Anomaly SF: Redefining Southern Cuisine Through Modernity & Innovation

Forbes

05-05-2025

Anomaly tasting menu
For those unfamiliar with San Francisco's Anomaly, after nearly five years of word-of-mouth pop-ups, Chef Mike Lanham's innovative restaurant finally found a permanent home in January 2023. With an eleven-course tasting menu that defies convention through meticulous technique; seasonal ingredients; and unexpected textures, flavors, and presentations, Anomaly isn't just another restaurant—it's a movement fueled by a deeply personal vision and desire to accomplish what hasn't been done before.
At San Francisco's Anomaly, culinary ambition isn't just expected—it's demanded. Helmed by a chef who spent the first 24 years of his life steeped in the rich culture of the Southeastern United States, Anomaly offers a distinctive lens on fine dining: one that honors Southern roots while boldly pushing them forward.
'People wrongfully assume that all the South has to offer is bluegrass, grits, and bourbon,' Chef/ Owner Mike Lanham contests. 'Those things are great. I love all of them dearly. That being said, I want to create a cuisine where that culture has permission to evolve.'
Originally coined as 'Considered Modernist Cuisine,' the chef's culinary philosophy has undergone an evolution. Today, it's more accurately described as 'Southern Inspired Modern Cuisine,' a style that fuses deep cultural memory with modernist techniques and seasonal precision.
'The ethos of what we try to do is put forth a really intense, technically-sound, one-of-a-kind dish,' he explains. His upbringing—and the stark contrast between his opportunities and those of the generation before him—fuels the ambition behind every plate. 'To continue to do exactly the same food and cultural things that the generation that came before did, is to waste the golden opportunity they gifted me.'
Anomaly tasting menu
At Anomaly, Chef Lanham strives to ensure each course is not only delicious, but also unmistakably its own—a signature that could only belong to this restaurant. 'The food must obviously be delicious, but it's also critically important that if someone sees the dish, there is really only one restaurant it could have come from,' he says.
That level of precision doesn't happen by chance. It's the result of rigorous technical research, an obsessive attention to seasonality, and what he calls 'measuring 50 times and cutting once'—a process that he says can easily demand 100 hours of planning per menu.
Despite the ambition behind the food, the dining room at Anomaly remains refreshingly unpretentious and laid back—an intentional choice. 'We do not focus on awards. We do not focus on things we can't control,' Chef Lanham continues. Instead, the team centers their energy on what's right in front of them: 'the next duck breast, the next table clear, the next pairing, the next coat we take at the door.'
The Anomaly experience begins with a glass of bubbles as guests are ushered into the sleek, intimate dining room, each table offering a full view of Chef Mike Lanham's focused yet jovial team at work. His winter tasting menu highlights the best of Southern flavors—think ranch, buttermilk, smoked decadence, and playful twists on nostalgic favorites—elevated by California's peak seasonal ingredients.
Menus begin with a playful selection of snacks, like the 'Carrot Cloud,' featuring his inventive take on ranch cheese wiz. For those looking to splurge, even the caviar supplement is reimagined, pairing sweet French toast with briny caviar and crème fraîche.
Guests who opt out still experience the Potato—a pillowy soft potato dumpling crowned with caviar and served alongside savory fontina cheese ice cream. Fan favorites like the egg emoji remain fixtures on the menu: a spot of egg yolk jam nestled atop a smoky seaweed dashi potato foam, served in a whimsical egg-shaped ceramic cup.
Lanham's Soup + Ice, paired with pão de queijo, is another signature dish, with flavors that evolve seasonally. This winter, it featured garnet yam soup with brown butter, cumin, and lime. Watching water vapor cascade dramatically from the glass as the frozen topping meets the hot soup is one of the defining sensory moments of the meal.
Salmon and kohlrabi
Mains take the dining experience even further, with hearty dishes that showcase every element of the protein. Highlights include the Liberty Farms Duck with confit leg presse, fresh apple gel, and jus; and the newly introduced perfectly cooked salmon with kohlrabi, dill, buttermilk, and horseradish. Then there's the surprisingly complex Cabbage Cabbage Cabbage, where smoked fat crisps the leaves, served with a bright scallion aioli.
Even dessert is unexpected, with standouts like the Sunchoke—a creative play on the root vegetable—with candied sunflower seeds, nori, and caramelized milk. And to complete the experience, beverage pairings span an impressive selection of over 125 wines, sakes, ciders, and beers.
We sat down with Chef Mike Lanham to talk about the evolution of Anomaly, his Southern roots and more. Here's what he had to say.
Ironically, its meaning has evolved for us already. 'Considered Modern Cuisine' is driven by chemistry and more recent technology to create entirely new dishes with unique flavors. What we're doing now, and a better name for the Anomaly SF experience, is 'Southern Inspired Modern Cuisine.'
The ethos of what we try to do is put forth a really intense, technically-sound, one-of-a-kind dish. Since I spent the first 24 years of my life in the Southeastern United States, that is the source of many of the flavor profiles, ideas, and historical background.
Our current 'Southern Inspired Modernism' inspiration came from where I grew up. People wrongfully assume that all the South has to offer is bluegrass, grits, and bourbon. Those things are great. I love all of them dearly. That being said, I want to create a cuisine where that culture has permission to evolve.
I grew up outside Atlanta in Georgia. Many of the fashion, music, and cultural things that exist there are frequently ignored by those who did not grow up there, either out of convenience, ignorance, or both. My goal is to give the place I grew up permission to be fancy, to evolve, and to explore what that looks like to me.
Sunchoke dessert
My upbringing and the upbringing of those just one generation prior was wildly different. I had 10 x the opportunities, access to new cultural experiences, and opportunity to travel at an early age. To continue to do exactly the same food and cultural things that the generation that came before did, is to waste the golden opportunity they gifted me.
It is for that reason that you will see the common thread of southern culture through my cuisine. However, at some moments it may appear more subtle to those that did not grow up there.
The food must obviously be delicious, but it's also critically important that if someone sees the dish, there is really only one restaurant it could have come from. Getting to that place is normally pretty brutal. It requires a large amount of technical research as well as an understanding of what is seasonal, where it fits in the menu, and how it's special.
Early on in my career, I would cook hundreds of components and put them all together into the most cohesive thing I could manage. Now I spend more time reading, consuming food media, and thinking. It's probably close to 100 hours a menu all told. We try to measure 50 times and cut once.
In many applications, it can be a cultural framework. What do grits look like in California? Would I still use shrimp? Could I do a classic dish like chicken fried steak, but make it abalone instead? Could I make a dashi with pork or shrimp? The thread is always there. We often explain it tableside, but sometimes there are Easter eggs for those who grew up in the same region or cooking the same cuisine.
We do not focus on awards. We do not focus on things we can't control. The most unhappy times in my life are those where someone else controls my metric for success. We focus on the next duck breast, the next table clear, the next pairing, the next coat we take at the door.
Chocolate desert
We have gratitude for the moment. We have gratitude for each other. We have gratitude for the opportunity to come to a place with like-minded people and get just a little bit better everyday. Everything else takes care of itself.
I'd love to get the business to a point where I could step away for a moment and catch up on life. I just want a week or two to spend time with people I really love and care about. So many people have supported me through this process. Anomaly is self-funded. I do a lot of things normal chefs don't do. It is a major undertaking to perform at such a high level day in and day out. I have worked an average of 80-90 hours a week for roughly a decade at this point.