Madcap
Ron Siegel cooks a prix fixe five nights a week in San Anselmo, and it holds one MICHELIN star.1
Why go
The technique shows up in the base of the plate rather than on top of it. MICHELIN's inspectors describe a tender, almost-sweet coin of charred octopus
sitting on a pureed base of fermented pimentos and Tokyo turnip for a clean counterpoint,
which is a kitchen using a ferment to cut its own sweetness.1 The trout arrives crisp-skinned over cauliflower puree with ribbons of kohlrabi, and the dashi goes over it at the table.1 Everything is prix fixe.
Order this / avoid
- Order: you do not. The menu is fixed. Leave room for the caramel pot de creme, which the Guide calls
perfection
and which arrives with almond crumble twice over, in the crumble and in the ice cream.1 - Avoid: Sunday and Monday. Reservations run Tuesday to Thursday 5:30 to 8, Friday and Saturday 5 to 9.2
What locals & experts say
- MICHELIN Guide California, on the room:
Upscale yet approachable, Chef/owner Ron Siegel's Madcap is one of the Bay Area's best for contemporary dining.
1 - The same inspectors, on the umeboshi plate:
Supple slices of tart umeboshi, 'noodles' of daikon and a creamy ponzu is a creative, pleasure-packed dish.
1
Good to know
- MICHELIN standing: One MICHELIN Star, read from the live California guide on 28 August 2026. The first year of the star is not printed there and is not claimed here.
- Price band: $$$$ in the Guide's own scale.1
- Book ahead. The restaurant's site is one page and a phone number, and the reservation windows are narrow.2
Verdict
must-visit — A starred kitchen cooking a fixed menu five nights a week in a town of thirteen thousand is doing something a city room does not have to do, and the inspector's write-up shows the technique rather than praising it: pimentos fermented for a base, dashi poured over the trout at the table. The rung is earned on that detail and on a current star, both read the same day. It sits at the top with one caveat worth stating, that a single guide carries most of the evidence here.