Antica Trattoria, San Francisco
Friday, April 7th
Antica Trattoria
2400 Polk St San Francisco, CA 94109
Went out for dinner on a rainy Friday evening in San Francisco with my sister, brother in law and one of their couple friends. The friends selected this restaurant that is owned by Chef Gadaldi who is something of a local food celebrity. Hailing from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, he has tried to bring the dishes of this particular region to San Francisco.
The restaurant itself is a pleasant space. In the evenings it is dimly lit and large windows on 2 sides of the smallish dining room offer a nice view of the surrounding neighborhood. The dining room is a little noisy and at the peak of the evening, patrons waiting for a table at the front of the restaurant are quite likely to spill into the dining room and get a little close to the tables nearest to the door. There is an open kitchen in the back and the service is friendly. I imagine that a lot of the locals in this neighborhood come here often. The restaurant as a whole certainly caters more to the locals that the out-of-towners.
The wine list adequately covers the landscape of Northern Italian winemaking. We ordered a Rosso Piceno Superiore, St.Giovanni (Marche’00) to start. Priced at $36 this is an excellent wine made from a Sangiovese and Montepulciano grape blend. It is dry without being too tannic, has notes of berry and cloves and finishes smooth. We also ordered a Pinot Noir from J Vineyards in Healdsburg, CA. This bottle was a disappointment and I found out later that the vintner is well known locally. I can guess that the owners put this bottle on the list because it is the most easily recognized by the crowd. Wish we had ordered a Nebbiolo instead.
I skipped over appetizers, choosing instead to eat the warm crusty bread they had brought out. My sister ordered a side of sautéed spinach as an appetizer, which made no sense and was a chore to eat with nothing else at the table. As a main course I ordered the Tagliata di Manzo (thin slices of sirloin steak with arugula and roasted potatoes). The steak was perfectly cooked although I felt that it was lacking in taste, possible because of the cut of meat they selected. The accompaniments were fresh and simply prepared. Overall, the dish won more merits for its health conscious qualities than for its taste. I enjoyed it nonetheless. The others ordered the more traditional dishes, which made generous use of capers, butter and lemon juice.
For my sweet tooth I had an Affogato, which was a vanilla ice cream dessert, topped with a shot of hot espresso, amaretto and some hazelnut syrup. Tasted great but it melted rather quickly, to nobody's surprise.
Overall a good meal. In terms of value this was average with a check of approximately $45 per person for what I described above.
Antica Trattoria
2400 Polk St San Francisco, CA 94109
Went out for dinner on a rainy Friday evening in San Francisco with my sister, brother in law and one of their couple friends. The friends selected this restaurant that is owned by Chef Gadaldi who is something of a local food celebrity. Hailing from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, he has tried to bring the dishes of this particular region to San Francisco.
The restaurant itself is a pleasant space. In the evenings it is dimly lit and large windows on 2 sides of the smallish dining room offer a nice view of the surrounding neighborhood. The dining room is a little noisy and at the peak of the evening, patrons waiting for a table at the front of the restaurant are quite likely to spill into the dining room and get a little close to the tables nearest to the door. There is an open kitchen in the back and the service is friendly. I imagine that a lot of the locals in this neighborhood come here often. The restaurant as a whole certainly caters more to the locals that the out-of-towners.
The wine list adequately covers the landscape of Northern Italian winemaking. We ordered a Rosso Piceno Superiore, St.Giovanni (Marche’00) to start. Priced at $36 this is an excellent wine made from a Sangiovese and Montepulciano grape blend. It is dry without being too tannic, has notes of berry and cloves and finishes smooth. We also ordered a Pinot Noir from J Vineyards in Healdsburg, CA. This bottle was a disappointment and I found out later that the vintner is well known locally. I can guess that the owners put this bottle on the list because it is the most easily recognized by the crowd. Wish we had ordered a Nebbiolo instead.
I skipped over appetizers, choosing instead to eat the warm crusty bread they had brought out. My sister ordered a side of sautéed spinach as an appetizer, which made no sense and was a chore to eat with nothing else at the table. As a main course I ordered the Tagliata di Manzo (thin slices of sirloin steak with arugula and roasted potatoes). The steak was perfectly cooked although I felt that it was lacking in taste, possible because of the cut of meat they selected. The accompaniments were fresh and simply prepared. Overall, the dish won more merits for its health conscious qualities than for its taste. I enjoyed it nonetheless. The others ordered the more traditional dishes, which made generous use of capers, butter and lemon juice.
For my sweet tooth I had an Affogato, which was a vanilla ice cream dessert, topped with a shot of hot espresso, amaretto and some hazelnut syrup. Tasted great but it melted rather quickly, to nobody's surprise.
Overall a good meal. In terms of value this was average with a check of approximately $45 per person for what I described above.
posted by sdateumd at
11:54 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home