Southern Grandma Fare Gets a California Fine Dining Glow-Up

The newest restaurant inside the Jay hotel in San Francisco explores the connections between nostalgic Southern food and California produce, with its overall approach informed by fine dining techniques. But Prelude is also a personal menu from chef Celtin Hendrickson-Jones, who’s taking inspiration from his maternal grandmother and great-grandmother, both of whom hail from Alabama. Hendrickson-Jones grew up in California, but family dinners filled with creamed corn and fried green tomatoes continue to influence, he said in a press release. Now, he uses those meals as reference material for the menu at Prelude.

Hendrickson-Jones takes those family recipes passed on through oral tradition and reimagines them through a fine dining lens. The chef worked his way through kitchens of several popular restaurants, including most recently Niku Steakhouse, but also two-Michelin-starred Commis, and Morimoto. What that means for Prelude are dishes and techniques, including preservation and fermentation, rooted in the South but with touches from all corners of Hendrickson-Jones’s history. Diners will have two routes for experiencing the food: They can choose between a prix fixe or a la carte salon menu. Dishes such as Tierra Farm hominy grits or cornbread financiers with cultured Hokkaido uni butter may cycle into the prix fixe menu, which will change with the seasons. In the salon, expect statement dishes like a dirty rice-stuffed chicken wing.

Adahlia Cole

Beyond Hendrickson-Jones, Prelude has a team comprised of fine-dining veterans: Franco Bilbaeno, previously of Angler and now with the Niku Steakhouse team, takes on the role of bar director, while Master Sommelier Morgan Harris, previously of Saison Hospitality, leads the wine program in collaboration with Evan Hufford, Jade Hufford, and Ryan Knowles of Maison Healdsburg (all alums of Michelin-starred SingleThread). Bilbaeno matches the restaurant’s sensibilities with a drink menu that flips Southern classics on their heads. A take on the Sazerac goes into another dimension under Bilbaeno, who crosses it with the flavors of pecan pie using a pie crust-washed rye whiskey and pairing it with cognac and toasted pecans to give it sweetness.

The Maison Healdsburg team, meanwhile, is building out the wine list, picking select bottles from Napa Valley, of course, but also France and Italy, plus the noteworthy addition of a vintage Champagne selection. The list will feature selections from “up-and-coming regions and rising star under-the-radar producers” alongside early bottles from “now-iconic producers,” per the press release.

Prelude, inside the Jay, Autograph Collection (433 Clay Street), debuts Tuesday, August 20. Reservations are now available via OpenTable.

Adahlia Cole