Amici's East Coast Pizzeria

Update Review, 2024

Another event with Amici's, and yeah, um, I don't like this pizza.

BBQ Chicken.

"Chicken, red onion, bacon, cilantro, romano, mozzarella, tomato sauce, bbq sauce."

I don't like chicken, but I do often tolerate bbq chicken pizza, as I love bbq sauce and red onions.  I usually just kinda eat around the chicken.  Unfortunately, the Amici's version left me extremely disappointed.  And confused at first.  Why ... why did I taste standard red sauce on my bbq pizza?  The answer?  Because that is how they make it.  They just add a little bbq on top of the red sauce.  The result, at least to me, was totally muddled flavors, not allowing the bbq I was looking forward to to shine, and just totally didn't work.  I don't think I've ever seen another a bbq chicken pizza use tomato sauce too, and, well, there is a reason for that.

Other than the muddled sauce situation, the rest of the slice was meh too - same not good crust and cheese of their other pies, and very gristly chicken that was mixed in with greasy bacon and hard to avoid.  Nothing I enjoyed about this at all. *.

Update Review, October 2023

A bunch of years ago, I wrote about Amici's East Coast Pizzeria, and, at the time, all I reviewed was the lackluster meatballs (see below).  I haven't sought out Amici's since, and never was that excited by their pizza, but recently attended an event catered by Amici's, so, pizza it was.

Our hosts ordered an assortment of pizzas (all large), and I tried a couple.  Note that this was just a few weeks after I returned from living in NY for a month, and, let's just say, it wasn't even in the same ballpark.  

Trentino. $42.75.

"Parmesan, crumbled feta, baby spinach, red onions, pancetta, herbs, meyer lemon olive oil, mozzarella (no tomato sauce)."

I did not know what kind of pizza this was when I grabbed a slice of the Trentino, I was simply drawn in by the red onions and crispy bits of what looked like delicious pork product.

The crispy bits of delicious pork product turned out to be just that - super crispy, very flavorful, quite salty, bits of pancetta.  I did quite like the pancetta.  There was a nice amount of it on one side, but the other half really was sparse.  Not exactly consistent in the topping application.

The red onion and baby spinach were good, they went well with the pancetta.  I'm not really one for feta though, so that brought this down a few notches for me, and, although I do think the lack of red sauce made sense, and let the toppings shine, it did eat a bit dry.

The crust was mediocre, not particularly good, not an interesting flavor, nor great chew, nor anything redeeming, but at least it wasn't soggy.  Lower end mediocre.  The cheese was average.

Overall, a pretty generic and mediocre piece of pizza, but, the pancetta and onions really were tasty.  **** for those, **+ otherwise, *** overall.

Trentino. $42.75.

"Parmesan, crumbled feta, baby spinach, red onions, pancetta, herbs, meyer lemon olive oil, mozzarella (no tomato sauce)."

A few weeks later, I was at another event with Amici's pizza, and was drawn back in by the memory of the tasty pancetta.  It was again good, but not quite as memorable, and I was more distracted by the strong feta and such lackluster crust this time.  **.

Hawaiian. $35.75.

"Honey-cured ham, pineapple, mozzarella, tomato sauce."

I know hawaiian pizza can be polarizing for some people.  I am not those people.  I don't generally go for pineapple in other places (meh to pineapple in sweet and sour dishes, meh to pineapple on ice cream, meh to pineapple in fruit salad, etc), but, I do like the sweetness with ham on pizza.  That said, I did not like this pizza.

The crust was the same as the previous slice, pretty meh.  The sauce was uninteresting.  Cheese mediocre.  Ham was like Canadian bacon, really porky, and tough.  I didn't care for it at all.  Pineapple was fine, just canned crushed pineapple.

Overall, just not good, and I didn't enjoy this at all.  *.

Combo. $42.75.

"Pepperoni, meatball, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, black olives, mozzarella, tomato sauce."

I didn't actually try the combo, this is just here for illustrative purposes.  The distribution of ingredients was really not ideal, soooo many black olives everywhere!

Original Review, April 2022

I don't really eat that much pizza these days.   This makes me a complete mystery to my parents, who have pizza night every single week, without fail, and love having the leftovers to eat for several days.  More than half the days of a week my dad eats pizza.  But me?  Eh.  

Back when I first moved to San Francisco, pizza was definitely heavy in my rotation, and that meant basically one of two places: Little Star (which I've reviewed several times before) or Patxi's (generally when in the South Bay because it was close to where I lived).  Always for deep dish.  Little Star cornmeal crust deep dish really is a special thing.  But I mostly moved on from frequenting the Mission (where I'd go to Little Star, despite the epic waits), and mostly just don't crave pizza (of course, I went through a thin crust Delfina phase, and had to check out the hype that was Tony's too at some point).

But even if I don't care about pizza, Amici's has been on my radar, a chain with locations all throughout the bay area, one of which I used to walk by regularly.  I remember having it a few times, always for delivery at an event and thinking, "meh".  Standard, "East Coast" style pizza.  Bo-ring.

During the pandemic Amici's pivoted, shuttering several of their locations and instead moving to takeout/delivery only, from ghost or cloud kitchens.  It is from one of those kitchens, located at 60 Moris street, that I finally tried Amici's again.

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

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Beef Meatballs. $5.75.

Meh.

All I can say about these.

The sauce really had no depth.  Just, tomato sauce.  Actually, I think, pizza sauce?  It was no different from any grocery store jarred sauce.

The meatballs were like what I remember the mini meatballs in Spaghettios or Chef Boyardee being like, just, bigger. That is, they were mushy, not spongy exactly, but, soft in an odd way.  Eh.

The meatballs were served with no cheese or anything to jazz this up (ok, partial point for some herb garnish?).

I absolutely would not get again and was rather shocked at how low quality this dish seemed to be.  Only good with some penne and cheese, if you were, you know, craving canned-tasting meatballs.

**.

Caesar Salad (with Anchovies). $7.95.

"Crisp romaine, housemade croutons, freshly grated parmesan. Served with Caesar dressing. Complimentary anchovy fillets added upon request."

I moved on to the caesar salad, at least a legit offering with anchovies optional.  The salad came nicely packaged up, with the croutons and dressing on the side, so not to get soggy.  Points for that.

Salad Base: SO MUCH CHEESE.

There was, um, a lot of cheese on top.  Literally, a cup of cheese on here.  That said, it was indeed fresh grated, it wasn't dried out, and it was a decent quality, had some nuttiness to it.  Above average for a generic pizza place, and clearly they didn't skimp.  The meatballs really could have used some of this generosity.

Below the cheese was ... the ANCHOVIES!  Yes, you can ask for anchovies, complimentary, which I most definitely did.  Like the cheese, there were actually tons of anchovies.  Salty, briny, exactly what you'd expect from anchovies.  I adored these, and was so glad to see them on here.

And finally the lettuce, standard caesar base of torn romaine.  Seemed fresh, crisp, decent portion, good size chunks.

The base of this salad was remarkably solid, I was rather shocked to be honest, solidly above average.

***+.  

House Made Croutons.

I appreciated that the croutons were on the side, even though I didn't ask for this.  Yay to not soggy croutons.

The croutons, just like the salad base, kinda surprised me in their quality.  The portion was generous, the cubes were extremely well seasoned (tons of Italian herbs!), they were very crunchy but not too crisp (clearly lots of olive oil used!), and they tasted, well, like a pizzeria.

These were very good croutons. Again, ***+.

Caesar Dressing.

And finally, the dressing.

This is something I'm always polar on with Caesar.  There are two styles of Caesar dressing usually, the thinner, vinaigrette style, and the nice thick mayo style.  And of course some are loaded with parmesan.  Some use real anchovy.

My personal preference is the thick mayo style, minimal parmesan in the dressing, and bring on the anchovy.

This was somewhere in the middle.  It was a vinaigrette style, but a thicker one.  It was loaded with grated parmesan.  I'm not sure about anchovy.  The flavor was decent, not too tangy, and very cheese forward.  Certainly not my favorite Caesar dressing, but, good.  And seemed quite possibly house made?

***.

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California Pizza Kitchen

Update Review, July 2024

As you know, I can never resist a good freebie, so when T-Mobile had a partnership with CPK offering up $7 off your order (no minimum order, works for takeout), I of course had to take full advantage.

Bread. 2 Orders.
(Complimentary).

When I previously ordered from CPK, the bread also included oil, today it did not.  Each order was two hunks, in a plastic bag that was just hand tied shut.

Last time I had the bread I noted strong sourdough taste, but this time I didn't taste the sourdough as much.  Is it possible I'm starting to tolerate sourdough?  The bread had a good chew to it, and tasted fresh.  Soft baguette style.  I kinda liked it.  ***.

Curly Mac 'N Cheese (CPKids). $6.99.

I went for a kid's meal, to stay within my free $7, but also because kid's meal portions generally I find sufficient.  I had the options of several different personal sized pizzas, pasta with all different sauces (meat, tomato, alfredo, butter), grilled or crispy chicken, or this, the mac and cheese.  I do love mac and cheese, and the CPK mac and cheese recently got a lot of attention due to a mishap made "famous" on TikTok where someone got the sauce and no actual pasta in their order, and CPK decided to use it as a marketing opportunity (which, I applaud them for).  CPK Mac and cheese was going viral, and it was on my mind.  So after seeing CPK mac and cheese raved about on social media the past few weeks, my choice was easy.

The dish didn't look all that great.  It looked ba-sic.  No breadcrumbs on top, no crispy top, not even very creamy.  But it actually really was quite good, particularly once I stirred it up.  The pasta had just the right amount of bite to it, and the shape was both fun and functional, as the sauce really did cling to it well.  The sauce was unnaturally orange, and was instantly recognizable and nostalgic for me: Velveeta!  It was cheesy, it was creamy, it was rich.  I enjoyed it, although I'm not sure how much better than a Velveeta mac and cheese box from the grocery store it really was.

This relatively small child's portion was 820 calories, and a good value at $6.99.  Like all kid's meals, it included a choice of drink.

Interestingly, the adult version is more than double the price ($15.99), but only 40% more calories (1280 calories).  So you could just get 2x kid's version = $6.99 x 2 = $13.98 and get more mac and cheese (820 x 2 = 1640 calories worth) AND get two drinks.  Cheaper, more mac, and bonus drinks.  Just sayin'.  The adult one does allow far more customizations: add chicken, bacon, salmon (several styles), sausage, shrimp, broccolini, mushrooms, tomatoes, burrata, monterey jack (interestingly, not the edamame offered to kids), or swap out the pasta for 5 different choices.  

I wouldn't go out of my way for this, but if I was craving this style of mac and cheese, it certainly did the job.  ***+.

Chocolate Milk (CPKids).
(Included).

All kid's meals come with a choice of drink.  The options are actually fairly extensive, with classic fountain drinks, but even things like a shirley temple or roy rogers, without an upcharge.  I was thrilled to see chocolate milk as an option, and went for that.

It was pretty basic chocolate milk.  I think it was made with thin style chocolate syrup mixed with regular milk, as the chocolate settled out pretty quickly.  It wasn't particularly chocoaltely.  I wanted stronger chocolate flavor, richer flavor, something.  Basically, think Hershey syrup in milk.  I'm sure kids love it, but I wanted something a bit more.  Low ***.

Update Review, August 2021

Another year, another birthday freebie dessert to redeem at CPK.  After the success of last's years Red Velvet Cake a la mode, I was pretty tempted to get it again.  And of course, I toyed with the idea of getting the pudding again, because even though my second year of getting it was mediocre, I sure did love it the first year.   But I decided to go rogue and try another new item ...

Bread & Dipping Oil (Complimentary).

Well, this was amusing.  In the days of "zomg, they charge for bread?!" outrage, CPK included it, sans my asking, in my takeout order ... which was dessert only.  Lol.  I assume they just include it standard and didn't pay any attention to the contents of my order?

The bread was two hunks, that looked hand torn.  The bread was soft, nice chew, but, ugh, sourdough.

The oil was good though, seemed high quality, good flavor to the oil, some herbs.

Sad this was sourdough, otherwise, decent quality.

Key Lime Pie. $7.49.

"On a graham cracker crust with housemade whipped cream."

I didn't ask for the whipped cream on the side, but it came separate.  The crust was broken off (and missing) on one corner.

The pie was ... well, key lime pie.  With graham cracker crust.  If you read my blog frequently, you know that I don't really like lemon nor lime desserts, and I generally call graham cracker crust "throwaway" and liken it to sawdust.

The pie was smooth and creamy, a nicely set custard, that, well tasted like tangy (sweet) lime.  The crust was fairly thick, crumbly, buttery, sweet, but ... yeah, graham cracker crust.  It was a perfectly fine key lime pie.  Probably even a good one.  I liked the slice of lime on top for garnish.  But ... it was still a key lime pie, and just isn't something I'll ever get excited about.  It was also just far too sweet on its own, and needed copious amounts of whipped cream (and, fresh blackberries that I added) to cut the sweet.

The "homemade" whipped cream I'm still skeptical of, it deflated quickly, but, it did have a decent "cream" taste to it, so perhaps it is made with real cream.

I wouldn't get this again, but, I really think this is personal preference, and this was a good key lime pie.  ***.

Update Review, January 2021

Another year, another birthday freebie to redeem at CPK.  After really hating the famous butter cake last year, I almost just went back to the tried and true salted caramel pudding, but, at last minute, I decided to mix it up again, and try something different: the red velvet cake.  I'm not normally a cake person, but, for some reason, I was really in the mood for cake ...

Red Velvet Cake. $7.99. A la Mode. $2.25.

"Frosted with hand-whipped vanilla bean cream cheese and white chocolate curls. Also available with vanilla Häagen Dazs."

Red velvet cake.  So random, I know, as I generally am not all that excited about cake, and red velvet I'm particularly opinionated on.  But ... I dunno, I was craving cake?

My order came with whipped cream (standard garnish?), and I also made it a la mode (because, cake needs ice cream!), each of which came packaged separately for takeout.

The cake was actually decent, a large slice, 3 layers, moist enough cake.  It even had a slight tang to it, like a red velvet should.  Not remarkable, but really not bad.

The frosting was quite heavy, as is often the case with cream cheese frosting, but it almost seemed like a cheesecake more than a frosting.  Very, very rich, very very heavy.  I'm a frosting girl, through and through, but I found I enjoyed this more as just the cake, with either whipped cream or ice cream.

I did like the white chocolate shavings on the backside.

The birthday reward does not normally include ice cream (you can pay extra), but, the lovely staff at my location threw it in for free - thank you!!!  It is just vanilla Häagen Dazs, but, I really do love vanilla Häagen Dazs, I think it is remarkably good, reliable vanilla.

I ended up treating this as two individual desserts - a red velvet cake (without much frosting) with ice cream and a "cheesecake" with whipped cream, basically, the frosting and whip.  I did have some all composed of course, but I enjoyed it the most in my deconstructed form.

As you may expect, this is not a light dessert, clocking in at 960 Calories for just the cake, plus 280 if you get the ice cream, and the whipped cream ... 

I appreciated my dessert, but I am not sure I'd get this one again.

***+.

Update Review, September 2019

I've long known about the "famous" butter cake from CPK.  If you do *any* research at all into what dessert to get at CPK, you will read the accolades.  People go nuts for this cake.  They have created dozens of copycat recipes.  They adore it.

I finally tried it.

I did not adore it.  I did not even like it.  I didn't even ... tolerate it?  This was so far from a winner for me.

But let me start from the beginning.

Every year, I go to CPK around my birthday (read on below for past reviews), to redeem my birthday freebie.  I've always gotten the salted caramel pudding, as, well, I love pudding, I got it once and enjoyed it, and the other menu options really don't sound appealing (key lime pie - I don't like citrus desserts, red velvet cake - kinda eh for me, and something we have often at my office,  chocolate molten cake - always a crowd pleaser, but rarely the thing I really want).

But this year, CPK introduced a strawberry shortcake to the menu, that looked classic, and, gets good reviews.  Shortcake biscuits with beautiful pearl sugar tops, fresh berries, stewed berries, whipped cream ... it sounded, and looked, great to me.  I was very eager to get it, and placed my order for it.

I waited in anticipation.  And then I waited some more.  And some more.  I sent a grumpy txt to a friend about how long I was waiting.  Around the 30 minute mark (!) I was called over and told the news: they no longer have that item.  Seasonal special.  In its place, I could have the new seasonal item: a ice cream sundae with sliced apples and caramel sauce.

Um, thanks.

I was ... let's just say a bit annoyed.  I had waited a long time AND it took them that long to realize they don't have what I ordered?  Sigh.  I turned down the suggested apple sundae (I don't like apples, and it wasn't ice cream weather), and considered my options.  Since I was making a fast decision, I decided to finally try the butter cake, given just how much everyone else seems to like it.

Butter Cake. $7.99.

"Trust us... Just try it. Served warm with housemade whipped cream."

So, here it is.  The butter cake.  The very famous butter cake.

I'll give them one credit: it was served warm.

But ... um ... this cake.  Was one of the most boring desserts I've ever had in my life.

It was ... just a cake.  It was a dense cake.  Not really moist, not really dry.  It just was.  A sweet cake, but it had no real flavor of any kind to it.  The top tiny bit was different from the rest, and it seemed like it *should* taste different, as visually it was a bit different, but ... it all tasted the same.  Plain.  Boring.

I kept thinking I was missing something.  Was there a caramel sauce or something that was forgotten?  Was there something hiding in the center that would come oozing out?  Nope, and nope.

It is just a plain cake.  A plain cake with a high butter content.  So high, that this cake, this actually kinda small, definitely single serving, little cake has ... wait for it ... 1100 calories.  Yeah, what?  How is that even possible (and 73g fat, 64g sugar, but hey, 10g protein)!

I just don't understand.  The whipped cream on the side was standard whipped cream, and really didn't seem housemade, but if they say so.  It deflated immediately.  It didn't really add anything to this cake.

Perhaps this would be better a la mode, which is an option, for $2.25 (and 280 calories) more.  I desperately wanted some kind of crunch element, perhaps some candied buttered pecans?

I wanted anything ... except this.

Update Review, October 2018

I don't often go to California Pizza Kitchen, since I'm not really that into pizza, but last year, when I had a birthday freebie to redeem, I discovered a dessert there that I loved: salted caramel pudding.  It was fabulous, as you read about them.

On this visit, I was inspired to get that pudding again, but almost went off course and opted for another dessert, as my research tells me the butter cake really is a thing of wonder.  Next time ... 

I ordered through the app for the first time, which was quite easy, placing my pickup order when I was a few blocks away.  It was being finished right as I arrived.  Perfect!

Interior.

My visit was to the San Francisco location.

The restaurant is quite large, with bar seating, a huge inside seating area, and large patio.  And at 12:30pm on a Sunday, the restaurant was nearly vacant.  Two guys sat at the bar, and two tables were occupied.  I am not sure if this is normal, but if so, how can they afford the rent in SF?!

I was getting takeout though, as was one person ahead of me with a large catering order.  The open kitchen allowed me to see the action, and they did seem to be making plenty of pizzas, all just getting boxed up.  Maybe everyone just does takeout from here these days?

Salted Caramel Pudding. $6.29.

"Rich caramel pudding, black cocoa cookie crumbs, housemade whipped cream, caramel sauce and natural flaked Maldon sea salt." 

My treat was handed over in the same kind of takeout cup as last time.  However, um, it looked quite a bit different.

Left: 2017. Right: 2018.

The ratios were all off.  Last year, the primary component was the pudding, this year, far less pudding, with an equal amount of whipped cream.  The cup wasn't full.  And where was the caramel sauce on top?

I asked the person handing it over, "isn't it supposed to have caramel sauce on top?"  He confirmed it was, and took it back.  I worried it also didn't have the Maldon sea salt on top, but that was harder to see visually.  I hoped they would fix both.

Salted Caramel Pudding: Fixed?

It came back ... with caramel, yes.  A big glob right in the center.  Clearly, whoever added it was annoyed that I sent it back.  But come on, its supposed to have caramel!

It certainly did not have the salt either, which was sad, as this is a very very sweet dessert without it.

Like last time, I found it extremely frustrating to eat.  The first spoonful, all whipped cream (and caramel glob).  I could work to dig for the pudding, but getting the crumble too, at least while eating the first *half* of the cup, was nearly impossible.  And this is a dessert that really does need all components to work.

But that was all true last time, and I still loved it.  This time however ... my experience was just not as positive.

The whipped cream deflated almost instantly.  It seemed like very light whipped cream from a can, not "housemade" and not able to hold up for even 5 minutes as I ate it.  It was necessary though, to balance the caramel pudding.

The caramel pudding was sweet.  Too sweet.  I noted that last time too, but when it combined with the cookie crumbs and whip it worked last time, although, yes, still quite sweet.  This time I just found it cloying, and one note, certainly not salted, and with just some deflated whipped cream and extra glob of sweet caramel it wasn't enjoyable.

I dug desperately for the cookie crumbs, knowing they were essential and would make a difference.  And they did.  But ... cookie crumbs tasted stale this time, all clumped together, and even almost freezer burned tasting.  Not very good.  But again, necessary, both for the texture, but also the contrast to the too sweet pudding.

Overall, this just made me very sad.  It wasn't good, and it wasn't anything like my memory of only a year ago.  Once I mixed everything together, it was certainly better, like a very sweet version of a "dirt cake" I had growing up, but really nothing like last year.

I'm not sure if I'd try it again, or venture out to try the crazy butter cake, or red velvet cake, or just give up on desserts at CPK entirely ...

August 2017 Review

My last visit to California  Pizza Kitchen was in 2013, when they had a promo for a free appetizer.  I didn't like it.  I said I had no reason to return.

But this year, while arranging my birthday freebie crawl, I saw that I could get a dessert for free.  Well, I'm a dessert girl, no matter the quality, so I quickly added it to my itinerary.

I visited the San Francisco location, and opted to get it to go, since I was coming straight from another birthday freebie, and planned to bring it home to have later.  Ordering was simple, they have a dedicated take out ordering/pickup/waiting area to the side of the bar (with its own entrance actually).

The staff were very friendly, multiple people said happy birthday, no one seemed at all offended that I was coming just to get my free dessert, not ordering anything else, and taking it to go.  They talked me to about how good the pudding was.  It was ready within just a few minutes, and handed over with a spoon and napkin.

The entire experience was incredibly pleasant, and the item I selected?  Delicious.  I'll be back. 

Dessert Menu.

The dessert menu had an assortment of tempting options.  Crowd pleasers for sure, but, turns out, that works for me.

First, "Butter cake".  What is butter cake?  I'm not entirely sure, but, it sounded possibly awesome.  Yes, the menu actually just says "Trust us ... just try it!" as the description.  If I was dining in, I probably would have gone with that option, but since it was served warm (with whipped cream or ice cream), it didn't seem like a good choice to take out.  Also, gulp, 1380 calories!

The seasonal special, not listed on this menu, was strawberry shortcake, also tempting.  I love a good strawberry shortcake, but, to be honest, I kinda doubted how fresh the berries really would be.  Even the red velvet cake sorta called out, though I'm not a cake girl.  At least I was able to easily look past the key lime pie (I'm not one for citrus desserts) and the warm chocolate souffle cake (clearly needs to be eaten there).

Which lead me to the salted caramel pudding.  As if it was really a contest, given both my absolute love of pudding, and the fact that I was not able to find a single bad review of it.  People love it.

Salted Caramel Pudding. $6.29.

"Rich caramel pudding, black cocoa cookie crumbs, housemade whipped cream, caramel sauce and natural flaked Maldon sea salt."

When you dine in, it comes in a cute little canning jar.  For takeout, they used a plastic beverage cup.  I didn't mind, as my portion easily looked twice as large as the little canning jar photos I had seen.

It was a layered creation, with the cookie crumbs at the base, the pudding in the middle, and topped with whipped cream and drizzled with caramel sauce.

I didn't wait more than two steps out the door to at least try a bite, even though I was intending to save it for later.

My first bite was indicative of the difficulty eating it I would have.  The bite was entirely whipped cream (and caramel sauce).  It tasted like generic canned whipped cream, which is fine, but they do say it is housemade.  The caramel tasted like the standard stuff you get on an ice cream sundae, or at Starbucks.  That caramel on top didn't seem salted, and I didn't see any flakes of Maldon on top.

I dug deeper, trying to get to the pudding.  I succeeded, and came out with a bite of pudding and whip.  And ... I was impressed.  That was very, very good pudding.  It was a thinner consistency than I'd expect, almost runny, but the flavor was so good I didn't mind.  Sweet, rich, deep flavor.  I worked hard to get a spoonful of just the pudding.  The result?  Well, it was too sweet, actually.  The pudding alone was cloyingly sweet.  Even though I wasn't excited about the generic whipped cream, it did help cut the sweetness.

But the real magic came when you managed to get a bite of all the layers, including the cookie crumble, hiding at the very, very bottom.  It was extremely hard to do this, and you really just had to mix the entire thing up and not be able to get "perfect bites" with the ratio you wanted, but it barely mattered.  If you got it all, or, really, just the pudding and cookie crumble, it was really, really good.

"Black cocoa cookie crumbs."

The cookie crumble, described as "black cocoa cookie crumbs" was ... basically Oreo crumbs.  The woman taking my order even said, "Oh, do you like Oreo?  If you do, the base is all Oreo, and its amazing".   When she said that, my heart sank a little, actually.  I don't really like Oreo.  If that is why people loved the pudding, then, it probably wasn't for me.  I nearly changed my order.  But I'm glad I didn't.

Yes, it was basically Oreo crumbs.  But it clumped together in ways that it formed either loose soil or little crumbly chunks, all of which were intensely chocolately, almost like a very loose brownie.  I loved the play of the textures against the pudding.  I loved how the very dark cocoa provided the balance needed against the crazy sweet pudding.  It just worked.

This was a creation that was much more than the sum of its parts.  Seemingly generic whipped cream and caramel, pudding that was both too runny and too sweet, and crumbled cookies I don't really like, combined into something totally delicious.

I loved it.  I devoured it.  I had told Ojan I was going to share with him, but, uh, I didn't.  I'd gladly get it again for a birthday freebie, but now I am even more curious about that butter cake ...

Original Review, March 2013

I went to CPK once, when I first moved to California, because I thought it was a thing ... it was "California" after all!  The only thing I remember is that it was the first time I ever had bbq chicken pizza, and I liked the idea of bbq sauce on pizza.  I don't recall if I actually liked the pizza, or anything else.

The other day, CPK was running a promo for a free item off their small plates menu.  I was walking by, was slightly hungry, and couldn't resist a freebie!

I could select any item off that section of the menu, including small salads (meh, they weren't going to have quality produce right?), quesadillas (chicken, ugh), chips and guacamole (allergic), crispy mac 'n' cheese with cheese sauce (tempting!), or focaccia.  I picked the focaccia, as it was most like their speciality, pizza, so I figured if they were going to do any of these items right, it would be the focaccia. It was by far the cheapest of the small plates, but I wasn't really trying to maximize my freebie.

Ordering online was easy, I specified my pickup time, and then it asked if I wanted complimentary bread and utensils, and if so, for how many people.  I set the time, said yes to the extras, and went to get it.

I arrived 10 minutes early to pick it up, and it was already ready ... I guess not freshly made!  But it was kept in a warming area, so at least it was hot.  I also did not receive the bread or the utensils.  I didn't really care, but it was interesting that they have you specify that, and then leave it out.

Long rambling story short ... I have no reason to go back there.

Mediterranean Focaccia.  $2.75.

"Herb cheese focaccia baked in our pizza oven and served with Mediterranean olive oil and Parmesan."

The focaccia was sliced up, like breadsticks.  It had some type of cheese on it that I couldn't really identify, and only the middle pieces really had much on them.  It also had some herbs coating it, but there wasn't much flavor.  It was pretty unremarkable.  I love the buttery oilyness that can make focaccia delicious, and it wasn't present in this.  It was oily, but not in a nice way.  If you had handed me the plate, I would have told you it was just standard breadsticks, not focaccia.

On the side was the dipping sauce: oil and parmesan.  I liked the parmesan in it, but the oil itself was completely flavorless.  I use higher quality oil just for cooking!  I guess I shouldn't have expected more, but as a dipping oil, I definitely wanted oil with some flavor.  The focaccia would have been better with a marinara sauce or something else to dip into, but then I guess it would be too much like pizza?

Anyway, this wasn't good.  I guess the $2.75 price tag matched the quality however?  

Read More...

Pizza @ Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Update Review, April 2024

Tony's Pizza Napoletana.  Probably the most hyped pizza place in SF.  And it has been that way for years now.  So many awards won.  Always lines.  Yadda yadda.  I visited back in 2012 and wasn't blown away, but after a dozen more years of living here, I finally tried it again (although for delivery this time, not dine-in).

Tony's has 11 different styles of pizza.  No, I don't mean 11 varieties of pizza, e.g. just topping differences, but, 11 entirely different styles of pizza.  Each style is cooked in a specific kind of oven (gas, wood, coal, electric, etc) at a specific temperature (535*, 575*, 900*, 570*, 1000*, etc, etc) with a specific style of crust (hand tossed rustic medium? Stone ground multigrain? Thin? Sicilian pan? Wafer thin and crispy?), type of sauce (vine-ripened, hand-crushed, slightly sweet, etc) and cheese blend (romano plus the mozzarella?  Brick cheese? With garlic butter?).  Oh, and they come in only one size per style, which can range from 11 inch to 20.  So many styles.  And frankly, even for someone who writes a food blog, with a dedicated pizza label on it, so much to wrap your head around.  

Once you pick your style, then you need to pick what kind of pizza toppings you actually want.  The choices are highly curated and opinionated, with some styles offering up only two or three options, others up to 8.  The topping configurations are not repeated between styles, and you can't just build your own.

Like I said, this is highly opinionated pizza.  I recommend checking out the menu, even just to satisfy your curiosity.

Our group ordered 3, of assorted styles.  One was a runaway hit.  I now understand the hype, and would seek Tony's out again.

Classic Italian Style

Craving pizza in the true Italian style?  Go for a classic Italian.

"Classic Italian pizzas have vine-ripened tomato sauce and a hand tossed rustic medium crust unless noted. All pizzas are finished with romano, oregano and garlic oil. "

These are further broken down into two categories, some are cooked in a 535 degree oven and are 12-13 inch, others are slightly smaller (11 inch) and cooked at a higher temp (575 degrees).  There are 4 in each style offered, we tried one.

Cal Italia. $32.

"Asiago, mozzarella, Italian Gorgonzola, croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, parmigiano, and balsamic reduction."

I didn't actually expect to try this pie, as the other two we ordered that we got sounded more my style, but when there was extra left, I went for it.  And I'm so glad I did!  It was my favorite of the pies I tried.

The crust was fairly, un, classic Italian style for lack of better description.  Good chew to it, not as thin as a "Californian" pizza, but not as thick as a New York style.  It was the least interesting part of this pizza, but it was good.

The toppings were well crafted, and each served to elevate the others.  When people make "the sum of the parts" sort of statements, this is what they mean.  Yes, each element was good, but together?  Magic.  The prosciutto was wafer thin and added a savory saltiness, the four cheeses all worked together harmoniously, and the sweetness from the fig preserves and drizzle of balsamic ... over the top.  Really excellent toppings, a fascinating blend of sweet, salty, and savory.  One of the best pizzas I've had in years.  I'd gladly get this again.  ****+.

Coal Fired

If you want to go big, go for a coal fired.

"19-20 inches • SERVES 2-4 • Topped with romano, oregano & garlic oil."

There were 8 choices in this style as well.  According to one of my co-workers, "coal fired is the best", so we doubled up on coal fired selections.

The New Yorker. $38.

"(Gold medal winner, Las Vegas 2013) Mozzarella, hand crushed tomato sauce, natural casing pepperoni, sliced italian fennel sausage, ricotta, chopped garlic, and oregano."

The crowd favorite was the award winning New Yorker.  It came topped with mounds of ricotta and slices of sausage and pepperoni, all in about equal parts, and all reasonably well distributed.  It wasn't the style of tidy toppings in even rows, and some slices had far more of one element than other, but most bites included at least one of the three primary toppings.

The crust was a highlight here - it had a nice flavor, was super crisp and lightly charred, and had a bit of grit to it.  The toppings were fine, but not particularly compelling to me.  The tomato sauce seemed fairly average, there wasn't much mozzarella, I didn't taste the garlic, the sausage was kinda ... bouncy (although nicely spicy).  The ricotta blobs were fine but dominated, the pepperoni was good, slightly curled up.  This just didn't seem particularly special, besides the nice crust.  ***.

New Haven Lou. $36.

"Mozzarella di buffala blend, ricotta, spinach, garlic, and crushed red pepper."

And finally, a vegetarian option, also featuring big blobs of ricotta.

I felt kinda similarly about it as the New Yorker, although this was better.  Good crust, dominant ricotta.  There was a good garlic level to this one, and more mozzarella.  I still felt the topping felt a bit flat, and frankly, the similar style cheesy garlic shroom I had a few days prior from Escape from New York pizza was better, topping-wise (the crust is no comparison though).  

Another ***.

Original Review, April 2012

Tonight, we finally made it to Tony's Pizza Napoletana, to try out the famous pizza.  "Everyone" says it is supposed to be the best pizza in the city.  They make 10 (yes, 10!) totally different styles of pizza, ranging from thin crust to New York to deep dish, using all different flours, sauces (sweet, chunky, etc), cheeses AND different ovens (coal, gas, electric, wood) for each type.  The owner has won all sorts of competitions, both abroad (including a win in Italy for his margherita pizza, of which they make only 73 per day and always sell out early in the day) and domestically (on Food network, he won for a pizza with asiago, mozzarella, imported italian gorgonzola, croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, parmesan, balsamic, no tomato sauce.  Apparently a great mix of sweet and savory and salty).

They don't take reservations, and the waits are known to be epic.  And since we knew they only make 73 of the famous pizzas per day, we tried to go early and hopefully get one of the pizzas and avoid the waits.  We arrived a little before 6pm, but still had an hour long wait (which is apparently fairly short), and they were out of the pizza.  Fail!  But, it was a beautiful day, and we spent our time waiting sitting in the park, enjoying the last of the sunlight.

The restaurant seemed like a pretty classic pizza joint, booths and all.  Smaller than I expected, with only 5 booths, a table, and 16 seats at the bar.  There was also additional outdoor seating on the sidewalk, and I think possibly more space next door?  I couldn't quite tell if it was part of the restaurant.

Service was fine.  The hostess takes you name and phone number, and will call you when your table is finally available.  Plates were changed out between appetizers and pizza.  When we were leaving, the hostess called out a thank you, including my name.  I was shocked that she'd remembered it, and it was a nice touch.

The menu is huge, literally.  They have a slew of pizzas in each style, along with a bunch of appetizers, salads, pastas, sides, burgers, even a kids menu.  But we were mostly there for the pizza!

The pizzas we got weren't that great (full reviews below), but I'd be interested in coming back to try some of the other styles, particularly the Italian and the New York.  Have you been to Tony's, and if so, do you have a recommended style?  We also didn't get to really experience the famous margarita, so I'd like to do that.  And I am really interested in the Cal-Italia pizza (the one with all the cheeses, fig, proscuitto, and balsamic that has also won awards).

Dipping oils: picante pepper, plain, pesto.

Complimentary bread and oil showed up almost immediately.  The oils used a good quality, flavorful olive oil as a base.  The picante pepper was fairly sweet, flavorful, and was pretty good. The pesto was garlicky and really good.  I enjoyed dipping my pizza crust into these as well.

Bread to go with oil.

The oils came with a tomato can full of bread, a cute touch.  The bread was not very good, fairly generic, and somewhat stale tasting.  I'm glad it was so bad, because I would have been way to tempted to stuff myself full of the bread and oil while waiting for the pizza.

MEATBALL GIGANTE: blend of veal, pork and beef.  Topped with burrata.  $13.

Tony's is known for their exclusive items, like the famous pizza.  And the giant meatballs, of which they make only 25 per day.  Luckily for us, they had some still available.

The giant meatballs are available with a variety of toppings: marinera sauce, marinera and burrata, wild mushroom, pancetta, and robiola, or farm egg and calabrese.  I'd read great reviews of the meatball, and in particular of the mushroom and cheese sauce version, but the mushroom and cheese sauce version included truffle, and we had a diner who doesn't like truffle.  We settled on the burrata version.

The meatball was made of a blend of veal, pork, and beef.  The meat was fairly flavorful and well seasoned.  It was surprisingly moist, and cooked very consistently throughout.  I actually would have preferred some variation in the cooking, perhaps seared on the outside to have a nice crust on it, or more rare on the inside, or something, as it got a little boring like this.  We all agreed it was decently done, but that it reminded us of meatloaf, just not as good as meatloaf since it was lacking the fillers that can add flavor and dimension.  By being this size and cooked in this way, it just seemed like you missed out on what can make a tasty burger or meatball, but didn't get any benefit from it.

There was tons of marinera sauce, which we weren't expecting, as it was listed as just "burrata with sea salt" on the menu, and marinera was a separate choice.  One diner doesn't care for marinera sauce, so she was disappointed by this.  The sauce was really tangy and slightly sweet.  Nothing memorable, but good, and it went well with the meat.

The burrata was my favorite part of the dish.  So soft and creamy.  Delicious.  It was almost melting into the meat and sauce.  They have some pizzas with burrata on them, I'd love to try those next time.

The meatball was indeed gigante.  It was kinda too much for only three of us to share.  It was good, but we were all ready to be done with it by the end.  I'm not entirely sure how big it was, but I've heard it was a full pound, which does seem about right.  That would mean that we started our meal with 1/3 pound of meat each, which is bigger than your average burger.  I recommend this, and would get it again, but I'd want to share it with more people.  I also really, really want to try the mushroom and cream sauce version, as that sounds fantastic!  $13, for that much meat, seemed like a good deal.

MARGHERITA: san marzano tomatoes D.O.P., sea salt, mozzarella fior di latte,  fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil. $16.

So, we couldn't get the famous margherita, that is made with a special flour and dough, but, we could get a similar pizza, with regular dough.  900 Degree Wood Fired.

The crust was ok, pretty standard tasting, with a nice chewiness to it.  I would have preferred it to  crisper, and more charred, which I think means I just prefer a slightly different style, as this seemed to be how it was designed to come out.

The sauce was very similar to the sauce with the meatball, tangy, slightly sweet.

The mozzarella was pretty standard fio di latte, a little bit rubbery.

The basil added some good flavor.

Overall, this was just a really standard margherita pizza.  Not a single dimension stood out.  I'm interested to try the really special version, just because its supposed to be so great, but I wouldn't order this one again.

HONEY PIE: North Beach honey, calabrese peppers, scallions, mozzarella,  piave cheese, fried caramelized onions, serrano peppers. $19.

This came from the California style section of the menu, meaning it was cooked in the wood oven, like the margherita.  We were kinda overwhelmed by the menu, and most of the pizzas I'd read about were not vegetarian, and we had a vegetarian with us, so we made a somewhat rush decision on this one.  In retrospect, I wish we'd picked one of the different styles, as this was really similar to the margherita.

This pizza was strange.  None of us liked it, but for totally different reasons.

The crust was exactly the same as the margherita, made using caputo flour, since we weren't able to get one of the special margheritas with the fancy crust.  Just the like margherita, I thought it had a decent chew to it, but I would have preferred a thinner, crispier crust, with some more char on it.

There was no sauce.

The peppers gave it a really nice spicy kick, I really enjoyed them.  There weren't nearly enough on the pizza!

The honey was from bees on their rooftop.  It paired surprisingly well with the peppers.  I liked the sweetness, but found very little of it in my slice.  One of the other diners really didn't like this pizza because he said it was far too sweet, and all he got was honey.  I think it must have been really inconsistently drizzled on, as neither slice I had had much at all.

The base layer of the pizza was melted mozzarella cheese, that I really didn't like.  There was tons of it, and it just totally dominated the other flavors.  I also just really didn't like the flavor of it at all.  This cheese didn't bother anyone else.

The shards of piave cheese were tasty and paired well with the onions, a nice touch, but each slice had only one on it.

The onions were really disappointing.  I read "fried caramelized onions" and just pictured something else.  These were tiny, tiny little chunks of onion, coated in batter, and fried.  I actually think many of the pieces were just fried batter.  It took us a long time to figure out that this was onions, we had to go remember the menu in order to determine this.  It really was just mostly little tiny oily chunks of fry.  Larger chunks of onion, more like onion straws, would have been much better, but really, I think I just wanted caramelized onions.  Either way, I would have wanted to taste the onions, rather than just oil.

So altogether, this pizza just didn't really work.  I didn't love the crust, and in most bites, all I tasted was the mozzarella and oily fried bits.  Would not order again.

Tiramisu.  $8.

I hadn't really read anything about desserts at Tony's, and wasn't intending on ordering any, but one person wanted the tiramisu, so we got it.  It was a pretty poor execution.  Generic ladyfingers, with a small portion of them soaked in espresso, moist enough.  Not much espresso or boozy flavor came through.  The cream was sweet, dominating, and just not good at all. I can't pinpoint what it was, but there was just nothing good about it.  Topped with mediocre shredded milk chocolate.

I'd certainly never get this again.

Read More...

Delivery from Pizzeria Delfina

Delfina.  Definitely a San Francisco institution.

When I first moved to San Francisco, I remember a friend telling me that the Delfina Restaurant was his favorite place for a nice, but casual, night out with his wife.  I remember going once or twice myself, and liking the pasta, but not having a particularly strong opinion otherwise.  My hipster group of peers of course frequented Pizzeria Delfina in the Mission, long waits on the cold sidewalk no hinderance.  I joined in from time to time, and enjoyed the pizza, but never quite understand the hype.  I was personally happy when a second Pizzeria opened in Pacific Heights, with substantially shorter lines, and, uh, more appealing sidewalk ambiance.  Since then, the restaurant group has seen great success and expansion, with more pizzeria locations in Palo Alto and Burlingame, and Locanda, a second restaurant in San Francisco, focused on pasta (which I have another friend who says is his favorite place in the city).

My strongest memory of Delfina however isn't of any of the restaurants, it is of attending a cooking demo at Macy's by the chef/owner, Craig Stoll, where he talked about the restaurant, told amazing stories, and cooked 3 of the most famous dishes.  I was so impressed, I wrote it up on my blog, and vowed to go to Delfina for dinner immediately (which, uh, I never did).  But the memory of those dishes, a seemingly simple salad, basic spaghetti, and panna cotta (seriously, probably still the best panna cotta I've ever had ... and I've had a lot) remained strong.

Fast forward several years.

Update Review, September & October 2022

Early in the pandemic I splurged once and had Delfina delivered, as you may have read about then (see below if not).  For some reason, nearly two years later, I had a sudden craving for their fantastic tricolore salad.  So I splurged again, when my random browsing of the current menu showed they also had a chicken liver special, and, swoon, I love liver.  The mood struck again a month later, when I also snagged the last of the season beautiful heirloom tomatoes (and burrata).

I was happy with my orders - the food really was good, although the prices really do seem high, even without the extra delivery charges.  It stays in the "splurge" category for me as a result, but one I'll likely return to in the future.

Ordering online was easy with Door Dash, although Delfina doesn't allow any notes or substitution preferences, like "leave out the goat cheese" or "dressing on the side", which makes it less compelling for me, as I guess I am picky and usually have some kind of note I'd like to make.

Insalata Tricolore. $15.40.

"Arugula, radicchio, endive, lemon vinaigrette, grana padano."

I adore this salad.  To its core.  It is so simple, but always, so perfect, as you've seen in my previous reviews (below).  Bitter radicchio, juicy endive, peppery arugula, sharpness from the cheese, and their addicting vinaigrette (and I don't even like vinaigrettes!).  Just add some fresh pepper and you've got a killer side salad.

I do like to add something for crunch, like walnuts or pepitas or candied pecans, and sometimes add on grilled/roasted brussels sprouts or squash if I want to make it more of an entree salad, but, it works well just as it is for a side salad.

****.

Update: I got it again the next month, but forgot to get a photo.  Again, I loved it for its simplicity and balance.  ****.

Fryer Creek Tomatoes. $19.

"Pane strappato, burrata, Delfino anchovies."

This salad sounded like such a winner, as, well, I really do like anchovies, and burrata can be pretty fantastic.  I wasn't exactly sure what form it would take overall, as it was listed as a salad, but I didn't think there would actually be salad greens involved.  And, it was mid-October, so the tomatoes were definitely going out of season ...

The answer was a bread salad, which I should have known given the first ingredient, besides the tomatoes, was pane strappato.  While it may be the end of tomato season, these were still delicious, ripe and juicy, assorted colors of local heirlooms from Fryer Creek farm.  They really were incredible.

The pane strappato was turn into jagged chunks of assorted sizes, and had soaked up plenty of tomato juices, and the generous slog of quality olive oil that had clearly been applied.  The bread was soft and flavorful, and a great component alongside the tomatoes and burrata.  I loved this too.

As for the burrata, it wasn't the star element (Delfina also serves an appetizer that is burrata focused, served just with arugula and crostini), but here it played a supporting role, with just three hunks.  The burrata was ripe and creamy, basically, quality burrata, as you'd expect.  It was good, complimented the rest of the dish well.

And then, the anchovies.  These were really excellent anchovies, so briny, and I loved the anchovy flavor infused throughout the dish.  Anchovies and tomatoes, anchovies and bread hunks, just great parings.  The only letdown?  My dish had exactly 3 fillets.  That was it.  Yes, these were high quality anchovies imported from Italy, but, just three small fillets?  I loved them, briny and funky as they should be, and I loved the flavor they added, but, I was shocked by the tiny portion.

Overall, this was a very tasty salad of sorts.  Every ingredient was high quality, everything went well together, and it was quite flavorful and satisfying.  I did find the $19 price a bit high though, given the small portion of both burrata and anchovies.  Still, it was far above average compared to most tomato/mozzarella inspired dishes.  ****.

Chicken Liver Crostini. $17.60.

I was really craving liver.  Super random, but when I saw it on the Delfina menu, I was pretty excited.  I didn't know what form it would take, a smooth liver mousse, a chunky pate, etc, I just knew it was going to be liver, and I was in the mood for liver.  I wanted to ask for the bread to be untoasted, so I could toast it fresh at home, but, Delfina does not allow any notes or modifications to takeout orders, so I wasn't able to request that.  I hoped the bread would at least be on the side, but, alas, it came all assembled.

The crostini was thick slices of what I think was likely good bread, but it was toasted hard, and was really, really, really crunchy.  The crust in particular seemed like it was going to cut my mouth when I bit in.  I feel bad complaining about it, but, wow, it was just too crispy, it actually felt, um, dangerous?  It was also highly oiled, on both the top and bottom, which didn't seem necessary with the rich liver.  So the bread element of this, not particularly good, and I found it really difficult to eat.

Also in my box was 3 chunks of radish, one of which was extremely dried out, 2 olives, and a few sprigs of arugula.  The garnish felt odd, hopefully it worked better when plated in the restaurant.  It was just kinda haphazard and not very good here.

But I was most interested in the liver of course.  It was ... fine.  Not a mousse or creamy pate as I had hoped, but not a super course style either, something in the middle.  Decent liver flavor.  A touch of herbs.  I'd say it was highly average, and left me wanting for a sweet compote to pair with it, as it felt just a bit plain like this.  I wanted something to give it some oomph.

So, fine liver, but, the dish felt unfinished, had uninspired garnish, and crostini that was just too crispy.  Not really a winner for me, and at $17.60 for 4 slices, really not a good price either. **+.

Update Review, March 2020

Ah, Delfina.  A San Francisco classic, one that I had fond memories of (the restaurant, and more commonly the pizzeria, in the Mission were both big parts of my initial introduction to San Francisco).  I've since had Delfina food more times than I can count, and one dish always continues to stand out to me.  And no, it isn't the pizza.  It is ... a salad.  Yup, a salad.  One of my favorite, ever.  I've reviewed it before.

During the recent Shelter in Place I had a night where I had part of a meal leftover at home, but I wanted something to pair with it, and, well, I was craving salad, and craving something I could rely on.  It was also cold and rainy, and even going a few blocks away to the grocery store or easy option like Sweetgreen wasn't exactly appealing.  Thus, yup, another delivery review.  I was thrilled to remember that Pizzeria Delfina was delivering via several services - happy to support them, and also happy to order something I knew would cheer up my dreary night.

It ... partially cheered me up.  My food was good.  Ok, it was great.  It was delicious.  Don't get me wrong.  But the portions were very, very small for the price, and, of course, with Door Dash fees and delivery, my side dish and salad were ... $35?!

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

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• 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 ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I have no complaints about Door Dash, online ordering was simple, my food was delivered quickly, but, it felt very expensive, even for the joy of Delfina in my home.

Antipasti: Roasted Brussels Sprouts. $10.

"Fresh chilis, garum, almonds, torn herbs."

I started with a wildcard dish, something I added on at last minute to my order, totally randomly.  I'm honestly not sure why I did.  I was just planning to get the salad (and a side of their famous sauce for my partner, who had some meatballs to eat), but the brussels jumped out, from the antipasti section.

I have a very mixed review of this dish.

On one hand, it was pretty delicious.  On another, it made me grumpy.  Grumpy because I could tell that it would be *extraordinary* served fresh at the restaurant.  I didn't want to settle for just delicious!

The sprouts were perfectly cooked, a hard caramelized sear on the cut side, not too soft.  But they were lukewarm, and, sadly, the outer leaves, which I am certain would have been crispy when served fresh, had basically be steamed with the warmth in the container, and thus, I could only imagine how great they were.  I was able to roast them up a bit in my toaster oven to restore some of the goodness.

There was only one slice of chili that I found in my portion, but I loved the heat it added.  I would have loved to have more chilis.  The almond slivers added a nice additional crunch.  I never found any "torn herbs", perhaps there were a few small bits that were softened in the warm container and just kinda hid in the leaves?

They seemed to have been cooked with a fair amount of oil, which didn't translate that well for delivery, as the pool of oil in the base of the bowl was a bit off-putting, and since they weren't crispy when they arrived, it almost made the oil, that I know is necessary to get awesome-crispy, not quite worth it, health-wise.  There also was some balsamic I think, and a pretty addicting backsplash of the garum (fermented fish sauce!).  The complex flavor from the garum was really what set these apart for other very good versions of brussels sprouts.  I loved that touch.

The portion was shockingly small for the $10 price - I was picturing a portion that would be like a side dish or starter to share with another person at the restaurant, and what I got was a very shallow bowl with just a few sprouts ... more like a single side portion that was part of a composed entree.

So overall, I was left with mixed feelings.   I liked the dish, quite a bit.  When I re-roasted the sprouts, and got the bite with the chili, it was pretty amazing.  But, as delivered, and without the chili throughout, it was just good, and really felt overpriced for the serving size.  I wouldn't get it again, unless I was dining in. ***+.

Insalata Tricolore. $13.

"Arugula, radicchio & endive with lemon vinaigrette & Grana Padona." 

And then, the main attraction for me, the Insalata Triocolore.  It came with the dressing separately packaged, but inside the container.  Much like the brussels sprouts though I did feel the serving size was a bit small for the $13 price (the size was fine, just, the price seemed high for a simple, little prep on their end, salad), particularly compared to the slew of other salads I had in my couple weeks (at that point) of sheltering in place ...

That said, this salad is just ... well, fantastic.  I always adore it.

Fabulous Base.

The base is really simple.  3 colors: red radicchio, white-yellow endive, and green arugula.  All fresh, decently crisp, and quality ingredients.

The combination is magic though, with the peppery arugula playing against the bitter radicchio, all balanced out by the juicy endive.  The flavors and different textures just work in a way that is perfect.

The shaved grana padana was a generous portion, more than I wanted in my salad actually, but I just saved some to use the next day with something else.

But really, at this point, I'm just describing some greens and cheese.  Very basic.  Where is the *real* magic?

Lemon Vinaigrette.

Yeah, it is in the dressing.  This dressing is the magic. I'd say they should bottle it up and sell it, except, well, they do :) (protip: order a bottle).

Again, it sounds simple, lemon vinaigrette, but, they've nailed this recipe, and when combined with this exact set of salad greens, and the salty sharp cheese, it just ... is perfect.  I have no better way to describe it.

The final touch, always needed in this salad, is a very generous grating of fresh ground pepper (oh, and a nice glass of wine).  Seriously, one of the best, deceivingly simple, salads out there. ****.

Original Review, May 2017

One afternoon, the admin for our team sent me a message, saying she'd mistakenly ordered too much food from Pizzeria Delfina.  I'm not entirely sure how this happens, but, I was happy to receive the message, and pass it on to my colleagues.  And then I got pulled into a conversation, and wasn't able to go running for the food.  By the time I got to the food, a mere 15 minutes later, the large pile of pizza had been decimated.  There were tons of pizza boxes, all completely empty, on the table.  Doh.  Pizza in general doesn't last long around my office, but, pizza from somewhere like Pizzeria Delfina really doesn't last long.  I learned my lesson: get things for me first, then tell others!

Anyway, the masses all seemed to have gone for the pizza, leaving behind TONS of salad and appetizers (including meatballs and burrata), so I still got some Delfina food.  And I remembered that salad as shockingly good from the demo ...

Insalata Triocolore.

"Arugula, radicchio & endive salad w/ grana padano cheese & lemon vinaigrette."

Insalata Triocolore.  Such a classic Delfina (and many Italian restaurants) salad.  So deceptively simple, but oh so good.  The salad of three colors.

Yes, it is just a mix of three colors of leaf vegetables (green arugula, purple radicchio, and pale yellow endive), topped with grana padano, and served with lemon vinaigrette.  No other veggies.  Nothing for crunch.  Boring sounding dressing.

This salad shouldn't be great.  But it really is.

The arugula is my favorite element, so peppery.  I'm not sure where Delfina sources arugula from, but this is quality stuff.  Then there is the endive, chopped into slices, juicy and refreshing.  The radicchio, julienned, which provides a different sort of bitterness than the arugula.  Mix them together, and you have a blend that not only looks great, but also has perfectly complimentary tastes.  For a base of leafy vegetables, this is far more interesting than most.

The cheese I actually didn't love, as the shreds were huge, and the nutty flavor from the grana padano somewhat dominated the eating experience.

And then the dressing.  Simple lemon vinaigrette.  I'm definitely a creamy dressing type, and rarely like vinaigrettes.  This dressing looked like nothing more than olive oil, honestly.  And, it isn't much more than olive oil actually (olive oil, champagne vinegar, lemon, shallot, and black pepper), but wow, it was good.  And somehow, that dressing just went so amazingly well with the leafy vegetable mix.  I'm clearly not the only one who loves this basic dressing, as Delfina even sells it by the bottle now.

What this salad proves is that sometimes you don't need more than a few simple high quality ingredients, well chosen for their complimentary nature. ****.

I believe this was the large, family-style portion, designed to serve 10 people, for $85.

At the demo, I had an enhanced version, the Insalata di Campo, with the same base mix of greens and cheese shreds, but it also included pancetta and walnuts, which added crunch and an additional salty component.  I preferred that version, but, this basic salad was also fabulous.

Neapolitan Meatballs in Sugo.

"Pork, beef & veal meatballs w/ tomato sauce & crostini."

I have a memory of getting the meatballs once a long, long time ago.  I think I liked them.  But this was, literally, 10 years ago.  So I was happy to see the meatballs go unclaimed, as I'd get to try them again.

The meatballs are huge, and all had a nice crust on them, if you know what I mean.  I like a meatball with a bit of a sear on it like this.  Inside was quite moist, and the mix of proteins (pork, beef, and veal) created a fairly complex flavor.

The sauce was not my favorite.  It was rather sweet, in a way that I didn't want it to be, if that makes sense.

Overall, I didn't actually care for these, but they were well made. **+.

[ No Photo ]

Burrata.

I also was able to try the burrata appetizer, but failed to take a photo.  It was served over a bed of arugula, with crostini on that side, and a separate container of extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on top.

I appreciated everything about the dish.  I love having creamy burrata with bitter arugula, and always like to drizzle olive oil over my burrata.  This was exactly what I want in a simple burrata dish, although I didn't want the crostini, which I was happy to leave for the others, who don't find it appropriate to just eat cheese drizzled with oil by the spoonful.

As much as I acknowledged the goodness of this dish, I didn't love it.  The burrata itself just wasn't as ripe and creamy as it can be. ***.

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