IN SITU

Housed in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, In Situ was a Michelin-starred restaurant from Corey Lee that brought art and food closer together than ever before. The kitchen was headed up by Scottish chef Ian Scaramuzza and I reviewed In Situ for The Caterer

When in the spring of 2016 the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) reopened as the largest of its kind in the United States following a three-year, $305m redesign, it had a lot to live up to. But, widely received as a triumph, it not just exceeded art and architecture lovers’ expectations, it also delivered on the culinary front.

Partnering with three-Michelin-starred chef Corey Lee of Benu, SFMOMA created a new restaurant called In Situ, named after the Latin phrase describing a work of art embedded in its original place. In Situ, located on the museum’s ground floor, is the opposite of its namesake, acting as a gallery of temporarily loaned artworks by showcasing dishes from chefs around the world. “I see this project as an extension of the museum’s larger mission—to present great works worldwide and make them accessible for greater public engagement,” Lee said before the launch. He contacted the most innovative and creative chefs all around the globe asking them to supply a recipe for a signature dish. Before In Situ even opened, Lee had amassed more than 100 recipes.

Overseeing the kitchen at In Situ is Scottish-born chef Ian Scaramuzza, the 2015 Roux Scholar, who spent his winning stage at Benu. Having previously worked with Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles and as the head chef at Claude Bosi’s Hibiscus in London, the young chef quickly impressed Lee and his group executive chef Brandon Rodgers, who not only called on his help with the research and development for In Situ but also sponsored him a green card so he could become its head chef.

Undeviating precision is the focus at In Situ: “With every dish, we follow the recipe down to a tee, not changing anything, so that it is a true representation of what the chef wants,” explains Scaramuzza. “Often we go back with specific questions and sometimes it takes time to get it right – we had a recipe from Seiji Yamamoto for instance that had over 100 steps.”  

Iconic culinary creations take diners on a journey around the world. Dishes are shuffled on and off the 18-item menu, which is divided into small, medium and large plates as well as desserts. You might find Massimo Bottura’s Oops I Dropped The Lemon Tart one week, and Alice Waters’ Meyer Lemon Ice Cream and Sherbet the next.

The kitchen at In Situ is designed to be more flexible than most, with the brigade made up of 10 chefs de partie and four sous chefs as well as the head chef. There are no commis chefs or stagiers, nor are there dedicated sections for meat, fish or sauce. Instead four to five dishes are prepared in one individual work area set up with the equipment required for each recipe. What’s more is that each chef de partie, also serves as a waiter on a rotating weekly shift. “This encourages team work and also means the chefs continue to learn new skills,” Scaramuzza says.

The day The Caterer visits In Situ, lunch begins with a caramelised carrot soup with coconut foam from scientist-turned-chef Nathan Myhrvold’s cooking encyclopaedia Modernist Cuisine. “The recipe for the soup comes from the book but he sent us the coconut foam and spice mix separately, which make it more of a complete dish,” says Scaramuzza. 

Next we visit Nottingham, by way of Sat Bains’ chicken liver muesli. “I feel humbled to have one of my dishes on In Situ’s menu,” enthuses Bains. “I heard Thomas Keller ate it just a few weeks ago there, which is amazing.”   

The meal then takes us to France, with a dish from culinary legend, Michel Guérard, whose delicate summery warm tomato and basil tart seems as relevant here right now as it did when it was first invented in 1981. “We make our own puff pastry, which takes a few days, but each tart is finished a la minute,” Scaramuzza says. This is followed by Tim Raue’s signature creation of wasabi lobster with mango jelly and Thai vinaigrette, offering a pronounced contrast of flavours between the sweet, buttery seafood and the sharp heat of the Japanese radish. “Again the recipe came from his book but he added two wasabi marshmallow stars to point to his Michelin rating.”

Also from Germany is a classic main course of halibut stuffed with egg yolk and served with peas, black trumpet mushrooms and sauce mignonette from Hans Haas’s Tantris in Munich. “The original dish is prepared with turbot but we changed it to halibut as this is local to the Bay Area,” says Scaramuzza. He adds that it’s one of the most challenging dishes to recreate: “If the egg yolk pops, you have to start over.”

But not all of the dishes at In Situ are on loan and each section of the menu also features a dish by Scaramuzza and his team. For instance, there’s a dessert that takes inspiration from the museum’s current René Magritte exhibit: a green apple made from white chocolate filled with calvados mousse, a nod to the artist’s ongoing motif. But it’s also about balance: with most global chefs providing recipes for small, tasting menu sized plates or seafood courses, the team works to add vegetable or meat focused dishes to offer diners a well-rounded menu.

A world-renowned modern art institution in a progressive, forward thinking place like San Francisco needs a restaurant that reflects both the city’s creative ingenuity and rich culinary diversity. With In Situ the SFMOMA has achieved just that.