12 May Line Up for Your Provisions at State Bird SF

I travel to San Francisco regularly. Sometimes its a day trip, usually its an overnight trip and occasionally there are a few extra days to plan and explore. Explore what? Restaurants of course. There are so many to try in San Francisco and one that has constantly evaded me is State Bird SF.  State Bird is one of those restaurants that you have to plan far in advance to try to get one of the limited reservations. Or, you can line up each night before they open, which is what we did. We didn’t know what to expect or how early to get there. With the doors opening at 5:30pm, we lined up at 4:30 and we were not the first ones there. But, when the door opened up, the line quickly moved and we were told to return at 7:30pm for dinner. Perfect! State Bird takes the concept of small plates to another level. Half of the menu is served like dim sum style service with pushcarts and trays, called “provisions”. As soon as you sit down, the carts start coming by. The carts offer an opportunity to control the pace of food on your table. Just like dim sum, if you are not careful, you will say yes to everything that passes by and soon there will be no room left on your table.  Raw oyster with spicy kohlrabi kraut & sesame and Guanciale chawanmushi Hamachi-avocado & seaweed cracker and Beef tongue with vinegar potato & green garlic  Smoked trout-avocado ‘chip & dip’ and Spicy steak tartare  Garlic bread with burrata and sourdough, sauerkraut, pecorino & ricotta pancake.   We had so many “provisions” that we never made it to the larger “Commandables” that can be ordered off the menu. But, we did order dessert – brown butter-fig crêpes, aged balsamic, long pepper, hazelnuts and chocolate ‘ice cream’ sandwich, smoked meringue, spicy cocoa nib, strawberries With an open kitchen, carts rolling and colorful little dishes piling up on the tables, State Bird is fun, creative, casual, delicious and most importantly, not impossible to get in! State Bird Provisions
1529 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA
415.795.1272