Italian restaurants in San Francisco
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A
Ideale
Expat Italian regulars are stunned that a restaurant this authentic borders the Pacific, with proper bucatini ammatriciana (Roman tube pasta with tomato-pancetta-pecorino sauce), seafood risotto made with superior Canaroli rice, a well-priced selection of Italian wines, and wisecracking Tuscan waitstaff.
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B
A16
Like a high-maintenance date, this Neapolitan pizzeria demands reservations and then haughtily makes you wait in the foyer. The 2009 James Beard Rising Star Chef Nate Appleman’s housemade mozzarella burrata and chewy-but-not-too-thick-crust pizza makes it worth your while, especially the kicky calamari. Skip the spotty desserts and concentrate on adventurous house-cured salumi platters, including the delectably spicy pig’s ear terrine (no, really).
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C
Caffé Sport
For a boisterous good time and Sicilian seafood and pasta dishes in heaping family-size quantities, Caffé Sport's the ticket. Sicilian-born owner Antonio Latona is a wood-carver and painter, and over the past three decades he has decorated every square inch of his seafood restaurant with his own intricately carved, colorful benches, chairs, tables and ornamental beams - it's like having dinner at an eccentric Italian uncle's place.
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D
Michelangelo
Finicky purists scoff at Michelangelo, but for a cheap plate of spaghetti Bolognese and a convivial crowd, it's hard to beat this hole-in-the-wall joint in the middle of the Columbus St action. Wine comes in rooster-shaped pitchers, and big bowls of gummie bears get passed around for dessert. Fun, easy and fast - except when there's a line. Cash only.
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E
L'Osteria del Forno
Off-the-boat waiters serve trattoria-style Italian dishes at this tiny, eight-table spot that lines 'em up every night. Though little on the menu is truly authentic, the crispy-thin pizzas and roasted meats have a soul-satisfying quality and prices are reasonable. For dessert: affogato (espresso poured over ice cream). Cash only.
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F
Liguria Bakery
Bleary-eyed art students and Italian grandmothers are in line by 8am for the cinnamon-raisin focaccia hot out of the 100-year-old oven, leaving 9am dawdlers a choice of tomato or classic rosemary, and 10am stragglers out of luck. Take what you can get, and don’t kid yourself that you’re going to save it for lunch.
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G
Little Star Pizza
Midwest weather patterns reveal that Chicago’s thunder has been stolen by Little Star’s deep-dish pie, with California additions of cornmeal crust, fresh local veggies and just the right amount of cheese. The all-meat pizza is a Chicago stockyard’s worth of meat – not for the faint of heart.
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H
Goat Hill Pizza
Thin-crust sourdough pizza served with pitchers of Anchor Steam lures hungry crowds uphill from Bottom of the Hill and other downhill bars. When other restaurants are closed on Monday nights, here you can load up on all the pizza you can eat for $10.
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