"It's incredibly collaborative," said baker Sasha Waniewski. "He [Shelton] knows how to tease ideas out of everybody, even the shy people. Everyone is involved, even prep cooks who come in two days a week. Their voices matter."
But, beneath the theatrics and tweezer food, there's something even more unique going on at this high-end SoMa restaurant: In the kitchen, everyone does everything - including the chef, who washes dishes. And everyone's ideas matter.
Merchant Roots defies the old brigade system where one person, usually a male head chef, is king. Chef-owner Ryan Shelton, whom one team member described as a creative genius, developed the concept about six years ago.
A typical tasting menu ($180) takes three months of ideation and another three months of recipe tasting before its three-month run.
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