So it's Sunday eve, my last night in SF. -M- and I scour the Slow Food Guide to SF, that Eat Drink Shop SF book, and Chowhound. We aren't quite sure what we are looking for...Then, somehow, we come across Pizzetta 211. I think we saw it first in the Eat Drink guide. We checked Chowhound again to see how it fared. Lo and behold, a positive review from Kim at Apizza Scholls. That was good enough for us.
Pizzetta 211 is a little out of the way. It's in the Richmond (hope I've got that right, -M-, maybe you can clarify if needed?). We park a few block away and walk on over. There is a bit of a wait as the place is VERY small. Counting outside seating, there can't be many more than 25 to 30 seats. We are told 30 min, but a table gets up sooner than expected, and the wait is more like 5 min.
We order a few things to try...
- White bean and kale soup (or some kind of green, maybe chard) - Tomato-y and delicious. A good start to the evening.
- Artisan cheese salad - Perhaps the only down part of the meal. A plate of slightly overdressed greens and some hunks of cheese on the side. When asked which 'artisan' cheeses they were, they told us cheddar, brie, and a sheep's cheese. All tasty, but not an amazing dish.
- Pizza 1, a basic margherita - Tomato base, mozz cheese, and basil. These are small-ish pizzas (maybe a little smaller that Pizza Fino's small [and yes, I will review them soon]), so -M- and I are able to polish them off with no problems. Good crust, top notch toppings, very satisfying.
- Pizza 2, we go out on a limb - Olive oil base, sheep's milk cheese, pine nuts, rosemary, and farm fresh eggs. We were a little confused about the farm fresh eggs. We imagined hard boiled, which seemed weird, so we inquired. No, in fact, they are over medium. The pie goes into a hot over first, with no egg, to set the crust and melt the cheese. Then, a couple of eggs are cracked on top, and the pie is put into a slightly cooler oven to cook the eggs. When they come out, the eggs are a prefect over-medium. We ask for an egg on only one side, not sure if we are going to like it. We crack the yolk and spread it around. One bite and we're hooked. So rich, so velvety. Why isn't this being done everywhere (although, when I mention it to Queen E, she says they have this over at Nostrana. I'll have to investigate).
- Scharfenberger flourless cake. A good ending to a lovely meal.
A spectacular last meal in SF. Good call, -M-.
PS, image borrowed from http://bayarea.typepad.com/
2 comments:
That egg pizza sounds right up my alley. Something about a runny yolk.
I've only had the margherita at Nostrana and I wasn't that impressed - maybe I got them on an off night, as other people rank them right up there. My pie was limp and fairly noneventful...which can be extrapolated to describe the entire meal. Maybe because it was full on slammed AND we had our young daughter with us, our server was in scowl mode — when she was around.
I'd only try Nostrana again because of the egg pizza possibility. I've been 3 times before, always had lackluster service, always had less than stellar food. I went both before and after their Rest. of the Year award. I vowed never to go back, but that egg pizza was so damned good that I may have to go back on my word...
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