Italy In SF

It’s been since I scraped Steps of Rome off my list of places to go to, in 2002, that I hadn’t had a nice meal in the tourist trap that is North Beach. I keep on trying to talk my friends out of heading there for a decent meal, as I hadn’t found an authentic place in that neighborhood in the past 6+ years! And now, enter E’ Tutto Qua…

E’ Tutto Qua, Italian for “It’s all here”, opened its door on the corner of Columbus and Broadway exactly a year ago. The space is quite impressive- high ceilings that make enough room for a mezzanine, wonderful arch-shaped windows, and an old world charm to the building that houses it make it really hard to believe it’s been, among other things, a fast-food joint! We were greeted by Enzo, the owner, as soon as we stepped in, and his staff took incredibly good care of our party. All the servers are from Italy, which makes it pleasant as we were able to order in Italian and “steal” the staff favorite dishes on the go!

Our group of 6 went in with the very deliberate intent to give this place a very good try, and we ordered a lot of different things. We started with the evening special of seared scallop with porcini mushroom and truffle oil special, grilled giant prawns in a bed of salad and cherry tomatoes, and a pizza “E’ Tutto Qua” with arugola and prosciutto. Although the scallops weren’t my favorite, they got rave reviews from the rest of my party. I personally loved the grilled prawns- perfectly fresh (even on a Monday night!) and not very seasoned, to let the taste of the gamberone shine. Delicious.

We then proceeded to order four different type of pasta- Paccheri , a homemade maccheroni-like pasta with a creamy sausage sauce, Tonnarelli, a homemade spaghetti with spinach in the dough, served with a duck ragu’, homemade Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and hot peppers, and Risotto alla Marinara, a risotto with seafood in a red sauce, where mussels and clams were showing off next to peeled whole shrimps. Needless to say, all were impressive dishes, and I was particularly pleased with the risotto, that despite being just a bit overcooked (”Il risotto non aspetta nessuno!” my mum always says: risotto doesn’t wait for anyone!) was perfectly seasoned and just a really pleasant surprise!

We then moved on to secondi, meat dishes. The evening’s special, for which I have no picture, was a rolled lamb fillet with pesto sauce inside, served with home fried potatoes and braised spinach. Now, if I was put in the unfortunate position of choosing just one of the dishes we had as the only one I’d be allowed to have again, this would be my choice. The lamb was perfectly seasoned, tender, moist, and the flavor balance with the pesto was just amazing. We liked it so much, in fact, that we tried to order more- to learn, to our disappointment, that we had taken the last two orders available. We then decided to test the chef’s hand at lamb in general, and ordered the rack of lamb instead. We have to admit- the chef really knows what he’s doing when it comes to meat!

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, we ended up ordering a few desserts, too. A “white” tiramisu’ in orange Grand Marnier sauce, a zabaione cup with fresh strawberries, a freshly-out-of-the-oven Torta della Nonna, with lemon custard and pine nuts, and a panna cotta in chocolate and strawberry sauce. What can I say- do you see any pictures of dessert?? Usually, with me, that’s a good sign!

E’ Tutto Qua
270 Columbus Ave at Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 989-1002

Filed under: Pizzerie, Restaurants, San Francisco