Dinner @ Perbacco

Update Review, May 2020

Back in 2012 (!), I visited Perbacco, a well known Italian restaurant in the Financial District.  It was largely not memorable (besides dessert!), which surprised me, given just how many accolades it has received over the years the pasta.  I was interested in trying their casual, next-door establishment, barbacco sometime, and, well, after 8 years, I finally did.  You can start with my original review though for background.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, barbacco and Perbacco joined forces, to offer a combine menu of dishes from both restaurants, using the Perbacco kitchen and area for pickup.  Since I had to order takeout, I did it in advance on Caviar, but I placed my order when I was only 1 block away.  I wanted my items hot and fresh!  Ordering was easy, and when I walked it, they said they had just gotten it, and dropped my item in the fryer.  "3 minutes", I was told (it was closer to 7, but, that is more what I expected).

I was there on a quest for one thing: fried brussels sprouts.  Oddly specific, I know, but a signature dish of theirs, and regularly on the menu.  And yes, I was craving awesome flavorful fried brussels sprouts, since having those from Pizzeria Delfina earlier in the pandemic days.  Sadly, these did not live up.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of pickup and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes ...

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]

Seating - Obviously Closed.

As expected, the interior was closed for seating, with the booths roped off along one side, plentiful signs about social distancing all around.

No Entry!

The main restaurant was entirely blocked off, the kitchen in swing way at the end.  It smelt *amazing* when I walked in.

Fried Brussels Sprouts. $7.

"Capers - Anchovy - Red Wine Vinaigrette."

Well … they were … not tasty.  I found nothing redeeming, which pains me to write.  I wanted so badly to like *something* about the dish.

This dish came from the Barbacco menu. It was why I visited after all, having read good things about them, although, perhaps, I should have read more, as a recent Yelper concluded "unfortunately that's where the tasty sensations ended. The sprouts were drenched in vinegar. "

Perbacco had a brown butter brussels sprouts on their menu right before the pandemic, and I should have read the reviews of perhaps. It ... did not go over as well as the barbacco ones usually do it seems.

• "Brown butter Brussels sprouts? Mushy and underwhelming." - Yelper
• "This was our veggie dish and side dish which wasn't the best. It was a bit bitter and not as roasted as I thought, it was more soft than crispy." - Another Yelper

Yeah, all these things. Drowned in vinegar, mushy, bitter ... yup, yup, yup. Just totally completely not what I expected nor wanted.

First, well, I expected crispy. I know I got takeout, but I ate immediately (literally, right outside the door), and they were dropped in the frier when I arrived. They did *not* sit any longer than it took me to walk outside. The large sprouts were not crisp (even though you could see a sear on some) and the leaves were absolutely soggy. It was all just a big, soggy, wet mess. I expected the leaves to be crispy (why remove them otherwise?) and the seared edge to have a bit of crispness.

Next, the flavor. Wow. Um. Yeah. So much vinegar. It was overwhelming, and had *no* balance. There was no touch of sweetness, nothing, in fact, it was extremely bitter. Just punch in the face of strong, strong vinegar. Oh, and intense saltiness. Now, I do love salty, and am in the "chef's palette" realm of diners, but this was a bit much. I think it mostly came from capers (although I didn't find any in here, no bits, nothing, no clear caper taste) and anchovy (no real pieces of anchovy unfortunately, but, there was definitely some paste at least in there). I adore anchovy (another reason I wanted this dish!) and had hoped for more anchovy, but I certainly didn't want more salt. Salt and vinegar, which is a great concept (and popular variety of potato chip after all!), but wow, both were just too much.

So there it was. A big box of mushy, wet, brussels sprouts with a flavor I couldn't get paste a single bite of without kinda gagging and downing some water. I just ... don't understand. They were also presumably awful for me, as they were fried and oily, before being soaked in vinaigrette. I don't really understand if something just went wrong, if they just really didn't work having been in a takeout box for a moment, or if I just didn't understand the dish. I couldn't eat them.

The positive thing I can say? The portion was generous, quite reasonable for the $7 price, easily 2x more than Delfina's version, that was $10. That said, I'd rather get less, pay more, and enjoy the dish, clearly.

I didn't throw out the rest, but instead brought them home, to attempt to do ... something later.  I used some that night, tossing them in a saute pan with a bunch of raw veggies (ranging from green beans to kale to cabbage to radish greens and more), and simmering with water to cook the other veggies and coax the oil and vinegar out of the sprouts, to disperse amongst the rest of the items, and perhaps mellow out a bit.  And in this form, I wasn't going for crispy, so the texture was ok.  I added a touch of sweet soy, and chopped nuts, and ... it kinda worked.

Another batch I threw on my indoor grill, which was successful in again coaxing some of the vinegar and oil out, got them more crispy, and I threw them onto a salad.  So, salvaged, sorta, but not in any dramatically good way.  I just couldn't stand throwing out food ...

Original Review, May 2015

Ah, Monday nights.  So many of my favorite places are closed.  The rest are often working without their executive chefs, and without fresh products.  Such a bad night for dining out.  But ... I had a friend  who I hadn't seen in over a year who wanted to have dinner, so I tried to find a suitable place.  Italian seemed like a good pick, particularly somewhere known for pasta, since that doesn't require fresh ingredients nearly as much.

We headed to Perbacco, a mid-range italian place, which I hadn't yet been to, although I've seen the chef at a cooking demo recently, and have read decent things about.

I was surprised by how large the restaurant was, with a bunch of different seating options.  Two stories,  open and airy, with some booths, round tables, and several private rooms.  The crowd was mostly older, nicely dressed.

Service was good.  Water glasses refilled, share plates and utensils replenished between courses, good level of detail provided when we asked about dishes, wine recommendations given and a small taste provided before committing.  The only issue we had was at the end it was a little hard to find someone to ask where our leftovers had gone to.

The menu included many starters, pastas that could be sized as appetizers or entrées, main dishes, and of course, desserts.  I'd read the best things about the pastas and desserts, so we decided to stick with those, particularly as the noteworthy appetizers and mains were seafood based, and ... it was Monday.  I basically wanted to try all of the pastas, so I appreciated the two size options, as it meant we could order just a bunch of the smaller ones, rather than a single entree sized one.

The pastas arrived crazy fast.  They were clearly all made with fresh, handmade pasta, but across the board I felt that they were overcooked.  None could have been described as al dente.  Perhaps that was the intended style?  The sauces also weren't particularly great.  And they arrived rather lukewarm.  They weren't bad exactly, certainly edible, but were disappointing, and I wouldn't order any of them again.  The dessert however was delicious.  Value was good, the serving sizes generous for very moderate prices.

I don't really have any reason to go back, but if someone wanted to go, I wouldn't say no.  I'm a little interested in their casual sister restaurant next door, Barbacco.  (What is with all these italian places having casual sisters next door anyway?)

Breadsticks with salsa verde.

Immediately upon sitting, we were presented with some breadsticks and salsa verde.  Neither the breadsticks nor the sauce looked that great, and I mostly tried them just to be able to make a note of it here.  But ... they were surprisingly tasty!

The breadsticks were super thin, crisp, crunchy, buttery, with a slight saltiness.  I really didn't expect to like these, but I'd happily nibble on them as a snack anytime.  Apparently they were created by accident when the chef was playing with a new pasta machine.  Everyone loved them, and they have been served since 2007.  As of 2011, they were making 2,300 of these bread sticks a day!

The breadsticks however were overshadowed by the salsa verde!  It was fantastic.  Very flavorful, made with parsley, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and olive oil.  The breadsticks weren't the best dipping device for it however, as it was a little hard to scoop up much of it.  The bread that would come later worked better.

I really enjoyed this on several levels: it was nice to be given a munchie before ordering, it was far more unique than standard bread and butter, and it was tasty!

Roll. 

Speaking of standard bread and butter, we did receive that as well, after ordering.

This was a huge let down from the breadsticks.  The roll was served cold.  It had a decent chew, but was very generic.  The butter was creamy and actually really good.  No salt provided.

Pappardelle: wide pasta ribbons / slow cooked short rib ragu / roasted cipolline / grated horseradish.  $13 small/$18 large.    

The pappardelle was a really nice form factor, large pasta ribbons.  Clearly fresh pasta, and cooked fairly well, but a little overdone, as it wasn't al dente and didn't have much chew to it.

The short rib in the ragu was really tender, flavorful, and there was a generous amount.  I'm not usually a huge fan of short rib, and liked this much more than I expected.  The sauce was pretty rich, and had a real "meaty" flavor to it, but I didn't really like it much.  The horseradish didn't come through much in many of the bites I had, but occasionally would come through on the finish, where it was really delicious.  The sauce needed more kick overall.

I have a thing for cipolline onions, particularly roasted ones, and found them very tasty.  There were a few small, whole roasted onions in here.

Topped with shaved parmesan, which went well with the ragu.

I can't help but compare this to the pappardelle I had a Cotogna recently, which was far better executed, the pasta cooked perfectly, and the ragu more enjoyable.  It also reminded me of another dish I had a Cotogna subsequently, with a tomato and horseradish sauce, that again, I enjoyed much more.

This was my and one other diner's second favorite dish of the evening, and the least favorite of the other.  I wouldn't order it again, as I'd rather try something else.  For $13 however, this was a generous serve of fresh pasta.  I'm curious how much larger the bigger size was!

Agnolotti dal plin filled with roasted vitellone and savoy cabbage / sugo d’arrosto.  $13 small/$18 large.

This is probably their most famous dish.  Everyone raves about it.  Been on the menu for ages.  It was just recently on list of top San Francisco eats.

Unfortunately, it arrived barely warm.  I wonder if it would have been better warmer?

The pasta was again nice, clearly fresh, but again, slightly overcooked, not having the chew to it I was looking for.  The filling was a ground veal (and cabbage?) that was fairly flavorful.

Included in the sauce was some cooked cabbage chunks, which looked a lot like the agnolotti themselves, and I didn't originally realize were there.  They added a slight freshness and crunch to the dish.

The sauce was really, really boring.  It didn't taste like anything at all, just a little salty.

Topped with grated parmesan, which didn't really seem to add anything to the dish.

This was my and one other diner's second to last pick of the night, but the favorite of one other.  I would not order again.  I think it was overall better than the version we had at Cotogna, but only slightly, as I didn't like either one.  Another very generous serve for $13!

Raviora: pasta filled with ricotta di pecora and mint / spring pea passato / mint butter.  $12 small/$17 large.

This was the best executed pasta of the night.  Again, clearly fresh and this time, it had a slight chew to it.

However, I really, really did not like the filling.  It had a strange mouthfeel to it, and was kinda bad tasting ricotta.  Generic grocery store ricotta tastes better than this.

The spring peas came in two forms: full snap peas and some shelled peas.  They were really delicious, full of flavor and freshness.  Cooked perfectly, the snap pea was crisp and the shelled peas not mushy at all.

There were also whole mint leaves, which were really refreshing and combined nicely with the peas and grated parmesan cheese on top.

The sauce looked more flavorful than it was, I didn't really think it had much going on.

This was almost a good dish, and I really enjoyed the freshness and flavors of the peas and mint, but the filling was just awful.  Least favorite dish for two of us, although second favorite for another.  I would not order again.  And yet again, this seemed like a really good value for only $12.

Rabatòn: herb and spinach ricotta gnocchi / local green asparagus / ricotta salata.  $12 small/$17 large.

Now this was a fresh, seasonal dish!  Ordered because we knew that local asparagus season is winding down.

The gnocchi were fairly forgettable.  They were fluffy, clearly just boiled and not pan finished (how I prefer my gnocchi).  I didn't really taste any herbs or spinach in them as advertised, although they were green, so it must have been there.

The asparagus came as some cooked chunks of spear and as the sauce.  The cooked chunks were nicely done, still a little crunchy.  The sauce was also quite good.  The consistency was a little too thick, but it was really light tasting, refreshing, and full of delicious asparagus flavor.  You certainly had to like asparagus to like this dish.

Topped with ricotta salata, which added a good saltiness that paired well with the asparagus.

Favorite dish for two of us, but third favorite for the other.  I still wouldn't order it again though.

Sformatino: caramelized milk chocolate mousse  dark chocolate glaze / cocoa-almond streusel / crema inglese.  $9.

This was a decent chocolate mousse dessert.

The base was a thin chocolate cake layer.  Earlier that day I'd had a dessert that was a much thicker moist chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse, and I felt it was more successful than this one, as this cake layer was too thin to really be noticeable.

The mousse was a good, creamy, chocolate mousse, but not particularly noteworthy.  Again the mousse I'd had earlier in the day had a more intense chocolate flavor that I enjoyed more.

The dark chocolate glaze was a really nice touch.  It was fairly thick, bitter, and added a lot more chocolate intensity to the dish.

The cocoa-almond streusel on top and on the plate wasn't particularly noteworthy, just a basic chocolate crumble.

The crema inglese was sweet and good, but there wasn't nearly enough of it.

Overall, not a bad dessert, but not particularly memorable.  Decent size and quality for $9.  I wouldn't order again.

Douglas fir panna cotta / pine nut crumble / mugolio.  $9.

This dessert didn't sound that great, but I do enjoy a good creamy pudding dessert, like a panna cotta.  I'd also read great reviews of this, but then again, I've kinda learned not to trust the Yelpers.  But most of the other desserts on the menu were all chocolate, and I was trying to limit my caffeine intake, and the other diners weren't interested in the other dessert that sounded good to me (a semifreddo with meringue, my other dessert obsession!).  So, we tried this one.

It was awesome.  The panna cotta had a fantastic wiggle to it!  The consistency was perfect, very creamy.  The flavor was really hard to describe, certainly not what I'd think douglas fir would taste like.  I never once thought I was eating a christmas tree :)  It was more citrusy, but subtle, and fairly sweet.  Really delicious.

The pine nut crumble on top was made up primarily of pine nuts.  It tasted strongly of pine nut.  I don't really like pine nuts, so I didn't like this component at all, but I did understand how the flavor would work well against the other sweet components.

The huckleberry sauce was too much, there were tons of huckleberries, and the flavor of this was intense and easily overwhelmed the dish.  We left some of it behind.  It was good, and paired decently well with the pine nut and the panna cotta, but there was just way too much on the plate.

The other syrup on the plate was made form mugolio, a pine cone syrup.  I didn't really pick up on this much at all.

This was certainly my favorite dessert and the highlight of the meal for me.  I'd order it again, but I'd really like to have it without the pine nut.  Perfect execution on the panna cotta.

Mignardises: hazelnut chocolate, almond honey torrone.

These arrived with the bill, on a plate that was clearly fresh out of the dishwasher.  By which I mean, it was hot.  Which ... caused the chocolates to melt onto it.  When I picked up a chocolate, 30% of it was left behind on the plate, and another 10% of it melted all over my fingers.  Whoops.  This was just a generic creamy hazelnut chocolate.  Not noteworthy.

The almond honey torrone was a piece of sweet nougat with almond slivers.  It would have paired well with tea, but like the chocolate, wasn't really memorable.