Saam Brings Spice (and More) to SoMa, Courtesy of a Celebrity Thai Chef
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Celebrity Thai chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn has opened many restaurants.
After attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park in New York, he honed his skills at establishments like Eleven Madison Park and Jean-Georges, before returning to Thailand to open a swath of restaurants there and in other parts of Asia. One of them is the Michelin-starred Le Du, a fine dining restaurant in Bangkok, named the best restaurant in Asia in 2023.
Enter Saam, set in San Francisco’s SoMA neighborhood, Tassanakajohn’s first venture in America.
“The soul is very Californian, but the taste is very Thai,” Tassanakajohn says about the new restaurant, which he opened in late July with restaurateur Tee Atthapon, who opened Ruay Mitr Chicken and Rice and Song Wat in San Francisco and Kan Kiin in Daly City.
Diners can expect fresh, bold, spicy flavors at this modern Thai spot, where local farms and purveyors are spotlighted alongside traditional flavors and dishes. But don’t expect a typical Thai restaurant menu here: for example, you won’t find pad thai or drunken noodles.
The menu spotlights lesser-known regional Thai dishes. It also leans heavily into seafood, showcasing the local fish and shellfish caught off the coast, though there are plenty of other proteins to choose from as well, including Beeman Ranch beef and duck from Root Down Farm in Petaluma.
Tassanakajohn says he hopes to show that “Thai cuisine can be so versatile, that you can cook it with any ingredients and it’s actually very good. Here in California, we’re lucky that we have all the fresh produce all year round. It would be a shame to not show those produce in Thai cuisine.”
Here are five things to know about dining at Saam:
1. Expect the menu to change with the seasons.
The chefs have a close relationship with local farms, from K&J Orchards to Root Down Farm, which provides the duck featured in the curry dish. In addition, local Asian farmers from the Civic Center farmers’ market provide harder-to-find Southeast Asian herbs used throughout the menu.
About half of the menu will remain the same, while some featured dishes will rotate according to what’s in season here. For example, in the restaurant’s debut week, king salmon was on the menu. Salmon fisheries have since closed; the menu now features line-caught halibut, heirloom tomatoes, and melons. The tomatoes, for example, from Balakian Farms in the San Joaquin Valley, were paired with fresh akami tuna, herbs, and a Northern-style green sauce made with fresh herbs, fermented fish sauce, and Chiang Mai peppercorn. Expect persimmons and other fruits added in the upcoming weeks and months.
2. Spices are a main feature of the menu.
The spice levels are noted on the menu, ranging from one pepper to three. Just note that if you can’t handle spice, better not to order the very spicy dishes. Choose your own (spice) adventure, as they say. All sauces are made in-house (and they were so good that we took them to go). Highlights included the chile paste and jaew, a Thai dipping sauce for grilled meat.
3. Don’t miss the freshly-pounded curries.
Curries are made from scratch here as well. Each mixture is pounded so the aromatics and oils are fresh, and the flavors don’t deteriorate. In the early afternoon, workers are already prepping the curries for dinner, as each curry dish is thoughtfully composed, from Root Down Farms duck curry with shrimp paste and young coconut, or a vegan curry with cauliflower, mushroom, onions, and toasted coconut.
The reason for making each curry mix fresh, each day, is for flavor. “The curries have a lot of aromatic oils from different herbs. If you buy it frozen or processed, you lose that aroma,” Tassanakajohn says.
4. Get the desserts. Maybe all of them.
The go-to dessert may be the familiar mango sticky rice. Saam’s take retains traditional flavors, but takes it to another level with a meringue palm sugar top. Another standout dessert was a pandan “panna cotta” jelly dessert topped with banana ice cream, and toasted slivered almonds and two types of fresh melon. The melons balanced the sweetness of the ice cream and panna cotta for a finish that was fresh and not too sweet.
5. Prime-time reservations go quickly.
It’s already a tough ticket, so plan ahead. For now, the restaurant is currently only open for dinner service. However, Tassanakajohn said the team is toying with the idea of a more casual, limited-menu lunch service for the local working crowd. The menu would be simpler. Stay tuned.
