Friday, April 20, 2012

Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants 2012: Part 1 of 3

Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants (April 2012)

A few of the top Bay Area restaurants, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Corso Trattoria

1788 Shattuck Ave. (near Delaware)
Berkeley
Tel. (510) 704-8003      
Map | www.trattoriacorso.com
A chef change last year hasn't harmed the food coming out of the compact kitchen of this Berkeley trattoria. Scott Eastman and Steve Walker now share the kitchen duties, but you'll still find chicken cooked in brown butter, a recipe owner Wendy Brucker perfected after repeated visits to Trattoria Sostanza in Florence. The chefs also do a smashing job on the bistecca alla Florentina, a grilled 24-ounce T-bone that I'd put up against any steak house offering. There's also exceptional pasta such as hand-cut tagliatelle with braised beef and pork. With the close-together tables, the place feels like Italy. Sit at the kitchen counter and you can witness your whole fish being grilled.

Specialties: Grilled whole branzino; trippa alla Florentina; pasta with braised beef and pork; chicken cooked in butter; Florentine steak; Amarena cherry sundae.

Hours

Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5-10 p.m. nightly, brunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. weekends.

Cuisines

  • Italian

Features

  • Corkage ($15)
  • Credit Cards: All Major
  • Full Bar
  • High Chairs
  • Parking: Paid Lot
  • Parking: Street
  • Bar Bites
  • Lunch
  • Seating (53 (plus seven at the counter)

Chronicle Rating

Overall
Price
Noise
Food
Service
Ambience

 

Poggio

777 Bridgeway (at El Monte Lane)
Sausalito
Tel.  (415) 332-7771      
Map | www.poggiotrattoria.com
When guests want to visit Sausalito, the place to send them for lunch or dinner is this Italian restaurant overlooking the marina. Diners can eat in the room facing the open kitchen, with a handsome interior that features beautifully crafted terra cotta floors, marble baseboards and mahogany arches. Or they can sit outside and enjoy the almost-always nice weather. Peter McNee's cooking is even more compelling than the interior. He ages prosciutto for 18 months, makes burrata, cures bresaola and crafts pasta for his soulful dishes. The wood-fired oven adds smoky nuances to lamb meatballs, roast chicken and petrale sole, and the accompanying produce comes from the restaurant's garden.

Specialties: Dungeness crab salad with Meyer lemon and grapefruit; house-made pasta; pizza; roasted whole petrale sole; grilled half chicken; meat loaf braised in tomato; lemon mousse.

Hours

Breakfast, lunch and dinner until 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Cuisines

  • Italian

Features

  • Online Reservation
  • Breakfast
  • Credit Cards: Accepted
  • Disabled Access
  • Full Bar
  • Outdoor Seating (In summer)
  • With View
  • Seating (130 (plus 20 outside))
  • Reservations: Accepted

Chronicle Rating

Overall
Price
Noise
Food
Service
Ambience



Perbacco

230 California St. (near Battery)
San Francisco
Tel.  (415) 955-0663      
Map | www.perbaccosf.com
Few sister restaurants are as in tune with each other as this duo owned by chef Staffan Terje and front-of-the-house master Umberto Gibin. They opened the upscale Perbacco, which draws inspiration from Piedmont and Liguria, in 2006; two years ago, they opened Barbacco a few doors away, featuring a more rustic Italian menu. Perbacco offers multiple seating areas; at Barbacco, the feel is more casual and modern. Don't pass up the pasta or salumi at either place. Barbacco, 220 California St., San Francisco; (415) 955-1919 . barbaccosf.com.

Specialties: Perbacco: Breadsticks; agnolotti dal plin; hazelnut cookies. Barbacco: lasagna Bolognese; bruschetta; braised chicken thighs.

Hours

Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri., dinner 5:30-10 p.m. Mon.-Thurs., until 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

Cuisines

  • Italian

Features

  • Online Reservation
  • Bar Menu
  • Corkage ($20)
  • Credit Cards: Accepted
  • Disabled Access
  • Full Bar
  • High Chairs
  • Parking: Difficult
  • Parking: Paid Lot
  • Parking: Street
  • Parking: Valet ($10 (dinner))
  • Seating (130 plus 40 at the bar)

Chronicle Rating

Overall
Price
Noise
Food
Service
Ambience


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