When Mike Lanham was a young cook, he’d dress up in his one set of nice clothes and use his meager savings to dine at a two- or three-starred Michelin restaurant. Admittedly, as early as 2 hours beforehand, he’d find himself getting nervous, anxious that he’d fit in properly or commit a dining faux pas.

So, when it was time to open his own restaurant, he knew he didn’t want his diners to feel the same jitters.

“Fine-dining should be fun,” he explains, “and well thought out.’ But certainly not intimidating.

His aptly named Anomaly aims to deviate from the expected stiff formality one sometimes associates with highfalutin dining.

The tasting menu-only restaurant started out as a pop-up before opening its own brick-and-mortar in San Francisco’s lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. Last week, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, which received recognition from the 2024 California Michelin Guide.

The restaurant has two dining rooms, the front one right behind a lounge-space where diners can enjoy glasses of sparkling wine before they are escorted to their tables; and a second main dining room that affords a bird’s eye view of the open kitchen.

He’s poured just about everything he’s made in the past decade into this restaurant, he explains. Done up in stark white and dark charcoal, with sculptural white relief paintings and contemporary chandeliers fashioned like curled pieces of white fabric, the minimalist main dining room has the look of an expensive, chic boutique. Only there’s indie rock and rap blasting from the sound system with Lanham and his crew rocking on their heels to the beat.

Lanham may have an excess of energy, owning to his earlier years as a competitive cyclist. Being a top-tier athlete who had to be cognizant of what he ate led him to his deep interest in cooking. When he took his cycling career as far as he could, he turned that same focus to cooking professionally. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, then went to work at Spruce in San Francisco and Michelin-starred Commis in Oakland before becoming sous chef at Bird Dog in Palo Alto.

The restaurant offers an 11-course tasting menu for $149 per person, as well as a just-launched midweek tasting menu for $109 per person for those desiring a shorter, less expensive option. There are also a few supplemental courses offered.

Whatever you choose, you’re sure to enjoy quite a few dishes finished tableside, often with the flourish of liquid nitrogen. A native of Georgia, Lanham injects his Southern roots into some courses, along with irreverent humor.

Just take the wine menu, put together by Francis Kulaga, general manager and beverage director, who consulted on the lauded Birch & Rye in San Francisco. Turn the pages, and you’ll find yourself bemused by the headings for: “Tiny Bottles,” “Size Matters,” “The Land of Misfit Wines,” and “Ballers Only” (yup, the priciest stuff).

The first bite brings an arresting color combo of crimson and fuchsia. The tiny beet “cloud” is a delicate, crisp beet pastry shell filled with herb goat cheese and pea flowers that Lanham has foraged.

Next is a supplemental course of Kaluga caviar ($99) served with French toast soldiers with dabs of creme fraiche. Golden all over, custardy inside, and just a little sweet tasting, the French toast planks are a fun alternative to the usual blinis.

The next dish is absolutely adorable. Titled “egg emoji,” it’s like a cartoon food come to glorious life. Dashi potato foam forms the “white,” while egg yolk jam its vivid sunny center. It’s served in — what else — an egg cup. Dig through it all to discover crisp, puffed rice on the bottom. It’s creamy and savory, and a dish that’s somehow luxurious yet also playfully kooky.

Remember the liquid nitrogen? It turns clumps of queso at the bottom of a shot glass into cheese ice cream, so that when warm yellow squash soup is poured over at the table and hits it, a whoosh of smoke lets loose. The soup, accented by lemon and tarragon, tastes vividly of late-summer squash. Accompanying it are pao de queijo, gluten-free Brazilian cheese bread rolls that are a little chewy like mochi and have a hint of grassiness from Serrano pepper.

When a Yelp reviewer wrote a disparaging comment about the overuse of fennel, Lanham didn’t take it in stride, but doubled-down, creating, “Fennel, Fennel, Fennel.” Yes, a dish that features fennel in multiple ways, including grilled and pickled in one dish with a buttery fennel sauce, and braised in an accompanying one. It actually makes you appreciate this anise-flavored veg we often take for granted in the produce aisle. The perky tang of the pickled fennel really brings out the natural sweetness of the caramelized, grilled fennel even more, too.

The skin of black cod gets crisped up and airy like a shrimp chip to accompany its moist flesh that’s draped with paper-thin slices of mushrooms to create a second skin. Roasted pureed celtuce and yuzu juice with tarragon oil complete this dish.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen shrimp and grits so glamorous looking as in this rendition here. It arrives in a black bowl that balances a golden crescent tuille topped with caviar. Dig through the shrimp foam to discover creamy grits on the bottom with two pieces of shrimp. It’s a little spicy from jalapeno and intensely corn tasting.

Striploin from sustainable Holstein raised by Southern California’s Brandt ranch gets cured in milk powder to make it even more tender. Lanham takes the fat cap and renders it, then paints that unctuous liquid on the meat. It’s served with grilled maitake whose frilly edges get wonderfully crisp from the heat, pureed caramelized beets whose earthiness goes so well with the meat, and a jus seasoned with sherry vinegar.

To go with, Kulaga poured a 2019 Le Galouchey VDJ, a Bordeaux blend that he first enjoyed at New York City’s Michelin three-starred Le Bernardin. Elegant and silky smooth on the palate, it tastes of blackberries and plums with a little leather.

To clear the palate, there’s pear sorbet with pear gelee, the crunch of Marcona almonds, and the refreshing tang of pear vinegar.

Dessert combines Lanham’s love of Captain Crunch and Snicker’s, plus his Southern heritage. It’s a cornmeal cake that looks like a candy bar, as it’s coated in whipped corn that’s been frozen. Crunchy corn cereal dots the top along with strawberry puree, fresh marigold leaves, and the unexpected charred jalapeno ice cream. Yes, you read that right. It’s cold, creamy, and crisp, with the ice cream starting out sweet and a little grassy, then ending with a pop of heat. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea (my husband had a quizzical expression on his face as he ate his), but it’s definitely novel and ideal for those who don’t like cloying desserts and are adventurous.

The meal ends with mignardises of a teeny, super moist olive oil cake roll, chilled chocolate mints that melt in your mouth, and sweet-tart apricot pate de fruit.

Anomaly prides itself on presenting the unexpected. It definitely takes you on a memorable ride.