Mijoté

The prix fixe menu at Mijoté in the Mission changes daily, and each course is described with just three ingredients: “maitake, hazelnut, clove,” or “carrot, jasmine, white chocolate.” There’s always an element of surprise to whatever simple, bright dish ends up on the table, and that’s exactly what makes this French restaurant so exciting.

SF Guide

San Francisco's Best New Restaurants Of 2022

The charming, sunlit space adds to the excitement. Tables and bar seats are close together, so don’t be surprised when you end up exchanging names with your neighbors and then sharing a bottle with them later. The list of rotating wines by the glass (all natural) is scrawled on chalkboards and little mirrors throughout the dining room, and food is served on vintage floral plates. Mijoté used to be an omakase spot, and the long wooden sushi bar is still intact. It’s the best place to sit, so you can watch the staff across the counter finish slow-roasted maitake mushrooms with tiny edible flowers and slice up hunks of Josey Baker sourdough.

photo credit: Erin Ng

The only option here is the four-course set menu ($82) consisting of a couple of small appetizers, a sizable entrée (usually a protein), and dessert. These dishes aren’t stereotypically heavy French food. Fruit is incorporated into most courses. Depending on the day, you might be served a tower of scallops, cucumbers, and nectarines, or perfectly tender roasted chicken drenched in elderberry jus. The optional add-ons like roasted lobster with saffron beurre blanc ($36) or a cheese of the day ($11) are plenty delicious but only necessary if you really want to go big and do it up. Every dish that lands in front of you will also likely involve show-stealing sauce, poured tableside, or by someone behind the counter. A rich, fragrant sauce poivrade might spill over a massive hanger steak. And sweet cardamom cream or harissa butter sauces are so well-balanced and flavorful you’ll wipe them clean off your plate. 

Since it’s impossible to predict what the menu will look like on any given night, here’s what you can actually count on: Mijoté will be filled with families celebrating milestone birthdays, dates cozying up at the bar, and solo diners working their way through a bottle of funky pét-nat. And before your first meal is even over, you’ll probably have already booked another reservation—even if just to see what three-word combinations the kitchen comes up with next. 

Food Rundown

Mijoté’s prix fixe menu changes often, depending on what’s in season. But here’s an idea of what you can expect.

Scallop, Costata Romanesco, Cardamom

This first course is precisely stacked layers of plump scallops and thin cucumber and nectarine slices finished with cardamom cream sauce. It’s refreshing, and a little zingy from the fresh grated horseradish on top.

photo credit: Erin Ng

Maitake, Hazelnut, Clove

One of the heartier dishes you might see. The slow-roasted maitake mushroom is the star, soaking up all of the sauces, which might be clove cream one night, and harissa butter another. Whatever sauce you end up with, save some bread to wipe the bowl clean.

Chicken, Kale, Elderberry

The deep golden-brown skin on this slow-roasted chicken breast and thigh is so crackly you can hear it crunch whenever someone across the dining room takes a bite. It gets brightness from some pluot purée, capers, and a generous amount of elderberry chicken jus (poured tableside).

photo credit: Erin Ng

Strawberry, Rose, Oolong

We’d start a fan club for this strawberry, rose, and oolong dessert (pictured below with peach). The rose ice cream has nice floral notes without tasting like an overly fragrant candle. And if you say you didn’t have fun breaking into the crisp tuille with the tiny spoon, you’re lying.