot of buck for the bang.<\/p>\n

\"Cozy<\/p>\n

All this might be less jarring if the room itself had personality. But Saam, housed in the former Sun and Moon space one block from Oracle Park, has an earth-toned interior that\u2019s elegant but safe, like a restaurant on an upper floor of an international chain hotel. The most interesting design component is an arrangement of dried herbs that could be an altar to some fertility deity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In all, it might be best to enjoy Saam as part of a compare-and-contrast survey of San Francisco\u2019s nouveau Thai scene, appreciated as much for its pedigree and approach as for what\u2019s on the plate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eat Here Now is a first look at some of the newest, hottest restaurants around \u2013 the ones…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[35067,13807,412,101,103,102,104,106,105,1911,13808],"class_list":["post-501077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-eat-here","tag-eat-here-now","tag-restaurants","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-soma","tag-thai-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501077","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=501077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}