Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants 2012: Part 2 of 3

Adesso

4395 Piedmont Ave. (at Pleasant Valley Road)
Oakland
Tel. (510) 601-0305      
Map | www.dopoadesso.com

It seems just about every restaurant these days offers house-made salumi, but no place does it better than this compact Oakland restaurant. Owner Jon Smulewitz was inspired by the aperitivo bars in Bologna and has recreated that feel in an industrial-looking space near his other Italian gem, Dopo. Chad Arnold creates up to 40 kinds of cured meats on a menu that includes pates, antipasti, oysters, cheese, dessert and exceptional cocktails. Every meat is distinctive -- you can taste the fennel, garlic and red wine in the Abruzzo,; the vanilla and anise in the Felino. Early in the evening and late at night, look for free platters of salumi to go with cocktails and wine.

Specialties: Any of the house-made salumi; pates such as duck liver mousse in a jar; 18-month-old prosciutto; any cocktail.

Hours

Dinner 5 p.m.-midnight Monday-Wednesday, until 1 a.m. Friday-Saturday.

Cuisines

• Italian

Features

• Beer and wine
• Credit Cards: Accepted
• Open Late
• Seating (50)
• Bar Bites
• Reservations: No

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Flour + Water

2401 Harrison St. (at 20th Street)
San Francisco
Tel. (415) 826-7000      
Map | www.flourandwater.com

Make a Reservation with

Even after nearly three years, getting a seat at this small Italian restaurant hasn't gotten any easier. While half the restaurant is open for walk-ins, if you don't get at the door well before the 5:30 p.m. opening, you're in for a long wait. However, people don't seem to mind once they fork into Thomas McNaughton's pasta with smoked duck and fresh horseradish or his classic take on the Piedmontese agnolotti dal plin. He also offers great pizza, a couple of main courses and some of the best Italian-inspired desserts in the city. The casual interior has a soulful quality, with stained-glass accents from the still-missed Myth, rustic ceiling beams and handsome walnut tables.

Specialties: Pasta tasting menu, featuring five pastas, appetizer and dessert ($60); chocolate budino tart with espresso caramel cream.

Hours

Dinner 5:30 p.m.-midnight nightly.

Cuisines

• Italian
• Pizza

Features

• Beer and wine
• Credit Cards: Accepted
• Open Late (until midnight Thursday-Saturday)
• Parking: Street (Fairly easy)
• Seating (40 (plus 19 in the lounge))
• Reservations: Accepted

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Pesce

2227 Polk St. (near Vallejo)
San Francisco
Tel. (415) 928-8025      
Map | www.pescesf.com

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Venetian-inspired seafood is what sets this Polk Street restaurant apart from other Italian places. Chef-owner Ruggero Gadaldi, who also owns Beretta and Delarosa, offers a unique take on cicchetti, small plates such as grilled sardines, tuna conserva with a three-bean salad, or an Italian take on cioppino. The few larger plates include whole roast fish, and spaghetti with lobster, saffron, tomato and brandy cream sauce. You'll also find a few meat dishes, including milk-braised pork with gnocchi. The comfortable interior features a zinc bar, teak shelving, mahogany paneling and hexagonal floor tiles.

Specialties: Warm octopus salad with potatoes; crab tower; fennel and arugula salad; squid ink risotto; pappardelle with duck; sgroppino (a dessert drink).

Hours

Dinner 5-9:30 p.m. Sun.-Thurs., until 11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

Cuisines

• Italian
• Seafood

Features

• Online Reservation
• Credit Cards: Accepted
• Full Bar
• Parking: Difficult
• Parking: Street
• Private Dining Room (Semi-private room for 14)
• Reservations: Accepted
• Seating (38 plus 15 at the bar)

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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)

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Poggio

777 Bridgeway (at El Monte Lane)
Sausalito
Tel.  (415) 332-7771      
Map | www.poggiotrattoria.com

Make a Reservation with

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

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Perbacco

230 California St. (near Battery)
San Francisco
Tel.  (415) 955-0663      
Map | www.perbaccosf.com

Make a Reservation with

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)

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