SPQR, San Francisco
I am always debating about SPQR- sure, they use organic and local produce, but sometimes their cooking style is more California-fusion than originally Italian (I still remember a mozzarella in carrozza that, in SPQR’s version, became a mozzarella french toast with anchovies- not good!). Despite my reticence, however, the Italian community (aka: my friends from Italy!) begged me to reconsider the somewhat harsh position I had taken, and so I made it back. There’s good and bad, like at every other place, but I had a far more pleasing experience the second time around!
The place is quite small, so I had an hour and a half wait before. This time around, though, heading for lunch at 2pm was a good idea, as we were seated right away. My friend and I ordered a selection of small plates. The meal really started with delicious bread and great olive oil which put me in the right mood right off the bat!
The three dishes we chose were a tomato soup, a grilled sausage and marinated anchovies. The Early Girl Tomato Soup with cannellini beans was to die for: beyond delicious! This was for sure the highlight of our meal, despite being just slightly over salted. The texture was perfect for a fall meal, despite being warm enough outside to still have the gorgeous and sweet early girls tomatoes available.
We then liked our marinated anchovies with shaved fennel salad. The anchovies were great, and the salad they were served with refreshing and cleansing. A wonderful dish!
Our least favorite dish was the sausage dish, served with sauteed bell peppers and onions, peperonata style. The dish was bland, pretty uninteresting, despite being the one that looked best on paper. It was the only dish we didn’t care to finish (we were headed to a second lunch afterward!).
SPQR is definitely a place I need to keep a close eye on. Their home runs that are quite spectacular, but the dishes that are not such are quite forgettable. A good gamble to take, all in all!
SPQR
1911 Fillmore St
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 771-7779
Filed under: Restaurants, San Francisco
I’ve had pretty good luck there…. um I have to say I’m glad I missed the mozzarella french toast with anchovies…seriously.
Funny, I thought the soup looked “to die for”, when I first glanced at this…and then that was exactly what you wrote. Looks SO good!