Danilo Bakery, San Francisco
Growing up in Italy you tend to start considering the thick, soft and oily focaccia you can pick up at any corner bakery like a birthright. Are you hungry and on the go? Pick up a piece of focaccia. Want to skip lunch and just snack on something? Pick up a focaccia. Do you need some interesting bread to go with your cold-cuts dinner? Pick up a focaccia. Needless to say, moving to the US it’s a bit of a rude awakening on the focaccia field! Living in the Peninsula makes it worse, because now I have to pre-order my focaccia and I can only eat it on Saturday (but- La Biscotteria makes amazing focaccia, so I can’t really complain!). San Francisco, however, has some amazing Italian culinary gems in its folds, and going out to find them is exactly my job and mission!
Danilo Bakery, aka BaoNecci, is one of such gems. Smack in the middle of North Beach, you can find some of the area’s best focaccia in this small, unpretentious little corner cafe. When the Gambaccinis moved to San Francisco from Alto Pascio, in 2005, they took over the ovens of this small bakery to make an unbelievable focaccia, which was almost their only product. The ovens have an amazing story, as they were operating already before the 1906 earthquakes and are believed to be the oldest operating ovens in the US. Isn’t that cool? Now the place is transformed in a small quaint cafe’ where you can order lunch as well as cookies. However, my favorite product at Danilo is still focaccia. Whether you want to try the green onion or the tomato, or even the plain focaccia, Danilo’s is a bit oily and just right in your mouth- a true treat!
The Gambaccini’s also have a few more items on the shelves, like the chestnut flour, which is quite hard to find. Other items are a bit more common but still authentic: amarene, savoiardi, farro and barley, Umbrian lentils and carnaroli rice. Just in case you needed a stop to stock your pantry!
Danilo also has a wide selection of biscotti, among which the Baci di Dama are my favorite (and they need to be consumed within days of production!).
Danilo Bakery
516 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415)-989-1806
Filed under: Bakeries and Pasticcerie, San Francisco
Oh what gorgeous pictures! You’re making me very hungry.
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
Can I just say I love italian food!
Granted Ive never been to italy , as most of my italian experiences are limited to just the ones in london , but as I understand it different regions have different tastes, for instance the northern cuisines tend to be more saltier while southern ones tend to be softer…. again, my knowledge of italian food is at best murky so forgive me if I’ve got my facts wrong
My fav pizza is a fiorentina , which if I am correct is spinach with a half cooked egg broken in the middle of the pizza …. yum yum yum … please keep up this great blog! I want to learn all about the best italian in san fran …. and then Ill go there and try it all!