Posted on November 7th, 2008 by Vanessa
Liguria is an interesting bakery in the heart of North Beach. Family run for many years, it is not exactly the place where you go to chat up the owners and have a feeling of warmth. First of all, they close after they’re done selling focaccia, which is the only item they sell. Frozen or fresh, they only make a handful of flavors, and as soon as the last piece is sold out the locks come up and they close down the place. During the weekend, getting there at 10am is late- but during the week they are sometimes open till noon!
If you want your focaccia cut up, make sure you ask before they head to the back, or you’ll be yelled at. Make sure to be swift with your order, or you’ll be yelled at. Just get your order, pay quickly (cash only), and get out to enjoy your wonderful newly bought focaccia! It’s done ligurian style, thin (but not oily enough in my opinion!) and delicious!
Liguria Bakery
1700 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 421-3786
Filed under: Bakeries and Pasticcerie, San Francisco | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 5th, 2008 by Vanessa
North Beach is often a hit-or-miss neighborhood who suffers from its own popularity. Some places are quite overrated and not very authentic, but here and there you will find some amazing stores “with heart”, where the same family has been carrying on the business for several generation and where, while some things are very Italian American, others are just like being home.
Mara’s Italian pastry is one of such places. In its second generation of ownership, the family who runs it comes originally from Southern Italy, Calabria. They make an incredible variety of pastries, cookies and focaccia daily, which are a great draw for the local neighborhood. In addition they carry some holiday favorites like pandoro and panettone (from Bauli, nonetheless!, and Le Tre Marie!) and homemade torrone. A must-stop for the holidays, and the place where I buy breakfast pastries when I am in North Beach! (oh, yes, and they also make cannoli!)
Mara’s Italian Pastry
503 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 397-9435
Filed under: Bakeries and Pasticcerie, San Francisco | 2 Comments »
Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by Vanessa
Bi-Rite is a San Francisco institution. Open since 1940, it has been under current family ownership since 1964. This is a unique store, where most of the products are locally sourced, organic and sustainable. I appreciate their help in finding some perfect Italian pantry items for my kitchen though! I found delicious local organic early girl tomatoes, along with made in Italy Savoiardi for tiramisu’. Thanks Bi-Rite!
Other items worth stopping at Bi-Rite for: Capers in salt, as opposed to in vinegar. If you haven’t tried them, they’re worth your time! And just next to them, green pepper in brine, the cornerstone ingredient for Filetto al Pepe Verde!
The artisanal production of Columbus salumi got me completely hooked. Here you can find a Tuscan special, Finocchiona- salame with fennel seeds. Delicious!
Cannellini beans are great- but you don’t always feel like soaking them overnight and then cook them for a few hours! In Italy, I would buy cannellini in glass jars like these, and then either rinse them and pour them over salads or warm them up (in the sauce) with a bit of sage and serve them over a chunk of roasted bread, soup-style. Yummy!
Dried porcini: not as good as fresh ones, but meglio che niente! (bettere than nothing!)
Last- a wonderful mozzaerlla di Bufala Campana sporting the DOP seal on the label. It’s also called Gustosella- you can’t miss!
Bi-Rite Market
3639 18th Street
San Francisco CA 94110
415-241-9760
PS: Bi-Rite is running a Holiday special on all wines- - 20% on cases for two weekends: Nov 13th to the 16th and December 11th to the 14th.
Filed under: San Francisco, The Grocery List | No Comments »
Posted on October 31st, 2008 by Vanessa
With a new location in the Fillmore following its original site in the Mission, Pizzeria Delfina is truly at the peak of its fame. And rightly so! I just had a wonderful pizza there: unusual and interesting with a lot of flavors and personality! Despite not having a wood burning oven, the crust was pretty good, crunchy in the center and a bit chewy on the sides. If I could just mention one thing I wasn’t thrilled with, it would be the amount of dough in each pizza, which in my opinion is a bit too much and makes for a good pizza to share. Our pizza was a delicious speck pie with crescenza cheese and grilled escarole.The knowledgeable chefs at Delfina knew NOT to put the speck on it before it went it in the oven, so the speck maintained its wonderful texture and flavor…
Also, the Napoletana with anchovies and capers and no mozzarella looked quite delicious!
As an appetizer, we ordered a Mozzarella in Carrozza. While it tasted better than the one I had at SPQR a while ago (can you say French Toast with mozzarella and anchovies?), it didn’t match the one they occasionally make at Fish. The deep fried bread and mozzarella was a bit oily, and it was topped with melted butter with anchovies. The butter was a bit burnt, making for a less than ideal topping, and definitely too greasy of a dish!
During my previous visits at Delfina I had exactly the same experience: great pizza, but okay appetizers, which sounded amazing on paper but failed to deliver the richness of flavors the pizza brings to the table. Yippie for pizza!
Delfina Pizzeria
3611 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.437.6800
Now also at 2406 California Street, 415.440.1189
Filed under: Pizzerie, San Francisco | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 29th, 2008 by Vanessa
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 | 2 Comments »
