So...back on-topic. "Dining extravaganza" these days usually means an upscale prix fixe; i.e., tasting, menu of multiple courses. Here in the SFBA there are some moderate-priced multiple course menus, but yes, they are very rare. Also, "moderate price" in the San Francisco Bay Area must be viewed proportionately; we are a HCOL area (and have been for decades) so 'moderate' is currently defined by most of our food blogs/boards as averaging from $35-60/pp before drinks, tax and tips.
(Just an aside: "Budget" menus are almost always "Happy Hour" menus, because you are expected to get a drink before ordering, whether alcoholic or not. They're often very good deals, too.)
In the spring of this year we went to a well-regarded new restaurant, Table Culture in Petaluma, CA, which is focused on a lower-priced tasting menu experience. It was quite good. Here's an excerpt from the review I wrote up (I do these for myself, but also email to a very limited group of friends who are also foodies):
Table Culture, Petaluma CA, April 2024:
This is a tasting menu-only restaurant, dinner only. They prefer reservations (through Resy) but do accept walk-ins if tables are available. Per their intent, although exquisitely presented and carefully coursed, the dishes presented are not exotic, but familiar. These are what good bistro cooking would produce if only the best ingredients were sourced, and the execution was as close to perfect as possible, with disciplined skill and the kind of careful precision normally given only to food costing hundreds of dollars more per person.
The cost is very moderate: the seven-course meal is $125; the four-course meal is $75. You choose whatever one you wish, once you are seated. There are several optional additions one can add, at varying prices. Note that these dishes
are small bites; four courses would amount to four bites of food – even with
amuse-bouches, about half a meal. Spouse and I both chose the seven course option, and ordered a bottle of Pellegrino.
Our conclusion (and for SF members, yes, it was just the right amount of food, more than sufficient and extremely high quality):
Would we return to TCP? We have several friends who would be much more comfortable here than at Commis or Michael Warring. It would be no hardship to dine here again: good food, beautiful presentation, flawless service, a quiet and attractive dining room. The price is reasonable for the excellent quality. I would suspect the kitchen’s reliability factor is very high. If they occasionally stick with the mundane, IOHO better that with top quality and consistent execution, than the
outre ‘fad of the moment’ that fails to satisfy.
Table Culture has invented a niche dining market for itself, which is nothing short of brilliant. It is a splurge, but remains within an affordable range that Bay Area’s Michelin stalwarts such as Crenn, Benu, Single Thread, Meadowood et. al. have long abandoned. It was noticeable that half the diners were Millennials and Gen X’ers, who are not easy to draw in on a weekday evening. Kudos to TCP for recognizing, and taking advantage of, a restaurant offering something that diners didn’t know they were missing.
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