This Cornish Hen with accompaniments was the highlight of my $46 takeout meal from Benu. It looked so good in the microwave-safe container, I just served it in situ.
As I planned a quick trip to San Francisco (with maximum safety precautions), I set my eye on the $46 takeout meal from Benu. People in San Francisco don’t mind paying for fine food, and in sit-down times Benu offers a $325 tasting menu so $46 for takeout would seem a relative bargain. (The takeout menu isn’t the same but a preview of San Ho Wan, a Korean place chef Corey Lee plans to open in the Mission.)
Here’s what I got for my $46—which swelled to $60 when tax and mandatory 20% service charge were added:
Soy-Braised Cornish Hen with Sweet Potato, Mushroom, Peppers
Chicken and Fresh Ginseng Soup, Chonggkak Kimchi
Short Grain Rice Cooked in Chicken Broth and Drippings
Squid and Cucumber Salad with Chojang Sauce
Stuffed Summer Squash Jeon
Strawberry Roll Cake with Lightly Whipped Cream
The meal was packaged in many takeout containers with a card that offered heating and serving suggestions and descriptions of some of the less familiar items. Although the instructions were to “reheat the chicken and vegetables in a pot”, I couldn’t bring myself to take them out of the microwave-safe container where they were beautifully presented and I would guess most diners would feel the same way, though they might slide a fine china plate under the plastic.
Benu squid salad and stuffed summer squash
The instructions were to eat the salad and Jeon (the Korean equivalent of tempura) first, together, with one sauce on the salad and the other used for dipping the jeon which had I think slices of small radishes as their stuffing. I have enjoyed a lot of Korean food in the U.S. and recognized the familiar flavor profiles of sesame oil, mild red pepper (gochugaru) and shiso (called perilla in Korean recipes); upscale dining means better quality ingredients rather than a dramatic departure in the recipes and that’s what I found here. I knew immediately I was in for a pleasurable dining experience.
“Ponytail” kimchi made from young spring radishes
The soup and the chicken-infused rice were comfort food, perfect accompaniments to the Cornish hen and its sauce. The kimchi was a treat; the legend explained it’s made from an elongated radish that has the shape of a ponytail. Chonggak means bachelor and refers to the ponytails worn by bachelors in olden times.
Benu Strawberry Roll dessert in whipped cream
If you were looking for something to criticize, you might go for the whipped cream under this delightful strawberry sponge roll. It had just begun to separate when I tucked into it an hour after picking up my to-go order. But I was in too good a mood to complain. Sitting by myself at my dining table in a hotel room and not particularly drawing it out, it took a good 30 minutes to go through it all.
You can pay a lot more than this for a takeout meal in San Francisco in COVID times. Saison, a Michelin-starred BBQ place, offers a $75 combo platter though I think it could serve two from the description. Wako on Clement St offers a $100 omakaze platter. But you can also pay a whole lot less.
Beef stew takeout from King’s Thai Noodle #1 on Clement, with noodles packaged separately so they don’t get soggy
I went to King Thai Noodle #1, my favorite place on Clement St, and ordered my regular to go: #3 beef stew with flat noodles and super spicy chile sauce with fish sauce, the stuff they don’t put on the tables because it can ruin your meal if you don’t know how to use it. The meal came packaged with the broth and meat in one container, the noodles and vegetables in another so they wouldn’t get soggy, and individual containers of jalapeños in vinegar and sriracha as well as the deadly stuff. Carefully reheated, it was as good as eating in the restaurant and it was only $11 plus tax.
An added bonus in exploring these San Francisco places is that parking is currently 50 cents an hour, down from demand-based pricing of $10 or more with punitive fines if you overstay by a minute or two. That will change when we’re back to business at usual at some point, but for right now there are rewards for adapting to this new world order.
