Close-up butter image: Faye Liu - Pouring butter image: The Skinny Bib
Restaurant: Located in the SoMa district of downtown San Francisco, Benu is a restaurant known for its complex tasting menu. Influenced by many cultures, Benu explores how Eastern and Western flavors, ideas, and aesthetics harmonize with each other. Established in 2010, the restaurant is housed on the ground floor of a historic building that dates back to 1922. Benu has received four stars from The San Francisco Chronicle, the AAA Five Diamond Award, and in 2014, Benu was awarded the highest rating from the Michelin Guide, the coveted (and rare) three stars.
Chef: Born in Seoul, South Korea, Corey Lee’s family moved to New York when he was five years old. Influenced by his mother’s cooking, he took his first kitchen job at 17. Lee traveled and worked in Europe and New York. His career has spanned over 20 years of working at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world, including a tenure as head chef at The French Laundry where his work was recognized with a James Beard Award. In 2015, Chef Lee authored the cookbook Benu–a collection of recipes and essays that explores the restaurant's food, influences, and people who make it possible.
Butter: Chef Lee’s butter is like a work of art in flavor and design. The butter is drizzled with ginseng-infused orange blossom honey and topped with Sinan sea salt. (Sinan sea salt is produced in the Sinan Archipelago of South Korea) Warm sprouted grain bread complements the disk of butter that is embossed with a honeycomb pattern.
Benu
22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 685-4860
