One Market Restaurant in San Francisco is celebrating African-American History Month throughout February with a special four-course, prix fixe menu and by-the-glass wine selections. The menu is available for both lunch and dinner every day this month. I went on Saturday night and loved it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too.

The full menu costs $55 without wine. Ten percent of the proceeds from that menu go to the Museum of the African Diaspora. If you have a smaller appetite or budget, you can order items individually.

The menu is a collaboration between Chef Banks White (Rambler and The Brixton) and One Market Restaurant’s Chef Mark Dommen, Pastry Chef Lyndsay Pullem, and Sommelier/Wine Director Tonya Pitts. Many ingredients within the dishes are common to traditional, African-American cuisines. Others are inspired by Chef Banks’ extensive travels in Southeast Asia. The results are exciting, new dishes rather than faithful replications of classics. It’s world cuisine with an African-American accent. 

Chef Banks White

Mark Dommen and Tonya Pitts of One Market Restaurant

I asked Chef Dommen how they collaborated on the menu. “The guest chefs get to do whatever they want,” he told me. “They decide how many and which dishes to create for the menu. We take care of the rest.” In this case, Banks White created the two main dishes. Dommen and Pullem created bookends which were entirely theme appropriate and transitioned to and from the mains smoothly. Execution of the meals is all by One Market Restaurant.

Pickled Shrimp Salad — Chef Mark Dommen

The starter is refreshing and appetizing. The shrimp, is tender yet has satisfying chew. It shows gentle, time-honored notes of Old Bay that nod to the traditions of America’s southeast. Pickling is also traditional. Dommen used bright, tangy Sauvignon Blanc vinegar which provides palate-cleansing freshness. Amplifying that is the bed of frisée, fennel, red chili, and radish with lemon oil dressing.

With this dish, I tried two different by-the-glass sparkling wines. The McBride Sisters Sparkling Rosé of Pinot Noir from Marlborough, New Zealand ($14) is a pretty, light copper color with amazingly tiny bubbles that lead to a fine, creamy mousse. It’s a mouthwatering wine with long, lovely flavors of raspberry and bitter orange pith. It’s a memorable wine and one I’ll be seeking out in the future.

Bodkin Wines Sparkling Rosé “Hotspur Cuvée” ($11) is an unlikely blend that delivers happy, peach marmalade aromas and a gluggable palate of juicy nectarine and lemon. It finishes with a touch of appetizing bitterness. Chris Christensen proved you can make good sparkling wine out of unexpected varieties by producing North America’s first sparkling Sauvignon Blanc a few years ago. He’s done it again with this North Coast melange of 55% Zinfandel, 35% Syrah, 4% Sauvignon Blanc 3% Albariño, and 3% Chenin Blanc.

Both of these Charmat-method sparklers were very enjoyable on their own, but also held up to the zingy, pickled shrimp. As you’d expect from the varietal assortment, the Bodkin is a richer, rounder wine. As a result, it’s the best choice if you’re looking for a bottle of one sparkling wine to drink throughout the full menu.

South X Southeast Fried Ribs — Chef Banks White

The first meat course is flavor-packed and offers a complex profile, yet easily qualifies as comfort food. Two pork ribs are slathered in a sweet-spicy adobo chili glaze and garnished with pickled okra, fried garlic, and fried curry leaves. The meat is succulent and its sauce balanced by the crispy garlic chips. The al dente okra is tangy, contrasting with the sauce, and will convert most anyone who normally runs away from okra. And, if I could order fried curry leaves by the bag as a snack food, I wouldn’t hesitate. All these components weave together well, making the dish more than the sum of its parts.

Though essentially a savory course, the spice and sweetness of the ribs’ sauce could present a wine-pairing challenge. Tonya Pitts was definitely up to the task. She tells me “The way I do these menus, there’s nothing typical. Normally, with spicy foods people rely on sweetness in the wines. But you can get around that with aromatic whites and in other ways. I also want to feature less mainstream wines, but wines that work with the whole menu.”

Tonya poured me two selections for the ribs. The 2017 Longevity Muscat Canelli Clear Lake ($12.50) is off-dry with a gorgeous, floral personality. White blossoms danced around the spice. The wine’s residual sugar was enough to maintain fruitiness on the palate, but light enough that it seemed dry when sipped after a bite of ribs.

The second wine represented an entirely different approach to pairing, yet succeeded on every level. And the 2018 Bodkin Wines High Rock Ranch Zinfandel Sonoma County is a killer value, only $42/bottle in the restaurant. It’s a medium-bodied Zinfandel with just 13.8% alcohol—you want that kind of moderation with spicy food—and rich flavors of chocolate, black and blue berries, and dark mineral. It’s beautifully balanced and soft on the palate with just enough structure through the satisfying finish. The wine harmonized with every aspect of the dish while maintaining its own sunny personality. 

Grilled Trout — Chef Banks White

Two perfect planks of trout with crispy, savory skin lean on a generous mound of perfectly cooked, black forbidden rice with pineapple and Swiss chard. Atop the trout sits a salad of shredded green papaya, purple onion and carrot. A splash of delectable Malaysian red curry emphasizes the course’s Southeast Asian accent.

Everything about this course was fabulous, but the rice was out of this world. I asked Chef Dommen if there was vanilla or star anise in it, but he said all the notes were coming from just the rice, pineapple, and chard. That shocked me. Rich and profoundly flavorful, it would be a satiating meal on its own. Speaking of which, the portion of this course is generous overall.

Stereotypical wine pairings for a light fish such as trout are almost always white. However, in this case, Tonya went red. The savory, fried skin, the almost meaty rice, and the curry’s elaborate, umami-rich spices opened up the playing field. Again, Tonya selected two wines for me.

The 2014 Vision Cellars Pinot Noir Rosella’s Vineyard, Santa Lucia Highlands ($23) is medium-bodied with with intense flavors of savory dark chocolate, black cherry, and earth. It was very nice with the trout and worked especially well with the rice.

The second wine was 2015 Theopholis Vineyards Petite Sirah Yorkville Highlands ($20). Normally, Petite Sirah and trout would be a bizarre combination. Not so in this case. Again, the savory, meaty trout and deep, layered flavors of the rice played off the dark fruit and five-spice elements in the wine. And though the wine is full-bodied, Theodora Lee’s Petite Sirah is restrained, very well balanced, and its tannins are quite soft. 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake — Chef Lyndsay Pullem

Dessert consisted of four distinct elements which work well together, but are delicious individually too. The cake had excellent texture and its pineapple was thoroughly cooked, but only lightly caramelized. That pineapple also served as a bridge to the final savory course with its pineapple-studded forbidden rice.. Beside the cake were  two quenelles, one of a remarkable, brown sugar ice cream and another of thick, coconut-vanilla whipped cream, Shards of candied Macadamia nuts provided light crunch and added to the array of tropical flavors.

Bodkin Wines 2013 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Dry Creek Valley ($13) was an ideal match for this course. It’s sweet, but not overly, and the wine’s flavors of baked pineapple and spice mirrored those in the cake.

One Market Restaurant’s African-American History Tribute – A Menu Well Worth Trying

I found the dinner interesting, delicious, and thought-provoking. Tonya says, “We’re storytellers. Whenever we set down a glass or plate, we’re telling a story. The producers on our wine list all have stories too.” So do the dishes. Their fusion of cuisines from America’s south, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean spoke to pride in heritage, openness to new cultures, adopting what new lands offer, and gaining strength from diversity.

Copyright Fred Swan 2020. Food and food photos by Fred Swan. Banks White photo courtesy of ChefBanksWhite.com. Mark Dommen and Tanya photos courtesy of One Market Restaurant. All rights reserved.

About the author: Fred Swan is an Oakland-based writer, educator, and event sommelier. He’s written on wine and spirits for GuildSomm.com, Daily.SevenFifty.com, The Tasting Panel, SOMM Journal, PlanetGrape.com, and more. Fred teaches a wide range of classes at the San Francisco Wine School. He’s founder/producer of Wine Writers’ Educational Tours, an annual, educational conference for professional wine writers. He also leads seminars, private wine tours, and conducts tastings, dinners, and events for wineries, companies, and private parties. Fred’s certifications include WSET Diploma, Certified Sommelier, California Wine Appellation Specialist, Certified Specialist of Wine, French Wine Scholar, Italian Wine Professional, Napa Valley Wine Educator, Northwest Wine Appellation Specialist, and Level 3 WSET Educator. He’s three times been awarded a fellowship by the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers.