Home Food & Wine The Hungry Palate Rising star Joel Huff may be the best chef youve never heard of

Rising star Joel Huff may be the best chef youve never heard of

Written by Susan Dyer Reynolds, Northside Editor

Friday, 31 March 2006

Young chef de cuisine at Silks could be the Bay Area's next big thing During the three and a half years I have written this column, I have never strayed outside the Northside for my review – until this month. On my first visit to Silks at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel last October, I realized that chef de cuisine Joel Huff was something very special. Six months and several visits later, I am convinced he is the best new chef in San Francisco, on his way to culinary superstardom not only in the Bay Area but nationally. What makes Huff’s cuisine stand out is at once complex and simple – he marries eastern and western flavors with a modern flair still rooted in tradition, and the result is delicious food. His knowledge of ingredients and techniques seems far beyond his 33 years – he is mature and confident enough to combine disparate flavors, to utilize things lesser chefs wouldn’t dare such as foams, and to pull off dazzling presentations that never upstage the dishes. In many respects Huff reminds me of a young David Kinch, who coincidentally also worked at Silks early in his career before opening the magnificent Manresa in Los Gatos, now one of the nation’s most acclaimed restaurants. Huff is hardly a household name, though the national food press has begun sniffing around. In March, Esquire magazine named Huff one of the “Four Chefs to Watch in 2006,” calling his cuisine “the best Asian fusion in San Francisco,” and Food & Wine magazine stopped by that same month to check him out for their annual “Best New Chefs” issue. I sang Huff’s praises in my October 2005 “Get Across Town” column, and I am baffled as to why other local publications haven’t done the same. A friend recently joked that I was “on a one-critic crusade to spread the Gospel of Joel,” to which I replied, “Hallelujah!” Born into a third generation farming family in Ventura, California, Huff spent his youth as a surfer boy who dreamt of becoming a fireman, until a friend invited him to Denmark to cook in his father’s restaurant for a summer. It was a life-changing experience and, upon returning to southern California, Huff enrolled in culinary school. He worked at restaurant L’Orangiere in Los Angeles and spent four years as a sushi chef at Juro Cho in Ventura, where he began his love affair with Asian cuisine. Eager to pursue the relationship, he cooked his way around the world, finding strong influences in Thailand and especially in Australia, where he met his mentor, Nori Sugi, at the now-defunct Restaurant VII. Australia proved meaningful personally as well – Huff met his wife there and in 2003 the couple moved back to the United States. In New York, Huff signed on as sous chef at Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental where he reunited with mentor Nori Sugi and continued to refine his skills. In February 2005, Huff accepted the position at Silks, a natural fit for his modern east-meets-west style. He makes use of local, organic ingredients and also works with long-established favorite seafood purveyors to obtain the highest quality fish and shellfish. He doesn’t have a prep cook – he does his own butchering and makes his own stocks – and he has a hand in every dish that leaves the kitchen. Silks offers three and four course menus ($75/$85) with optional wine pairings ($35/$45). Some of Huff’s most astonishing creations appear as first courses, so the four-course option, which allows diners to select two first course items, is the way to go. We started with the yellowfin sashimi: pristine cubes of beautiful ruby red tuna topped with tiny dollops of feta “foam” the texture of whipped cream, which sounds weird but actually works. Chips of roasted garlic add a bit of crunch while slivers of yuzu gelee add a touch of tartness. My dining companion described the botan nabe, a modern take on the classic winter stew popular in Kyoto, as “steak without chewing.” The server pours luxurious maple-hued oxtail consommé over fresh udon noodles, slivers of daikon and slices of boar carpaccio topped with a sheet of nori. The tender meat, which cooks in the hearty broth, is rich in flavor with a surprisingly light consistency. The “eggs, bacon & toast,” destined to become Huff’s signature, is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. A fresh duck egg is steamed and then tempura-battered and fried golden brown. Slicing it open allows the warm yoke to ooze around the accompanying square of succulent Hobbs pork that has been pressed, slow braised and pressed again before crisping the top. The brioche toast is perfect for sopping up every drop of egg yoke and pork juice, and, truth be told, I’d be happy eating this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For a main course, we couldn’t resist the lobster and shellfish tom yum noodles, which arrive in a parchment purse, the tips rising in the air like paper flames. As with the botan nabe, the server finishes the dish tableside, cutting open the steaming package to reveal hand-cut rice noodles surrounding razor clams, mussels and a whole Maine lobster tail and claw in an aromatic broth of coconut and lemongrass. This is undoubtedly Huff’s most popular entr&eacutee – on all three of our visits we saw one at nearly every table. Fennel dusted sea bream looks gorgeous beside a paint stroke of pickled chanterelle puree and oxtail and red wine reduction. I’m not a fan of licorice so I’m not usually a fan of fennel, but the mild white flesh of the sea bream wasn’t overpowered. The side of crab brandade, creamy with a crunchy salty crust, was luscious. It seems every Japanese-influenced menu these days touts miso-steamed black cod, so it was refreshing to dig into Huff’s hot pot of sake-cured black cod and rock shrimp gyoza in chicken dashi consomm&eacute. The shrimp-filled dumplings were light, the cod was flaky and sweet, and the broth had a mushroom-infused earthiness that played nicely with both. The subtle taste of Tasmanian trout seemed oddly paired with a bone full of unctuous marrow and preserved lemon and bone marrow risotto, but this dish is a true testament to Huff’s ability to think outside the box and make it work. Cedar-wrapped squab was plump and juicy, served with young grapes that brought out the sweetness of the meat and airy delicata (sweet potato squash) gnocchi. My dining companion loved the braised Snake River American Kobe beef rib, meltingly soft and sweet as candy, but I preferred the venison katsu, which resembled deep-fried beef Wellington. Sliced like a sushi roll, the crisp breadcrumb crust revealed rare meat that cut like butter, and it came with my favorite side of the evening, a fluffy kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) soufflé flecked with fried sage and thyme that I devoured without sharing. When it was time for dessert, pastry chef Mitch Blanco’s visually beautiful blend of tastes and textures stood up to Huff’s savory menu with aplomb. Translucent Frangelico gelee was sandwiched between chocolate marquise “dominos” and served with honey-milk yogurt and white pepper sorbet that was a revelation amongst the tired sorbet selections at most restaurants. Blanco’s banana split, a delight to the eyes and the palate, features square slices of banana on a thin caramel tart with a graham cracker bottom and a shot of vanilla malt with rum foam for a chaser. The meal ends with a shot of dark beer next to a cup of hot chocolate - on one visit my dining companion wrinkled his nose, but once he tried it he loved it. The bitter beer plays against the sweet chocolate surprisingly well. I can’t write about Silks and not mention the Kopi Luwak coffee from Indonesia. The smooth, complex flavor comes from the natural fermentation, and I mean natural: a possum-like creature called the luwak eats the beans and, unable to digest them, “deposits” them on the jungle floor for locals to collect. The luwak’s stomach acids and enzymes help to create the rarest coffee bean in the world (only 500 pounds produced each year) as well as the most expensive at $40 a demi-cup. The ambiance at Silks is less stuffy than at many hotel restaurants – sophisticated but warm, with walls of saffron and nutmeg, hand-painted silk chandeliers and high-backed booths snuggled against windows that give an illusion of privacy. Adding to the relaxed mood is the dark, quiet room – even when full, you can hold a conversation without raising your voice, a rare luxury in San Francisco eateries these days. Service is of the highest caliber – the wait staff is knowledgeable and friendly, anticipating your needs without being intrusive. If you Get Across Town for just one meal this month, make it Silks. With Joel Huff’s star on the rise, this is your chance to catch him on the way up and experience some of the most creative, unique and delicious food in the entire Bay Area. Silks at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel: 222 Sansome Street at Pine. 415-986-2020. Dinner 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Valet and easy street parking after 6 p.m.

Last Updated ( Saturday, 19 January 2008 )